Anyone changed their minds on who's gonna win? Spurs seemed to have played this entire season perfectly, rotated their big (old) men and might not have the same troubles with fatigue as last year.

Still have to go with the Heat tho.

Oklahoma, for me, will win the NBA championship barring any injuries. The one thing that will be pivotal to them winning though is Russell Westbrook. He's been outstanding, but in the playoffs, he'll have to pass the ball more. If he and Durant can get Ibaka and Perkins scoring 15+ in the playoffs, Durant, Westbrook and Harden will do more than enough to damage to seal the victory. Miami obviously have LeBron, but if OKC get their five best players on the floor, Miami can't match them and I'm not convinced that LeBron and Wade are better than Durant and Westbrook.

The Spurs are looking good and you can't rule them out, but they will need Ginobili at 100%.

I think the Bulls have a big chance, depends on how Rose and Rip do when they return though, to have the NBA's best record despite missing your starting backcourt for most of the season is an incredible feat. Just need to figure out the Lebron James guarding Rose issue.

The best dark horse atm is Indiana IMO, I can see them shocking one of Chicago/Miami on the way.

If Miami fall again this year, could you see them trading Wade? I think when he's been injured LeBron has been able to have even more influence on a game and the teams best performances have come when Wade's missing. LeBron is untradeable (unless your stupid), and Bosh would also improve without Wade as he'd become more of a go-to player.

It seems stupid cos Miami Heat IS Wade, but it's LeBrons team now imo.

I'm not sure to be honest. You look at Wade and you see a player that's getting older, doesn't shoot from beyond the arc too well and is suffering from a fair amount of injuries, but then, as you say, he is Miami, I can't imagine the fans would be too happy unless they managed to get some sensational player(s) in return. Who could they really get for Wade if they offered him out?

For me, the problems with Miami aren't necessarily the superstars, just the role players. They sacrificed so much to get the Big Three, they don't really have any great 'glue guys', like Deng, like Noah, like Gibson, and they don't have too much coming from the bench, like OKC has Harden and the Mavs had Terry last year. They shown last year in the playoffs, when LeBron is hitting shots in the clutch, they can beat anybody, but when he isn't closing games, they really struggle.

Drilling Oggy in fantasy land. 6-2 up with huuuge leads in most categories.

If anyones missed this early NYK Bulls game, unlucky!

Currently in OT, Melo's just sunk a 3 to put them 1 up with 8s left.

Great game between Heat and the Knicks. melo running the show.

In other news, I'm getting a dry one in the fantasy final.

OKC playing some mixed basketball at the minute, not the time to be dropping form really. Opposite to the Clippers, who seem to have upped their game recently (13 out of 15 I think?).

Either way, there's a couple of great first round series at the minute, Miami-Knicks will be interesting, and Clippers-Grizzlies.



On another note, who reckons Dwight signed his 1 year extension cos he knew a big injury was imminent! He's getting traded this summer, without doubt.

Of course he's getting traded, unless the Magic can somehow land a superstar to pair with him, they really don't stand a chance of keeping him. I imagine they managed to worm their way with him, basically saying give us time so we can get something in return, which seems fair enough. They'll know New Jersey will be desperate this summer, so they could get Brooks and Lopez + a draft pick or two in return for Dwight, but whether NJ will let those two go remains to be seen.

The Clippers are playing better but they just don't pose enough threats for me. Paul and Williams are the only players who seem to attack the rim, Young, Butler and even Foye take too many jump shots. The Clippers rely hugely on three pointers, if they have an off night shooting you won't see them win many games. For me, if they are to beat the Grizzlies, Blake and Jordan will have to tighten up on defence, whilst Butler, Young and Foye need to do more than wait on the wing for looks, they need to take on the defence and open up looks for Blake and Jordan. I've said before, they'll do well to get out of the first round, purely because they don't defend well enough and they don't pose enough questions offensively. They rarely go clear when they're in dominant spells, they always do just enough to win.

As for the Thunder, I think they'll be fine come playoff time. Big players rise to the occasion and Durant will definitely rise, the only problem will be Westbrook and his shooting. When he has off nights, he doesn't just accept it, he will keep trying and he'll end up with games shooting two from thirteen. Westbrook has to become the playmaker and score when needed, not when he wants to, IMO.

It seems you were spot on r.e Westbrook pal, horrible shooting night against the Lake show on sunday night.

Horrendous, wasn't it? Did you see him take the 3 at the buzzer in the 4th? He's played so well this season and I really thought he was better than he was this time last season, but he cost the Thunder in the playoffs last year and if he carries on like that, he'll cost them this year.

He's a volume shooter, which I don't mind, but when he's continually taking pull up jump shots when he has Durant and Harden on his team, it's just stupid. It's like he goes into scoring mode and refuses to make plays for others, which is an awful mentality to have in your point guard. Durant, for me, will have to step up and put him in his place come playoff time. If I was Brooks, I'd consider making Harden the no. 2 option if Russell carries on.

I think alot of it comes down to him not being a natural two guard. I don't think he makes palyers around him better, compare him to Rose for example, he can take over a game but also get his teamates involved.

NBA Fantasy champ 2012.

It's been a pleasure folks.

You mean natural point guard? For me, he's just overly confident in his own abilities when he shouldn't be. There are two better scorers on the team, Harden is also a better playmaker but it's almost like Westbrook is trying to prove a point that isn't needed. He is a class player, but when he's off song, he has to give it to Harden or Durant.

Anyone know why Ron Artest chaned his name to Metta World Peace ?

Derrick Rose has just gone down hard. Possibly out for rest of playoffs.

Well that's it for Chicago if he's out for the playoffs. They should still beat the 76ers, but surely nobody else.

Melo getting dominated in the first half against Miami. Big question of the Knicks' character to see if they can respond.

Rose + Shumpert both torn ACLs. 6 months a piece for two totally innocuous incidents.

That's the Bulls done. And he's missing the Olympics!

Time for Amare to go. melo was great at the 4 without him. We will probably get swept by the Heat. shame we didn't get to go at them healthy.

Rob, I see that average C Tyson Chandler is DPOY.

Come on now Mark, he is a great defensive player but he doesn't match up to some of the great centres over the years. He has very little in terms of post moves and he isn't a go-to player in offense. Bynum and Howard are obviously better, whilst there's potential for Cousins and Monroe to become better than Chandler. Offensively they probably already are, they just don't have his defensive skills yet.

Still, he's a good player, but he's more of an example of how poor the centre position has become, than how good a player he actually is.

Great finish to the Clippers game last night. They looked free and clear when they were 7 points clear with 1 minute to go, feared the worst when Gay sunk those 2 back to back 3's though.

I like the Clippers a lot, but their major, major achilles heal is their free throw shooting (especially without Billups). On the inbounds passes at the end of the 4th quarter Memphis knew they only had to lockdown Paul cos everyone else loves throwing up bricks.

Be interesting to see what happens to them over the summer though, think they only have 4 or 5 players contracted after this season. Mo Williams will leave, but he's on a fair chunk anyway and I like the look of Eric Bledsoe as a backup Guard off the bench. They need Jordan to step up and be the big man he can be though for them to go to the next level.

Jordan is such a dumb player. There's a reason he doesn't play in the fourth quarter, his defence is far too erratic to keep them in games. He needs to be put on a leash, he could easily be a defensive monster like Chandler, but he lacks decision making. Same with Blake, he has so much athletic ability, he could be an awesome defender, but he needs a great coach to get that out of him.

Free throw shooting definitely hurts them, but they could really do with a lock down defender on the perimeter. I don't know how they don't concede more because their defenders are pretty poor, whilst opposing teams seem to score a lot of easy points.

If LA are to progress, they need to capitalise on their spells of dominance. Too often they go twelve clear, only to be tied two minutes later. Teams like Miami get ahead and usually stay ahead, they force the issue and keep opposing teams at bay.