NBA Finals Previews/Predictions

It's been too long UB faithful, but school is out for summer, and I have more free time. Feels good to be back.

I realize that the city of Boston and most of the UB faithful (including myself) are immersed in Bruins fever. However, I don't want to write about the Bruins for two reasons: I don't know enough about hockey to churn out a whole article, and DRob has already posted a fantastic article on the Bruins earlier today.

Instead, I have decided to cover the other upcoming finals, the NBA finals. On one hand, we have the Miami Heat, the "villains" of the NBA. The Heat made a huge splash this off-season with the additions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh, making them automatic favorites. On the other hand, the Dallas Mavericks have had a season that exceeded expectations, with veterans Jason Kidd and especially Dirk Nowitzki shining in the playoffs, fighting tooth and nail to win their first championship ring.

Because of Miami's star-studded starting line-up, they have been picked as the favorites. But I am apprehensive for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is that if ANY of the "Big Three" are off their game, Miami will almost certainly lose to a Dallas team which boasts depth over the Heat. I have gone in depth about depth in past articles (ZING!), and it should be no surprise that I think Dallas has a big advantage with more depth than the Heat.

The second reason I'm weary to pen the Heat as the winners automatically is Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk has always been a star in the NBA, but this playoffs he has put his team on his back and carried them through the proverbial desert. Take a look at the Western COnference Finals, Game 4 for a perfect example. The man was on FIRE in the last five minutes, overcoming a seemingly insurmountable lead that the Thunder had. He made some of the most sloppy looking shots I have ever witnessed en route to victory, proving to me and countless others how much he wants to win the title.

However, the Heat is my pick to win it all. LeBron, as much as I am put off by his antics, is an absolute beast on the court, and Wade has beat Dallas in the finals before with a lesser team. I have been rooting for the Mavs since the Celtics' elimination (I am somewhat of a closet Mavs "fan"), but I cannot let my biases seep into my predictions. The Mavs have had a great year, but it feels like the dark possibility of a Heat dynasty is about to come to fruition.

Heat in six games.

With Cup Finals Looming... Why Not Us?

The Boston Bruins have reached the Cup Finals for the first time in 21 years. It is the first time in my lifetime that I will get to see the black and gold directly compete for the right to bring home Lord Stanley's Mug. The road to this point has been long and arduous, and the odds have been stacked against them from day one. Mixing in a little bit of my nostalgia for the Red Sox glory days, I can't help but ask the same infamous question in regards to this Bruins squad. Why not us?

There are plenty of reasons why the Bruins simply can't win the Cup against these highly talented Vancouver Canucks. Boston fans... just be happy they got you this far, right?

First, you have the Olympic hosting curse. If you don't believe in superstition, it really won't mean much to you. But if you are a little bit wacky, the evidence is quite staggering. In 1976, Montreal hosted the Olympics. When the next cup finals rolled around in 1977, it was the Habs who hoisted the Cup. In 1988, it was Calgary who hosted the Olympic games. The 1989 cup finals saw their Flames reach the promised land. With a third chance for a Canadian team to execute the trend, Vancouver -- the city which hosted the most recent Olympic games -- will look to bring the Cup back home to Canada for the first time since the 1993 Habs.

Then, you have the special teams advantage. The Canucks have an unstoppable power play and a phenomenal penalty kill. The Bruins have an anemic power play and a mediocre penalty kill. How can the B's overcome such a discrepancy? Game, set, match. There's no way it can happen, I guess.

The Canucks won the Presidents Trophy, finishing with the best record, the most goals for, and the least goals against in the NHL. Their top-end talent will destroy the Bruins, and the B's won't be able to match up. Unlike Tampa, the Canucks have top end talent joined with forward depth and a strong defensive core. The B's will have their hands full once again.

And perhaps the most alarming, for those of you who buy into simulations, is the incredible forecast of EA Sports NHL 11 simulation engine. Back in October, the simulator picked the Canucks to win the Presidents Trophy and power their way to the Cup Finals in a big matchup with none other than the Boston Bruins, where they would win in a seven-game thriller. In the next go-around this week, the simulation engine predicted the same outcome as it did seven months ago, picking the Canucks in seven games to bring the Cup back to Canada for the first time in 18 years. The simulation has been correct on 13 out of 14 series in the playoffs thus far. Those are some tough odds to defeat.

I wonder what the credentials are for NHL simulations. I mean, each player is given a rating, right? I'm sure the Sedins are in the 90s. Krejci and Horton may have earned high-80s ratings in the updated roster. Chara and Thomas, as well as Luongo, for that matter, also probably notched into the 90s. By and large, the Canucks are most likely the better team on paper. And by that token, they're more likely to win a simulation.

Fortunately for the Bruins, the games aren't played on paper. Why not us?

Fans groaned sighs of disapproval when the B's failed to trade the old, washed-up Tim Thomas in the offseason. They were written off when Marc Savard went down with another concussion. Fanatics and critics alike called for the heads of Michael Ryder and Chris Kelly in the very early stages of the playoffs. People started calling to make tee times for the B's after they lost games one and two at home against the Habs. A week or so later, when the Habs forced a Game 7, everybody explained that the Bruins simply couldn't win the big game. The heartbreak in the life of a Bruins fan would continue.

After sweeping the Flyers and silencing the critics who believed they would blow another 3-0 lead, some attributed the win to lousy goaltending and asserted that the Lightning would be a much stiffer and nearly impossible challenge. That vaunted 1-3-1 neutral zone structure would suck the life out of the Bruins in much the same way it did to the Caps. And after a brutal 5-2 beatdown in the series opener, the tee times were being scheduled once again.

The comeback kids never surrendered, though, sparked by a huge coming out party for Tyler Seguin in just his second career postseason game. But when the B's failed to put away the Lightning in Game 6, the same critics raised the same concerns as they did back in the Montreal series. They just can't win the big one. They can't win those crucial seventh games. It's been a good run, Bruins fans. Hit the golf course.

Yet here we are. 28 teams have already teed off and shot a few rounds. Personally, I've played two rounds of golf this season. The same figure as the total number of game-winning Game 7 goals that Nathan Horton has tallied in the 2011 playoffs, sending his B's all the way to these very Cup Finals that we find ourselves preparing for right now.

To say the Bruins can't do it is pure blasphemy. They have scored goals and shut down offenses beyond all expectations. In fact, I think Vancouver might even be a better matchup in some ways than Tampa was. They aren't as fast and small, and they play a more physical style. That's the kind of game the Bruins play. If they continue to get great goaltending from Tim Thomas, great shut-down defense from their defensive pairs -- Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg in particular, shutting down Vancouver's top line -- and consistent scoring from their forward lines, they will be in great shape. Is the power play a concern? Obviously. It's a brutal power play. But who are we to keep asking about it? They've made it to the cup finals with an anemic power play. Let's just see how things unfold, shall we?

Either way, this series is poised to be absolutely exceptional. Two franchises who have been cup-deprived for longer than most of their fans can remember. Two cities who are crazy about their teams. Two arenas that will be absolutely rocking each night. It all begins on Wednesday night, and the Bruins have the odds stacked against them once again. They're even a 2-1 underdog in Vegas. They can't do it. People have been saying those words to this team all season and long before it as well. It's time for the Bruins to write their own history. Why not us?