Colin Cowherd, the NBA radio host from Fox Sports, went on his show last night and made some self-proclaimed “bold” predictions about these upcoming playoffs. Some may be shocking, but all of them seem to have a reasonable rationale.
First, he talks about Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. He predicts the Clippers will win the series in 7 games despite Jokic averaging a triple-double in the series. Here’s why:
“First of all, if he’s not on the floor, Denver’s bad. He has to play, after Zubac, the Clippers have no center depth. Ben Simmons is their backup center. So he’s going to have to log 40 minutes, and he’s [Jokic] going to put up massive numbers. He’s going to have an all-time playoff series. I think the Clippers win.”
Second, he spoke about the Rockets-Warriors series. He says the No. 2 seed Rockets will beat the No. 7 seed Warriors. To a casual fan, the No. 2 seed being favored to beat the No. 7 seed will not be a surprising take.
So Warriors’ loss does not seem to be a statistically bold take.
Never before has a 7 seed team played and won in the NBA Finals, so a Warriors loss seems imminent in the playoffs. But playoff experience plays a key role in a team’s chances of proceeding in the playoffs. Cowherd explained why he picked the Rockets to pull off this ‘upset’.
“I think the Rockets upset the Warriors. Amen Thompson is their best athlete [Houston], and he guarded Steph the last time they played. He’s a terrific player, terrific athlete. The roster is young, athletic. They defend the three, a great rebounding team, young. They will not lose energy over the course of this series. And I think the Warriors are unbelievably Steph and Jimmy Butler-reliant. And the Kuminga issue hurts. They need Kuminga to play real minutes with his length against the Warriors. And now he’s a DNP, coach’s decision. Rockets upset the Warriors”, he said.
Third, Colin predicted that the Pistons will ‘get hammered’ by the Knicks, even though Pistons won their regular season series 3-1.
“The Detroit Pistons will have more ejections than wins against the Knicks. First of all they’re going to struggle to stop Jalen Brunson…Secondly, they’re a very young emotional team, is Detroit. They led the Eastern Conference with 10 player ejections, and they got a chip on their shoulder. And New York is a physical team and a chatty team at times, and they’re going to frustrate you know what out of the Pistons…And for the record, the Knicks do not play the Cavs or the Celtics well. They’re 34-10 against the rest of the East, so they’re going to hammer the Pistons,” he said.
Fourth, Cowherd predicted Anthony Edwards would play like he’s in the prime of his basketball career and have multiple 40-point games. Nonetheless, that will not be enough to carry the Timberwolves to the next round as the Lakers will focus on defending all other means of offense and let Edwards do whatever he wants, according to Cowherd.
“I think it’ll be a wildly entertaining series, but I just don’t think the T-Wolves can consistently initiate enough offense. They’ll have too many if not wasted possessions, too many difficult, clunky possessions. The Lakers between Austin Reeves playing the best basketball of his career, Luka is in better shape, LeBron’s rested, ready to go. They’re going to get more easy looks, easier transition offense, and I think the Lakers are going to win that series in six”, he further added.
Where We Stand On Colin Cowherd’s Predictions
While Colin may claim that his predictions are bold, they are very statistically safe bets.
Needless to say, we agree with the predictions mostly, except for the prediction on the Pistons-Knicks series. The Pistons head into the series having won their regular-season series against the Knicks, 3-1. Just as the Rockets are a young team to watch out for in terms of pulling off an upset, one cannot simply sleep on the Pistons having the ability to do the same in the Eastern Conference.
Cade Cunningham averaged 30.8 points, 8.3 assists, and 5.0 rebounds in 4 games against the Knicks this season. Experience may still not be in the Pistons’ favor, but they certainly can push the series to seven games with a total of two ejections or under. Hence, proving Cowherd’s prediction wrong.
