2009 Conference Semifinals Picks

With the Hawks in the process of blowing out Miami in Game 7, the conference semifinals are all but set in stone. I'll give my second round picks in a second, but first it's time for a quick recap of my first round picks.

To recap, I'm using the scoring system from TrueHoop blogger Henry Abbott's Stat Geek Smackdown. The scoring system is 5 points for each correct series winner, plus 2 points if you get the number of games correct.

My picks
Cleveland over Detroit in 5 = 5 points
Boston over Chicago in 4 = 5 points
Orlando over Philadelphia in 6 = 7 points
Atlanta over Miami in 7 = 7 points
Los Angeles over Utah in 5 = 7 points
Denver over New Orleans in 7 = 5 points
San Antonio over Dallas in 6 = 0 points
Portland over Houston in 6 = 0 points
Round 1 total = 36 points

The two Western conference series that I missed surprised me. In retrospect, I'm mad at myself for not taking Houston with the experience edge they had over Portland. But I definitely didn't see Dallas knocking off the Spurs, especially in such easy fashion. I also should've taken that Cavs sweep, but I gave Detroit too much credit for past success.

Moving on to round two, I remain very confident that the Lakers and Cavaliers will have little trouble advancing. The other two series have more question marks. My picks are as follows:

Eastern Conference Semifinals
Cleveland over Atlanta in 5
Boston over Orlando in 7

Western Conference Semifinals
Los Angeles over Houston in 5
Denver over Dallas in 6