[123fakestreet]

How they got here: Sacramento barely beat out Memphis for top spot while the Hornets came 8th in the battle for 7-8-9.

Rosters: http://www.basketballboards.net/foru...d.php?t=310276

Sacramento:
Starters: Mike Bibby, Kirk Hinrich, Erick Dampier, Pau Gasol, Andrei Kirilenko
BENCH: Gary Payton, Morris Peterson, David Harrison, Austin Croshere, Eric Williams, Sasha Vujacic, Cedric Simmons

New Orleans:
Starters: Andre Miller, Mike Miller, Brad Miller, Anderson Varejao, LeBron James
BENCH: Rick Brunson, Matt Carroll, Martynas Andriuskevicius, Tyrus Thomas, Gerald Green, Mardy Collins, Zarko Cabarkapa

I encourage both teams to write a write-up of how they will handle this matchup. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE FOR YOUR OWN TEAM.

Anybody is allowed to vote, regardless of conference, or whether you're in the draft or not. We invite everybody and anybody to vote.

[ravor44]

I love this matchup...for it has a potential to be an upset...let me breakdown the matchups...

Sacramento vs. New Orleans

Starters:
Mike Bibby vs. Andre Miller - Advantage: Sacramento, but not a huge margin
Kirk Hinrich vs. Mike Miller - Advantage: Tie, they can really use each others weaknesses for their advantage. Miller bullies Hinrich on offense and vice versa....
Erick Dampier vs. Brad Miller - Advantage: New Orleans, Miller will just take Dampier in the perimeter and Damp can't score on Miller's weak defense...
Pau Gasol vs. Anderson Varejao - Advantage: Sacramento, its obvious...
Andrei Kirilenko vs. LeBron James - Advantage: New Oreleans, Well, its Lebron James...

BENCH:
Gary Payton vs Rick Brunson - Sacramento
Morris Peterson vs. Gerald Green - New Orleans, Gerald is way better the Mo Pete
David Harrison vs. Zarko Cabarkapa - Tie...both unproven
Austin Croshere vs. Martynas Andriuskevicius - Sacramento, Croshere is a veteran and can hit shots
Eric Williams vs. Matt Caroll - hmmmm...no one
Sasha Vujacic vs. Mardy Collins - Nah...both unproven...I say its a tie
Cedric Simmons vs. Tyrus Thomas - New Orleans, Tyrus already proven it against Simmons on the NCAA..

to sum it up....

I have New Orleans winning this match, individual matchups might go to Sacramento but King James having a better supporting cast can win it...New Orleans in 7

[jericho]

This is a great matchup, with two teams that are among the best-composed in this league. New Orleans definitely should've finished higher than 6th, given that Lebron has a better supporting cast than he does on the real-life Cleveland team whom some wonks are calling a near-contender.

I just love Sacramento's squad--a starting five of (mostly) high-level role players who are all happy to play their roles. That's worth a lot. I don't love Hinrich at SG, but having Peterson coming off the bench helps a lot.

But it's tough to go against Lebron, especially when he's got a first-rate shooter to spread the floor for him and a pass-first point guard who won't get in his way and who can generally hold his own on defense. Brad Miller's high post game means Lebron can basically operate wherever and however he wants, and Kirilenko in my opinion has earned his reputation as a defensive terror more for his help work than for directly shutting down the Lebrons of the world.

And just when I'm about to give the series to New Orleans, I look at their bench and gag. None of them are proven contributors, and it's anybody's guess how much Gerald Green and Tyrus Thomas are really ready to do this year.

Still, this is the playoffs, and it's reasonable to discount a bad bench in light of the presence of a big superstar who can carry his team under most any circumstance.

This is a tough, tough call, but I'll go with New Orleans with the upset in 7.

[BeatBox]

even though kirk hinrich is my starting SG i can also move him as my back up PG; therefore, putting Morris Peterson as my starting SG..... depending on my opponents team (mainly there size and weakness), and the fact that both of them can play D as well.

In this situation i would start Morris Peterson at SG and my backup PG would be Hinrick

[BeatBox]

Originally Posted by ravor44

I love this matchup...for it has a potential to be an upset...let me breakdown the matchups...

Sacramento vs. New Orleans

Starters:
Mike Bibby vs. Andre Miller - Advantage: Sacramento, but not a huge margin
Kirk Hinrich vs. Mike Miller - Advantage: Tie, they can really use each others weaknesses for their advantage. Miller bullies Hinrich on offense and vice versa....
Erick Dampier vs. Brad Miller - Advantage: New Orleans, Miller will just take Dampier in the perimeter and Damp can't score on Miller's weak defense...
Pau Gasol vs. Anderson Varejao - Advantage: Sacramento, its obvious...
Andrei Kirilenko vs. LeBron James - Advantage: New Oreleans, Well, its Lebron James...

BENCH:
Gary Payton vs Rick Brunson - Sacramento
Morris Peterson vs. Gerald Green - New Orleans, Gerald is way better the Mo Pete
David Harrison vs. Zarko Cabarkapa - Tie...both unproven
Austin Croshere vs. Martynas Andriuskevicius - Sacramento, Croshere is a veteran and can hit shots
Eric Williams vs. Matt Caroll - hmmmm...no one
Sasha Vujacic vs. Mardy Collins - Nah...both unproven...I say its a tie
Cedric Simmons vs. Tyrus Thomas - New Orleans, Tyrus already proven it against Simmons on the NCAA..

to sum it up....

I have New Orleans winning this match, individual matchups might go to Sacramento but King James having a better supporting cast can win it...New Orleans in 7

How could u say green is better than Mo Pete? Green has not been a proven star yet compared to the ironman - Mo pete. maybe if he had more playing time with Boston then that will be a different story....otherwise ur just living up with the hype.