[Izulde]

The Rockets, as you may remember, are the team that has become loaded with high quality young swingmen over the years. Although Will Baron left last summer, they should still be pretty stacked at the 2/3 combo. I'm a little rushed for time, so I'll simply report the position previews and predictions for the article.

Point Guard
Nolan Hill vs. Filip Mikulic
Hill burst on to the scene after being traded to the Nuggets and appears to be the next in a GM Jestor-hidden gem line of quality PGs. While not as consistent as Zelipe Gama, he's a solid shooter, passer and defender, averaging 9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in the regular season, despite only starting 54 games.

Mikulic is a PG in a SG's body (6'6, 221 lbs). Phenomenal scorer who averaged 20.3 points a game, he also managed 7.8 assists during the first 82. The one liability is a big one: He can't play defense for anything and even against the wildly inconsistent Hill, that could be a score evener.

Advantage: Draw

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Georghios Kairis
Yeaton struggled a bit down the stretch with injuries, but the 32 year old, two-time defending Finals MVP is back to full health after averaging 23 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals in the regular season. Denver's hopes for a third straight title will once again fall on his shoulders.

Somewhat worryingly for Nuggets fans, Kairis is 6'6, 205 lbs and plays decent, if not spectacular defense. Throughout Yeaton's career, he's struggled against bigger opponents who can actually play some D. Kairis, of course, is known for his offense, averaging 18 points, 5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks this year. Of course, some say the former #1 overall pick is overrated and wins his awards based on reputation.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward
Victor Gipson vs. Mark White
An absolute beast at 7'2, 303 lbs, despite being an inside shooter with no perimeter shot to speak of, Gipson still shot 53.9% in the regular season for 11.5 points, along with 7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. He's a great rebounder and a dominating shotblocker, in addition to being extremely tough.

White's a fantastic rebounder in his own right and plays good technical defense, along with his well-executed third offensive option role. He averaged 14.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in the regular season, but at 6'8, 197 lbs, he's going to find it a little difficult going up against the Gipson behemoth.

Advantage: Draw

Power Forward
Mike Vines vs. Brandan Wright
Vines really stepped up it down the stretch and is probably the most in-form Nugget now. An absolutely dominating defender, he can also pour on the points as his recent run shows. Averaged 15.4 points and nearly a block and a steal per game. His defensive prowess is going to be a key part of Denver's hopeful championship run and unlike Emeka Okafor of days yore, Vines is actually an offensive threat.

Wright is able to do everything pretty well and is a good defender in his own right. The perfect role player, he averaged 11.6 points, 1.6 blocks and 1.1 steals. There's no real weaknesses in his game, but he's going to have a hard time scoring against Vines.

Advantage: Nuggets

Center
Jonte Jones vs. Winston Smith
Jones has historically been dominant in the playoffs, but he's not often had the supporting cast to make a deep run. The closest he's come to a title is the Mavericks 2012 Finals appearance, where the Raptors took the championship with ease. There's been some question about how well this perennial MVP candidate works within Denver's system, even with his 22.2 point, 12.2 rebound, 1.3 block, 1.4 steal regular season. This postseason will go a long way to answering that.

Smith can defend and rebound a little, but that's it. He has no other worthy skills and he's a locker room malcontent as well. 7.8 points and 7.3 rebounds in the regular season. At 7'4, 267 lbs, he's also somewhat spindly, which could be problematic against the muscular, determined Jones, even given his defensive talents.

Advantage: Nuggets

Bench
David "50 Ninja" Jackson averaged 9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in the regular season. He's one of those players who ironically has better numbers as a 6th man than as a starter, but on the other hand, he's not happy when he has to take a bench role Excellent high percentage shooter who does everything pretty well, but not outstanding in any one area. Carlton Goree was a great trade deadline pickup, averaging 6.8 points, 4.1 assists and a steal between Sacramento, Toronto and Denver this season. Another underrated passer and scorer, Goree's also an uncanny ball thief and so much more consistent than Hill, it's highly likely that Hill could be dealt in the offseason to make Goree the unchallenged starter. Tzvetan Kishishev is an excellent fundamental defender who's developing a solid offensive game, evidenced by his 6.2 points a game off the bench.

Ben Larson reminds people a little of Marvin Williams. Extremely versatile player, able to fill in at every position except center, Larson is a well-balanced player, but doesn't do anything exceptionally well. Still, his versatility translated into 8.3 points in the regular season. Kevin Sessoms is an unremarkable player, but the former 2nd round pick (12th pick, New Jersey, 2011), still found a way to average 6.8 points and 5.4 rebounds this year. Duez Walker, a former Nugget, is out with a broken elbow, which is going to hurt Houston's already lackluster bench.

Advantage: Nuggets

Final Thoughts
On paper, Denver looks like they're going to run away this series, but something's telling us that the Rockets are going to keep it close. The Nuggets will still win; it's just going to take them longer than everyone thinks.
Prediction: Nuggets in 6

Not the most ringing endorsement, but I'll take it. Houston's a pretty tough matchup, all things considered.

Game One
No problems in this one, though. The best highlights Houston can manage are 11 points and 10 rebounds from Mark White and 10 bench points from Kevin Sessoms. We easily counter with 22 points from Mateen Yeaton, 20 points from Jonte Jones and Carlton Goree's 12 bench points. A blowout and a yawner blowout at that. Still, we'll take it.
Final - Houston 79 Denver 103

Game Two
The Rockets' starters have looked absolutely terrible these first two games, as reserve Teofil Shubinsky's 12 points are the only thing for Houston's fans to get really excited about. Lots for our fans to love, though, as Mateen Yeaton shoots his way to 33 points, Mike Vines scores 20, Jonte Jones and Victor Gipson double their fun with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 12 points, 12 rebounds respectively and Carlton Goree caps it all off with another 12 bench points. 30 point rout and we're looking terrific at 2-0.
Final - Houston 85 Denver 115

Game Three
With the transfer to Houston, we should see much more competitive games. On the one hand, the Rockets finally have a truly good performance out of a starter, as Filip Mikulic scores 20, but on the other hand, that's as good as it gets for them. When Jonte Jones is putting up 29 points and 14 rebounds and David Jackson's doubling off the bench with 12 points and 11 rebounds, there's not really much hope for Houston's chances of victory. 3-0 and it looks like we've the sweep well in hand.
Final - Denver 107 Houston 86

Game Four
The most lopsided game of the series, as the Rockets are just completely whipped out there on the court. Georghios Kairis finally breaks through for 21 points and Teofil Shubinsky puts up 10 points off the bench, but Kairis did absolutely nothing this series to get rid of the overrated label some apply to him. Conversely, Jonte Jones reigns supreme with 28 points and 18 rebounds, Victor Gipson has 17 points and 11 rebounds and we get a slew of sensational showings from the second team. Carlton Goree is the main man with 18 points, 10 assists and 5 steals, but David Jackson pulls down 10 boards and Al Thornton dogpiles it with 10 points. All in all, it's a complete homerun and a fitting end to the sweep.
Final - Denver 126 Houston 88

The Raptors and Magic are the only other teams to sweep. There's some fascinating results going on right now in some series and I'm quite happy to sit at home, eat popcorn and watch some of the other games.

Detroit sends home the Lebron-less Cavs in five games and in one of the most satisfying Game 5s I've ever watched, the 8 seed Lakers knock off the top seed Jazz. Take that, Utah! I'm extremely relieved, to be honest, because the Jazz have had a really good team the last few seasons, especially after stealing away Chris Gearhart.

Every other series goes the full 7 games, which is making me just a touch nervous.

The Knicks avoid an early exit by overcoming the Bucks, the reeling Kings just barely manage to scrape together a victory over the Timberwolves to set up an All-Pacific conference semi-final and the Portland Trailblazers upset the Mavericks in Dallas!!!!.

Marcelino Augusto had his worst playoff outing since his rookie season, averaging 17.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 0.3 steals on 46.2% shooting. To put that in perspective, he's never averaged below 20 points since his rookie year, the rebounding total was his lowest since his rookie year, he's never averaged below 2 blocks a game in the playoffs, nor less than a steal per game. The 46.2% shooting is also his second worst in his career, next to his 45.8% rookie year postseason.

Ah, how sweet it is. Poetic justice, indeed.