How the 2011-2012 playoffs’ picture will be different from the last NBA season? (Part-1)
Last season, the Dallas Mavericks surprised every other NBA team and won the Larry O’Brien trophy in style. They defeated the mighty Miami Heat on June 12th and won the National Basketball Association (NBA) championship
after 31 years of its franchise history.
The 2010-2011 NBA season was full of excitement where number of teams surprised and impressed with their tremendous performances. Not only couple of teams surprisingly qualified for the playoffs but those particular teams also
did very well in the post season.
However, currently the league is locked over a labour dispute with the players association and the 2011-2012 season is in jeopardy. But if the lockout is lifted from the players, the next season will start on time and the struggle
to win the NBA title will again result in a tremendous entertainment for basketball lovers across the world.
Here is an overview of next season‘s post season contenders and the teams which are in danger of not returning to the playoffs.
Dallas Mavericks:
The Dallas Mavericks are the current NBA champions and preparing very hard to repeat last season’s performance in 2011-2012 season. They have still a very good roster to start the next season and likely to qualify once again for
the post season in 2012.
The Mavericks’ forward Dirk Nowitzki along with Jason Terry and Jason Kidd are the three key players who will try to give their team another chance to win the ultimate battle in the NBA finals. The Mavericks’ management is also
looking very keen regarding some of its free agents. Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler and J.J. Barea were part of the last season’s championship winning team but this offseason, these three become free agents.
On the other hand, the Mavericks do not want to lose its potential talent and planning to retain these players. Although, these players are not given any potential new contracts yet, but as soon as the lockout ends in the league,
the Mavericks’ management will try its best to retain these three players to make their playoffs’ push more strong.
Oklahoma City Thunder:
Oklahoma City Thunder had a tremendous run in the 2010-2011 season and won total 55 games in the regular season. They were tremendous from start of the season and headed to the post season as fourth seed from the Western Conference.
The Thunder’s star player Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant impressed many with their individual tremendous performances and helped their team to play at every stage of the competition with total determination.
The Thunder entered into the post season with a winning average of 0.671 and played tremendously in the early stages of its playoff run. The Thunder might have progressed further into the post season, but facing the Mavericks in
the Western Conference Finals proved lethal for them as they lost bitterly from the eventual NBA champions.
However, the Oklahoma City Thunder is trying its best not to repeat those mistakes which cost them a bitter defeat last season. The Thunder’s lethal trio of Westbrook, Durant and Kendrick Perkins are also extremely tough for any
NBA side to handle. And in these three’s presence, the Thunder still has a great chance in 2011-2012 season to make a trip once again into the playoffs.
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