Looking ahead to the conference finals

Well, what do you think? Is two out of four good, bad or indifferent when it comes to predicting playoff series?

For the conference semifinals, I predicted the Lynx over the Storm and the Sparks to beat the Mercury in the West. In the East I picked two upsets, Indiana over Chicago and Washington over Atlanta.

I was half right.

We’ll get into this more as the week goes on, but after watching the Phoenix-L.A. game last night my first impression is that this Mercury team plays much better defense with Russ Pennell as their head coach, and I think they will be a very formidable opponent for the Lynx. The Mercury is 11-5, including playoffs, since Pennell took over for the fired Corey Gaines, and Phoenix is playing with a lot of confidence.

The Lynx went 5-0 vs. Phoenix this season, but they haven’t played since Pennell took over, so it will be a different Mercury team this time around.  I haven’t decided how I’m going to predict this series yet.

But in the east…

Indiana is in the process of duplicating its playoff run last year. The situation is so similar. A so-so regular season. Injuries to overcome. But the Fever’s rough-and-tumble, defensive style is well-suited to the playoffs. Watch out for the Fever.

Atlanta showed nice balance winning last night in a game where Angel McCcoughtry struggled with her shot. But I’ll say it now. I believe the Fever, led by Tameka Catchings will shut down McCoughtry and the Dream and advance to the finals to defend its title. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets done in two games.

That’s about it for now. I’ll get back to you after practice this afternoon.