Welcome to the second installment of the in-depth playoff coverage of Premiere League!
Some surprises and some match ups went as expected; we will begin with the consolation side:
Tian(#9) defeats Stro(#12) 8 to 1, this was not really what I expected, as this match up was absolutely not close from the start, Tian had a landslide lead from the beginning and never looked back. Stro’s disappointing performance can be attributed to Rondo's poor play throughout the week and Gordon's late return.
Sizz(#11) defeats Sky (#10) 5-4, wow, a nail biter in which the outcome was not decided until the very last game of the week as Kobe clutches Sizz a steal to edge Sky out. Although I predicted Sky to win this, at the same time, this does not come up as too much of a surprise as Sizz does have the superior top end stud talent. It is also good to see Sizz still being active with his add/drops, a 2 time champ must have some pride after all!
BK Worms(#6) defeats B4life (#3) 5-3, another unbelievably close matchup, it was a very even battle between the two top slingers just as I had predicted. Players from both teams performed well, both teams really deserved to advance in my opinion, but unfortunately for B4life, he draws the short end of the stick this week – as BK worms, propelled by Mcgee’s ridiculous triple double, got consistent performances out of all his players whilst getting insanely good production from his streams (particular Kurt Thomas), was just in the end slightly too much for B4life to overcome. In fact, if not for Iggy missing the crucial game, this could very well have been a different result. Despite falling short, I think B4life can be proud of his season, as he really did end with quite a strong team.
Pete(#5) defeats OJMayo (#4) 6-3, Just as most people thought, Pete’s team was just too much for Mayo’s resilient but talent void team to handle – although Mayo did give a good fight throughout the week (matchup was tied halfway at one point), Pete seemed to have been pretty much in control. All in all though, Mayo had a very good season, and was much better than everyone expected, much props to him, there was definitely no shame in him losing to Pete, as he is a serious title contender.
Now on to round 2!
Consolation Playoffs
#10 Stro V #12 Sky - Battle for 11th place
Predicted winner:
Sky
#7 Vapid V #11 Sizz
I think this will be another very close matchup, both teams are fully healthy, with both managers seemingly determined to win the consolations – it is quite hard to predict who will be the victor. However, although you can never count out a team with Lebron and Kobe, in my personal opinion I think Vapid has the better team, and will have enough depth to overcome the dynamic duo of Sizz.
Predicted winner:
Vapid
#8 STAT V #9 Tian
This will also likely be another close exciting matchup, although I was honestly surprised at Tian’s dominance in the past week, Stat’s team is very stacked and talented – a team which I thought if he made the playoffs, would be a serious threat to win it all. However, unfortunately for Stat, a lot of his great stashes (such as Noah) was one of those high risk high pay off season moves which was just so close coming to fruition until ultimately falling short of his bid for playoffs. Because of this, even though he’s in the consolations, the talent on Stats team is every bit as good any team in the league. Talent which will probably be too much for Tian’s injury ravaged team to overcome.
Predicted winner:
Stat
Championship Playoffs
#4 Mayo V #3 Blife - Battle for 5th place
Predicted winner: Blife
#2 Truth V #6 BK Worms
Coming fresh off a great win against a tough opponent, BK Worms team is certainly not one that should be taken lightly, however, his players will need to once again bring their A+ games against one of the leagues most formidable team in Truth. BK’s team is quite unorthodox and is a tough matchup for anyone, however, Truth seems to be a bad matchup for him – it just seems 1 class above to me no matter how I see it. BK will definitely try his hardest to make me look bad and prove me wrong again, but the ‘can of Truth’ will be full of worms and too much for BK to handle.
Predicted winner:
Truth
#1 DZW V #4 Pete
As expected, Pete makes his way to the 2nd round with a convincing win over the fourth seed Mayo; Pete’s team is on fire riding on a six week win streak with tremendous momentum. On the other hand, DZW, the defending champion is literally in a world of hurt, injuries to Affalo, Amir Johnson, and now Kevin Love have ravaged his once unmatched team depth. His fate will depend heavily on Love’s injury status – but its definitely not looking good. As I said from the start, Pete was my dark horse pick to win it all, and it really might look like that way with his team looking so dominant. Look for DZW to give it his all and battle to the end, but it’ll take a borderline miracle for him to pull this off. Although its sad for me to say this, I think DZW’s repeat championship hopes will end this week.
Predicted winner:
Pete
There you have it folks! Good luck to everyone this week!
(Well, except for Pete
)
First Round Playoffs wrap up + Second Round Preview 2010-2011
