Thus sayeth the Dungeon Master

The die have been cast. The Basketball Geek rolled, calculated and divined what lies ahead in the 2009-2010 NBA season. There are many surprises. In fact, there are so many surprises that one might suspect the methods used to arrive at final prediction. I could have played it safe and picked Lakers/Cavs (that worked well last year...right) or I could take Lakers/Celtics so the NBA can run countless adds reminding us that they have the biggest rivalry in all of basketball...yawn. Who gets excited about that? I mean other than Laker, Cav and Celtic fans? (That's actually a lot of people....note to self....do a pro Laker/Cav/Celtic post in the near future). So this is what I have come up with. According to my trusty d20, the NBA season will play out like this:

In the Eastern Conference there will be some new comers to the playoff bracket. Indiana and Detroit will take the places of Philadelphia (who will finish 10th) and the '09 conference champions, the Orlando Magic (who will just miss the playoffs in 9th place). The rest of the seedings will go like this:

1. Atlanta
2. Detroit
3. Miami
4. Indiana
5. Chicago
6. Boston
7. Charlotte....???
8. Cleveland (I guess Lebron decides to play baseball).

In the Western conference, Phoenix will finish 9th and Utah 10th. That's possible I guess. The rest of the seedings will play out like this:

1. Dallas (I swear it was random)
2. Golden State
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. New Orleans
5. Denver
6. Portland
7. San Antonio
8. Houston (Yao & McGrady come back early?)

The d20 might have been a little crazy with picking Houston to finish ahead of the Suns and Jazz. Maybe it knows something we don't know.

So who wins the whole thing? I've got that too. Here's how the d20 predicts the playoffs will come out:

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Conference Quarter Finals

East

• Atlanta over Cleveland in 6
• Detroit over Charlotte in 6
• Boston over Miami in 5
• Indiana over Chicago in 5

West

• Dallas over Houston in 7
• Golden State over San Antonio 6
• Portland over Los Angeles Lakers in 6
• Denver over New Orleans in 6

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Conference Semi Finals

East

• Indiana over Atlanta in 7
• Boston over Detroit in 7

West

• Dallas over Denver in 7
• Portland over Golden State in 6

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Conference Finals

East

• Detroit over Indiana in 6

West

• Portland over Dallas (told you it was random) in 5.

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And finally....what does the Dungeon Master's d20 predict for the NBA Finals in 2010?

• Detroit vs. Portland and Portland comes out on top in six games.

There you have it. Portland will be your 2010 champion. Is it a gutsy call? You bet. Is it a safe call? Absolutely not. But I'm going to put $10 down right now on Portland and Detroit in the finals because if that hits, I can retire.

For the record, I'm not a real Dungeon Master so it's possible that I rolled the d20 incorrectly. So...if the predictions turn out to be wrong, you can blame it on my lack of skill.