We know you’ve seen him put Skip Bayless in his place. When it comes to sports, Joey knows his stuff. Last month, we spoke to Budden’s Slaughterhouse group mate, Royce Da 5’9” to get his picks before UFC 159’s epic showdown between Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen. Now that the NBA Playoffs are well underway, we hit up Budden to find out who he thinks is coming out of both conferences. Is he a homer for his beloved Knicks? Will Miami repeat? Joey weighs in below:

[Editor’s note: This interview took place Tuesday evening, shortly before the Knicks lost Game 4 to the Indiana Pacers]

Game 3 was easily one of the most frustrating games I’ve ever had to endure. But you know what? JR Smith, he’s been in a funk. Shumpert’s fighting an injury. Nobody wants to say it but I think Tyson Chandler’s still battling with that neck injury that plagued him at the end of the season. They’ve got some injury woes. It’s an old squad but I don’t think they could play a worse game than they played in Game 3, and they only lost by 10. I just don’t think Indiana has the firepower to get it done. They scored 82 points and they did enough on the defensive end to win the game, but I don’t think the Knicks will continue to have these scoring woes.

So in the East, I got Miami and New York, with Miami probably advancing to the finals. That’s my brain saying that, not my heart. I’ve got the Grizzlies versus the Warriors in the Western conference finals and I think the Grizzlies will be able to slow them down. I’d love to be wrong about that. I’d love to see Golden State in the finals but the Grizzlies are just super tough.

I’d love to say Miami repeats, but Wade looks really hurt, and Memphis has three of the top 10 defensive players in the league. I think those three will be able to do as good of a job on Lebron as anybody, so that’s anybody’s series at that point. I like Memphis, and I think that they can get anybody to play their style of ball, which is very slow. I don’t think Miami will have so many fast break points against them. I think these guys deserve it. I said Mike Conley was a bust coming out of school and he’s proved me to be like, totally, totally wrong. He looks amazing. Zach [Randolph], I loved him when he was in New York. Mark Gasol, I wanted him in New York. Those guys got a team over there and you gotta give them credit. This is all without Rudy Gay, who everybody said they needed.

Man...I’m going to say Miami in seven, BUT if Wade is hurt, Memphis in seven. Either way it’s going seven games.

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