in the knick of time

today's the day (for more reasons than i'll even touch on in this blog)...

the nba playoffs begin. to me, this day's importance is up there with the first day of spring. i basically wait all winter for it, using fantasy basketball as a way to distract me while i wait. and it's finally here. granted, the last few seasons have ended with more fizzle than pop, i have high hopes for this year's championship sweepstakes.

speaking of sweeps, i really only foresee one sweep in the first round...Sorry ATL :( though you will be my home someday, boston is hungry. hungry because larry bird's NOT walking thru that door...hungry because we never saw Len Bias in the Celtic green...hungry because 18-1 just isn't good enough when Brady's behind the wheel...hungry because finishing with the best record in the league is nowhere near good enough for KG...


the cavs-wiz series should be a good one. emphasis on should. there's just no telling if either of these teams will bring their A-game, or if their A-game is even good enough. Having 3 legit all-stars on your squad normally is enough to punch your ticket into the Conference Finals, but with "Agent Zero" at the helm your guess is as good as mine. simply stated, LeBron just doesn't have enough help. Cavs have bounced the Wiz from the race for the chip the last two seasons. though i think this one's a coin flip, i say wizards get their revenge in 6.

orlando- toronto. not much worth saying here (no disrespect). these two teams are truly on the verge. other than previewing future epic battles between bosh and howard, i probably won't be paying much attention to this one. toronto with a slight edge in terms of depth and experience. orlando avoids a sweep, but gets to start vacationing after game 5.

Pistons-Sixers. these teams split the season series at 2 games apiece. sixers really had no business even making the playoffs, but it is the Eastern Conference after all, where being 8 games under .500 is just good enough...Pistons are playing some of their best ball right now, and after a couple seasons that ended in disappointment (which is likely to continue happening with Flip Saunders on the payroll), they've learned to hit their stride at this time of the year. however, since larry brown's departure, pistons have not quite had the "killer instinct". they take games off and will need 6 to dispose of the up-and-coming sixers.

Out West, things will be more interesting. i dare not use the term upset because the fact is, only 7 games separate the 1st and 8th seed (compared to a whopping 29 game difference back east). Many of these series could go either way. Of course, as i type that i must begin my Western Conference preview by saying i think there's no chance the nuggets get out of the first round. my sincerest apologies to melo but you're going to need to dust off the dvd of the 2003 Syracuse national championship because that's the closest to a title you will be for a while. that is, unless your agent finds a way to get you to the east so you can possibly play against LeBron as many as 4 times during the regular season. Honestly, the Iverson-Melo combo is exciting regular season basketball, but falls way short of getting it done in the playoffs. Lakers are probably one of the biggest surprises of the season, benefitting from the head-scrathing deal that landed them Gasol. personal preferences aside, i think Kobe should be a lock for MVP, though they may need to rename the award after chris paul's 07-08 season. Lakers will give away a game, with the hopes that Bynum will be able to get back into mid-season form, as he also still needs time to learn to play alongside Gasol.

Utah-Houston. t-mac might be cursed, but the jury's still out. this year was his best chance to get out of the first round, but then Yao goes down like Frazier. the rockets still manage to assemble a historic win streak (mostly without Yao) and i think Utah was their best first-round matchup. However, Utah is so methodical. This one could go 7. Look for Deron Williams to outshine skip-to-my-lou.

Spurs-Suns. they say revenge is a dish best served cold. i prefer mine piping hot, straight out the microwave...Suns have not been able to get over the hump these past few years, so they shake things up a bit and gamble on Shaq. they'll be able to see immediately if this move pays dividends, as they acquired Shaq, in part, to help them get past the Spurs. they most certainly didn't expect to have to face them in the opening series though. Spurs are the champs and will be so until they are beaten. unfortunately for them, they're not playing great right now, and are really suscpetible to an early round exit. i don't see how this one doesn't go 7, and I'm going out on a limb to say Suns will get it done.

Hornets-Mavs. cp3 has single-handedly carried his franchise from irrelavence last year to almost having the best record in the West this year. his lack of playoff experience may be a factor, just don't expect it be a huge one. the phrase "act like you been here before" immediately comes to mind. and though New Orleans is always likely to be Saints town, with each passing game, many are falling in love with the Hornets, who not long ago were rumored to be on their way to Oklahoma City. as far as the mavs go, you can now look up understatement in the dictionary, and it'll say: the dallas mavericks 06-07 season ended in disappointment. counter-intuitive as it may appear, i think the mavs are in a much better position this year. as the 7th seed, they're not really expected to win (though i'm positive that memo hasn't crossed Mark Cuban's desk). Dirk plays much better in low-pressure situations. both Kidd and Dirk have NBA Finals experience, whereas I believe only Stojakovic has playoff experience on the Hornets, and something tells me his teammates are satisfied with his 3pt production, but aren't really looking to him for guidance. these teams also split their season series, so expect nothing less than that. Dallas in 7.

so that should hold you over for the next 2 1/2 weeks as the first round plays out. by the way, does anyone but me remember when teams would play back to back nights in the playoffs? do we really need 2-3 days between games? of course, those are rhetorical questions, as a lot of tv revenue is lost when all games can't be aired...

my goal was to document my first round picks prior to the actual start of the playoffs. and with 3 hours to go, i actually feel like i'm finishing early. now there's a feeling i rarely experienced back in school. my style was more of the let me wake up "early" that morning to start studying for that exam, or if i skip the class before it, i should have enough time to type up that paper that's due. working better under pressure was the excuse i would commonly cite, but the truth is, doing any work at all is better than not, so though I was a procrastinator i was definitely NOT a liar...


until next time kids---