Denver v New Orleans should be a great series and Dallas v Spurs will be a good one to watch.

Also, any certainties/upsets in that lot?

I think Boston are looking shaky... could go out in round 1 or 2.

Looking forward to Atlanta vs Miami. I'd love to see Wade drag the Heat through...

Portland vs Houston is a great matchup and should be very good viewing.

Denver vs New Orleans should also be a tightly contested series IMO.

would Cleveland really prefer to play Detroit? Atlanta, Miami, Philly, Chicago seems to be easier to handle.

Who plays who in rd 2? winner of what v winner of what?
I'm assuming they structure it so that seeds 1 and 2 in each Conf. don't face off until the Conf. finals?

Any ideas.

All ya need to know is that LA is going to play Cleveland in the Finals ebtween the 2 greatest players Kobe and LeBron

COME ON ORLANDO!!!!!

They need to get past the first round. But even that looks shaky with Hedo down.

AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Correction... the two best players in the league are Kobe and Wade.

Shaq misses the playoffs for the first time in how many years??

the second round of cavs heat (wade bron) and orlando boston are 2 very intriguing matchups

Who plays who in rd 2? winner of what v winner of what?
I'm assuming they structure it so that seeds 1 and 2 in each Conf. don't face off until the Conf. finals?

Any ideas.

I'm thinking Portland-Houston is going to be a tough series for someone to lose! Houston have the season series, but Portland have homecourt and the twin-headed monster to counter Yao.

I'll feel a bit sorry for Houston if they go out in the first round AGAIN, but I really want to see Portland's young turks have a Cinderella run to get a shot at the Lakers! They have owned Kobe's toy boys this season so it would be interesting to see them get a shot when it matters!

first time shaw misses the playoffs ever

Dallas could hurt The Spurs Mark My Words

Kidd is playing out of his skin

watch out for jj barea as an X factor

Beantown...one things for sure...we will never see Kobe or any Laker get carried off in a wheelchair like Paul Pierce

Portland did get the better of the Lakers in the regular season, but we all know, playoffs are a different story

As a Lakers man, im not too happy bout playing Utah first up...this one could go to 6 or 7

Watch ou 4 Miami!!!

Wade is awesome & on a mission...

Fezlington- Honestly I'm not exactly rapted about us playing Jazz first but then who you'd want in the West?

The series I'm now really interested in is Chicago V Celtics.

KG is gone for the playoffs..

the NBA is so predicatble. all the matchups don't really matter - it's all geared to a Kobe v LeBron showdown in the end unless either guy gets injured. You think in this sort of economy the NBA is going to risk 2 smaller market teams in its biggest stage? I think not - why do you think cleveland has home court all the way - we know LA should take care of business in the West... with KG not 100% and with the NBA already celebrating their Lakers-Celtics rivival - its time for them to have star vs star

Cleveland has HCA because they topped the league, not because the NBA engineered some sort of convenient standings.

They instead build the brands of their stars to the point where almost any match-up will provide a newsworthy face-off at various points of the playoffs - Howard vs Duncan vs Yao, Wade vs LeBron vs Kobe vs Allen, etc - so many decent options.

(And it's a bit more impressive than Crosswell vs Gibson, you have to admit.)

Thanks Clarky

Yeah good one dcanwade, how dare the best two players on the best two teams in the NBA (regular season record) possibly make it to the NBA finals! That just doesn't sound normal to me.

Agree that Kidd is playing fantastic ball at the moment. was surprised to hear that he is shooting +40% on 3's this season. Who sold Kidd a jumpshot?

will be a great veteran series, but I think the play of guys like Rojer Mason and Dampier will be a key.

Keen to see more of Portland, and hope they are the yoiung team that goes deep. Screw Houston - I can't stand Artest.

I really want to see KG arrive for the playoofs on crutches, then do a KG-crazy-face and dominate Chigaco.

dcanwade, "all the matchups don't really matter"?! You really believe that? As Isaac said, they earned it because they deserved it, through playing tough all year. Big markets don't always get HCA.

If you really think the NBA has that much control over the results, why would they have let San Antonio and Detroit play so much in the finals? When they played eachother, that was pretty low TV rating. Great for the basketball fan, not so great for the average punter.

In any case, some of the earlier, more even matchups will be more interesting than some of the later ones, I think. If you are a basketball fan, I think its a fun playoffs, much more interesting than a few years ago.

no what's not normal was when 2 of the best teams in the last few years - Detroit & San Antonio made it to the Finals - great matchup - but was not the big seller the NBA was hoping for - so low and behold no more of that - they tried Spurs - Cavs and found LeBron was nowhere near ready (at that stage) - then decided to revive the LA - Celtics rivarly by getting Gasol & Garnett traded to those teams for peanuts - AND you got great interest in the NBA again !!

Love it how they had flashbacks of Magic v Bird - even before either teams made the finals all set and ready to go

next up for NBA is to revive the New York franchise - LeBron anybody? or another superstar for peanuts trade?

I wish Houston had traded T-Mac for a point guard. That is their only GLARING weakness....

That said, the pg spot ia weakness for the Lakers too... hornets and jazz could hassle them at the point. Only prob is that both the hornets and jazz can't defend...


If i'm a laker fan, i'm sweating on the spurs. Tim Duncan is still the best in the league when 100%. Has he been foxing all year or is he really past his best?

If he comes out and posts 25/15/5/5 in the first round- Lakers be scared. They also have no answer for Parker either...

I didn't bother mentioning the East- with KG gone and Turk n Lewis not 100%, the East is O-VER.





















go Hawks.

the Rockets may actually get out of the first round without T-Mac

Can i just point out, i got SHOT DOWN for daring to predict the suns would miss the play-offs this year and that Dallas would get in before them.

And don't point to losing Amare as the prob, you'll only provoke me.

dcanwade, not this again. You're a loon.

im just wondering why everyone is doubting orlando!
they came into the playoffs not playing so good but they picked up there last win and do have the huge dwight howard!
they also beat the cavs quite convincingly!

I agree with Isaac, dcanwade is a loon!

I'm not writing off Orlando either!

Quagmire, Suns didn't make it by 2 games, Stoudemire missed 29 games. I am sure even if he played a quarter of those games they would have made it!

Utah struggled to make the playoffs with Boozer out and even with them having Millsap stepping up! They are looking at a first round exit! However, they can thank Stoudemire for them actually making it.

You commented that you were happy with New Yorks defence. They finished with the second worst defensive record. You also said how they are playing fun enjoyable bball. They finished second last in the east I'm not sure how much fun they would have had with that.

You agreed with an article saying Knicks would possibly get the same record as Suns. Knicks had 14 more losses in a weak west compared with an injury plagued Stoudemire suns.

You felt Gordon deserved only 6 million a season while Deng gets 12 million. Deng had another injury plagued season and played only half the season for 14ppg. Gordon had another 20ppg season and once again played almost the whole season.

I was wrong about Beasley though compared with Rose. I still think Beasley will turn into a good player.

I'm sure there was other great predictions by you but thats all i could be bothered remembering.

dcanwade, you are the definition of a conspiracy nutter. If you think the NBA is rigging the playoffs, why bother even commenting about the NBA?

Oh yeah, and KG did not get traded for peanuts... Al Jefferson is one of the best offensive low post players and rebounders in the league. He will be dominating for a decade. Celtics got the better player, sure, but for how long?

And you shouldn't be surprised that when a team trades one of the top 5 players in the game, they can't get a guy of equal skill level back! To do that, you would have to talk the Lakers into trading Kobe, Cavs into trading Lebron, Spurs into trading Duncan... yeah thats likely.

So when teams like Minny get desperate, they don't trade their hall of famer for equal talent, they trade them for cap relief, long shots and draft picks. McHale got all that AND Al Jefferson!!!

Don't get me wrong - approaching issues as a skeptic is a good quality, but persisting against reasonable evidence is just a bit much.

Oh, and back on topic - is it just me or are all those West match-ups going to be very interesting? I'll be very surprised if any of those teams get swept.

CP3 vs. Chauncey Billups should be interesting. I think the key to that series will be CP3 being able to play defence on Billups, as well as make his usual contribution on offence.

For Kingjames, I'm sure most don't care but...to clarify-

1/I'm happy with the strategy of the knicks D against the screen and roll offence. Playing a squad of guys who can defend multiple spots and therefore switch on each screen is a sound strategy.

The fact that they have not a single player capable of defending lends to their current ranking.

2/ Re Knicks having a better record than the suns...I agreed with the article that said it could actually happen, not that it WOULD, or even that it was LIKELY. The article was also written before the Knick cap barn sale.

3/ I still say a healthy Deng is worth twice a healthy Gordon. Sorry i had no idea he was injury prone.

Gordon is like Boozer in that he can chew up regular NBA starters, but against quality defenders he is a liability.

I like Beasley too, how he develops is entirely up to him.

Yeah, the West is awesome. Lakers have the easiest run against a lost Utah team, but even Utah are a tough oppenent in the first round if they start firing.

All other series could go either way - Houston and Denver with the most to prove and most pressure after bombing out in the first round so many times. I see lots of game sevens.

On PTI, Wilbon said the winner of Miami/Atlanta will play the winner of Boston/Chicago.

I smell a massive Eastern Conference Wade/Lebron face off coming.

Quagmire- I don't understand why you'd put Spurs as a threat for us, we've dominated the season series, now with Ginolbli out too I can't see them a threat. Plus Duncan is looking slow as hell too, Bynum also played very well against him in the past too.

No offence but I really can't see them to be too much a threat. Plus Shannon Brown is starting to look real good for us guarding opposition point guards. Who would I be scared? Portland and Houston are the two I'd keep an eye out for. Also bad move by Houston trading Alston!

Sadly for the spurs i think carrying the load has taken its toll on the walking poo. The most likely scenario sees them out in the first round.

Still a chance for a throwback play-off performance but odds are really blown out...

I think it depends on the Spurs role players. I think Duncan will be able to match it with Dirk and Parker will expose Kidd. But San Antonio do not have an answer for Jason Terry (now that Manu is out) or Josh Howard (if he regains some of his best form). Mason, Bonner and co are going to have to step up big time.