The sad thing is, those would've been good matchups a month or two ago. Now I don't think it'd take either the Spurs or Lakers more than five games a series.

The Suns would whoop up the Spurs! Have you not watched basketball lately?

You're insane.

Well Phoenix has owned San Antonio since they got Shaq. I might favor them to be honest.

And Dallas has looked a little better lately, winning 3 games against good teams (Utah, Phoenix, Golden State) after losing like their first ten since the trade. For some reason I get the feeling that the Dirk shows up for these playoffs, the pressure isn't nearly as bad this time. I still don't think they'd beat LA, but it'd be interesting.

I'd take the Spurs over the Suns anyday in the playoffs. Do you really think Shaq is going to be able to keep up for an entire series?

And who cares if the Suns have beaten the Spurs recently? Do the Suns have another gear to shift into (Hi Shaq) when the playoffs begin? Unless the Spurs have aged dramatically since last year, they should still have another gear to shift into.



How many years in a row has Dallas been expected to win? Yeah, they would be in as a seventh seed, but how is the pressure not there?

Now Rockets actually control their own destiny of getting the No. 1 seed, but I'll be happy with a 2-1 finish.

Denver pretty much put the Warriors to bed tonight, huge win over the Rockets.

And just when you think the Mavs are figuring it out... the Blazers and Sonics? Really?

Oh and the first playoff matchup was confirmed today (amazing it took so long), Cleveland vs Washington for the 3rd straight year. I like the Wizards to finally get their revenge. Cleveland's trade looks bad and Lebron has back problems. They had a competitive game with Miami today (!!!).

It's likely to happen. LeBron can't be explosive with a bad back, and Mike Brown isn't likely to think up a non one man show offensive plan.

Sucks that the Hornets aren't gonna get the #1 seed. They sure choked in Sacramento.

The East is now set

1 Boston vs 8 Atlanta
2 Detroit vs 7 Philly
3 Orlando vs 6 Toronto
4 Cleveland vs 5 Washington

We got the matchup we wanted, Orlando. Philly really cooled off the last 10 games, so it was kind of handed over a silver platter (to be honest I think Atlanta is a better team than them, the 76ers just had that hot streak), but I'll take it anyways. I'll be happily surprised if we beat the Magic, but at least we don't have much to lose. If we can get a split in the first 2 games, it'll be interesting.

What the, check out Ramon Sessions' line tonight, a Bucks scrub who got called up from the D-League a couple weeks ago

20 points (7-12), 8 rebounds, 24 assists.

The game score was Chicago 151 to Milwaukee's 135 in regulation. I'd love to see what kind of defense they were playing.

Golden State is ELIMINATED.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=3231

It was actually his 5th 10+ assist game in the last 6.

Now that the East is set... here's my predictions:

Boston over Atlanta in 4 - Not a chance in hell Atlanta even wins a game. Unless all the Celts spontaneously combust and die.

Detroit over Philly in 5 - Philly won't beat Detroit, but I think they're good enough to win 1 in Philly.

Orlando over Toronto in 5 - I'm not sold on Orlando, but Toronto is a mess right now.

Cleveland over Wizards in 6 - I want to pick the Wiz as the Cavs are not a well oiled machine righ now. But, the Wiz really aren't that great either, and you just know that Lebron will find a way to win - with or without a supporting cast. Should be the funnest matchup in the East, though. We've already got a ton of trash talking between them.

You guys are all sleeping on the Sixers, and I don't know why.

I think the series is dead even, comes down to the final game, which I think Detroit wins 6 outa 10 times ... but they only play it once, so anything's possible.

It's not gonna happen. As much as I would love to see the 76ers get through the Pistons or even drag it out to seven games, I just don't see them beating them in the playoffs. It goes six at the most since Detroit is the more talented and experienced team.

It's kind of like the Wizards/Celtics matchup this season and a possible round two matchup. Even though the Wizards have beaten the Celtics three out of four times this year, doesn't make them the more talented team. They might win a couple against them, but they won't beat them.

My predicts for the East.

Celtics vs. Hawks - Boston in 4
Pistons vs. 76ers - Pistons in 6
Magic vs. Raptors - Magic in 4
Cavaliers vs. Wizards - Cavaliers in 7

The Sixers at best will be a .500 team at season's end, have little to no playoff experience on their roster, and are finishing the year winning only 4 of their last 10, which were must win games for them.

Detroit has the 2nd best record in the league, a 33-7 record at home, playoff experience up the wazoo (5 ECF in a row, 2 finals appearances, and 1 championship), and have a far superior team on paper.

I don't see how you can make a reasonable case for Philly going 7 games, let alone winning the thing. That sounds much more like wishfull thinking, than sound reasonable logic!

About Philly... I agree with Tony, they've cooled off now, on a base level they're just not that great. And really it's more about Detroit than anything, the last 4 years they've won 4-0, 4-1, 4-1, 4-1 in the first round. If Philly was playing them in the ECF, you might have a point, but I see 5 nevertheless competitive games.

As for Toronto, we're not a total trainwreck going into the playoffs, we've won 3 of the last 4 by 15+ (the loss being on the road in Detroit), and we've historically matched up very well with Orlando, so we'll see. Jameer Nelson can't begin to guard our PGs and Bosh's quickness when healthy is always a problem for Howard. I think we'll lose it in the coaching matchup though, Stan Van Gundy vs Sam Mitchell is like Lebron vs Daequon Cook. We got badly outcoached by Laurence Frank last year... yeah, I'm not too optimistic about Stan Van Gundy.

Oh come on... one of Toronto's 3 wins was against the NBD-League Miami Heat, another was at home against the 15 games under .500 Nets (who beat them at their place a few nights prior), and the third was at home against the lowly Bucks.

When was the last time they beat a team over .500? They beat a Detroit team who was resting its starters 11 games ago.... the last team they beat over .500 with anything left to play for was their next win against an over .500 team - they beat Orlando on Feb 20th... about 29 games ago. In the entire year of 2008, they only won 4 games against a team over .500.

They really are a mess right now. I'll enjoy watching the series against Orlando... they are one of those 4 teams they beat, but man... I don't see them winning a 7 game series right now.

They weren't resting their starters http://www.nba.com/games/20080326/DETTOR/boxscore.html

Hey, I'm predicting a Magic win in 6, don't get me wrong. But it's not like they're a chemistry disaster or a team that has quit on each other or anything... They were like that during the 11 of 14 losing streak from Ford's antics, but lately it's been pretty good, they're happy. The losses to Charlotte and NJ were more a lack of urgency than that, it just seemed like they didn't care as much once they were surely in the playoffs, but then Bosh getting pissed (Which was blown out of proportion) kind of urged them on to not blow the 6th seed

I'd also like to point out that Calderon went through a pretty hard slump when he went back to the bench and that was one of the reasons we fell apart (especially with Bosh injured), but he's been back to putting up 10 assist games and ridiculously low turnovers again (still can't find his shooting again though), so if he's on, it'll help in the series.

Against the Bucks, Nets and Heat.

But yeah, my prediction of a sweep might be a little harsh, but I just think the Magic right now are flying in under the radar and will be looking to make a point. I just can't see it getting to six games. I hope it does because I don't want to see the Magic advance, but I just don't see it happening.

Celtics vs. Hawks - Boston in 5
Pistons vs. 76ers - Pistons in 4
Magic vs. Raptors - Magic in 6
Cavaliers vs. Wizards - Wizards in 6

How awesome would it be if the Mavs fell to 8 then upset the Lakers in the first round.

I hope all the top seeds lose... because then the Suns can FINALLY win a championship.

Doubt Mavs will lose tomorrow given they're at home and Hornets already clinched the No. 2 seed. The only incentive Hornets really have is to knock Mavs down to No. 8 so they could play Nuggets instead.

If all relevant home teams win tomorrow (likely scenario since Jazz never wins in San Antonio and Rockets and Suns are playing sub-50% teams), it will Spurs at 3, Jazz at 4, Rockets at 5 (but have home court), and Suns at 6 (tied head-to-head with Rockets but worse conference record).

If Utah wins however, all four will finish with 55-27 record, and it will be Jazz at 3, Suns at 4, Rockets at 5, and Spurs at 6, so no real incentive for Jazz to win.

Well, a few of the starters played more minutes than I thought, but Rip Hamilton, Detroit's leading scorer, didn't play at all that game, and they used an 11 man rotation. Clearly, they were not full strength or playing how they would if the game truly meant something. But, it doesn't matter... the main point is even with that win, they've only got 4 wins against teams over .500 since Jan 1st (around 40 games)!

Toronto has potential, and as a team I like them - I have always liked Carlos Delfino, and Bosh seems like a decent guy. But, I have not been impressed with them for some time.

I'll be rooting for them, though... I would much rather the Pistons face them than the Magic, but I think they can handle either. Heck, I was hoping for Toronto in the 1st round over the 76ers!