EAST

Quarterfinals
(1) Celtics vs. (8) Hawks - Celtics in 4
(4) Cavaliers vs. (5) Wizards - Wizards in 7
(3) Magic vs. (6) Raptors - Magic in 5
(2) Pistons vs. (7) 76ers - Pistons in 4

Semi-Finals
(1) Celtics vs. (5) Wizards - Celtics in 6
(2) Pistons vs. (3) Magic - Pistons in 5

Finals
(1) Celtics vs. (2) Pistons - Pistons in 6

WEST

Quarterfinals
(1) Lakers vs. (8) Nuggets - Lakers in 5
(4) Jazz vs. (5) Rockets - Jazz in 5
(3) Spurs vs. (6) Suns - Spurs in 6
(2) Hornets vs. (7) Mavericks - Mavericks in 7

Semi-Finals
(1) Lakers vs. (4) Utah - Utah in 7
(3) Spurs vs. (7) Mavericks - Spurs in 6

Finals
(3) Spurs vs. (4) Jazz - Spurs in 6

Finals: Spurs vs Pistons - Spurs in 7

I'd actually like that finals.

I'll go full

First round
Boston Celtics in 4 games
Detroit Pistons in 5 games
Orlando Magic in 6 games
Washington Wizards in 6 games

Los Angeles Lakers in 5 games
Dallas Mavericks in 7 games
Phoenix Suns in 7 games
Utah Jazz in 6 games

Second round
Washington Wizards in 6 games
Detroit Pistons in 6 games

Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games
Dallas Mavericks in 7 games

Third round
Detroit Pistons in 6 games
Los Angeles Lakers in 7 games

Finals
Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games

There's something too obvious about Lakers-Suns and Boston-Detroit as a final 4 and Boston-LA as the final 2(just like Dallas-Detroit or San Antonio-Detroit the last couple years), and it'd be too much of a gift for us. So I decided to go nutty and say Washington spoils the Boston party in the 2nd round and Dirktown spoils the Lakers and Suns, goes up 10 in the 4th of game 7 in the WCF, then watches Kobe win the game by himself. Kobe goes off to the 'ship, Dirk decides to spend his summer in Thailand instead of Australia this time. I'll probably regret it, but I'm usually wrong anyways, so I'm used to it.

Here are the schedules for each series.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Boston Celtics vs. (8) Atlanta Hawks
Game 1 - Sun. April 20 at Boston, 8:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 2 - Wed. April 23 at Boston, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3 - Sat. April 26 at Atlanta, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 4 - Mon. April 28 at Atlanta, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5* - Wed. April 30 at Boston, TBD (TBD)
Game 6* - Fri. May 2 at Atlanta, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sun. May 4 at Boston, TBD (TBD)
* If Necessary

(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) Washington Wizards
Game 1 - Sat. Apr. 19 at Cleveland, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 2 - Mon. Apr. 21 at Cleveland, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Game 3 - Thu. Apr. 24 at Washington, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Game 4 - Sun. Apr. 27 at Washington, 1 p.m. (ABC)
Game 5* - Wed. Apr. 30 at Cleveland, TBD (TBD)
Game 6* - Fri. May 2 at Washington, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sun. May 4 at Cleveland, TBD (TBD)
* If Necessary

(3) Orlando Magic vs. (6) Toronto Raptors
Game 1 - Sun. April 20: at Orlando, 12:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 2 - Tue. April 22: at Orlando, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBA TV)
Game 3 - Thu. April 24: at Toronto, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBA TV)
Game 4 - Sat. April 26: at Toronto, 3 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5* - Mon. April 28: at Orlando, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBA TV)
Game 6* - Thu. May 1: at Toronto, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sat. May 3: at Orlando, TBD (TNT)
* If Necessary

(2) Detroit Pistons vs. (7) Philadelphia 76ers
Game 1 - Sun. April 20: at Detroit, 6 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 2 - Wed. April 23: at Detroit, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBA TV)
Game 3 - Fri. April 25: at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Game 4 - Sun. April 27: at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5* - Tue. April 29: at Detroit, TBD (TBD)
Game 6* - Thu. May 1: at Philadelphia, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sat. May 3: at Detroit, TBD (TNT)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (8) Denver Nuggets
Game 1 - Sun. April 20: at L.A. 3 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 2 - Wed. April 23: at L.A. 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3 - Sat. April 26: at Denver, 5:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 4 - Mon. April 28: at Denver, 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5* - Wed. April 30: at L.A., TBD (TBD)
Game 6* - Fri. May 2: at Denver, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sun. May 4: at L.A., TBD (TBD)
* If Necessary

(4) Utah Jazz vs. (5) Houston Rockets
Game 1 - Sat. April 19: at Houston, 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2 - Mon. April 21: at Houston, 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3 - Thu. April 24: at Utah, 10:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 4 - Sat. April 26: at Utah, 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 5* - Tue. April 29: at Houston, TBD (TBD)
Game 6* - Fri. May 2: at Utah, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sun. May 4: at Houston, TBD (TBD)
* If Necessary

(3) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6)Phoenix Suns
Game 1 - Sat. April 19: at S.A., 3 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 2 - Tue. April 22: at S.A., 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3 - Fri. April 25: at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 4 - Sun. April 27: at Phoenix, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 5* - Tue. April 29: at S.A., TBD (TBD)
Game 6* - Thu. May 1: at Phoenix, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sat. May 3: at S.A., TBD (TNT)
* If Necessary

(2)New Orleans Hornets vs. (7)Dallas Mavericks
Game 1 - Sat. April 19: at New Orleans, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2 - Tue. April 22: at New Orleans, 7 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3 - Fri. April 25: at Dallas, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 4 - Sun. April 27: at Dallas, 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5* - Tue. April 29: at New Orleans, TBD (TBD)
Game 6* - Thu. May 1: at Dallas, TBD (TBD)
Game 7* - Sat. May 3: at New Orleans, TBD (TNT)
* If Necessary

That Magic/Raptors series sure seems to be getting a lot of respect. Three games on NBATV? Come on. The NHL doesn't even have playoff games on their own network and they're desperate.

That is really too bad. It should be a pretty good series.

Doesn't affect me!

The Isiah era is finally over, if NY reports are true. Oh jesus. His reign will truly be iconic!

As exiciting as the end of the regular season was, I have a fear that the postseason could end up really disappointing and boring, say a San Antonio/Utah & Detroit/Washington conference finals, and then another San Antonio/Detroit Finals. And I doubt we will see a matchup as fun and exciting as last year's GS/Dallas.

EAST
Boston over Atlanta in 4
Detroit over Philly in 5
Magic over Toronto in 5
Wizards over Cavs in 6

WEST
Lakers over Nuggets in 4
Mavs over Hornets in 7
Spurs over Suns in 6
Utah over Houston in 7

I'm changing my prediction on the Cavs - Wiz game. I'm probably overthinking this and will regret it, but I read some commentary over at ESPN.com that really changed my mind on this one. It's scary how similar the Cavs season was to that of the Miami Heat last year (who were swept 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs). With the Wiz looking stronger and healthier every day, I'm doing a '180' here. Ditto for Utah and Houston... I switched them after studying some stats/records.

To take the playoffs all the way out for fun:

Round 2:
Pistons over the Magic in 5 (Pistons have their number)
Boston over the Wiz in 6
Lakers over the Mavs in 6
Spurs over Utah in 6

Round 3:
Pistons over Celts in 4
Lakers over Spurs in 7

Finals:
Pistons over Lakers in 6

And, in round 3... I'm just kidding about a 4 game sweep: Pistons over Celts in 7.

RIP Seattle Supersonics. 28 of 30 owners voted for it today. Still a court case to go through, but looks like Durant will be playing in Oklahoma City next fall.

Yeah it's fucking retarded. I hope the starbucks dude gets to buy his team back.

King James is about to throw down 40 on the Wizards in 4....3....2........

They did pretty well, but the "Support the Katrina team" incentive might have had an effect... or they might just be a better than expected market for it. But besides that, Seattle has brought in good crowds for 30 years, nobody was showing up now because they stink, but that happens to everyone and usually storied franchises have no problem surviving through a couple crap years. Considering they have the "next big star" on their team, there's not much doubt the fans would be back. The guy just kind of hijacked it.

Cavs win game 1 and King James scores 32.

GOOOOOOOOOO SUNNNNNNNNNNNNS! beat them Spurs.

woooo!

That was a hell of a game. Suns/Spurs up next!

lol Deshawn Stevenson 3 points on 1-9 shooting.

The Celtics survived through about 14 of them.

The Suns/Spurs series is going to be one long series. This is a great game though.

Duncan for three. Heh. Prolly for second overtime.

Tim Duncan just did that. That was one of the coolest things I've seen, even though I'm rooting for the Suns.

Now, this was a good game.

Sucks for the Suns. They had no one to stop Ginobli.

yep fucking great game.
clutch shots made left and right. i hope the rest of the series is as good as this game.

now it's the Mavs/Hornets turn.

It's going to be very, very hard for the Suns to win this series now. Considering they were absolutely dominating that game the whole way through and still found a way to lose... that's gotta be a major self-esteem blow.

But yeah, great game.

they will overcome it in game 2.

I guess that game is a good opening day omen for these playoffs. One day they should just release this and the last Suns-Spurs series on dvd... insane.

As for the Suns, if they win Game 2 and go to Phoenix with a split, they'll still be in pretty good shape. This loss would've been worse if they started at home like last year.

This is gonna be fun... I can't believe this is only day 1. Let the 8 man battle royale begin.

Those first two games were certainly fun to watch, even if I was rooting for the losing team in both. However, it really just was a battle of wills... Lebron James just seems to be able to lift his mediocre team on his back and win every time when he needs to. It's quite amazing. And the Spurs as a team do the same thing... they just have that look where they will not lose, and you can see it coming a mile away.

But, they should be two great series, and the losers definitely put up a good fight.