Playoff Preview

the nba playoffs started tonight ... and so without further ado i give you my humble playoff first-round breakdown ...

WEST:

1. lakers / 8. jazz
kobe bryant is a beast .. and he's won several titles in his career .. but that was when shaq was on the team .. kobe wants to win one on his own .. the supporting cast is not exactly superb .. but phil jackson - the zen guru coaching genius that he is - has molded them into a strong unit of role players .. and while they don't have shaq anymore .. they do have a couple of big guys who can hold their own - gasol, bynum, odom .. the jazz are not a bad team either though .. fully capable of pulling off the upset in my opinion .. they are known to be a "scrappy" team .. but they are plagued by health problems .. and they closed out the season on a slump .. like i said it is an unpredictable series and don't be surprised if the jazz manage to steal a few .. most likely at home .. but in the end kobe will prevail .. come on .. you have to go with kobe .. the man is a basketball god ..

2. nuggets / 7. hornets
who do the hornets have besides chris paul .. nobody really .. well ok so they have chandler but he's been below par this year .. and i do believe that chauncey billups is more than capable of going toe to toe with cp3 .. he may not be as quick and young .. but he's way more experienced .. and i believe old wisdom trumps energetic youth .. so i'm leaning towards the nuggets on this one .. but cp3 is also a basketball god .. however .. the nuggets have carmelo .. who might not be on the same level as paul but he is damn good .. the nuggets won't sweep the series but i predict that they will win it in the end .. my main reason is the billups factor .. here's a fun fact .. the last time denver made it past the first round was in the 93-94 season .. remember that famous upset of seattle .. i know i remember it because it broke my heart .. seattle's coach at the time was none other than denver's current coach george karl ..

3. spurs / 6. mavs
the spurs are without ginobili .. and duncan is far from healthy .. big uh-oh there .. then again the mavs glory days are a thing of the past .. they are nowhere near the powerhouse they used to be .. but i guess they do want to redeem themselves after being upset so badly last year by golden state .. it should be interesting to see if jason kidd will be able to keep up with tony parker .. but in the end i think the mavs will win it .. not because they are better .. they aren't .. it's only because san antonio is so unhealthy ..

4. rockets / 5. blazers
the rockets will be without their star mcgrady .. mcgrady of course has never won a first round series in his entire career .. so it will be hilarious if the rockets do win this series .. which i predict they will .. ming will dominate .. and artest will do his usual defensive hound thing .. and the young inexperienced blazers will find themselves overwhelmed ..

EAST:

1. cavs / 8. pistons
two words .. lebron james .. throw in the fact that cleveland has only lost two games at home this entire season .. and the fact that the pistons have disintegrated after bringing in iverson .. and it's obvious who will win .. detroit is not a pushover .. they might steal a game .. even two .. but let's remember that even in detroit's prime two years ago .. lebron beat them ..

2. celtics / 7. bulls
i would've picked the celtics without thinking twice .. but then we find out that garnett isn't going to play .. and suddenly .. it's not so obvious anymore .. the bulls are also without one of their stars .. luol deng that is .. not that i'm comparing him to garnett .. i'm just saying that both teams are missing one of their guys .. still .. chicago is young .. boston is pretty old .. so who knows .. i have to pick the celtics since they are the defending champs .. but they better be careful ..

3. magic / 6. sixers
dwight howard is going to dunk his ass off in this one .. the sixers have nobody to stop him .. throw in the supporting cast of turkoglu, lewis, alston .. sixers are toast ..

4. hawks / 5. heat
dwayne wade .. another basketball god .. he single-handedly carried the heat all season long .. the hawks don't have anyone of wade's caliber .. but they do have a better team than the heat do .. hmmm .. this is a tough one .. i'm gonna say hawks ..