NBA Playoffs 2010

What a difference two years makes. Two seasons ago, the Boston Celtics had the same starting five they have now, but they produced much different results. In the spring of 2008, there were extremely high expectations for a team that won 66 games in the regular season. The Celtics, in an impressive all around team effort, continued to push even when they lost to inferior opponents, and ultimately embarrassed the Los Angelas Lakers in six games in the NBA Finals. Two years later, those same Celtics, minus a few key bench players like James Posey, P.J. Brown, Eddie House, Leon Powe, and Sam Cassell, are an old, mediocre team that showed very little discipline or determination in what was a very frustrating regular season to watch. I still give all the credit in the world to Kevin Garnett for what he did two years ago helping the Celtics win their first championship in 22 years, but now he is a different player. Las year's knee injury has really compromised his defensive capabilities. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are two years older now, too. If Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins did not improve their game, the Celtics might not even be in the playoffs this year. Nevertheless, the Celtics are in the playoffs, and they have a chance to go back to the finals. The first round is already underway against the Miami Heat.

I think the Celtics will win this round, but I am not sure how much further they will get after that. They have not shown they they can beat elite teams (or bad teams for that matter), and Orlando and Cleveland seem to want it more. While I am talking about this, lets go through the other first round match ups.

I do not see a way that the Cleveland Cavaliers lose this series. They were the team favored last year when Orlando knocked them out in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs have the best player in the NBA in LeBron James and one of the greatest of all time in Shaq. Shaq might not have many chances after this season to get back to the finals, so he will want to make the most of this one. Chicago has a good young team, but they are not a true title contender yet.

I am really rooting for the Bobcats in this series. Orlando has got to be the most overrated team in the NBA the last few years. Dwight Howard is a great player and so is Vince Carter, but I do not like the way they play. They do not seem consistently dominant like last season when they knocked out the Celtics and Cavs and did not show up against the Lakers in the finals. Larry Brown is a great coach and he has done great things with Charlotte, but they are not all the way there yet. If they pull off an upset against the defending conference champions, it will be a great step forward for a franchise that is in its first post-season. I think Orlando will win, but I would rather see Charlotte.

The Bucks improves a lot this season, but the Hawks are the better team. Altanta has gotten consistently better since they took the Celtics into a seven game series in the first round two years ago. Most of the season, they were neck and neck with Orlando so I expect them to improve from last year.

Kevin Durant has emerged as one of the elite players in the NBA, but it is not yet his time to shine in the playoffs. I cannot stand this Lakers team, but the Thunder are not the team that will knock them off. The Lakers are just too good. Hopefully, Phoenix or Denver or Utah or Dallas will eliminate the Lakers later on, but they will get out of the first round.

These are two teams who seem to be in the thick of the championship hunt every year. San Antonio has won four in the past decade, Dallas has come up empty handed thus far. I think Dallas will win this series. They seemed to be playing better throughout the year and that group is long overdue. I would also like to see the Mavs take out the Lakers. Will this be the year (unlike the 2008 election) where a Maverick wins it all? We will see.

The Phoenix Suns are back. They missed the playoffs last year, but Steve Nash and company are looking to show that they are a good team once again. Portland is a good team, but I think the Suns will take this series. Phoenix's ability to score is one of the best and most efficient in the NBA. They too, are a team that could knock off the Lakers.

This is the most interesting first round mach up for me. These are two very good teams that are capable of beating Los Angelas. Carmelo Anthony has had a phenomenal season and he is certainly in the running for MVP. Jerry Sloan has done a tremendous job coaching the Jazz after his hall of fame induction in the fall. The one thing that has eluded him in his 22 year coaching tenure with the Jazz is an NBA championship. He had some great teams in the 90s with John Stockton and Karl Malone, but they lost to Michael Jordan's Bulls in the finals twice. Maybe this is their year. Chauncey Billups will also want to add to his championship collection. Last year, when he took the Nuggets to the conference finals, it was the 7th straight year he had played a conference finals series.

One issue I have with the NBA playoffs is that they are very predictable. It is not very often that a major upset occurs in this league. The team with the biggest strongest players almost always wins in these best of seven series. Maybe this will be the year things change, maybe it will not. Maybe I will watch, maybe I will not.