The NBA Playoffs. Where terrible point guard play swings home court advantage

I'll admit it. I quit on the NBA this year. While I thoroughly enjoyed the Game 7 slugfest between the Lakers and Celtics last season, I could not dedicate myself to the regular season this year. Much of that stems from the fact that my beloved Pistons were not only bad this season, but they might been the most apathetic, boring and irrelevant team in the history of the NBA. The formation of the mega-teams in major markets has made the NBA like European soccer. We have our powerhouse clubs, Miami, Boston, LA, Dallas, San Antonio, etc that are in the playoffs every year and usually win the title. Since 1984 the only teams that have won the NBA title are the Celtics, Lakers, Pistons, Bulls, Spurs, Rockets, Heat. If you excuse the 2006 Heat title, six teams have won the NBA title in the last 25 years. The NBA has been the anti-NFL, a place where parity does not exist. This effect has made the regular season an exercise in futility as the star studded teams destroy the jobber-like Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves for six months biding their time until the playoffs start. This season was shaping up like any other, and it was pretty much accepted that Miami, Boston, LA, or San Antonio would win the title. Maybe Chicago or Orlando or Oklahoma City would beat one of the big boys but we all assumed that these teams were either too poorly constructed( Orlando) or youthful (Chicago and Oklahoma City) to make a serious title run this year.

But then the playoffs started. Memphis shocked the world, Orlando no-showed versus the Hawks, and the Lakers and Celtics were at least bothered by game efforts from an undermanned Knicks squad and a pesky Hornets team (Chris Paul just reclaimed his throne as the best pure point guard in basketball, Derrick Rose is not a point guard but rather a strange combo between Dwyane Wade and Penny Hardaway) and the young Bulls got all they could handle from a tough Pacers team. Dallas went through a battle against Portland. All in all, the first round of the NBA playoffs showed that the middle-class of the NBA can compete with the big boys come playoff time. I was in Memphis when they upset the Spurs, and it was amazing to see the excitement and joy from the fans down there. Keep in mind that Memphis had never won a playoff game before this post-season, and they absolutely took down a four-time championship team in what would have been a 5 game smackdown if it wasn't for two ridiculous shots by Manu Ginobili and Gary Neal.

As the second round has unfolded, the championship race is suddenly wide open. Begrudgingly, the Heat look like the favorites. This series with Boston has been physical as hell and it will be interesting to see how the series will play out if Boston can retain homecourt. If the Celtics can get another performance like the one last night from Garnett and can get anything out of O'neal and O'neal then this series will probably go 7 and it will be interesting to see how much this one will take out of eventual winner. The Chicago-Atlanta series is interesting because the Hawks are showing some balls and proving people wrong after getting killed by Orlando last season. I don't think they will beat Atlanta just because Derrick Rose is playing at such a high level right now. I think everyone who saw him play at Memphis knew he would be good in the NBA, but I don't think anyone saw him emerging as arguably the best player on the planet so quickly. He put on a transcendent performance the other night in scoring 44 points on the road, and I think that he will refuse to allow the Bulls to lose this series.

Out West, things have gotten interesting. The Lakers are practically done, and they know it, everyone in America knows it, but they have a living legend in Kobe Bryant who will not quit(ok he might depending on how the other guys play, but at this point I can't blame him) and if any team can win four straight it is the two time defending champions. Realistically, Dallas will win this one in 5 or 6, the Lakers will move Gasol and Odom to Orlando for Dwight Howard and Hedo, and will begin to rebuild. Gasol has totally disappeared during the playoffs and there are crazy rumors of Kobe's wife convincing Pau's finacee to leave him while they are beefing with the Kardashians because Lamar Odom's wife is more famous than them(I shit you not). The Mavericks needed to beat the Lakers to erase some of the questions about their toughness. Dallas has been in some wars and they have had some terrible luck. They fell apart in 2006 and I feel like they have spent the last few years trying to regain their smile. I think they were scarred by getting upset by the Warriors in 2007. Remember that team was 67-15 and lost to one of the best 8 seeds(and best NBA crowds) in recent memory. Dirk has played out of his mind and is cementing himself as an all-time great on the level of Charles Barkley or Karl Malone. If the Mavericks can keep this run going and win it all then it will validate Dirk as probably the greatest offensive power forward in basketball history. There has never been a legit 7 footer than can do the things he can do offensively. He's had to carry so much of the load the last few years that its good to see this team kind of come together around him.

The Memphis-Oklahoma City series has shown one thing. That is the fact that Russell Westbrook is the new Stephon Marbury. In fact he might be worse, because at least Starbury gave up money to the community. Westbrook put on one of the most atrocious point guard performances ever yesterday. He shot his team out of a 15 point lead, constantly got guys terrible shots, turned the ball over, and refused to acknowledge that the best scorer in basketball is on his team. He waved Durant off, got him the ball in terrible spots, and forced an offensive wunderkind to stand in the corner for the last quarter and a half of the game. They will never win a title with him and should trade him for Deron Williams right now. Memphis is playing with tons of heart and I want them to win the whole thing because their city is flooding and it would be...hilarious