The real tournament begins

This week marks the end of the NBA regular season. Most teams will be playing their final matches within this period prior to the start of the playoffs and after a six-month warm-up, sixteen teams will wage a two-month battle to get the holy grail of pro basketball, the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The league’s top 4 teams, ranked accordingly (Cleveland, Lakers, Boston and Orlando) will be joined by 12 others (Portland, Houston, Denver, San Antonio, Dallas, New Orleans, Utah, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit). Notice that after Orlando, teams from the Western Conference took the 5th to 11th spot in league rankings.

The Lakers failed in their goal to win 70 games. They are to host Utah today (which will also be their first round playoff opponents) for their final game of the season and at 64-17, a loss won’t really matter as they already have home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Add to the fact that Andrew Bynum is back and he sure will make up for his absence last season. Utah is a very physical team and the Lakers have bruises to remember their games by. They should respect the Jazz.

Cleveland is getting rougher, tougher and stronger, if that dominating game against Boston a few days ago would be our gauge. Their possible duel for the Eastern Conference title will be a grudge match. Let us expect Leon Powe and Kendrick Perkins make Anderson Varejao’s playing days miserable. Oh yes, put in Ray Allen to add spice to the mix. That is if Dwight Howard and Orlando won’t decide to spoil the rivalry. The Cavs will face Detroit in the first round and the rebuilding Pistons won’t give them any easy time.

With or without Tracy McGrady, Houston can’t seem to get to the next level, considering that he is the only Rocket that can make shots during crunch time. Yao Ming can only do so much and with his frequent hobbling, matching up with Portland and Brandon Roy, the Kobe Bryant of the Pacific Northwest, will be a very tall order. Add to the fact that Ron Artest dribbles the ball for quite a while before taking a bad shot.

San Antonio will face New Orleans and NBA’s top point man at the moment Chris Paul. With Manu Ginobili out, the Spurs will find the going tough, plus, Tim Duncan’s knee has started to complain. Dallas goes up against Denver and my crystal ball says the Nuggets will advance since Chauncey Billups has somewhat gotten hold of the often immature Carmelo Anthony. So will Boston against Chicago.

Gone from the cast this time are usual playoff entrants Phoenix, New Jersey, Toronto and Indiana. Rumor has it that Shaquille O’Neal wants out of Phoenix and is setting his sights on Dallas. Likewise, Jason Kidd is hinting on taking a pay cut to be able to play with either LeBron James or Kobe. Since Cleveland has shown interest with Shaq, it would be something to see the giant child with several aliases playing alongside Kidd in Cleveland. He can call himself there The Big Alternative or The Big Next Option.

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