I’m going to have to separate the East from the West because the Western battles are all done early, as I predicted, and the Eastern Conference battles are still raging, as I also surmised.

Dallas Mavericks (6) at Denver Nuggets (2) – This series should be much better than either of their first round matchups. The Mavs were taking on an injury-depleted Spurs team and the Nuggets were taking a totally outmatched Hornets team. I don’t think the playoff series will be quite as lop-sided as the regular season series was — the Nuggets won all 4 contests throughout the season. The Mavs have hit their stride at the right time, but the Nuggets are also playing very well of late. Weighing the regular season matchup disparity and knowing that the Nuggets have home-court advantage, I’m going to have to go with the home team — though not by much. Prediction: Nuggets in 7.

Houston Rockets (5) at Los Angeles Lakers (1) – On paper, the Rockets match up very well against the Lakers — they have size down low, great perimeter defense — all of the things that were exploited in the previous round of the playoffs against the Utah Jazz. The Rockets managed to win at San Antonio, not an easy feat, so they have proved they can win on the road. Most importantly, Tracy McGrady won’t be taking bad shots. Even with all of those pros, though, they haven’t been able to turn that into actual wins in the regular season against the Lakers. They won’t be able to handle the experienced Los Angeles Lakers in the post-season either. The Lakers are too good, and the Rockets too inexperienced in post-season play. Kobe won’t let the Lakers lose in Los Angeles, and he will manage to steal a game in Houston to boot. On paper, this seems like it will be a good series, but, in actuality, it won’t be. Prediction: Lakers in 5.

Western Conference

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I’m not sure what the Boston Celtics were thinking of when they inked malcontent Stephon Marbury to a contract.

Here are the reasons why this is NOT a good move:

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With the last few draft deadlines coming and going with little more than a bunch of mediocre trades, this one seems like it had a little more substance.

Sure, we had the inconsequential trade of Chris Mihm and a swap of draft picks.

You have to expect that you’d have at least one of those.

But here is what else we were treated to.

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Monta Ellis is finally going to return from the offseason injury debacle that has kept him out for half the season. He has been practicing for a couple of weeks and is scheduled to return tonight against the Cavaliers.

As he is only owned in 70% of Yahoo leagues (and chances are likely that similar numbers exists in other Fantasy leagues), it’s worth a look to see if he is currently available in yours.

And in case you can’t remember how good he was last year and why he was given such a monstrous contract in the offseason, let me refresh your memory.

• 20 points per game
• 5 rebounds per game
• 4 assists per game
• 1.5 steals per game
• 53% FG

Coming back to you now?

He is likely to be out of shape for the next week or two, but look for him to return to those type of numbers after the All-Star Break at the latest.

He can rest him on your bench until you see the kind of numbers that make you willing to play him in your starting roster.