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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On Fantasy Draft night there was a lot of wondering on which rookies were going to pan out for their respective teams, and which ones wouldn’t be worthy of the hype that they were receiving.

Now that we have come about half-way through the NBA season, things are a lot more clear.

Let’s take a look…

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Even for people who have no taste for the NBA, you have got to love the situation that the Portland Trailblazers find themselves in at the current time.

Let me set this up for you.

Darius Miles had a career-ending injury that required micro-fracture surgery. There are certain rules in place by the NBA and by insurance companies insuring the teams that will prevent horrible injuries to players from damaging teams and their viability as a contender in the league for longer than a couple of years at the most.

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