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It’s the Moooooost…Wonderful Time…of the NBA season…

Playoffs, baby! After a most scintillating regular season, the NBA stands on the precipice of what looks to be an exciting and interesting postseason tournament. In the Western Conference, for instance, every single playoff team, eight in all, won 50 games. Every one of them! The eighth-best team in the conference went 50-32. That’s not just impressive, it’s kind of frightening. Just think: what could that eight seed, the Oklahoma City Thunder have done to the East this year?

While no longer the “Leastern” Conference of the early 2000s, this year’s Eastern Conference did not have the top-to-bottom dominance seen out West, mostly because the team at the top, Lebron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers, was not only the best team in the conference but also the entire league, and this with the jury still out on whether or not signing Shaq was the right move, having traded franchise stalwart Zydrunas Ilgauskas at mid-season (only to re-sign him thirty days later), and working Antwan Jamison into their rotation over the final two months of the season.

Whereas seemingly anyone can win out West, the East is top heavy with contenders, including Boston (#4 in the East), only two seasons removed from an NBA Championship and with most of the principles from that title team still hanging around. Same goes for San Antonio (#7 out West), although we’d be remiss without admitting that both rosters have grown a little long in the tooth this season (for instance, I’m very embarrassed I picked the Spurs over Boston in the Finals in our season preview*).

No matter how long they drag on (for instance, the Bucks and Hawks play games on Saturday, Tuesday, and then not again until the following Saturday…night), these playoffs should be a doozy. But before we get to our first-round predictions, let’s take a look back at how we predicted things would finish way back in that season preview:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division –

What We Thought Would Happen: Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York

What Happened: Boston, Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey

Explanation: Far and away the most depressing division in the sport, several once proud franchises were felled by talentless rosters and unfortunate management/coaching decisions. Last year’s playoff hero Hedo Turkoglu went over like a lead balloon in Toronto, Eddie Jordan bottomed-out as coach of Philly, New York ducked for cover heading into 2010 free agency and New Jersey almost became the worst team in league history. Oh, and division winner Boston finished with a worse record than Atlanta (second in the Southeast), thereby drawing the four-seed and a potential second round date with Cleveland.

Central Division –

What We Thought: Cleveland, Chicago, Indiana, Detroit, Milwaukee

What Happened: Cleveland, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indiana, Detroit

Explanation: The Cavs were the best team in the league and the Bucks the most surprising. Indiana can’t find talent enough to pair with Troy Murphy and Danny Granger, Detroit sunk faster than anyone expected (Joe Dumars, with the signings of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, has officially derailed), and Chicago dealt with injuries, in-fighting, and salary dumping.

Southeast Division –

What We Thought: Orlando, Atlanta, Washington, Miami, Charlotte

What Happened: Orlando, Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, Washington

Explanation: In fairness to us, NO ONE saw what happened in Washington coming. Who knew Gilbert Arenas kept an arms cache in the empty locker next to his? Otherwise, we were pretty dead-on here for a division that got four teams into the playoffs and played some of the most consistently exciting basketball of any conference this season (except, of course, for Washington, but again, two of their players were suspended for the year and two former All-Stars were traded at midseason).

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Southwest Division –

What We Thought: San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis

What Happened: Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Memphis, New Orleans

Explanation: San Antonio proved to be much older (and Richard Jefferson more useless) than anyone anticipated. Dallas got better at the trade deadline and ran with the momentum generated to finish with the conference two-seed. Houston was better than they had any right to be and should be competitive next season once Yao, who missed the entire season, returns. Memphis came along nicely, but if Rudy Gay takes the money and runs this offseason they could slide back. Chris Paul got hurt in New Orleans. ‘Nuff said.

Northwest Division –

What We Thought: Utah, Denver, Portland, OKC Minnesota

What Happened: Denver, Utah, Portland, OKC, Minnesota

Explanation: Oh! So close to nailing this one! And when I say close, I mean Denver and Utah finished with identical records, though Denver gets the four-seed by virtue of a tiebreaker and home-court advantage for their opening round series with…Utah. Portland overcame injuries to both centers and several rotation guys to earn that six-seed, and Oklahoma City was better than anyone thought they’d be earlier than anyone expected. Fifty wins?! Thunder star Kevin Durant became the youngest scoring champ in league history this season at 30.1 a game. As for Minnesota, well, they need some time to marinate.  Let’s just move on.

Pacific Division –

What We Thought: Lakers, Clippers, Phoenix, Golden State, Sacramento

What Happened: Lakers, Phoenix, Clippers, Golden State, Sacramento

Explanation: Very close on this one, too.  Phoenix proved they still have plenty left in the tank (like the Bizzarro Spurs) and the defending champ Lakers stayed among the league’s elite. Blake Griffin might have bought the Clippers five or ten more wins, but that wouldn’t have been enough to contend, and anyway that franchise needed to be blown up and re-started sans Mike Dunleavy. Golden State and Sacramento were two of the worst, most defensively-deficient teams in the league, but each featured a Rookie of the Year candidate (Stephen Curry and Tyreke Evans, respectively) and were fun to watch in spurts.

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And now, onto our first-round predictions. We’ll revisit this round-by-round as the playoffs progress. We don’t see much in the way of upsets developing in this first round, but there should be lots of good basketball.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1-8 – OKC vs. LA Lakers: Youth vs. Experience, Upstarts vs. Defending Champs, Durant vs. Kobe, Old Guard vs. New Guard. This Thunder team personifies the “genius of youth,” but the Lakers have been to back-to-back Finals, have the best player of the last decade, and are run by the most successful head coach in NBA history. Meanwhile, this is Durant and head coach Scott Brooks’ first playoff series. It would be nice to say the Thunder have a shot here, I really want to, but they don’t. They were on a three-year plan anyway, and it came in ahead of schedule. They’ll get valuable experience here, and make the Lakers earn it, but don’t expect Kobe to sweat too much.

Lakers in 6

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2-7 – Dallas vs. San Antonio: There was no bigger disappointment than San Antonio in the West this season, whereas Dallas’ runaway second-half success was the conference’s second-most surprising development. Dallas, furthermore, has had the Spurs’ number recently. San Antonio stars Ginobili, Duncan, and Parker will make sure the Spurs are in almost every contest, but the overall talent differential is fairly startling. One wild card is the coaching matchup, four-time champion Spurs coach Greg Popovich vs. the twice-fired Rick Carlisle, but even if Carlisle starts to get overwhelmed, Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki can take over for Dallas to a degree Tim Duncan no longer can.

Dallas in 6

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3-6 – Phoenix vs. Portland: As for the biggest surprise among the West’s elite: Phoenix earning a three-seed when most observers left them for dead back in January. This is a different Suns team than what we’ve grown used to, one that actually plays defense and doesn’t necessarily explode into transition at every single opportunity. They still score a ton of points and run a ton of possessions, but they were much more efficient this year than in years past. Portland took two of three from Phoenix during the season, but without star Brandon Roy, who will miss the playoffs following knee surgery, the Blazers have almost no chance. In fact, without the man once referred to* on this site as “a real-life Jesus Shuttlesworth,” they have no chance at all.

Suns in 5

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4-5 – Denver vs. Utah: Denver, once the hottest team in the NBA, has blown wildly off-course in recent weeks. We can’t exactly blame the Nuggets for going into a sort of tailspin with their coach, George Karl, out indefinitely while dealing with cancer treatments, but what once looked like the best bet to challenge the Lakers now looks like a team primed for one-and-done. The Jazz are a talented and deep team of professionals that features the second- and third-best players in this series (Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, to the Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony) and a Hall of Fame coach that will keep them motivated. This should be an entertaining affair, but I find it hard to imagine a scenario wherein a disheveled Denver pulls this one out over the steady Jazz.

Utah in 6

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EASTERN CONFERENCE

1-8 – Cleveland vs. Chicago: Chicago limped into these playoffs, their very appearance in the season-ending tournament all they could reasonably shoot for this year. Maybe next year, if Joe Johnson or Rudy Gay or Carlos Boozer join up with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, they’ll have some right to hold out a bit more hope, but as it stands for this series, they have absolutely no shot of taking anything more than one game from Cleveland. And they probably won’t do that.

Cavs in 4

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2-7 – Orlando vs. Charlotte: Another “Just Happy to Be Here” situation, the Bobcats this season earned their first playoff appearance in franchise history. Meanwhile, Orlando bounced back from last year’s Finals appearance more focused and a better team, one that now gets something substantial from its bench. They have the Defensive Player of the Year and more talent than this plucky Bobcats team that Larry Brown taught to “play the right way” and Stephen Jackson carried on his back into the playoffs. The Bobcats might get a game, though, which is something.

Orlando in 5

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3-6 – Atlanta vs. Milwaukee: If only Andrew Bogut’s arm hadn’t exploded a couple weeks ago. The big Australian came into his own this season, providing the Bucks with a much-needed anchor in the middle, finally the player the team hoped he would become after taking him first (over Chris Paul and Deron Williams) in the 2005 draft. Milwaukee scared the hell out of everybody prior to Bogut’s injury. As it stands now, no one is sweating Dan Gadzuric, Kurt Thomas, or Ersan Ilyasova, the three-man rotation in Bogut’s stead (Gadzuric saw a total of 81 minutes of action from December 2 until Bogut got injured April 2). Milwaukee will give the Hawks a host of problems, but Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and Al Horford will combine to be too much for the Bucks to overcome. Should be a fun series, though.

Hawks in 7

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4-5 – Boston vs. Miami: Boston is old, tired, and angry. They don’t seem to get along particularly well, last offseason’s big free agent pick-ups (Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels) didn’t work out the way they’d hoped (shocking!), they are 3-7 over their last ten, and head coach Doc Rivers has openly discussed being done after this year. The Celtics’ collective hot heads almost incited a riot in Milwaukee last weekend, and there’s definitely something rotten in Boston. At first glance, though, it would appear that Miami ain’t shit, D-Wade surrounded by the usual amalgamation of cast-offs (Jermaine O’Neal, Rafer Alston, Quentin Richardson) and underperformers (Dorrell Wright, Daequan Cook) he’s been toting since winning the 2006 title. However, the Heat won nine of their last ten to grab the five-seed, Wade can take over games in a way no one else in this series can, and we don’t have an “upset” yet in the East. See ya, Boston. You had a good run.

Miami in (a brutal) 7