NBA Playoffs

For some reason I am not as excited about the playoffs beginning as I should be. Maybe it's how long the regular season is. Or maybe it's because I don't like the best of 7 format. Don't get me wrong, I love the Pistons and have cheered for them since the mid 80's but I am not setting my schedule around their playoff games like I have done in the past. Maybe success breeds complacency and their recent performances have lulled me into a false sense of security. I fully expect that they will not have a challenging series until at least the conference championship but even then I doubt it will go 7 games. They are just that much better than all the other teams. The only concern I had was depth and with Delk coming off the bench I feel a lot better about that.

As for the western conference, it looks pretty wide open. I am looking forward to seeing how the Clippers do in the playoffs. My guess is that Dallas wins the conference because I don't trust San Antonio this year. Duncan and Ginobli are both less than 100 percent healthy. Dallas could give the pistons some problems and they beat them during the regular season. So my prediction is Detroit over Dallas in 7 games.

One last thing, I am sick of all the Kobe for MVP hype and hearing how great a job Phil Jackson did coaching this year. Okay Kobe is very good but he does not make his teammates better. That's my criteria for being an MVP. I would much prefer Lebron, Nash, Chauncey or Dirk winning the award. Having said that, how good a coach do you have to be to squeak into the playoffs if you have the MVP on your team. All Jackson did this year was tell Kobe to shoot the ball and cash his paycheck. Heck anybody could have done that.