The Pulse of Professional Basketball

While the "savior" of professional basketball is playing golf somewhere with Coach Cal and trying to count all the zeros he will be making next year, there is still a good amount of appeal for what is actually still happening on the court.

The sudden resurgence of the Boston Celtics is a surprise to many, especially to myself. I watched several Celtics games throughout the season, not because I am a fan, but rather because it seemed they have a firm grip on the national television market. The team looked worse than Heidi Montag post-surgery, with key acquisitions like Rasheed Wallace degenerating into shells of their former, talented selves. However, once the playoffs began Rajon Rondo began playing like a shorter Magic Johnson, KG's gimpy knee seemed to heal overnight after two years of complications, and Sheed's touch from beyond the arc returned as suddenly and unexpectedly as Betty White's career.

The shock continued last night, as the Celtics took down an Orlando Magic team that had not lost this postseason. With LBJ gone from the playoff picture it is apparent that the superstar stigma will be transferred to Dwight Howard, who seems to thrive in the spotlight even less than his Cleveland counterpart. While both are phenominal players and freak athletes, neither appears to have the internal fortitude to lead their teams to the promise land. It will be interesting to see if "Superman" can be the first out of these two to live up to his hype, because the last baller to assume that moniker has four rings on his fingers.

To many the west appears to be another jog to the finals for LA, but I'm not completely convinced. While the Lakers are clearly the more talented team, Los Suns may be the most cohesive unit left in the playoffs. Steve Nash seems extremely motivated to remove himself from the list of most playoff games without reaching the finals (where he currently resides at the top spot). Like the Celtics, Grant Hill has shaken the cobwebs off of his career and is playing shockingly effective defense for a player with his history of injuries and lack of youth. The Lakers are still the better team (even with Andrew Bynum's seventeenth knee injury) but Phoenix looks like the hungrier team at this point. We will find out tonight when this series opens, in what should be an exciting contrast in players and style.

I do realize the casual NBA fan may not follow the playoffs after Cleveland's early exit. I also concede that the playoffs without LeBron are bad for the NBA as a business, but are good for true fans of the game. Perhaps without LeBron playing more fans will actually focus on the basketball being played, rather than spend all game pondering over New Jersey or Chicago. Let's turn our attention to the players who still have a chance to win a championship and save the offseason for...well, the offseason.

Predictions: Magic in 7
(Shocker alert) Suns in 6