NBA Playoffs: The 2nd Round

Unfortunately, the Celtics beat the Hawks in game 7... by almost 40 points! While the boxscore for the game 7 will show that each team had 46 rebounds, it's actually very misleading because Boston just dominated the glass for the entire first half (en route to an 18-point halftime lead). I was starting to get excited to write a column about the 2002 Sacramento Kings - and how here in 2008, Stojakovic was helping the Hornets, Turkoglu was having a career season on the Magic, and Bibby was helping the Hawks. Alas, the Celtics slammed the door violently on the Hawks and on my column idea.

BUT, before we go around declaring that the Celtics are back, and making comparisons to the movie "How Stella got her Groove Back," let's keep this blowout in perspective: has any other NBA team ever been this wildly inconsistent within one series? Most likely not. I can't even think of one comparable 1 or 2-seed to ever be this much of a Jekyl and Hyde throughout one series, which makes the Celtics impossible to predict.

As we look ahead though, the funny thing about a Boston-Cleveland playoff series is that both teams are inconsistent! First off, while Cleveland and Boston split the season series, it means absolutely nothing because Cleveland went 2-1 with Hughes and Gooden but 0-1 with all the newcomers (but no Daniel "Tittie" Gibson) on 2/27, shortly after the trade. As a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, I am optimistic going into the series that anything really can happen with both teams failing to have consistency. Plus, for additional optimism, Doc Rivers poor game 4 strategy which included zero in-game adjustments (letting Ray Allen stay on Joe Johnson as Johnson scored 20 points in a quarter) then Doc Rivers making an adjustment for game 6, but refusing to have any in-game adjustments (double teaming Joe Johnson the ENTIRE game, resulting in Johnson passing the ball to every open teammate and yet another loss), gives me additional hope that Doc Rivers will somehow find a way to deprive his talented team of advancing.

In some of the other series, it already appears that the Pistons and Lakers will probably not have much trouble with the Magic and the Jazz, respectively. The other interesting 2nd round matchup is the Spurs-Hornets. The Hornets really dominated the Spurs in the 1st game and I don't see any reason why the Hornets won't advance, with the amazing inside-outside combo of Chris Paul, Stojakovic, and the big-men of West and Chandler. The Spurs should be able to fight back to some extent, but I don't know how the Spurs can advance past this one.