Double Down! NBA Playoffs Notes

Oh the drama!
Oh the excitement!
I love this game!

Okay, maybe that was a little overdramatic; but the arrival of the NBA playoffs are a little hard for this Clevelander. I'm wondering where the meteoric fall of the Cavs this season ranks with the all-time collapses in sports history.

At the All-Star Break, they were hovering around the three-seed and a prohibitive favorite to head to the postseason with home-court advantage. LeBron James was not just one of the MVP candidates — his play and leadership (read: wins) had placed him in strong contention with Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, and Shaquille O'Neal.

What happened over the next couple of months may have been shocking to some people, but certainly nothing surprising to anyone from Cleveland. Dan Gilbert bought the Cavs, fired coach Paul Silas, and ushered in a second half of bitterness, rumors, losses, and questionable moves.

All of a sudden, the Cavs were not only losing enough games to fall into the lower group of playoff teams, they lost enough games to fall out of the playoffs all together. It's sad that their most spirited game only came in the last contest of the year, when their destiny was already out of their control.

This season should go down in the tape library at ESPN as something else to show when the network chooses to make Clevelanders cry. It could be shown right after Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, and right before the recap of the 1997 World Series.

Somewhere, there is a secret club of former athletes and owners whose only shared characteristic is the vanquish of Cleveland's hopes and dreams. (Art Modell is President, Michael Jordan is Vice-President, and John Elway is the Secretary. And I'm sorry, ESPN, but I can blame Art Modell — for the rest of my life.)

Anyway, onto the notes...

* Everyone is talking about the dramatic turnaround of the Denver Nuggets season, led by George Karl. And while the team and the coach deserve all the credit in the world for their stellar second half, I wonder why the Chicago Bulls aren't getting the same sort of respect. Just about the time when the Cavs began their freefall, the Bulls began their ascent in the Eastern Conference and fought their way into contention for home-court advantage. No, this is not their year, but yes, the future looks bright.

* Phil Jackson is setting up meetings in the upcoming weeks with various teams looking to fill their coaching vacancies with the services of the Zen Master. I know he has a soft spot for New York, but is there any chance that he's actually going to go there? After the grand orchestration by GM Thomas that has only served to increase payroll while collecting a bunch of aging players with questionable talents, can the team be saved even by perhaps the greatest coach of our era?

Phil also has a meeting with Kobe set in Los Angeles, presumably to talk about a return to coaching the Lakers (unless Kobe Bryant is seeking advice for a spiritual way for dealing with his failure to lead his team to the playoffs).

My question is: why? Wouldn't Jackson prefer to head to a city and a team that he hasn't already been a part of? Certainly, there is the gleam and glitter of the big cities, the pressure brought on by big egos and big buildings — however, the pressure would have to be just as great in any other city he could go to. The bar is set high for any team he coaches, his record and his experience merit that, so why not choose an organization with the least amount of possible problems to solve?

* Paul Shirley's NBA blog has garnered much attention in recent weeks for his candid and humorous take on life on the road, and on life as a player that rarely gets to play. I must say I have enjoyed his contributions, but his style seems to be a little too familiar. Either the Sports Guy is ghost-writing his blogs, or Paul Shirley, in his ample time not playing, diligently studied his style and now has the ability to write as if he were in Bill Simmons' head.

* Every NBA owner agreed that holding the 2007 NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas would be a good idea. Why wouldn't they? With hotel and travel problems mounting with growing attendance, non-NBA cities now have a chance to host the extravaganza.

Is this really a good idea, though? I know everyone feels bad for Dennis Rodman and wants to include him in some way, but staging the event in his adopted hometown is really going too far.

Over/under on number of arrests for players: 3

Probability Charles Barkley will appear on television hung-over and tired after four straight nights at the blackjack table: 100%

Number of stories involving Marv Albert and hookers: 5

Probability they will include leather: 85%

And you have to remember, as if the beautiful city of Las Vegas didn't already have enough trashy looking 20-something year-olds looking for someone rich for the night, the great migration of this age group will seriously test the hotel capacity that weekend.

* Houston is up on Dallas 2-0, and Tracy McGrady is once again showing the world what he can do on any given night. I know the Rockets have been on a hot streak, and many thought they had a very good chance of taking the Mavs in this series, but I think everyone underestimated T-Mac's drive to win.

There are nights when he's off, and there are nights when the Rockets are winning and he really doesn't have to do much by himself, but there is a reserve of energy and talent, like with any other superstar, that he holds onto until the time is right, until the team needs him.

If the Rockets win this series, it's going to be on T-Mac's back, even though the team as a whole is playing very well and everyone from Yao to Bobby Sura is playing his role and contributing.

On LeBron James' birthday, the Rockets were in Cleveland, and after LeBron went out at halftime with an ocular fracture suffered at the elbow of Dikembe Mutumbo, T-Mac single-handedly went out and took care of business. The last three minutes of the fourth quarter might as well have been a three-minute highlight reel of McGrady, and the Cavs might as well have been sitting on the bench drinking Gatorade.

It's that push, that little extra tank of ability lying in wait, that is going to be the difference between the Mavs crawling back in the series or Houston advancing with a chance for some days off before the next round.

* The Boston/Indiana series is shaping up to be one of the most entertaining matchups of the first round. It'd be hard to call it a rivalry, and the Pacers have worse blood with other teams in the Eastern Conference, but there's a tenacity in both teams that just makes for good entertainment. Plus, with Ricky Davis on one side and Stephen Jackson on the other, there is a high "punk" quotient, as well.

Above all else, who (besides Spike Lee and the Sports Guy) wouldn't love to see Reggie Miller turn back the clock and provide some postseason magic?

* All right, I don't see much of a chance of Detroit and Miami not making it to the Eastern Conference finals. Both teams are too good and fundamentally-solid and exceedingly talented. Even if Shaq is not 100%, the Heat will still be there in the end.

The West is a different story. There's a whole set of contenders, from Phoenix, to Seattle, to Houston, to San Antonio. While Shaq doesn't have to be 100% for the Heat, Duncan does need to be 100% for the Spurs to have a shot. Everything runs through him on the offensive end, and the middle is weak on the defensive end if he's not able to bang bodies around and block shots.

It's a crapshoot and it's going to depend on which team can stay hot for the longest period of time, and the "hot streak" is even more important for teams like Seattle that are going to win only if threes keep coming down like the pouring rain.

I'm going to take Phoenix to win the West, though, if only so that Paul Shirley will have the chance to write some witty commentary about being the 12th man on an NBA championship team.