NBA Playoff Action

It’s that time of year again: Playoff time in the NBA. Few things in life get my blood racing in quite the same way. Those of you who don’t care for my NBA observations should probably just skip to the next blog. This has been quite a week in the NBA. We saw the exit of Employee Number 8 (Enjoy the golf course, Kobe!), the crowning of the league’s MVP in Canada’s Steve Nash, and a ridiculously dominant performance by the Pistons in 5 of the 6 games they’ve played so far this post-season. Oh, and Big Ben managed to snag his 4th Defensive Player of the Year nod, just for good measure.

This year’s MVP was probably the worst kept secret in league history as someone from the Head Office seems to have leaked the winner a couple of weeks before they made the announcement—just in time to try and stoke a rivalry between Kobe and Steve Nash. Coincidence? Unlikely. Though why they would need to hype the series any more than they already had is beyond me. Personally, I don’t enjoy watching Kobe win. Yes, it’s most certainly jealousy creeping in, as I would love to have even a 10th of the ability he has on a basketball court, but there’s something exhilarating in watching him lose. Again. I would be quite pleased if he never managed to win another championship for the rest of his career. That being said, I’ll have to admit that he was probably a better choice for MVP than my countryman. He carried the Lakers back into the playoffs and put a helluva scare into the 2nd seeded Suns. But all his heroics went for naught as his team folded like the patio set Maddog is forced to hose off on a weekly basis out in Ilderton.

In the meantime, the Pistons have kept rolling along. Sure, there was that hiccup in Milwaukee as they got blown out, but the Bucks played above their level. It happens. Now we’ll get to see if they can carry things through against Lebron and the Cavs. There’s no way the Bad Boys will put up the kind of numbers they did last Sunday when they tore the NBA’s “Next One” a new ass, but I don’t think the series will go beyond 5 games. There would have to be some pretty serious developments for that to happen.

I’m still not willing to make any bold predictions about the eventual Championships because, let’s face it, there’s a lot of basketball left to be played. But rest assured, the afro wig and jersey will see a lot of daylight over the next month or so. Til next time…