After suffering low ratings, a brawl at the Palace, image issues, and off the court player problems, the NBA 2007-2008 season has invigorated fans. The drafted and undrafted rookie talent of Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Luis Scola, Jamario Moon, and Thadeus Young brought an intensity in play that has been unmatched in recent years. The tight MVP race between Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James dominates conversation between analysts. One of the biggest blockbuster trades in history took place: The Big Three (KG and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce on the Boston Celtic’s roster) masterminded by Danny Ainge to include support from Eddie House, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Kendrick Perkins, James Posey, and Rajon Rondo. To add to the madness - a late season trade by the Phoenix Suns masterminded by Steve Kerr that sent Shawn Marion to Miami for a struggling Shaquille O’Neal. Such a big trade was deemed necessary by the Suns in one of the craziest Western Conferences to date. Throughout the year, the top nine teams in the Western Conference were separated by only a handful of games. For instance, the L.A. Lakers would be second in the West one night only to lose a game and drop three seeds the next night. Each night, separated by a game or two, the Spurs, Suns, Jazz, and Rockets would shift around the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th seed. This culminated in a wild playoff chase at the end of the season for the last spot in the West between the Mavericks, Warriors, and Nuggets. The Nuggets nabbed the 8th and last spot from the Warriors who had a better record than the top five teams in the Eastern Conference. The Houston Rockets added to a memorable year when they went on the second longest winning streak in NBA history with 22 straight games. All of this positive vibe has garnered momentum into the playoffs which has started off on the right note. Although the seeding has caused an imbalance in matchups (Suns vs. Spurs), the first round is not as one sided as expected. The Atlanta Hawks at the 8th spot in the East has grabbed a game from the Boston Celtics to make the series 2-1 while the young Philadelphia 76ers are in a dogfight with the Detroit Pistons in a series tied 2-2. The revival of the hard-nose, fast-paced, smack talking matchups has made the NBA entertaining again. The jawing matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards has been fueled by Deshawn Stephenson claiming, “LeBron is overrated” with instigation by Gilbert Arenas and his blog. The denial of easy baskets, commitment of tough fouls, and the athleticism of players has pleased viewers that normally have short attention spans for the NBA. The youth of America and abroad have grown to love the NBA but at times the tough defensive play and unpredictable games of college basketball took away any interest in the Association. But this year, the re-emergence of teams like the Celtics, Lakers, and even Hornets have brought back the “ESPN Classic” type of playoff atmosphere. The Champion San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Cleaveland Cavs, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons are also contenders in the playoffs that is defined by the slogan, ”where amazing happens.”
Look for teams like the Lakers to make a strong push to the finals with an easy first round over the Denver Nuggets (prone to laziness and waste of talent). The addition of Pao Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies could get Kobe Bryant his first MVP and a new outlook on his future in L.A. Prior to the season, he became outspoken about the lack of a team around him. But a strong season by the Lakers bench in players like Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, Vladimir Radmanovich, and Ronny Turiaf along with strong play from Lamar Odom and Gasol created the most balanced team in the NBA. Kobe is all smiles now (picture). 
In reaction to a trade for Gasol, the Suns acquired Shaq to help their run and gun offense establish a better half court game and improve players like Amare Stoudemire, Raja Bell, and Boris Diaw. A bigger presence of Shaq under the hoop increased the productivity of those players and allowed better outlook passing to Steve Nash. But the Suns have stumbled in the first round to the San Antonio Spurs whose veteran talent of Tim Duncan and excellent guard play of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker has the series at 3-1. But the team that should not go overlooked is the New Orleans Hornets who have dominated the West for most of the season. Chris Paul’s vision and ability to take over the game has made him a top candidate for MVP. Tyson Chandler soars for a dunk as Paul sends up the alley-oop while Peja Stojakovic nails down three’s throughout games. Their tough play and athleticism of young players are factors that will give the tired Spurs some trouble in the second round. The same goes for the Lakers who could fall to the trap of the sensational home court record of the Utah Jazz and versatility of Darren Williams. On the other side of the coast, Chris Bosh and the Raptors are against the wall from the Orlando Magic who could also make a big push for the Eastern Conference finals with solid play from Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis. Their next round will not be easy against the most put together team of the Pistons or the young talent of the 76ers. The prospective matchup of the Cavs and Celtics could be a good matchup for both teams if LeBron can receive support (similar to the championship run of last year) from players like Daniel Gibson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, Ben Wallace, and Wally Szczerbiak. Hopefully the tenaciousness of the entire season can carry into the impending matchups of the Playoffs that will return the NBA to the Jordan era of the 90’s, classic rivalries of the 80’s, and parity of the 1970’s. Happy Playoffs and my predictions…
First Round Winners
East: Celtics, Cavaliers, Magic, Pistons (most unsure prediction with a tough first series against Mo Cheeks’ 76ers)
West: Lakers, Jazz, Spurs, Hornets
Second Round Winners
East: Celtics over Cavaliers in five, Pistons over Magic in seven (Lack of depth for Pistons = long series)
West: Lakers over Jazz in six, Hornets over Spurs in five (Spurs are a veteran team that will be plagued by fatigue from first round play with Phoenix)
Eastern Conference Champions - Celtics over Pistons in six (Pistons proved they could play with the Celts during the year but the Celtics role players will make the winning difference in this series)
Western Conference Champions - Lakers over Hornets in seven (advantage goes to the Hornets over the regular season but the Lakers balanced defense will dictate the outcome).
NBA Champions - Boston Celtics in six (cliche but realistic)
(Boston had two convincing wins over L.A. during the season…Should be interesting if Bynum is 100% by the finals but it would be difficult to implement him in the rotation while Gasol who is meshing so well with Bryant and Odom).
And for your information, I am an unfortunate New York Knicks fan…
