This year's playoffs has been more exciting than in recent years. The favorites, Boston, have been struggling mightily to far inferior opponents, yet somehow have found a way to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Kobe Bryant, on the other hand, has proven the voters right. He is the choice over Chris Paul and is playing better this postseason.

Last night, the Hornets showed their inexperience and youth quite a bit in falling to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 by nine points. To say CP3 had a bad series would be ridiculous. However, to say he wasn't at his best in the games following Game 2 is probably a valid assumption. In fact, in those five games, Paul averaged "only" 24 points, 10 assists, and 3 turnovers. (All of those averages would be good for any point guard in the League except him.)

A couple nights ago, Paul Pierce and LeBron James engaged in quite a scoring battle. They combined to score 46% of the points in the entire game with LeBron putting up 45 and Pierce scoring 41. Interestingly enough, this was not the story of the series. It would almost have to be Boston's inability to win on the road the entire postseason. They are 0-6 in games played outside of TD Banknorth Garden.

The home teams dominating has actually been the story of the second round. The visiting teams were an astonishing 3-22 with the only wins being the Spurs over New Orleans, Los Angeles over the Jazz, and Detroit over Orlando. Many bloggers and analysts would claim a reason as to why this is happening. The truth of the matter is I have no idea what is going on. Some of you could make a case for the fans, refs, or even the players' being more comfortable in their home gym. Whatever the reason, road wins have been remarkably hard to come by.

My predictions for the next round aren't really surprising. I think the Lakers will dethrone the defending champs in six games with Kobe's crew stealing a win in the Alamo City. With the other series, it's an extremely tough call. However, I'm going with the Pistons in seven games. They will most certainly have to win in Boston (which hasn't happened yet in the playoffs this year). At any rate, I am sorry to tell you that the hoped-and-sought-for Lakers/Celtics finals will not be. Better luck next year.

----- -----

The Words Of My Wisdom