On the brink

The NBA playoffs commence today. Devoid of the type of upsets that riddle college basketball in March, the playoff system is set up to find the best team. And with four rounds of seven-game battles, it usually does.
The only real upset possibilities by seeding are the Eastern Conference 4-5 matchup (Cavs v. Wiz), which could go either way and the 3-6 Western matchup between the Clippers and Nuggets. Due to a seeding quirk that has been discussed enough already, the Clippers have home-court advantage, despite the lower seed, based on a better regular season record. Other than that, to my mind, it's just chalk.
Notice I am leaving out the de rigeur upset special of Lakers over Suns. It seems everybody, including many folks at ESPN, think that the Kobes can take the series, despite one important fact: since the tiny Canadian came to the desert, he has never lost a game to the Lakers. Nash sat out the final matchup of the season, a meaningless game the Lakers won. Now, Nash may lose his first during the series, but I don't think it will be four.
Since I moved to the desert - around the same time as Nash did and when the fortunes of the Suns changed (although I have not been extended any credit by the franchise or had any of my e-mails returned) - the Suns have played about 180 games, including playoffs. I've probably watched 120 of them. The team has changed dramatically during that time, but they have always been able to beat teams that are one-man shows or don't play excellent defense. That is what the Lakers are. There is no causal link between Kurt Thomas and Stoudemire being out and Kwame Brown miraculoulsy turning into the second coming of Elvin Hayes, however, many pundits have been saying this will happen. I don't buy it. If Nash stays healthy, and Raja Bell doesn't punch Kobe and get suspended, the Suns will win.
The other series don't seem too intriguing. I hope they end quickly because round two should be excellent (Mavs v. Spurs being a marquee event). The East appears to be nothing more than prelude to Heat Pistons 2, although I don't think the Heat are better than last year.
Suns Lakers Une is this Sunday afternoon. A full report after that.

A couple of ongoing items to add

What I'm reading: Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley because I'm a Hollywood follower without any original ideas.

What I'm listening to in my car: Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol because I don't have an IPod or a Rio or a cell phone with mp3 capapbilities, and thus, I can only listen to music in my car which has a single-disc CD player.