1.    Bulls-Pistons:    Tough play by the Pistons, who have totally manhandled the Bulls in almost all respects.  Most significantly, the Bulls have been totally shutdown offensively.  This isn't too much of a surprise because the Bulls have had trouble scoring for years.  The series itself is over and we are left to ponder two main questions:

 

(A)  Are the Pistons "back"?:  The Pistons have been dominant against both the Magic and now Bulls.  While it is easy to write off the Magic as a mediocre team, the Bulls are pretty good team to spank so easily.  Still, I don't think we can read these blow outs to prove that the 2003-04 champion Pistons are "back."  Detroit is a good team and I expected, and still expect, them to come out of the East.  But the Pistons were far from great in the regular season. 

 

I can't help but think the Pistons are down a bit from the the 2003-2005 peak.  While it is possible that a veteran team can turn it up for the playoffs, I suspect that regular season dominance usually reflects the true level of ability of team.  Let's take a look at the Pistons' year-by-year won-loss and Pythagorean records from the last few years and see how the 2006-07 edition compares.  We'll start with the 2001-02, the first good Piston team of the decade, and move forward from there:

 

Year	W-L	PythW-L	PPG	Opp. PPG	Diff.	Playoffs
2001-02	50-32	48-34	94.3	92.2	2.1	Lost in 2nd Round
2002-03	50-32	52-30	91.4	87.7	3.7	Lost in Conf. Finals
2003-04	54-28	59-23	90.1	84.3	5.8	Won Title
2004-05	54-28	53-29	93.3	89.5	3.8	Lost in NBA Finals
2005-06	64-18	60-22	96.8	90.2	6.6	Lost in Conf. Finals
2006-07	53-29	53-29	96.0	91.8	4.2	To Be Determined

 

Detroit's torching of the Bulls this year really belies a season that was their worst since 2002-03.  The Pistons are still good but don't show any indications of being a dominant team.  Of course, a Piston fan might note that the 2004-05 team was in the same ballpark and nearly won it all.  Again, Detroit has a shot but they are far from a favorite against San Antonio or Phoenix.

 

(B) Should the Bulls have gotten Gasol?:  Watching the Bulls supremely struggle to score this series has brought up the Bulls refusal to trade for Pau Gasol, a proven low post scorer, at the trade deadline.  The Bulls have scored a horrendous 76.7 ppg this series and are shooting 33% from the field.  Yes, Gasol would've helped but the real issue is whether it was worth giving up Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and a draft pick for Gasol.  Deng is young (21) and a unique perimeter player who is very efficient.  Gasol is 26 and actually had the best year of his career (when you ignore that he missed almost 30 games with injury).  Gasol would've increased the Bulls' chances of getting out of the East this year but I don't think that a line up with Gasol in place of Deng raised the Bulls chances of enough to justify giving up so much talent.  The Bulls are very young and have the cap room, young players, and the Knicks' draft pick, to play with.  They will have a chance to make another deal, perhaps at a better asking price.  Getting Gasol wouldn't have been a bad deal but I think waiting for more of a bargain than Gasol made sense.

 

2.    Warriors-Jazz:    Much to my surprise, this has been the most interesting second round series so far.  The Warriors have played very well in Utah and then proceeded to blow out the Jazz in Oakland last night.  The Warriors have been so dominant at home in the playoffs so far that you have to think that they can take this thing to a seventh game.  In addition, the Warriors have been very close with Utah, and would've won Game 2 if they could've made one free throw down the stretch.  In true Warriors style, they did not mope about blowing leads on the road and went out and played strong.  They'll be tough for Utah the rest of this series.

 

A few more notes:

 

-Stephen Jackson is having much more problems with Utah than he did with Dallas.  Jackson matched up so well with the Mavs but the big Utah frontline has reduced his effectiveness greatly.  On the other hand, Al Harrington has picked up some of the slack and so there isn't much of a net loss from Golden State's Round One production.

 

-Stat-wise, the Jazz have enjoyed the Warriors' fast pace.  Deron Williams has arguably outplayed Baron Davis in the first two games.  The front line of Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, and Andrei Kirilenko have been dominant.  If the Jazz win this series, it will be because of the rebounding of this front line.  As another side note, Kirilenko has 15 block in three games.  I'd like to go back and find out his distribution of Warriors blocked, would be interesting to see.

 

3.    Nets-Cavs:    Though the Cavs have a 2-0 lead, both games have been very close and come down to the final minutes.  LeBron James has been as great as usual but the real difference between the teams is how Sasha Pavlovic has negated the Nets' natural advantage with Vince Carter (who has 23.5 pg but on 35% shooting).  I expect that the Nets should hold serve at home the next two games, making Game 5 in Cleveland very interesting.  Finally, it is hard to overstate how bad the Nets' front court rebounding has been.  Carter and Jason Kidd have been very good but, amazingly, no center or power forward has more than 3 rpg.  The Nets may need to play Josh Boone a little more for a little more thump on the glass.

 

4.    Suns-Spurs:    This will probably end up being the best series of the round, and possibly of the playoffs in terms of talent of the teams.  The Spurs are in control of the series by immediately stealing home court.  For now, that talk won't be about talent but rather about the whole "is Bruce Bowen dirty debate," courtesy of Amare Stoudemire.  We've discussed this issue ad nauseum and I'm even less interested about this point now that meanginful games are being played.  You can't help but think that the Suns should be quiet on this issue as they went through the same thing when Kobe Bryant called out Raja Bell in last year's playoffs. 

 

If you're more concerned with the games, however, the more important story is that Michael Finley has played Shawn Marion evenly so far.  Marion's mediocre showing is more a result of the Spurs' slow tempo and the presence of Tim Duncan than anything that Finley has done defensively.  I'm not sure that this trend can continue but the Suns need Marion to dominate this match up to win. 

 

5.    MVP...Embarrasing?:     With all the talk that Dirk Nowitzki will be collecting the MVP, most have noticed that it'll be a bittersweet moment.  Dirk certainly is a deserving MVP but it is pretty much unprecedented to see an MVP not play deep into the playoffs.  The last team that an NBA MVP hasn't reached, at least, the Conference Finals was Tim Duncan back in 2001-02.  The last time that an NBA MVP went out in the Round One was Moses Malone with the Rockets back in 1981-82, when a lower seeded Rocket team lost to the Sonics.  Here's a comprehensive list of NBA MVPs who did not win a playoff series:

 

-1981-82, Moses Malone (Houston): Lost to Seattle 2-1 in the First Round.

-1978-79, Moses Malone (Houston): Lost to Atlanta 2-0 in the First Round

-1977-78, Bill Walton (Portland): Lost to Seattle 4-2 in the semis

-1975-76, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (L.A. Lakers):  Missed the playoffs

-1974-75, Bob McAdoo (Buffalo): Lost to Washington 4-3 in the semis

-1968-69, Wes Unseld (Washington): Lost to New York 4-0 in the semis

-1965-66, Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia):  Lost to Boston 4-1 in the conference finals

-1958-59, Bob Pettit (St. Louis):  Lost to Minneapolis 4-2 in division finals

 

Dirk is the first MVP to lose in the First Round since the NBA expanded the playoffs to eight teams in 1983-84.  Most of these other MVPs lost in the second round where his team had a bye from the play-in First Round.  Only Moses truly lost a First Round series.  Kareem, is the only one of the bunch to totally miss the playoffs. 

 

As for post-1983-84, here are the MVPs who made it to only Second Round:

 

-1987-88, Michael Jordan (Chicago)

-1989-90, Magic Johnson (L.A. Lakers)

-1998-99, Karl Malone (Utah)

-2001-02, Tim Duncan (San Antonio)