Do you believe in (the) Magic?

While each conference's respective top seed are making seemingly easy progress toward the conference finals, the other two series seem to be getting interesting:

• Boston/Cleveland-Defense and unselfish play on offense have been the story for the Mighty C's. After averaging 29.8 points on .483 shooting and less than 3 turnovers a game in round 1, King James is averaging a mere 16.5 points on .190 shooting with a ridiculous 8.5 turnovers a game. Who has filled the void offensively? Zydrunas Ilgauskas is the Cavs leading scorer at 20.5 per game. During the regular season he led the team in scoring 5 times and the team went 2-3 in those games. This team will not win a single game in this series if James does not get it together.
• Detroit/Orlando-In his first eight career playoff games, Dwight Howard is averaging 20.9 points, 16.1 rebounds, and 3.75 blocks a game. The fact that they were able to dominate the Pistons in Game 3 (and blowing an opportunity to win Game 2 in the waning moments) paired with the fact that Chauncey Billups might not be able to play in tomorrow's Game 4, the Magic might be able to work themselves back into the series. It is good for the psyche of young team to at least play well in a series they are supposed to get blown out in (see this year's first round performances by the Sixers and Hawks for examples). The future is bright for the Magic, even more so if they are able to push the Pistons to 6 or 7 games.
• Los Angeles/Utah-No one is playing better than the undefeated in the playoffs version of the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant is playing like a man on a mission. He needs that ring without Shaq to shake the stigma. He is averaging a ridiculous 36/7/6.5 for the series. Deron Williams is not enough to topple this team, his 19.5/6/9.5 has been exceptional but not enough. The Jazz should manage a split at home, seeing how tough they are in the state of Utah, but this series will not be coming back to the state, so Jazz fans should enjoy.
• New Orleans/San Antonio-The Spurs looked old in the first two games of this series, getting dominated in the third quarter of both games. They bounced back last night, flexing their championship quality muscle in the the second half, outscoring the pesky Hornets 56-43. In his first eight career playoff games, Chris Paul has averaged 25.6 points, 11.8 assists, and 2 steals a game. But the most amazing stat is that he has 94 assists and only 10 turnovers. I still like the guys with all the hardware in seven in this series, but if New Orleans manages a win in Game 4...

My current projection-Celtics over Lakers

Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant Are MVP-ish

To date, the first round of the NBA playoffs have been mildly uneventful. With the exception of the Sixers' shocking Game 1 win in Detroit, everything has gone according to the script. The only series where the higher seed is not leading (or tied if you are the Pistons) is the Utah-Houston series, but Tracey McGrady never wins in the playoffs so this should not be surprising. We can begin to formulate answers to the questions we considered here the other day. The Hornets do not appear to have stage fright in their maiden voyage into the playoffs, as they have dominated the veteran-laden Dallas Mavericks in the first two games. The Spurs are not too old, winning the best game of playoffs thus far in double OT in Game 1 and dominating in Game 2 against Phoenix. This current Phoenix team could go down as the best team to never win a title in the annals of NBA history. The Mighty C's are fantastic and have refused to play down to the Hawks level (a good young team, but not playoff caliber by any stretch of the imagination). The Lakers are as good as advertised and the Pistons seem to be about as good as one might expect, Game 1 not withstanding. While the series' have been anti-climatic thus far, there have been countless utterly ridiculous individual performances worth noting, here are the five best to date:

1. Kobe Bryant: 40.5 ppg/5.5 apg/5.2 rpg/50% FG--Had 49 last night and 32 in Game 1 after a very slow start. He is the best basketball player on the planet, no questions asked.
2. Chris Paul: 33.5 ppg/13.5 apg/3.5 spg/64% FG--Proved that his playoff debut was not a fluke (35 points, 10 assist, 4 steals) by playing even better in Game 2 (32 points, 17 assists, 3 steals). He is easily the best point guard in the league and should be the MVP (Kobe will win it).
3. Dwight Howard: 27 ppg/21 rpg/4 bpg/66% FG--A basketball insider close to LWAL asked last night if Howard could get to 100 points/100 rebounds in only 5 games? He could, but I do not know if this series will go that long. Like Paul, a stellar playoff debut for one the league's brightest burgeoning stars.
4. LeBron James: 31 ppg/7.9 rpg/7.2 apg/55% FG--Has been somewhat overlooked this season with the play of Bryant and Paul, but the NBA's scoring champ has been sensational thus far and has made what should have been a tough series seem easy through two games.
5. Tim Duncan: 29 ppg/16 rpg/ 3 bpg/55 % FG--The league's most unselfish player demonstrated his greatness in Game 1 with 40, 15, and 5 and hit a clutch three-pointer that sent the game into overtime.

My current projection: Celtics over Lakers

The future...

On Wednesday night Chris Paul put on a show against a a two-time MVP and one of the West's superpowers. In fairness to Mr. Paul and his teammates, the resurgent Hornets have played like a superpower for much of this year despite recent struggles. The Hornets currently sit third in a supremely deep Western Conference and one game out of first in the league's toughest division. The reason for their success can be summed up in two words...Chris Paul. This leads to an interesting debate, who is the best point guard in the NBA right now? This is the only position where one can engage in a true debate, as there are approximately three good centers in the NBA and 2's, 3's, and 4's are difficult to distinguish between in today's game. In my opinion, there are six candidates in this debate. They are:

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#6--Chauncey Billups [17.5 ppg/2.8 rpg/7.2 apg/44.2% FG/40.2% 3-pt/91.2% FT/1.3 spg]

For some reason I always think shooting guard when I think of Billups, but he is as clutch as they come in the waning moments of a game. One of the best all-around shooting guards in the NBA. None of his numbers rank among the best in the league (except for FTs), but overall, he is solid.

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#5--Baron Davis [22 ppg/4.7 rpg/8 apg/42.4 FG/34.1 3-pt/74.1 FT/2.5 spg]

Like Billups, Davis is one of those guys you want to have the ball at the end of a game. He is a good shooter, but does not shoot a high percentage from behind the arc. But, he is a greater scorer and an exceptional defender.

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#4--Jason Kidd [11.1 ppg/8 rpg/10.5 apg/37.4 FG/35.7 3-pt/81.8 FT/1.6 spg]

Kidd is part of a dying breed in the NBA, a guy more concerned with pasing than scoring. He is one of the 10 best pure point guards to ever play the game. His shooting has been nothing short of terrible this season, but the move to Dallas is a perfect fit for a guy in the twilight of his career. He does not need to score in this offense, he needs to be the trigger that gets the offense moving. An underrated aspect of Kidd's game is rebounding. No one else on this list averages more than Billups' 4.7, thus Kidd's 8 rpg is certainly worth noting. Other than Steve Nash, no one is better in transition than Kidd.

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#3--Deron Williams [19.2 ppg/2.9 rpg/9.7 apg/51.6 FG/39.6 3-pt/79.9FT/1.1 spg]

One can't fault the Jazz for taking Williams in the 2005 draft ahead of Paul, he has easily been the second best player from that draft class. His stellar performace in the playoffs last year made people take note of his game. He is a great shooter and is able to draw two and three defenders through constantly attacking the basket.

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#2--Steve Nash [17.6 ppg/3.5 rpg/11.5 apg/51.3 FG/46.6 3-pt/89.8 FT/.7 spg]

It would be easy to put Nash at the top of this list. He is the passer I have seen since Magic (the gold standard at this position) tortured me throughout the latter part of the 1980s. He is the best passer and shooter at this position, although not the best defender.

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#1--Chris Paul [20.7 ppg/4.0 rpg/10.7 apg/48.2 FG/34.3 3-pt/87.8 FT/2.7 spg]

Chris Paul is the league MVP (as a Celtics fan, it pains me greatly to write this). While Tyson Chandler's apparent rebirth in New Orleans and the continued development of David West into a great PF have played a key role in the franchise's turn-around, Paul is the heart and soul of that team. While his 3-pt percentage is not the best, he shoots well from all other parts of the court. Like Williams, his ability to get into the paint and draw defenders opens up opportunites for his teammates. Also, Paul is a phenomenol defender (leading the league in steals). Could Paul expose the defense of Jason Kidd and Steve Nash in the playoffs? In the above mentioned game against Nash, Paul had 25 points, 6 rebounds, 15 assists, and 3 steals, while holding Nash to 8 points (1-8 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line). The future is bright in New Orleans...