Eight 50 win teams... no upsets?

Man what a game last night!!! Atlanta finally pulled through against Boston to make the series a more respectable 2-1. Josh Smith had 27 points including an important late three... and I missed it. I did see the Houston-Utah game, though and, of course, the Lakers Game. A quick note on each of those series: Never for one minute did I imagine a scenario where the Nuggets would be facing the Rockets in the Second Round. I think that all of the hype of this year's post season will be realized in the second round. I know I'm getting ahead of myself because no team has clinched a second round series yet, but I honestly don't think that the Rockets can win 3 more games against Utah (though I'm openly and sometimes annoyingly rooting for them). And the Nuggets might not win another quarter of Basketball against the Lakers.

Still, each of them has a chance - The Nuggets have a Puncher's Chance and the Rockets... well they're like a Baseball team with one Great Ace. You know that when he takes the mound, they're really dangerous because all of a sudden scoring against them can be like jogging through quicksand. Which is what happened last night near the end of the game, but Time was already on Utah's side. Still, UTA/LAL is most likely what we'll be seeing in Round 2.

Now that will be entertaining for me for a couple of reasons: First, I hate Utah! Hate 'em, Hate 'em, Hate 'em!!! Even though I like Deron Williams, AK47, and Carlos Boozer... or at least his Offensive game. I've hated Utah since John Stockton mastered the Illegal Screen (or mastered not getting called for it and getting Malone's man called for it).
Second: Utah is Really Good at home. I know that a lot has already been made of this point, but they are really, really good at home. And they always have been. It's not just about being comfortable with your routine at home and being able to perform better there. That's part of it, but a lot of it has to do with Salt Lake City. They have an underrated, loud, boisterous, involved, knowledgeable crowd who go above and beyond. I think it was back in 1998 when Utah won 62 games, Seattle and the Lakers won 61 games and the Bulls won 60. Anyway, after the Lakers beat Seattle in 5 to win in the second round, they met up with Utah. When the Lakers arrived in the Airport, they were met with throngs of Utah Fans deriding them from the minute they stepped off the plane. Then, the night before Game 2, a group of Utah fans showed up outside of their hotel room with brass instruments around 10:00pm and didn't leave until 8:00 AM. If that wasn't bad enough, just before Half-Time, Nick Van Exel was dribbling down the court with about ten seconds left on the clock. He got to about mid court with around 6-7 seconds left, ready to do his Nick Van Excellent thing and get a good shot off at the end of the quarter, like he always did. Instead, a trumpeter with a half-court seat blew his horn and instinctively, Nick threw the ball up from about 47 feet. That's dirty. And it's unheard of. And it's brilliant. And it's exactly the type of thing that a team has to deal with when playing in Utah. I wish LA fans could do stuff like that. Not too extreme, like when a Hotel in Sacramento Poisoned Kobe (remember that?), but just something inspired and original, you know? In terms of Xs and Os, the Lakers can beat Utah in Utah. They've already done it once this year (by like 20 points). But That crowd is probably going to make things interesting - in and out of the arena.

Oh yeah, and Chris Paul (possibly this year's MVP) will probably be facing Last year's Finals MVP, Tony Parker. That should be entertaining.