2008 NBA Playoffs Heat Up

Posted by Phil Partington May 25, 2008

This has been a crazy month for me, so I apologize for being so quiet. I'm glad to be back to discuss all the exciting things that have happened in May in the NBA. The Playoffs are down to the final tick with San Antonio and the Lakers left in the West and the Celtics and Pistons dueling things off in the East. I don't think anyone should be shocked to see those teams still in it, but their journeys have been a bit odd.

The Spurs faced a difficult seven-game series against the New Orleans Hornets and now find themselves down two games to one to a Lakers team whose star, Kobe Bryant, has been dealing with injuries here and there and whose up-and-coming center, Andrew Bynum, has been M.I.A.

Nobody should be too surprised that the Boston Celtics are in the position they're in. Yet, after their first two series, it looked as if the season was going to be a disappointment. They've played back-to-back seven-game series. The first was against the eight-seeded Atlanta Hawks. Meanwhile, the Pistons bounced back in their second round series against the Orlando Magic after being down against the Philadelphia 76ers two games to one in their first series before winning that series four games to two. However, with Chauncey Billups playing through pain, they find themselves down against the Celtics.

At this point it will be interesting to see what happens when the Lakers-Spurs series goes back to Los Angeles. Remember, they struggled on the road against New Orleans, too.