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As of press time 6 of the 8 series have yielded the home team holding serve and taking advantage of their…  err homefield advantage.  With only the Detroit Pistons losing game 1 (only to win game 2 to tie the series) and subsequently their homefield advantage and the Utah Jazz dispatching the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center in Texas, despite these two series it stands to see that there’s nothing quite like some home cooking.  This criteria is further strengthened by tonight’s big wins by the Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards at home to guarantee no sweeps in those series.  In the scope of things, this only adds a bit of spice to some quite frankly bland opening series predominantly in the East where after the first two games some might have wonder if the Eastern Conference could conceivably produce 3 sweeps out of 4 total series.  Alas with some diligence and rabid crowd support from the Raptors and the Wizards, they have temporarily staved off elimination and brought a hint of “actually-showing-up-for-a-playoff-series.”

Houston (the game is on in the background and it sounds like the Rockets are off to a fast start) has a good chance as well as nothing to lose at this point to come out swinging in Utah where the Jazz were nearly unbeatable this season and come out with a surprise win.  Tracy McGrady has been spectacular this far, but the problem is he needs a lot of help, hopefully with Alston returning to the lineup, he can provide the boost offensively and defensively for the Rockets to notch that first win.  For the Jazz, two wins on the road will boost their confidence as their only conceivable weakness thus far is winning on the road.  At home they will be expected to… dare I say it, “Protect this HOUSE.”  (I have and will be violating numerous copyright infringements throughout the piece, thankfully I’m thoroughly a non-profit semi-organization!)

There’s nothing else much to say about MVP elite candidates Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant other than, “Slow the !@$% down! Save some of that badassness for the later series when your opponents will be tougher.”  While these guys are lighting up the scoreboards they are embarrassing the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets, respectively.  Dallas in that they’ve blown a chance to fly under the radar being a low seed for the first time in half a decade without the extra pressure, and Enver (stolen from Charles Barkley) in that there’s no D in Enver, Colorado.  Things could turn around at home, but so far it doesn’t look too good.  At best fighting off a sweep will ease the pain, but it is a far cry from the potential each team still has to make it a close series.  The Mavericks are still a balanced team with the pedigree to match the Hornets as well as they have shown the ability to contain Paul…  had shown the ability at least before the playoffs started.  Going back home may be exactly what they need and that remains to be seen in the coming days.  The Nuggets on the other hand are who exactly most thought they were: A team that can win by 20+ just as easily as lose by 20+.  Smart money is on the Nuggets having the dubious honor of being the only Western Conference team to be swept as they seem more likely to implode in the locker room at this point than on the court offensively, and the Los Angeles Lakers do not look like they are playing around.

Speaking of jovial attitudes, the Pistons finally showed what they are capable of when they take their opponent seriously instead of arrogantly direspecting them and believing the wins will roll in automatically.  However in giving up homefield in game 1, the young Sixers have a chance to bounce back behind a pumped up crowd surely to be excited to have something to cheer about beyond the regular season not seen since the peak of Allen Iverson’s MVP year in 2001.  The Boston Celtics on the other hand must all be feeling good to field a playoff team (they’ve been before many times in the still-young 21st century) with an unmistakable aura of glorious Celtics past in the 80s.  If the Atlanta Hawks can shake that happy-to-be-here stigma and take advantage of their more athletic/speedy team they can provide a better fight vs. the heavy favorite Celtics.

Now we get to my favorite portion of my lil blurb, and perhaps to the ire of a many (by many I mean a dozen) readers or so who don’t care about the San Antonio Spurs.  Apologies but as all sports fans know, loyalty to your favorite team is something special.  I always feel like I need to defend the Spurs like one would defend an ugly prom date: sure they may be boring, they may be unpopular and only their immediate family/fan base can love them, but at the end of the night they put out (Disclaimer: such is only an example and one that I’d like to think makes sense as well as one that I’d like to think and can say I haven’t personally experienced).  So the Spurs always put out, maybe not two nights…  err two years in a row but 4 out of the last 9 is better than most can say.  Nevertheless when you’re playing the Phoenix Suns who are like the prom queen: popular, bright and orange, fast and exciting but at the end of the night they just choke and throw up all over the beige carpet (Why beige? Because it goes with orange? I guess?).  Regardless that’s just after 2 games in this year’s playoff and going back to the recent playoff history between these two good teams, that means squat tomorrow and on through the rest of this heavyweight bout.  There is NO plausible way in my reasonably somewhat sane mind that San Antonio will win 2 in Arizona.  The Spurs are still a slower, older team that were not for Tim Duncan holding down the fort and storming the castle at the same time or superior coaching, could easily be 1-1 or even 0-2.  Their defense looks a step slow in conjunction with Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire’s crazy badass scoring at times.  Combine this with the fact that their offense starts off slow not only the first two games of this series but also seemingly throughout the regular season, and in round 1 so far its been their fortune that with timely adjustments and the mental boost from the roaring crowd has allowed them to stem the tide and dominate in the 2nd half.  On the Sun’s homecourt however expect at least 1 blowout in Phoenix’s favor if the San Antonio cannot get off to a better start offensively to keep Bruce Bowen (a non-factor in game 1 and only serviceable in game 2) on the court to shadow Steve Nash.  For Phoenix, they will certainly get theirs early and often but the key will be to contain Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili from slashing into the paint as that was the story in the first two games with the Spurs scoring a whopping 60% or better on average (I think) of their total points from the paint.  I foresee (too bad I can’t put money on it even though I’d probably lose) a zone defense implemented to start the game with Parker resorting to midrange jumpers off the pick and roll while Ginobili tries his hand at some threes.  If they hit those early the Suns will certainly have their hands full.  However look for the Suns to justify everything from retribution for past playoff beat-downs to the blockbuster trade with Shaquille O’Neal.

Now Phoenix only needs to click those bright orange sneaker heels together and say… (well you know).