Second Round

Call this a rivalry reborn a rivalry reawakened and series of many intriguing side plots as the Bulls and Pistons each coming off first round sweeps square off in the second round. One player who will be in the center of all the attention will be Ben Wallace the four time defensive player of the year who was the anchor of the Pistons defense and 2004 championship, now a member of the Bulls resurgence. Wallace in fact could be the difference as the Bulls defense which froze the defending champion Heat will frustrate the Pistons, as the Baby Bulls take another gigantic step forward by upsetting the Pistons in six.

Forget about June, THIS IS THE NBA FINALS. The winner of this series will be the NBA Champion for 2007 as the Mavericks choke job has eliminated the competition. The Spurs have the championship mettle while the Suns are hungry to finally get to the promised land, can it get any better than this. Forget about any other series going on the rest of the playoffs this is the main event, and it will be as good as any classic heavyweight battle as seven games will be the distance, but fans will be hoping for more at the end. Look for the Suns balanced scoring attack along with the presence of Amare Stoudamire makes the difference as they take the series in seven.

After a season of underachieving the Nets are finally showing the type of basketball that was expected all season, as they are not only in the second round, but have a good chance to go to the finals as they face the Cavaliers. So far in his career LeBron James has been frustrated by the Nets, who had won 7 of 11 meetings coming into this year. This season the Cavs won 2 of 3 with the home team winning all three games. Look for that trend to continue as road teams will have a tough time winning any games as this series has seven games written all over it. In the end having home court will be the difference as the Cavs win game seven at home.

The roots of the Warriors downfall have already been planted as Baron Davis who was often the best player on the court in their historic upset of the Mavericks sustained a hamstring injury in Game 6. While Davis will play his often fragile body has been with has held him back and will prevent the Warriors from going any further. In the regular season the Jazz and Warriors split four games with the home team winning all four games, and that is possible here too as the Jazz won all three home games before advancing with a Game 7 win in Houston in the first round. However, in the end the Jazz will be able to keep up with the fast Warriors unlike the Mavs and in the end will win it in six.