NBA Playoffs heat up with Elite Eight

By John McMullen

Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - The NBA's marketing machine came up with the tag line "Where Amazing Happens" for this year's postseason.

We certainly got some "amazing" in the first round.

There were a couple of Game 7s, an Oscar Robertson-like effort by the Celtics' Rajon Rondo and the unveiling of Vince McMahon's newest finishing hold, Dwight Howard's bionic elbow.

The Eastern Conference held to form while the West featured a couple of minor upsets.

In the East, both the Celtics and Atlanta Hawks were taken to seven games in polar opposite series.

Boston-Chicago was a classic. With the exception of the Celtics' 21-point victory in Game 3, every other contest until Saturday's Game 7 had been decided by three points or less with four of them going to overtime. The teams played a total of seven extra sessions in the set, including an incredible 128-127 Chicago win in triple-OT during Game 6.

Yao Ming and the Rockets finally got past the first round of the playoffs.

The Hawks and Heat were on a similar see-saw in their series, but the games themselves were less than epics. Joe Johnson drained six of his eight attempts from three-point range in Game 7 as Atlanta finished off a set filled with blowout wins with a 91-78 drubbing of the Heat. None of the seven games in the series were decided by a single-digit margin, only the second time that has ever occurred.

The Hawks-Heat set featured just 15 lead changes in the entire series, and the front-runner never changed after the first quarter in each of the final three contests.

In the West, Houston got out of the first round for the first time in the Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady era by besting the talented but inexperienced Portland Trail Blazers in six games.

Meanwhile, a proud San Antonio team failed to overcome the loss of Manu Ginobili and succumbed to the Dallas Mavericks in five games, while a Chauncey Billups-fueled Denver club won a postseason series for the first time in 15 years, dismantling New Orleans in five.

With all that in the rearview mirror, it's time to take a closer look at the NBA's "Elite Eight"...

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) CLEVELAND vs. (4) ATLANTA
The Hawks are a young, up-and-coming team with a steady, battle-tested point guard in Mike Bibby. That sounds like a recipe for success in the postseason, but they are running into a buzz-saw. LeBron James is playing against history, not his peers, and Mo Williams looks like he was the missing ingredient, playing "Robin" to James' "Batman."

Cavs in 5

(2) BOSTON vs. (3) ORLANDO
As strange as it sounds the Celtics match-up better with a 59-win Orlando team than Chicago. The Bulls had more athletes to throw at Boston's aging scorers. On paper, the Magic, especially with Courtney Lee sidelined and Mickael Pietrus firmly supplanted in Stan Van Gundy's doghouse, don't have the perimeter quickness to make things difficult for Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. That said, Boston is coming off a grueling seven-game series and is without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, so Doc Rivers just doesn't have the bodies in the frontcourt to fend off Dwight Howard and his Dusty Rhodes-like elbow. Experience will win out in this one.

Celtics in 7

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) LA LAKERS vs. (5) HOUSTON
The Rockets figure to have the edge at center and point guard, but they simply can't compete with the offense of LA's big three. Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are all capable of taking over a game and Houston, with Luis Scola as its high scorer in the postseason, just can't match that firepower. The only way the Rockets win this series is if Yao dominates to the tune of 20 and 10 every night. But, the Lakers have too many options to throw at the Chinese star.

Lakers in 6

(2) DENVER vs. (6) DALLAS
It's hard to imagine Chauncey Billups playing at the same level for another series, but his presence and playoff-tested mettle can't be underestimated. The Nuggets swept the season series with Dallas and have already taken Game 1. More importantly, you have to like Billups and Carmelo Anthony running the pick-and-roll in late-game situations over Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki.

Nuggets in 6