Crown the Lakers: it's over - Sporting Goods

A couple weeks have gone by, but we're still not done with just the first round of the NBA play-offs. It really drags on. And for some reason David Stern is talking about extending it to a seven game series next year. Lets hope not.

Already, a few perennial runner-up teams have been eliminated. The Jazz are a decent team, and continue to amaze each year with the timeless duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone. But due to Scott Padgett (the worst player in the NBA - don't tell me its Mark Madsen) interfering with Stockton's possible game-winning shot, the Jazz are out of the playoffs yet again. Now they have to think about the future, and as crazy, as it might have sounded years ago, its not too bright with Stockton and Malone still around. If there ever was a team ready for rebuilding, it's the Jazz.

The Timberwolves made a valiant attempt to get past the first round, and failed yet again. As the game's highest paid player and by far the best player on the team, Kevin Garnett has been forced to shoulder much of the blame. You can't question his heart, but even his coach pointed out that there are things he has to work on if his team is ever going to advance.

A similar team to Minnesota would be Orlando, which doesn't have much of a team save for one superstar. Tracy McGrady played only okay, when his team needed him to play like a legend for them to possibly beat the more talented Hornets. And McGrady didn't make himself look any better by whining about how he can't deal with how bad the rest of his team is or that he's still the best player in the series despite getting clearly outplayed by Baron Davis.

But most NBA fans know that it doesn't really matter who comes out on the top in the East. None of those teams can challenge the top teams in the West. And for that matter, none of the "top" teams in the West can do anything against the Lakers. I'm not the only one who is positive there will be another riot/victory parade in downtown L.A. this year. Mark Madsen has been spotted working on the choreography for this year's followup to his infamous dance routine at last years championship celebration.

Sacramento is a great team, but only a good playoff team. Their regular season success is never going to translate into a championship. When the game tempo slows to a crawl in the playoffs, and defense becomes ever more important, they are no longer all that scary. Especially when compounded with Webber's playoff metamorphosis from dominant power forward into timid jump shooter. Dallas is a similar type of team, only with twice as many offensive weapons and a variety of three-point shooting big men to draw Shaq out of the paint.

Dallas's only hopes rest with them scoring 120 points a game, which they are fully capable of doing. As they never play defense, they'll have to keep that up for four games to win out, which is just not likely.

The Spurs might have trouble just getting out of the first round, as Duncan will miss game four due to the sad death of his father. They should still advance, only to face the team that humiliated them last year, the Lakers.

Speaking of the Lakers, I don't even know why I bothered talking about all these other teams when none are going to beat the Lakers. The Trailblazers gave a valiant effort, but were ousted when Robert Horry hit yet another clutch shot to add to his extensive resume.

All in all, come June, Los Angeles will be turning over police cars, Shaq will be rapping badly and Madsen will be dancing frantically - all signs that the Lakers have won again.