Looks like the best series are shaping up to be.

Wizards (5) vs Cavs (4) - Series tied 2-2

LeBron is beaking all sorts of team records in his first playoff series, but Gilbert and co have hit them with a more balanced attack and the series is in a deadlock.

(Prediction: Wizards in 7)

Heat (2) vs Bulls (7) - Series tied 2-2

A battle of styles. Bulls trying to run, Heat trying to play 1/2 court. If the Heat can keep thier players from getting suspended every other game this probably wouldn't be as close as it is.

(Prediction: Heat in 6)

San Antonio (1) vs Sacremento (8) - Series tied 2-2

SA dominated the first game, and squeaked out a win in game 2 when the Kings were missing Artest (horrible suspension btw). Things changed in game 3 when the Kings hit the last second shot to win and then ran away with game 4. The tide appears to have changed in this series, game 5 should be interesting.

(Prediction: Spurs in 7)

Nets (3) vs Pacers (6)

Another battle of styles. Pacers seem to inconsistant, but the Nets have not been the hot team they were at the end of the season. Series could really go either way.

(Prediction: Nets in 7)

Wizards vs Cavs is probably the best series.

But being a die-hard Bulls fan, Bulls v Heat is my favorite. Bulls in 6.

I don't think the Bulls are mature enough as a team to pull off big road wins in the playoffs.

i'm loving the Suns/Lakers series. I expected to see high scoring with the Suns winning the series easy. Instead we've seen extremely competitive games and a possible big upset in the making (series isnt over yet). And 2 MVP candidates (including last years winner) adds to the interest.

The one David Stern rigged to be the best.

It woudln't be a bigger upset than when the Nuggets knocked off Seattle in the 8 vs 1 matchup.

Yep, Nuggets over Seattle was probably the biggest upset ever. But anytime a 7 seed knocks off a 2 seed thats big. And yes, I know the NBAs goofy seeding is causing some of this, but the Suns finished 9 games ahead of the Lakers and before the series started everyone was picking the Suns. I think this qualifies as a big upset.

Oh it will definetly be an upset, just not the biggest one ever.

Doesn't matter who wins this series, I think they go down to the Clippers next round anyway.

Here's Bill Simmons latest article. I'm posting the link here since his main topic is the Lakers-Suns series but he's all over the place as usual.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/060502

Whoever was the reader who compared Kobe's year to Teen Wolf is a genius. And I love Simmons title for Phil's next book: "Taming the Mamba." Good stuff.

Honestly, even though I'm a Wizards fan, I have to say the Suns/Lakers series has been better. A few more sublplots there, and Game 4 was simply amazing. However, I don't consider it to be an upset an all, nowhere close to Seattle-Denver or anything like that. Many, many experts picked the Lakers to win this series. They came into the playoffs much hotter than the Suns, who finished the year like 8-10 or something and have no big men.

I have to disagree here. Did some experts pick the Lakers to win? Sure there are always a few who go the other way. But by far, the majority of people picked the Suns the win. The reason people were picking the Suns to win is becasue they expected Kobe to keep gunning. No one, not even the few souls who picked the Lakers, planned for Kobe to rely on his teammates like this. And no one thought the Lakers would control the pace of the game (which has been the biggest reason for their success). Quite simply, people forgot all about Phil Jackson. He's done beautiful coaching job here.

Before the series, picking the Suns made perfect sense. They had the better record and easily beat the Lakers during the regular season. Sure the Suns are thin on post players, but I still think they have better overall talent. And post play wouldnt have mattered anyways since the Suns planned to run them off the floor. Even the poor Suns defense wasnt that big of deal. Since they believed Kobe was just going to shoot like mad, all they had to was double team him everywhere.

Phil slowed the game down to a crawl and talked Kobe to getting everyone invloved. He negated the Suns game plan and strengths, and he took advantage of their weakness. Phil changed the entire way we shouldve perceived this series. Now that's coaching!

That's completely true, and it's the reason they won two of the games in this series (we won't talk about "winning" Game Four, where Nash had that huge turnover at the end of regulation and the refs made the worst call I've seen all year at the end of OT). However, now that even that game plan has been busted open to the tune of a double digit loss, Game Six should be interesting. Phil better hope Raja Bell is suspended, as seems likely, because the side-to-side court movement and back door screen-and-roll on the weak side offensive plan has finally been figured out.

It's too bad it took the Suns the first three games to do it.

Well D'Antoni finally made an adjustment in the series. Did anyone else notice the double team on Odom was coming must faster and harder than the previous games? Actually I cant even remember them double teaming Odom in the other games. And while I dont have any actual proof, it seemed that the Suns got a few more transiton baskets than before.

Well the NBA suspended Bell for next game. Huge blow to the Suns!

They'll win Game Six if House and Jones can combine for 20 points.

this is ridiculous, and strange that so many people believe it.

if it were true, you could easily become a millionaire by betting on the teams that were "supposed" to win. but strangely enough, no conspiracy theorist is ever able to do this. if you really wanted to be scientific, you could go through and figure out which teams got the biggest tv audiences and see how often they won. but one complication is that teams that win tend to get better audiences, so to actually demonstrate, let alone prove, a conpiracy you would need a pretty complicated statistical model. but without running this , i can guarantee you that san antonio and detroit are the last teams the league would want to win. they dont have marketable stars and have a very small fan base.

I think Tim Duncan, Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker and Rasheed Wallace are all marketable. Just because the league chooses not to do so is not the fault of the player or the team.

Best Series so far has to be Wizards Cavs, last nights games was one fo the best in the playoffs so far.

Maybe. I'm really not sure.

But still, Bell being out this game is huge. He was their best defensive player and was playing about 40 minutes a game. His primary job was to guard Kobe. Who fills his role? Who ever does is going to have their hands full and won't have the defensive skills of Bell. They'll get worn out playing D on Kobe all game, and thats assuming they won't get in foul trouble (which I imagine they probably will).

Win or lose, Bell made an unbelievable mistake. They're on the verge of elimination! The team needed him!

Kobe for MVP. His 50 points carried the Lakers to victory!!!!!!

Oh, by the way: if Kobe scores more than 30 in Game 7, the Suns are advancing to the next round.

What a game.

Well the Lakers had everything they could want tonight. They were at home and Bell was out. They still couldnt win it. Turnovers are killing the Lakers the last 2 games, and more importantly the Suns are capitalizing on them. The scores over the last 2 games were way higher than the Lakers would want. And the shooting percentages on both sides is unreal.

All things considered, I would expect the Suns to win the next game, and I'm anticipating a great performance from both sides.

lakers and suns by far has been the best series. a game 7 with all the bickering and jabbing

I'm looking forward to tonight. Win or lose, both teams had a great series. Jackson outcoached D'Antoni at the start of the series, but Mike finally made an adjustment and used the S/R more effectively to get the speed up even in halfcourt sets. Now the momentum is squarely on the Suns' side, and if Kobe has been baited into taking 25+ attempts tonight, the Lakers are in trouble.

We'll have to see.

I'll still give the edge of best series to Wiz/Cavs, lots of last second shots to win games, very competitive and impressive preformances by young players in the playoffs.

Kobe looked like he didn't even wanna play last night. He passed the ball to the wing in one set then basically walked back to half court and watched the play develop without doing anything. It looked to me like he knew they were going to lose, and he didn't wanna get blamed for it, so he quit taking shots or even involving himself on offense. MVP MVP MVP MVP MVP... hahahahaha

That sounds about right to me. I'm really interested in seeing what all the Kobe backers have to say about THAT performance, where "who is that kid [who's two years older than me]" Raja Bell outplayed him, drawing three offensive fouls and taking another elbow, and PAT BURKE (!) showed that Kobe draining 28-foot three-pointers wasn't really all that difficult.

I was very disappointed in the game last night. I thought the Suns would win but I expected better from the Lakers. That whole team appeared to not show up. Bad ending to a great series.

Personally I think Kobe's big error in that game was not shooting enough. After watching his teammates miss a lot of easy shots early and Kobe shooting well, I thought he should have just taken over. He never did. They wouldnt have won the game with him gunning, but at least it wouldve been more competitive.

Whats even more sily is that Phil basically said that was the gameplan beforehand. Try to get the team involved, if it doesnt work kobe is gonna take over. If his second half preformance is what he considers taking over, no other good player in the league is going to want to be his teammate.

You think Kevin Garnett wants to play with a guy who just gives up? Good luck bringing any real talent to LA.