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"FacebookPinterest\n\nWe had it worst in 2001, when the Eastern Conference was a sooty afterthought, and the Lakers roared through the West like a cyclone chewing toothpicks. Allen Iverson softened the blow with one road upset, but that proved just a blip. In 2002 and 2003, while the West continued as a hotbed of rivalry, we got two straight years of the New Jersey Nets, emerging from the East to face certain (if valiant) extermination. But now, nearly a decade later, no one\u2019s taking the conference lightly anymore. It\u2019s the home of Miami\u2019s superstar munitions dump; Boston\u2019s off-beat intensity; and the Chicago Bulls, whose season has been about as close to storybook as a major American city could stomach. Gone are the days when the early round games delivered slop, and even basketball experts could, without the least bit of remorse, cheat on their viewing schedules. The NBA\u2014and hence its postseason schedule\u2014is nearly whole again.\n\nChicago Bulls (1) Vs. Indiana Pacers (8)\n\nThe Script: The Bulls, powered by MVP favorite Derrick Rose and defensive wiz Tom Thibodeau, are having one of those seasons. Expected to be much improved, they instead finished atop the East. No one ever watches Indiana, which is a shame, since they play fast without sacrificing much in the way of intensity. Expect an admirable, and entertaining, ass-kicking.\n\nThe Principles: My old pal Rose is sure to put on show; at this point, his imprint on big games is nearly automatic. He\u2019s advanced weaponry in action, hoop-seeking mayhem that\u2019s always one step ahead of defenders who know full well he\u2019s coming straight at them. As for the Pacers, Danny Granger (the franchise scorer) and Darren Collison (the prized off-season acquisition) may remind us why we gave a damn about them last season.\n\nReal Headz Know the Deal: Rose may steal the headlines\u2014and grab our eyeballs on every single possession\u2014but Joakim Noah might deserve his own newly-minted award. Maybe for &amp;quot;Heart and Soul of the Team?&amp;quot; The Pacers are getting better, not treading water; watch Tyler Hansbrough, the former Tar Heel star, and stereotypical honky Indy draft pick, who is on the verge of legitimacy.\n\nThe Finer Things: Pretty much everyone on the Bulls is underrated next to Rose. But if Noah is the team\u2019s spine, then Luol Deng is its connective tissue. Watch for Pacers rookie Paul George, the kind of player who at any moment could do something you\u2019ll see on YouTube five seconds later. But at least you can say you were there.\n\nA Word About Your Coaches: Thibodeau\u2019s schemes are nearly as formidable as Rose\u2019s scoring\u2014and may do more to explain the team\u2019s success. Indiana\u2019s Frank Vogel, technically an interim, is the league\u2019s youngest head coach. He took over for Jim O\u2019Brien, a disaster that everyone saw coming.\n\nOverused Line That Will Haunt Your Dreams: A Twitter-ized, NSFW version of &amp;quot;Oh my, I can\u2019t believe what Derrick Rose just did&amp;quot;.\n\n Miami Heat (2) Vs. Philadelphia 76ers (7)\n\nThe Script: The Heat invite all kinds of overcooked metaphors\u2014a blockbuster run aground, Obama\u2019s first term, every single start-up you got asked to join right out of college\u2014but at this point, they\u2019re a dismal metaphor for themselves. Narratives shift and tumble in the playoffs, though, and their season so far could turn out to be process. Or they could stumble into the Finals on sheer talent alone. Young and balanced, Phillly mocks the super-team formula, but that might only hasten the beatdown.\n\nThe Principles: Separately, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have lit up the playoffs like no other. The idea of the two of them trading off possessions against hapless defenses isn\u2019t just crass\u2014it\u2019s practically cheating. Philly\u2019s Andre Iguodala is a poor man\u2019s LeBron, a sky-scraping athlete and skilled passer who has spent most of his career avoiding the responsibilities of stardom. This year, he\u2019s found a measure of comfort, and set the tone for his squad.\n\nReal Headz Know the Deal: James and Wade, Wade and James. When Chris Bosh finds a way to put up the numbers he did in Toronto, it means he\u2019s asserting himself; it\u2019s not like perennial All-Stars, and valued Olympians, just wither overnight into feminized punchlines. When sanity prevails, the Big Three prophecy is realized, and again the league quakes. Check for 76er\u2019s point guard Jrue Holiday. He may be the smartest, most pure PG to come into the league since Chris Paul and Deron Williams; you can\u2019t underestimate his importance for the team going forward.\n\nThe Finer Things: Fourth-year Philly forward Thaddeus Young is impossibly long, quick, elusive and, for his build, strong. On any given play, the order\u2014and outcome--can be either overpowering or inconclusive. As for Miami, well, Mike Miller does still owe us all a rockin\u2019 good turn as another positionally fluid cog in the Heat\u2019s system. Oh and Mario &amp;quot;Super Nintendo&amp;quot; Chalmers has a funny nickname.\n\nA Word About Your Coaches: Erik Spoelstra has done an admirable job this year of coaching where he can, and otherwise, containing and adjusting to his superstars\u2019 tendencies. Supposedly, though, in the playoffs, you\u2019re expected to do a bit more hard-nosing. Doug Collins has brought this Sirs back from the depths of the lottery. It\u2019s reminiscent of when Hubie Brown saved Memphis at a similarly advanced age.\n\nOverused Line That Will Haunt Your Dreams: &amp;quot;That\u2019s what they went out and got Mike Bibby for!&amp;quot;\n\nBoston Celtics (3) Vs. New York Knicks (6)\n\nThe Script: Two teams still looking to find their way back from dramatic mid-season trades. The Celtics started the year hot, and that was with big man Kendrick Perkins still on the shelf with a knee injury. So, naturally, they dealt Perk and his contract demands to the Thunder, getting swingman Jeff Green in return. Everybody cried, and the banged-up, desultory team hasn\u2019t been the same since. Then again, they limped into last year\u2019s playoffs and made the Finals. The Knicks underwent two renaissances this season: The early clicking of D\u2019Antoni-ball with a young core and Amar\u2019e Stoudemire, then swapping it for Carmelo Anthony. They\u2019re already looking like another high-priced screw-up, courtesy of James Dolan.\n\nThe Principles: Rajon Rondo started out the year on pace to average more assists per game than anyone since Stockton. Then came injuries, the loss of BFF Perkins, and a general malaise that\u2019s always lurked underneath his alien charm. Without Rondo, the Celtics offense doesn\u2019t work. Perhaps some time in D\u2019Antoni-ville will rejuvenate him. The Knicks have two superstars. Enjoy it.\n\nReal Headz Know the Deal: As important as Rondo has become, and as much as Paul Pierce and Ray Allen remain the primary scorers, Kevin Garnett holds this team together. He\u2019s the team\u2019s nervous center on defense, and with Perkins gone, has even more responsibility down low. His screams are like rallying cries for the damned and dyspeptic. On the Knicks, Chauncey Billups\u2014a throw-in with Melo\u2014has to play hall monitor. Billups is &amp;quot;veteran cred&amp;quot; personified (plus he\u2019s got a ring), and has the authority to keep the two forwards in line and in tune with each other. Sometimes, maturity is contagious.\n\nThe Finer Things: No matter what else is going badly, Ray Allen\u2019s shooting form is always a thing of beauty. It\u2019s hypnotic, soothing\u2014the kind of thing that can put especially smart babies to sleep on the spot. Landry Fields\u2019s playoff debut may be the highlight of this series for Knicks fans. He was, after all, the NBA\u2019s third-best rookie in 2010-11.\n\nA Word About Your Coaches: Over his time as a head coach, Doc Rivers has gone from a euphemistic &amp;quot;players\u2019 coach&amp;quot; to a Phil Jackson-like ego manager. D\u2019Antoni is either the league\u2019s supreme snake oil salesman, or the visionary always just a little bit ahead of his time. If you\u2019re surprised that the future has an Appalachian accent, well, so am I.\n\nOverused Line That Will Haunt Your Dreams : &amp;quot;Hey, a lot can happen between now and 2012.&amp;quot;\n\n Orlando Magic (4) Vs. Atlanta Hawks (5)\n\nThe Script: This is the series you don\u2019t have to watch, even though on paper, it\u2019s got the best chance of actually being competitive. The Magic\u2019s mid-season roster upheaval seems like a lifetime ago, a coup that today leaves nothing but a crippled economy. The Hawks are a young team that woke up one day and were kind of old. The Magic once dominated the Hawks, but these days, the gap has shrunk.\n\nThe Principles: Dwight Howard found his offense this season, and while he\u2019s still far from a complete basketball player, he can pretty readily demolish opposing teams at both ends. If you\u2019re fond of numbers, Howard might very well be the league\u2019s MVP. He is, after all, absolutely indispensable, and a shoe-in for yet another Defensive Player of the Year. Joe Johnson will do just enough to remind you why he\u2019s paid a max salary, but not enough to make you feel like he\u2019s quite worth it. I would chalk it up to regional niceties, except Hawks fans don\u2019t seem entirely comfortable with this arrangement, either.\n\nReal Headz Know the Deal: In a perfect world, Gilbert Arenas would have one of those nights where he looks like the old Gil, the Gil long since gone by. And then another. And another. And even if the Magic lost, it still would be like old times for Arenas fans. For the Hawks, Josh Smith will always do something entertaining and ecstatic. He and Howard have both won the dunk contest, and will get the ball a lot in the same game. Then again, I\u2019ve yet to see a Hawks/Magic game that involved these two ATL natives (and ace shot-blockers, and dunking machines) go right at each other to raise the roof. That pretty much sums up this &amp;quot;rivalry&amp;quot;.\n\nThe Finer Things: Zaza Pachulia is one of the best-dressed men in the NBA. Dwight Howard was an Ed Hardy endorser for a while.\n\nA Word About Your Coaches: Stan Van Gundy is such an easy target, with his gumdrop build and porn star mustache. He\u2019s also a first-rate pain in the ass, who has called David Stern a dictator and always seems to be berating someone. Underneath all the buffoonery, though, he\u2019s got one of the best defensive minds in the league. Hawks coach Larry Drew was an assistant under Mike Woodson, his predecessor, and despite making the playoffs, might not survive until next season. Assuming there is one.\n\nOverused Line That Will Haunt Your Dreams: &amp;quot;Dwight Howard and Josh Smith were AAU teammates.&amp;quot;\n\n\u2014Bethlehem Shoals"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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