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		NBA Playoffs Report By David Zizmor May 13, 2009

	Lakers lead series over Rockets 3-2: The Lakers who were tied with the Rockets 2-2 in the series came back and took a one game series lead 3-2 with a huge win on Tuesday night at Staples Center 118-78. The Rockets prior to Tuesday's game had shown that they were not going to be pushovers and once again Kobe Bryant was the difference lighting up the scoreboard with 26 points in the win. The Rockets played without Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming and managed to win two from the Lakers and Los Angeles took full advantage of the Rockets on Tuesday as the offense was conditioned around Kobe and when he got the ball he found the net going 10-16 from the floor. The Rockets though getting whipped by 40 points are heading back to Houston on Thursday night for game six and a chance to tie this thing up again. This could very well be a seven game series. From the looks of it the Lakers have shown the Rockets who the boss of this series is with that 40 point win but the direction has taken many turns in this series. Yao Ming has had such a big impact in the first three games of this series and his injury has really set the club back and the Rockets have to reach down to win any games against the Lakers.With Yao out with a broken foot and an injury that he's had before he will gone for the rest of the playoffs and most importantly he's gone from this series. This makes it very difficult for Houston to win at the same time the Rockets in this series have been doing a great job playing small ball. The Rockets are a very quick team and expect them to jump on the Lakers on Thursday night at the Summit and they are still fast even without Yao. The Lakers have shown in this series that they could have some trouble guarding some of these water bugs that's playing in the Houston court. Aaron Brooks has been particularly quick look for him in game seven do the same thing with the basketball. He's kind of a revelation and so far in the post season Brooks is making himself a lot of money. You watch Brooks so far in the post season in ten games he's averaging 16.5 points a game and getting 3.5 assists and getting a few rebounds here and there and he's been kind of a spark plug for the Rockets. Then there's Ron Artest whose been playing well, Luis Scola, Shane Battier, Carl Landry coming off the bench, Kyle Lowry coming off the bench and the Rockets have been going with that small line up and in games one and four they've been giving the Lakers quite a bit of trouble with that line up and they can do it again in Houston in game six. The reason being the Lakers back court is simply not quick enough to keep up with these guys on the Rockets. Kobe is always a great defender but he can really guard the shooting guards and small forwards, he's not quite fast enough to guard the small guys and the other guys. In the Lakers back court are Derek Fisher, Sasha Vujacic, if these guys aren't fast enough who is? Plus they look for Fisher and Vujacic to provide speed to shut down the Rocket offense. Their efficient in the passers field but not anymore but Vujacic is a pretty good defensive player but he really can't keep up either in those games and that's the reason why the Rockets have been able to stay in this series. If the Rockets can come out and stop Kobe in game six which they were able to in those two games then Houston will be able to stick around. The way things looked in game five in that 40 point Lakers throw down the Rockets may have more than they bargained for but every night in this series a different team shows up. I can assure you game six on Thursday night will be lively. Denver leads Dallas 3-1: Apologies accepted as Dallas owner Mark Cuban and Denver's Kenyon Martin's Mom have made up in the series side show as the clubs get set to continue the series. Cuban is a very hands on owner and he gets very involved in what goes on and off the court and in this case Cuban had got in the face of Martin's mom and it was kind of out of place and he might even get fined by the league but no word on that as he has apologized. That's besides the point, the Mavericks have every right to be frustrated after losing three straight and they haven't done their job in this series. The Nuggets have looked very good, Dallas has not and the Nuggets have dominated in this series and the Mavs have been rather lucky of winning game four to push this game to five games. The Nuggets have kind of cruised in the first three games of the series, Carmelo Anthony is having a great series, Chauncey Billups is doing really well, he's been a floor leader for this squad. On the Dallas side of the ball the Mavs are just struggling through and can't seem to get a break at either end of the floor and the big problem with the Mavs is they don't always play great defense and they just don't have it in them. Dirk Nowitzki has had a good series averaging 26 points, 10 rebounds a night but the Mavs are not equipped to handle Denver's massive offensive attack. The Nuggets have been great at scoring from all points on the floor and they play a little defense and a little more intensity than the Dallas squad. Boston lead series over Orlando 3-2: No one really thought that this would be a run away series and the Magic gave the Celtics fits during the regular series and now that Boston is without Kevin Garnett anything goes, anything can happen, and Boston is still a very good team without Garnett. But are the Celtics a championship team? The simple fact of the matter is the Celts are having a lot of trouble playing and are getting inferior offensive points against Orlando. Dwight Howard played center for the Magic and he's one of the best defensive players in the league. He won the best defensive player of the year award he has a presence like nobody else, he rebounds, he blocks shots, he's a game changer, and without Garnett the Celts just don't have anyone to counter him. Glen "Big Baby" Davis has started to step up and Hendrick Perkins has had a good series but these guys don't equal Garnett. Their good but their still growing and neither of these guys are good enough to really counter act a Dwight Howard, and Cole Pierce and Ray Allen who are having a very good series their the guys the Celts need to step up. Rajon Rondo has done a very good job at the point but you look across the way and the Magic are one of the best teams in the NBA. The Magic won one fewer game than the Celtics. The Magic finished first in their division and they came into this game with a big chip on their shoulders and nobody really expects the Magic to go to the finals. Cavs swept Hawks 4-0: Cleveland has been absolutely fantastic and all the other teams in the playoffs that are still alive right now have to be scared because not only has Cleveland advanced to the next round but they did it in perfect fashion and they're 8-0 in the playoffs so far and they haven't had any scares whatsoever and there haven't been any close games in this series and against Atlanta it was a joke. The Hawks are not a bad team but they were not able to get close in any of the four games. What that means not only the Cavs swept the series and not only did they dominate each game but the Cavs got to rest it's starters in most of these games. LaBron James wasn't really playing more than 35 minutes a night against Atlanta and if James is rested let's look at it this way James is 24 he's going to recovery faster than most guys and he's already the MVP of the league now you give him a series where he doesn't have to give it 110% like you would normally expect in the playoffs. James gets a chance to rest, he gets five to six days off between the second round and the third round. These guys are going to be so well rested compared to Orlando or Boston whoever they face. It's not even fair. They get to lick their wounds to rest up to prepare. The other team that comes in is going to be on short notice. LaBron and the Cavs are in an ideal position to go to the finals no matter if they face Orlando or Boston. Cleveland has dominated and some of the great performances you have seen recently in the playoffs have been from James whose been absolutely fantastic and just look at his numbers, he's averaging a triple double, 32.9 points a night, he's averaging 9 rebounds, he averaging seven assists, not to mention two steals. LaBron has been absolutely a revelation and he's everything that everyone expected and more and not only that he's made 53% of his shots. LaBron is fantastic and that's not even giving a fair shake to the rest of the supporting cast of, Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao, and the Cavs had so many good players in the post season and they had such a chance to rest and having won their first eight games in the playoffs. They have a chance to finish this whole thing with a sweep with a 16-0 post season which has never been done before and it would be done in four rounds if the Cavs can pull it off. They lost only two times in the regular season. It's amazing how one guy can carry you all the way. David Zizmor is covering the NBA playoffs for Sportstalk radio