NBA Playoff columns: Where amazing happens

With the first round of the NBA Playoffs in the books and the second round just under way, now is a great time to review what has happened and predict what will unfold in the conference semifinals.

1. Despite Game 7 of the epic Bulls/Celtics series not living up to the massive hype, it still will go down as one of the greatest playoff series of all time. Even though the battle happened in the first round it can't take anything away from the seven overtimes and ridiculous shots followed by even more ridiculous shots.

 I knew Ray Allen was an assassin going into the series, but now I'm pretty sure he's the most clutch shooter in the postseason. If a game is within three points and Allen has a pulse, you can count on him for a tie or a lead for Boston about 99 percent of the time.

  2. The Hawks/Heat series is easily the worst seven-game series in the history of sports. The idea of a series going seven games and not one of the games being closer than 10 points is beyond me. None of the games was remotely watchable.

  Not even the freak show that is Dwyane Wade could make me want to follow seven blowouts. It's a shame that Wade's body will fail him in a scant two seasons as we watch him get carted off the court after his appendages fall from his torso in another 50-point performance. At least he can rely on his TV career of shilling cell phones will Charles Barkley.

  3. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy will continue to be the most annoying and unfunny personality in the playoffs. We've already heard him use his quick wit with comebacks regarding pandering to the referees and listened to him promote his daughter's run for the student council, yet the spinless members of the media in the press conferences have ate it up.

  The truth is Van Gundy is a mediocre coach with an ounce of a personality that somehow makes others think he is worth listening to. There's a reason coaches and athletes repeat the same phrases over multiple times and fall back on cliches to make it through the easiest questions. With a rare exception of someone like Shaq, jocks don't posses the quickest of tongues, which is why we see them on the courts or fields and not at the Laugh Factory or carrying improv troops at the Groundlings.

 4. Ron Artest is hilarious. Maybe he just hit a stroke of brilliance when he was able to joke about tearing through the stands in the Palace at Auburn Hills a few years back, but Artest could be the next great personality of the NBA. Well, if it wasn't for the whole punching fans and bad boy image he created for himself.

 The important thing is that enough time has passed that everyone can laugh about the most disgusting event in the history of basketball. Perhaps Artest is another exception to my previous point, but I wouldn't mind hearing more from him as long as he doesn't force his current hip-hop album on me.

 5. Rajon Rondo will continue to be the most impressive player for the Celtics. Heck, he could be the best player in the playoffs not named LeBron James at the moment. Rondo was 0.7 rebounds per game away from averaging a triple-double against the Bulls and has been the catalyst for Boston in so many ways.

  Rondo gives the Celtics energy in the form of a playmaker not nearing retirement and has improved thrice-fold in this year's playoffs compared to last season. If Boston gets by Orlando, it will depend on Rondo's play at the point.

 6. The Magic/Celtics series will be overly physical. I am looking forward to more "playoff" fouls and ready to see the blood flow. The series has no chance to outshine the Bulls/Celtics battle, but it can be remembered as the one where Dwight Howard performs a reverse belly-to-belly suplex on Rondo into the first row of fans.

  The over-under on flagrant fouls should be at about a baker's dozen and I'm ready for the refs to let the guys play. We will see suspensions, mass trash talking and maybe some good basketball sprinkled in between.

 7. The Cavaliers and Lakers will roll into the conference finals. I don't see the Cavs losing more than one game against the Hawks and part of me thinks Cleveland will bust out the brooms once again. L.A. won't lose more than two at the most as David Stern's dream finals matchup comes a bit closer to fruition.

 8. The Nuggets/Mavericks series could easily be the best series of the second round or could be a repeat of Denver's 4-1 trouncing of the Hornets. Either way, Mark Cuban will inevitably get fined for saying or tweeting something inappropriate.

 9. You can count on more NBA Playoffs columns from me as long as I don't succumb to swine flu.