Ok so I know I have been slackin' with the sports blog lately. I've been busy and I got this other blog I'm concentrated on. www.jreedandfriends.wordpress.com for those of you interested. I wanted to give my first round thoughts and then make my 2nd round predictions even though the 2nd Round has already begun. Let's begin with the west.

Lakers sweep Nuggets: Ok I didn't see this coming. I thought Denver would at least win one game but after watching game 3 it's like just put them out of their misery already. And they are still going to keep George Karl. Why? He has no control over that team. A team that can dominate in the regular season but just flamed in the playoffs. Another first round exit for them. And they proved why they are the 8 seed. And whats funny is experts actually had Denver winning. HA HA HA! I mean I hate the Lakers but come on! We all know Denver can't beat them. LOL! And for a team with Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. Something has to change next season or they might miss the playoffs all together.

Jazz 4-2 over Rockets: Houston put up a fight but without Yao Ming it wasn't enough. Of all the opponents that lost in the west they had the most wins which I found surprising. The Rockets do have a lot of fight in them and are a very good team but it just wasn't meant to be again and another first round exit for Tracy McGrady. I don't see them making any significant changes this off season but it's good that they got rid of Mike James. Hopefully he doesn't have a 3rd stop with that team.

Spurs 4-1 over Suns: Ok we all know that small ball doesn't win you a title. And maybe trading for Shaq won't win you one either. Steve Nash has a lot of miles on his body and that team is built to win now. Not later. They have some things to think about this off season including if D'Antoni is still going to be the coach. This is a team I see dropping off next season if they are not careful.

Hornets 4-1 over Mavericks: Ok so I underestimated the Hornets and the Mavericks are on their way to dropping off. They already fired Avery Johnson and it's a job that I can imagine that no coach wants. And we can all safely say that trading for Kidd was a mistake and now you lost your future in Devin Harris. They have quite a bit of rebuilding to do.

Ok so my predictions in the west for round 2 are:

Lakers 4-2 over Jazz: Well the Lakers already have the lead but I think with the Jazz playing at home it will be hard for the Lakers to in Utah. But who knows it could be another 4 game sweep.

Hornets 4-3 over Spurs: The Spurs are in trouble as they are already down 2 games to zero. But never count out the champions. I think they will make it a series once they play at home. We'll see what happens as the series prevails. As for the Hornets they are definitely for real.

Ok now on the the East.

Celtics 4-3 over Hawks: It took them seven games to beat the Hawks. You are kidding me right? Well Hawks fan hope you enjoyed seeing your team in the playoffs again. It's just horrible how they folded in game 7.

Cavaliers 4-2 over Wizards: The Wizards just like to talk a lot. Saying Lebron is overrated and all that kind of stuff. Come on. Last two years his team has knocked you guys out of the playoffs and they did it again to you. So if you run into them next year maybe you should stop talking your smack and play your game.

Magic 4-1 over Raptors: Well what can I say? D How is a beast! The Raptors were no match for him. I mean Chris Bosh is good but they have a mediocore team that will continue to make the playoffs as long as the teams in the east continue to suck.

Pistons 4-2 over 76ers: Philadelphia made it very interesting when they took the lead 2-1. But the Detroit just went Detroit and turned on the flip switch as they got off 3 consecutive wins. I think Philadelphia is better off without AI.

Round 2 predictions for the east are:

Celtics 4-3 over Cavaliers: It will take them a long time to put away series until they can start winning on the road. But overall I think the Cavs just don't have enough pieces to compete with the Celtics.

Pistons 4-2 over Magic: Magic is a good team and I am tired of seeing the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. I'm tired of seeing that team together. They haven't won anything since 2004. But realistically I think Magic will only get no more than 2 wins.

Overall the first round was pretty dissapointing. Especially in the west. I mean all the teams in the west won more than 50 games and none of those series went to seven games. I was hoping for some competitive basketball but instead we got some first round flamers if you know what I mean. They pretty much proved to me why all those teams were seeded where they were. I look for teams to drop off next season in the West and some new teams to rise. All it really proves though is that Western Conference teams are increasing their winning percentage against the East. As for the East it was pretty much what I expected. Instead Boston taking seven games to finish off Atlanta. But hopefully we should see some more competitive series in round 2. By the way they really should consider going back to the best of 5 in the first round. Best of 7 is just way too long and it shouldn't be that long at all. Another thing they should try is the best 16 teams. Now that would be interesting.