The wacky NBA playoffs

But first a dumb commercial you've likely seen while watching NBA action. As the neighbors pull up next door in their spiffy new car, the nosey husband asks his wife, "So, what did they get?", while reaching for his binoculars, ala Alice Kravitz of the old-time Bewitched TV show. Going off script, here's how she should have replied....

Good answer.
"Who cares?"

Better answer.
"Ah, it's only a Buick."

Best answer.
"Why is that nitwit backing the car up to his gate again? Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to go forward? And does it take both of them to get out to open it? Maybe they should have spent a couple extra bucks for a remote control option. Idiots."

OK, enough of that nonsense. On to the playoffs.

Though the Toronto Raptors had a very respectable regular season  -- is anybody really surprised they got wiped in the first round of the playoffs?

In a crazy series where both teams won twice on the road, the LA Clips finally outlasted the defending champ San Antonio Spurs. Perhaps a mild upset.

Like Toronto, the Atlanta Hawks breezed through the regular season and dispatched the not-so-good Brooklyn Nets in the first round. But the Washington Wizards waltzed into Atlanta and smoked the Hawks in Game One of the second round. Could the Wiz  actually pull off a series victory and advance to the eastern conference finals? Maybe.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were an interesting story all year. Lebron had come back home, they'd obtained Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving is a superstar in the making. But throw in a new head coach with no NBA experience and whether or not they could come together was a good question. Turns out they did. Predictably, they breezed into the second round. But oops. Love is now out with a shoulder injury, and the Chicago Bulls just went into Cleveland and took Game One. With Derrick Rose finally healthy again, many are saying the Bulls are the real deal and perhaps were the best of the east all along. We'll see. Underestimate Lebron when the pressure ratchets up at your own peril.

The Golden State Warriors posted the best regular season record in the league and are still cruising along. The chances of the Memphis Grizzlies knocking them off in the second round? Barring a rash of injuries -- no way. They will await the winner of the LA Clips/Houston Rockets series now underway as well.

But something unexpected has already happened there. Many experts predicted the Rockets were too big, too physical, and too deep for the Clips. Plus, they had home court advantage. And when star LA guard Chris Paul came up lame with a hamstring problem, the Rockets were supposed to handle them easily. So how is it that LA went into Houston and beat them fair and square in Game One of that series? Strange goings on indeed.

While the fans, pundits, and even odds-makers are likely befuddled by what has happened so far in the playoffs, there is one entity that is no doubt thrilled. The NBA itself. They have to be loving the unpredictability of the playoffs so far. There are no "super-dominant" teams and it remains a crapshoot. With the possible exception of the above-mentioned Warriors/Griz matchup, pretty much anybody can beat anybody else, and it's only going to get more interesting in the next round.

Who will make it through to the Finals is anybody's guess. And when THAT starts, there's only one logical course of action if one is inclined to wager on such a thing. Get out one's lucky penny and start shining it up for the coin flips. Anything can happen and just might.

Don't believe it? Harkon back to not long ago. Did anybody really think Ohio State would knock off Alabama, then crush Oregon in the college football championship game? Or the San Francisco Giants would wind up World Series champions? Or the KC Royals would even MAKE it to the fall classic? Or some New England Patriot defensive back nobody had heard of before would make an improbable goal-line interception in the closing seconds of the Super Bowl to decide the game? Or Tiger and Lindsey would ever break up? Well, OK. Maybe that's not exactly a shocker.

But these NBA playoffs are getting more interesting every day.