(Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)
As March draws to a close and the regular season enters the fourth quarter, players and fans alike often find themselves invariably drawn to the post-season. That is unless your team has booked their ticket to the lottery, in which case the NCAA tournament is a far more compelling attraction.
As great as the regular season is, the playoffs is where the real action is. Its where teams are pit against each other over the course of a seven games series for the right to advance and become an inch closer to the coveted Larry O'Brien trophy.
With the top seeded teams expected to beat up on their lesser seeded brethren, the first round usually lacks excitement. However, the past few seasons have deviated from the trend, serving up their fair share of upsets.
The unheralded Golden State Warriors sending Dirk Nowitzki and the 67 regular season wins Dallas Mavericks reeling out of the first round in 2007 ranks as one of the biggest upsets in recent history.
When the Hawks took the Celtics to game seven in last season's first round it was massive, especially considering everyone expected the Green Machine to steamroll the hapless Hawks. Even though ultimately the Truth prevailed, Atlanta shed the laughing stock status that had plagued them for many seasons.
Looking back at this current season, the listing below shows how each conference's contenders would match-up if the playoffs started today. (Bear in mind that the Western Conference seedings could shift dramatically as the number 2 and 8 seeds are seperated by only 5 games.)
The East
Cleveland Cavaliers (1) vs Chicago Bulls (8)
Boston Celtics (2) vs Detroit Pistons (7)
Orlando Magic (3) vs Philadelphia 76ers (6)
Atlanta Hawks (4) vs Miami Heat (5)
The West
Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs Dallas Mavericks (8)
San Antonio Spurs (2) vs Utah Jazz (7)
Houston Rockets (3) vs Portland Trailblazers (6)
Denver Nuggets (4) vs New Orleans Hornets (5)
Now lets take an in-depth look at the matchups to see which has the greatest potential for an upset, injuries notwithstanding.
Cleveland vs Chicago
I am not wasting our time here. This potential upset has as much likelihood of occuring as Smush Parker has of returning to the Lakers
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