NBA Playoff Schedule 2012: Best Matchups Left in First Round

The NBA playoffs are extremely unpredictable and exciting.

When two teams meet each other again and again over the course of a seven-game series, the rivalries get intensified. The knowledge of your opposition grows with each passing fourth quarter, as does your temper. 

Though some of the opening-round matches are all but decided, there is still plenty of action to watch for over the next week. No matter if your favorite team has been knocked out already or is rooting for ping-pong balls, there are still some amazing storylines developing before our eyes that can draw the attention of even the most casual of fans.  

The best matchup thus far in the playoffs is the one we all thought would be the best going in. The 4-5 matchup in the Western Conference has lived up to the hype, and there is still plenty of basketball to be played. What makes this matchup so intriguing is the duel going on between the teams' big men. 

The Los Angeles Clippers boast two of the most electrifying athletes at their size in the league. Blake Griffin is widely known as the best dunker in the NBA and his frontcourt mate, DeAndre Jordan, averaged two blocks a game in the regular season and has upped that production through the first three games of the series. 

The Memphis Grizzlies counter with two skilled big men of their own. However, the Memphis bigs are more land-locked that Jordan and Griffin.

Zach Randolph mans the PF position for the Grizzlies and after his emergence as a scoring force last summer, he has stumbled at times to replicate last year's postseason success. Next to Randolph is center Marc Gasol, who has also seen his production slip since the playoffs started. 

Despite the Clippers leading 2-1, this series has been as close as you can get. Both Clipper victories have been by a single point, while Memphis won Game 2 by seven.

Not to be outdone by their counterparts in the Western Conference, the 4-5 matchup in the East is also shaping up to be an exciting one. The favored Boston Celtics have struggled at times to score on the Atlanta Hawks. Though they are in command of the series with a 2-1 advantage, a recent injury may hurt them more than many think. 

If I were to tell you in December that an Avery Bradley injury would harm the Celtics in the playoffs, you'd look at me like I had five heads. However, since the emergence of the sophomore shooting guard, the Celtics have transformed. They count on him more than many still realize. Bradley is Boston's best on-ball defender, a smaller Tony Allen, if you will. If his shoulder injury keeps him out of game four tonight, the Celtics are in trouble.

This will force them to continue playing a hobbled Ray Allen massive minutes, attempting to defend one of the more dynamic backcourts in the league with Jeff Teague and Joe Johnson. Should Bradley not show up in a suit and tie, his matchup with the offensively-skilled Hawk guards is still something to keep an eye on.

The 1-8 matchup in the East was thought to be a throwaway series at the outset. However, due in part to a catastrophic injury to last season's MVP Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls are having trouble dealing with the Philadelphia 76ers.

With Rose out, the Bulls are limited in the backcourt. They may have two of the best backup PGs in the league in C.J. Watson and John Lucas III, but their playoff experience barely breaches 200 minutes played total.

They need to figure out a way to put the ball in the basket more consistently. With Rose out, the Bulls offense goes right down the drain. The scorers on this team were limited as is, and without Rose, they are nonexistent.

Watson and Lucas III are having trouble keeping pace with the speedy 76ers. Philadelphia is a No. 8 seed playing with nothing to lose. As Memphis proved last year, that is very dangerous.

The Bulls need to find an identity quickly and they need to win the backcourt matchup more often than they have thus far.

With Oklahoma City already advancing, and Indiana, Miami and San Antonio on the doorstep of the second round, that leaves the 3-6 matchup in the Western Conference as the final intriguing storyline of round one.

After winning the first two games of the series, the Los Angeles Lakers dropped Game 3 in Denver to the Nuggets. What seems to be the biggest matchup of this series—the big men of the Lakers being too much for the smaller Nuggets—isn't actually the story here. In fact, Denver has out-rebounded the Lakers in two of the three games thus far.

The matchup of note in this series is between the team's benches.

The Laker starters have an obvious advantage over Denver, however in the past two games—a four-point loss and 15-point victory for Denver—the Nuggets bench outplayed their purple and yellow counterparts severely.

Without Metta World Peace in the Lakers lineup, their bench is depleted. It doesn't help that Matt Barnes is shooting 4-of-20 this series with just one three-pointer.

On the other hand, Denver's bench has come up with some immense performances like JaVale McGee's 16-point, 15-rebound, four-block game in their lone win. Al Harrington is averaging just under double digits, and Andre Miller is leading the team in assists.

The Nuggets, still trailing 2-1, have fought their way back into this series with back-to-back solid performances from their bench. If they continue to dominate LA's second unit, this series will go a lot longer than most thought.