Updated NBA Playoff Power Rankings, 2nd Round Edition

The second round of the playoffs are underway and they have been a whole lot better than that ugly first round.

You'd think that a contest featuring the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics would be as awful as it sounds, right? It turns out it was actually pretty good. The game featured the Sixers proving that they belong with a furious first quarter and solid play until the final five minutes of the game. In those five minutes, the Celtics stopped fooling around and actually played Celtics basketball.

Both teams scored over 90 points. We thought that both teams couldn't combine for 90 points coming into the series.

The real talk of the first weekend of second-round playoff basketball will surround the Miami Heat, who are currently awaiting word on an abdominal strain suffered by Chris Bosh. After throwing down a dunk over Roy Hibbert, Bosh knelt down and laid on all-fours for a moment before proceeding back on defense. He could only play defense momentarily before doubling over in pain and being taken out of the game.

As I write this, there's no word on the extent of the injury.

Even without Bosh, however, the Heat pulled off a 95-86 win over the Indiana Pacers behind an unbelievable second half by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

I'd revel in how effective they are, but we'll get into that upon reaching their placement on this week's edition of playoff power rankings.

8. Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers kicked off the second round of the postseason with an impressive 28-18 lead after one quarter of game time against the Boston Celtics.

They proceeded to end it with a thud. Rajon Rondo kept penetrating and dishing out to his always reliable shooters, Kevin Garnett couldn't be stopped en route to 29 points and 11 rebounds and the Celtics made some key defensive stops to put away the Sixers by way of a one-point win. Boston outscored Philadelphia 25-20 in the final frame.

Was it disappointing to lose in that fashion? Of course, because the Sixers might have just passed up on their greatest chance to steal home court. They held a lead throughout the contest until the Celtics took over in the final five minutes because they're the Boston Celtics and they enjoy winning games by ripping your still-beating heart out of your chest and proceeding to step on it.

It's nothing to be discouraged about, however. Despite taking two out of three games in the regular season from Boston, not many analysts are even thinking about taking the Sixers seriously. A Miami Heat and Boston Celtics Eastern conference finals matchup appears to be inevitable by some, as many might consider the Sixers to be nothing more than a stepping stone.

That's not the case at all. Sadly, these so-called analysts don't recognize how well-balanced of an offense, as well as an extremely stingy defense, the Sixers possess. Philadelphia's scoring leader is usually by committee, which is a huge downfall to this team, but they can be a force to be reckoned with if guys like Jrue Holiday, Louis Williams and Evan Turner are hitting shots.

Unfortunately, that scoring by committee was the reason they lost to the Celtics in Game 1. Not only could they not stop Boston, but they couldn't find that one reliable player to hit a few buckets down the stretch. Andre Iguodala had a surprising 19 points, but only tallied three in the final frame.

Holiday only finished with eight, and Williams' shooting slump continued as he shot 1-of-4 from deep on his way to nine points. Turner provided some inspiration with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting, but didn't net a single point in that decisive final frame.

Philadelphia is going to need some scorers to step up against Boston. Its defense can keep up with the Celtics, but it's going to need an answer in the final frame once Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen begin hitting their shots.

7. Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers starting lineup is incredibly large. Outside of the point guard position, every starter stands at least 6'8". Let's not forget that they also have 6'9" Tyler Hansbrough, 6'9" Louis Amundson and 6'6" Dahntay Jones coming off the bench.

So, when Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh left Game 1 with an abdominal strain, what did you expect to happen? The Pacers frontcourt to take over, obviously, right? How could the Heat even begin to compete when they just lost their only scoring presence on the inside and the only big man worth taking note of? You're not going to let Ronny Turiaf and Joel Anthony beat you, right?

Right. Well, that's what I should be saying. Instead of making their presence felt down low, the Pacers actually allowed Ronny Turiaf, Joel Anthony and LeBron James to pound them down low on the boards and on the defensive end. In a game where Bosh only played 16 minutes, the Heat out-rebounded the Pacers 45-38, including a 15-8 edge on the offensive glass.

Oh, they also allowed LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to outscore their entire team in the second half. Two players with inconsistent jumpers were allowed to constantly penetrate down low for easy hooks, layups and dunks throughout the final 24 minutes. After scoring 48 points in the first half, the Pacers were held to 38 points in the second, with only 16 coming in the fourth quarter.

I imagine that the Pacers will make some sort of adjustment to begin exploiting the Heat's weakness down low, but they should be extremely wary of the fact that two slashers were able to constantly drive on their frontcourt with not one sigh of resistance. Given that it is LeBron and Dwyane, it's still discouraging that a Heat team without their only scoring big man just beat a huge Pacers team.

The Pacers don't have an individual defender who can stop either of those players. The only way they win this series is if Roy Hibbert, that 7'2" giant who stands in the middle, stays out of foul trouble and if they find a way to get the ball out of the hands of James and Wade. There's no other way around it on defense; the Pacers are going to have to make the role players beat them.

Double, even triple team Wade and James. Make guys like Mike Miller and Shane Battier beat you. Let Udonis Haslem take jump shots and allow Mario Chalmers to get off his shots. As long as it's not LeBron or Dwyane driving the lane, scoring points and getting your big men into foul trouble, you can still make this series go on further than they'd like.

6. Los Angeles Clippers

When Game 7 came around, the Los Angeles Clippers could have easily given up and allowed the Memphis Grizzlies to take over.

A Game 6 loss at home that would have ended the series is as depressing as it gets if you're a part of that home team. That's the best shot you have at winning the series. You have momentum, the 3-2 lead and the support of the fans behind you; there's no excuse to losing a game as crucial as that.

Yet the Clippers managed to find a way to lose. At that point, we began to think the worst of the Clippers organization. A return to the old-fashioned Clipper way of closing out games. They had done everything right in the series up until that point, but then they allowed the Grizzlies to win a fourth quarter for the first time all series. Surely, a Game 7 win would be preposterous to think about.

These aren't your grandpa's Clippers.

Los Angeles won Game 7 in Memphis behind an unbelievable effort from the bench. Led by Kenyon Martin—who would have thought I'd be saying that—the Clippers bench did just about everything in the fourth quarter to win game 7. Chris Paul was the only starter who scored in a fourth quarter that went 27-16 in the Clippers favor.

An absolutely incredible series by the Clippers.

With Chris Paul leading the way at every juncture of the game when he was on the court, the Clippers pulled off an incredible comeback in game 1 that provided momentum for the rest of the series. The 27 points they came back from in the final 15 minutes of that game was what gave the Clippers the confidence that was formerly flowing through the Grizzlies.

The Clippers had help from every player on the roster, but it was the combined efforts of Martin and Reggie Evans that gave this team the boost they needed. Yes, Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans were the key players in a playoff series. The scariest part is that I don't think they'll stop in the first round.

Evans averaged nine boards, three coming off the offensive glass, and Martin added two rebounds and two blocks per. K-Mart's defense played a huge factor in the series, as he constantly harassed the Grizzlies elite frontcourt.

The Clippers now have a much larger challenge on their hands in the form of the San Antonio Spurs. Chris Paul taking on Tony Parker will be a delight, but the real question will be if the Clippers' suddenly discovered depth can take on a Spurs rotation that goes 11 players deep.

5. Boston Celtics

Should the Boston Celtics be happy that they were able to stage a comeback from as much as 13 points down to secure a 92-91 victory? Or disappointed that they needed a comeback in the final five minutes to beat an eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers team that had trouble closing out a Bulls team that was missing Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah?

A little of both.

The Celtics should certainly be relieved that they managed to keep home-court advantage for the time being, but also wary of how scary the Sixers can be. Philadelphia had terrible games from Jrue Holiday and Louis Williams, yet still managed to keep a lead for a good 40 minutes of the contest before the Celtics pulled off their usual heroics.

Philadelphia isn't second-round fodder to Boston. The Sixers actually took two out of three games in their season series against the Celtics, which includes a 101-73 beating in March. Philadelphia's not going to go down as easy as you'd expect. This is its first second round appearance since 2003, and it's not looking to take that for granted. It's looking to make serious noise, and it nearly did in Game 1.

Luckily for Boston, they have arguably the league's top pass-first point guard in Rajon Rondo. Rondo finished with a triple-double, 13 points, 12 boards and 17 assists and was the main reason why the Celtics ended up winning. Once he was able to penetrate and get into the paint, he became an artist, the court his canvas and his teammates the paintbrushes.

Rondo didn't paint a masterpiece; he did have seven turnovers and five fouls, but it was enough to eek out a one-point win over a determined Philadelphia team. He also had plenty of help from Kevin Garnett, who had another nostalgic outing with 29 points and 11 boards. The two managed to compensate for Paul Pierce's 3-of-11 shooting and Ray Allen's 2-of-7 shooting from deep.

It essentially came down to who could make the plays in the end. Philadelphia doesn't have a go-to scorer or an excellent pass-first point guard, so they lost to the team with the go-to scorers and the excellent pass-first point guard.

Philadelphia won't keep getting a combined 7-of-24 shooting from Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams. Elton Brand isn't going to get limited to four points and one rebound in 15 minutes, and Thaddeus Young is going to do better than five points and one board in 22 minutes.

Those four players are going to step up, and when it happens, the Celtics are going to need to respond.

This series is going to be as ugly as you expect. However, we will at least experience every game coming down to the wire. If it does come to that point, it's where the Celtics have the advantage with their numerous veteran minds leading the way and their ability to hit clutch shot after clutch shot.

4. Los Angeles Lakers

Well, they made it as gut-wrenching and agonizing as possible for their fanbase, but the Los Angeles Lakers finally got it done against the Denver Nuggets.

It might have taken seven games, but it's over, and that's all that matters now. It shouldn't really matter how a team wins as long as they win. You could win by 40 points or two points; the only thing that's going to matter is who ended up with the win.

When it comes down to it, nobody is talking about the margin of victory, but rather, who actually got the W.

In the end, it was the Lakers bigs finally playing big and Kobe Bryant, who averaged 29 points per in the series, hitting his usual absurd shots to secure the victory.

Perhaps the most enlightening part of their Game 7 victory was Pau Gasol going off for 23 points and 17 rebounds. This came after he recorded a combined 12 points and 13 rebounds in Games 5 and 6.

Gasol may have played horrible in this year's and last year's playoffs, but he's been absolutely incredible in the past two game 7's. In case you forgot, Gasol's last game 7 before last night was an 18-point and 17-rebound effort against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers won.

It's time to move on and not worry about the team needing seven games to beat the Denver Nuggets. What we failed to realize was that the Nuggets actually have one of the best young rosters in the league and could become a championship contender within a few seasons if given a piece that could become their go-to scorer.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Denver took the Lakers the distance when they were also playing without their top perimeter defender.

Either way, it's in the past, and the Lakers must now look forward to an even greater challenge in the form of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The last time these teams met, it ended with the Lakers winning late in the season. However, the biggest story came in the second quarter when Lakers forward Metta World Peace sent a devastating elbow into the head of Thunder sixth man James Harden.

World Peace continues to claim it was purely accidental, but video reviews tell otherwise.

The Thunder have been heavy favorites to make it to the finals and have seen their stock rise after a sweep of the Mavericks. The Lakers, on the other hand, have raised several questions concerning the lack of perimeter help outside of Kobe, the commitment of Andrew Bynum and the disappointing postseason play of Pau.

The Lakers have a difficult road en route to the NBA Finals. It's painfully obvious, but they're going to need to play a hell of a lot better against Oklahoma City if they expect to make it to that point. If Bynum and Gasol are limited by a coaching adjustment, it'll be interesting to see how they fare against Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison and Nazr Mohammed.

3. Miami Heat

Once the Miami Heat lost Chris Bosh to an abdominal strain—we'll have to wait for word on the extent—it actually became conceivable that they might not even make it past the Indiana Pacers.

The Heat are a quality team without Bosh, but the Pacers would appear to be the last team you want to face when losing the only big man on your team who can score. Face it, Udonis Haslem, Joel Anthony and Ronny Turiaf don't exactly get the job done against a 7'2" center and a frontcourt with depth out of this world.

Then, the second half started. Calm in Miami was restored in the form of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James absolutely annihilating the Pacers. After going into the half down 48-42, the Heat ended up winning Game 1 thanks in part to James and Wade outscoring the entire Pacers team in the second half 42-38.

That's not a typo. Against one of the league's top frontcourts, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were able to drive to the basket at will and outscore an entire team by themselves. This isn't the Knicks, either; the Pacers have an extremely deep bench, and Wade and James went about outscoring the bench and the starting lineup in the second half.

Oh, they also played defense too. Paul George was harassed into 1-of-5 shooting and foul trouble, George Hill shot 4-of-10 with foul trouble and Danny Granger shot a staggering 1-of-10 for seven points. Without Bosh, James also spent a great amount of time defending David West. After a solid first half, West became nonexistent courtesy of the MVP's defense.

Not to be forgotten were the efforts of Anthony and Turiaf. Their energy was a huge spark throughout the second half, with Joel grabbing seven boards and Turiaf grabbing three, all offensive.

However, the Heat can't get excited for too long. The Pacers will make adjustments to limit Wade and James. They're not going to be in foul trouble every game, and they will attempt to make any player not named Dwyane or LeBron beat them. If Bosh is going to sit out an extended amount of time, Miami will need Shane Battier, Mike Miller and Mario Chalmers to help stretch the floor.

Those three shot a combined 1-of-9 from the field today. That's not going to get it done every game.

I'd rank the Heat higher, but losing Bosh is crucial. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of this series plays out. Dwyane and LeBron devastated the Pacers with 29 and 35 points, respectively, but can they carry on that trend when the Pacers make adjustments and if Bosh doesn't return immediately?

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

Had the Oklahoma City Thunder encountered the problems they faced in last year's Western Conference Finals, they might not have gotten out of the first round.

In their matchup with the Dallas Mavericks in last year's WCF, the Thunder held a lead in every fourth quarter of the series, yet succumbed to defeat in an extremely disappointing five games. Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry's hot shooting, as well as terrific defense by Shawn Marion and Tyson Chandler, downed the Thunder, as Kevin Durant and Co. had no answer in the fourth.

My, what a difference a year can make. Outside of the Thunder's Game 3 blowout win, Games 1, 2 and 4 were decided by a combined 10 points. Those three games were eerily similar to last year's series featuring these two teams, with each contest having the possibility of going either way. However, it was Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden coming up big on both ends of the floor to secure a sweep over the defending NBA champions.

It not only goes to show what a dramatic turn the Mavericks took by letting go of Chandler and J.J. Barea  but just how mature this Thunder team has become. There was no attempt at usurping the throne or any arguments between Durant and Westbrook. Nothing involving the Thunder in the first round was tabloid or ESPN-worthy.

Instead, you witnessed one of the most dangerous teams in the league doing what they do best and winning games. Durant and Westbrook both played spectacular, averaging 27 and 22 points respectively. However, the greatest story of this Thunder team came off the bench in the form of reigning Sixth Man of the Year James Harden.

Harden played a key role in each game as the usual spark off the bench, but it was his 29-point performance in Game 4 that has us wondering if he's ready for a leading role elsewhere. The Thunder sixth man torched the Mavericks on 11-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from deep in the series clinching victory.

Oh, and let's not forget about the defensive prowess of Serge Ibaka, who is averaging over three blocks per and essentially shutting down the paint again.

1. San Antonio Spurs

If somebody ever comes up to you and wants to watch basketball for the first time, make sure to sit them in front of a television whenever the San Antonio Spurs are on.

This Spurs team runs spectacular basketball. They have arguably the most efficiently run offense in the the league while maintaining solid ground on defense. That's tough to find in teams that can score a lot of points. Usually, the teams that score the most utilize their energy on the offensive end while sacrificing defensive pressure.

That doesn't happen with the Spurs. They know how to run a half-court offense without having to exert too much energy. With all of that energy saved up, they're able to exert themselves on defense where most high-powered offensive teams fail. This is why they're still scary after all these years and why they're a championship contender.

The Spurs ran through the regular season much like how they did last year when finishing with a 61-21 record. However, unlike last year, where they saw their season come to a disappointing end, it was a complete reversal, as they bested the Utah Jazz in one of the easier sweeps you'll see. The Spurs won three of the four games by at least 12 points and won by an average margin of 16.

It may have just been the Jazz that they were beating up on, but it was foreshadowing for the rest of their postseason run. They could have been running against Oklahoma City, Memphis or the L.A. Lakers, and you'd still see the team being run as effectively as they have all year.

There's a fine balance on this team that cannot be matched, and it explains why they've become the team to beat out West.

Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were the only players to average at least 30 minutes worth of playing time per contest. You can consider that the scariest stat of the series or the fact that Manu Ginobili played dismally, shooting 39 percent from the field and 21 percent from deep, yet this team still won every game with ease.

Wait. Actually, there is a stat that is probably scarier than any other you'll see for the rest of the year. The Spurs went 11 players deep into their rotation. There were 11 players on this Spurs team that made some sort of positive impact in at least three of the games.

There is no team that can even begin to come close to matching that depth.

And then you have an MVP candidate in Tony Parker and a future Hall of Famer in Tim Duncan leading the way? You can keep the highlight plays; the Spurs are on a mission to win before it's too late.