Why the NBA Postseason Is Best in All of Pro Sports

You only have to look at the first round of the 2012 NBA playoffs to know that the NBA postseason is the best in all of pro sports.

Any team, underdog or favorite, has a shot at making a run at the title. And even when the underdogs lose, they tend to at least make things interesting.

In the first round alone this year, there were two six-game series and two seven-game series. The Philadelphia 76ers shocked the Chicago Bulls in six games after Derrick Rose went down with a torn ACL. The Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks once again gave us a physical, hard-fought series. The Denver Nuggets pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to the brink of elimination. And the explosive yet inconsistent Los Angeles Clippers barely edged out the Memphis Grizzlies.

Once again we have some powerhouses, too. The Miami Heat, complete with MVP LeBron James, disposed of the New York Knicks in five games. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs swept the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz, respectively.

You even have the dark horses like the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers may be a year away from seriously challenging a team like the Heat, but they have a very balanced team with a nice mix of youth and veteran leadership. They should only get better as their youth progresses.

The Heat will try to win a championship this season without a very deep bench. Rarely does a team rely on its Big Three so much and not eventually paying the price. But the Heat have the defense to stifle a lot of teams, even when the Big Three are not clicking. They held the Pacers to 86 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday.

That's what makes the NBA playoffs so exciting each and every year. There are a wealth of factors that go into winning a title, or even making a deep run. In losing just one factor (i.e. Derrick Rose) can send a team plummeting. One can predict the matchups in each series, but that does not mean it will go as planned.

The Mavericks defeated the favored Heat in the NBA Finals last year. Do the Heat have enough to come away as champions this season?

One thing fans have learned throughout the years; the favored are never safe in the NBA playoffs.

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