NBA FANS: What Other Teams Are You Rooting For/Against?

NBA fans, feeling you! Forty games in forty nights!

Okay, so your team is in the first round of the playoffs. But there are forty games in 40 nights. Surely, you are not going to turn on "Dancing With the Stars" or Survivor" because your team isn’t playing on a particular night. You must have other teams that your are rooting for or against.

For example, I follow the Lakers. But I watch every playoff game I can. I usually root for the underdog, no matter who it is. But this time there are three other teams that I’m rooting for besides the Lakers.

Cleveland, of course, not because I want to see a Cavaliers-Lakers Final series or a Kobe Bryant–Lebron James matchup. But because Detroit without Chauncey Billups is like a ship without a rudder. No way can I see them upsetting the Cavaliers and no way would I want to see that happen.

Next, the Denver Nuggets because Chauncey Billups makes that team a contender, and Mister Smooth is one of my favorite players. That has to be one of the greatest NBA trades of all times—Billups for A.I. It probably ranks up there with the Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown trade although the Grizzlies did get Gasol’s brother, Marc, and he is a fairly decent young player with a lot of room to grow.

Finally, the Portland Trailblazers, the team that most Lakers’ fans do not want to see the Lakers play. That’s exactly why I am rooting for them. The Lakers need to get over that Rose Garden whammy if they want to play for the NBA Title.

In all the other games, I’m rooting for the underdog, including the Boston-Chicago series. The Celtics without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe are not the same team that won the title last year. In fact, they weren’t nearly the same team when they let James Posey get away.

So, what about the rest of you NBA fans? Let’s hear from you. Who is your favorite team and what other playoff teams are you rooting for or against?