| | Maybe you think the NBA playoffs begin Saturday, but in reality they began in
the West Tuesday night in Sacramento.
Nothing was at stake in the regular season game between the Kings and the
Sonics except the right to dream seriously about getting beyond the first
round, as opposed to worrying about whether or not you will be embarrassed in a
3-0 sweep, or perhaps gain some small modicum of respect by winning one game.
|  | | Will the Lakers' Glen Rice and Spurs' Sean Elliott meet in the second round? |
The ultimate prize in the playoffs is the Lawrence O'Brien Trophy.
The prize Tuesday night was the Karl Malone Cup.
Don't get me wrong. By beating the Kings in overtime Tuesday, the SuperSonics
got themselves matched up against a team that is entirely capable of going all
the way to the Western finals. Utah has a team built for the playoffs, with
pressure-tested veterans who know that precision offensive execution and
attention to defensive detail win in the postseason. Malone has had another
standout season, belying his 36 years and worthy of solid consideration for MVP
runner-up behind Shaquille O'Neal. He was on the All-NBA first team ballot I
submitted to the league Monday.
But there was a reason the Sonics celebrated on the ARCO Arena floor at game's
end Tuesday as if they had won a playoff round: They don't have to face the
Lakers.
The irony of the playoff matchups in the West is that the team that is best
suited to beat the Lakers, the Spurs (and that is only if Tim Duncan is able to
play, of course, which is another story altogether), ended up in the same
bracket with them, setting up a potential second-round matchup that could be
the best of the entire NBA playoff run.
Over on the other side of the bracket are four teams that go into their
weekend playoff games with reason to believe they can make it to the conference
finals and hope O'Neal's backslide at the free-throw line in a loss at Dallas
Tuesday night is reason for minimal optimism.
Malone, the reigning MVP until the league announces the ascendancy of O'Neal
in a few weeks, swears his delight at locking up the Midwest Division title
Sunday night in Phoenix had nothing to do with securing that No. 2 seed,
thereby landing in the non-Shaq bracket.
"We didn't think about it like that," Malone said. "We knew we had an
opportunity to win the division, and that's what we wanted to do. But we're not
a team that's going to run from anybody, whether it's the Lakers or anybody
else. We believe in our abilities as a team.
"Our thoughts are, 'Whatever happens, happens.' Maybe a lot of teams are beat
before they even play the Lakers, but that's not our attitude."
Malone made his comments a few hours before he played a season-low 18 minutes
in Utah's overtime loss to the Nuggets, a game Jazz coach Jerry Sloan
approached like an exhibition game before the start of something that really
matters. Malone's 18 minutes were three more than both John Stockton and Jeff
Hornacek, and none of the Jazz starters logged a single minute in the fourth
quarter or the overtime.
Malone respects the Lakers, but insists they are not unbeatable.
"If you look at records, without a doubt they're the team to beat," Mailman
proclaimed, "but in the playoffs, the only thing it takes is one game on a
team's home floor and you put a lot of pressure on the team to come back and
win on your floor.
"I'm sure they're the clear-cut favorites, but there's a lot of teams that
want what they want. So you can't convince other teams out there they don't
have a chance to play against them.
"A lot of things can happen in this league -- injuries, a bad night. Anything
can happen, so we'll see."
Malone is right. Anything can happen. I know. I was there the day the Nuggets
beat the No. 1-seeded Sonics to win that first-round series on Seattle's floor
back in 1994.
But I'm here to tell you what will happen, so here's my advance look at the
first round in the West.
Lakers vs. Kings: Sacramento draws energy from its ARCO crowd like few
teams in the league, though it didn't help the Kings much in Tuesday's game,
which had such tremendous importance. That's why I think the Kings have a
chance to steal one game from the Lakers in this series. That's it, though.
Lakers, 3-1.
Jazz vs. Sonics: Gary Payton is the best point guard in the game, and one
of its top five players. John Stockton is the NBA's all-time assists leader,
but he is 37 years old and no longer capable of playing 40-plus minutes against
a physical opponent like Payton, who lodged all 53 minutes of Tuesday's big
game in Sacramento. This series figures to come down to a Game 5 in Salt Lake
City, where the Delta Center crowd comes close to matching the energy of ARCO.
Jazz, 3-2.
Trail Blazers vs. Timberwolves: This is the best opportunity for an upset in
the first round. Minnesota has played as well as the Blazers for the last six
weeks of the season and the Wolves have one of the few players in the game who
is capable of taking over a game, start to finish. Portland, though, has
recovered nicely from its late-season slide, re-discovering the kind of
stifling defense that made the Blazers the best team in the league early in the
season. Plus, Minnesota has no answer in the middle for Arvydas Sabonis.
Blazers, 3-2.
Suns vs. Spurs: The defending champions are in a world of hurt, literally.
The torn cartilage in Tim Duncan's left knee likely will keep him out for the
first two games of this series. There remains a possibility he will need to
have arthroscopic surgery, which would put him out for at least two weeks,
probably three. The Suns have had longer to adjust to the loss of Jason Kidd,
who may be able to come back for the end of this series, if it lasts to four or
five games, which it likely will. Picking this one is an either-or proposition.
Either the Spurs win, 3-2, if Duncan plays, or the Suns win, 3-1, if he does
not.
Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com | |
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