The NBA playoffs, where "Tim Duncan for 3" happens

Most sports analysis from the media only informs you what the average opinion is, which is commonly wrong. This occurs all the time during the NBA playoffs. To compound that the viewer is tormented with the likes of Stephen A. Smith, who has vehemently aligned himself with both sides of almost every controversial issue, Stuart Scott, who thinks he is God's gift to sports broadcasting, and so on. My analysis goes beyond the mundane garbage fed to you by the media who's goal seems to be to dumb down sports fans everywhere. I offer hope that intelligence still remains.

Here's what I've called so far most of which the media would have laughed at me for saying:

1. San Antonio will win in 6 games or less. They are now up 3-1, thanks to the league of clutch commish himself, Tim Duncan. Almost everyone tripped all over each other jumping on the Pho-town bandwagon. No respect. When was the last time the Spurs lost four out of seven games?? Hello?? They're been "too old" for three years now - when will people get it?? Also, the Spurs coasted into the playoffs, while Phoenix had to play their best basketball to get in. Further, I called that Tony Parker would make Steve Nash look like a poor slow white boy. How about a career high 41 points for my boy Parker? Game 2 I said that the Spurs would eventually pull away late third, early/mid fourth. Game 3 I said it would take a monumental performance by Duncan for the Spurs to win. Turned out to be Parker - same difference. Game 4 I said the Suns would probably win big. All accurate. Sports betting? Give me a call. Kurt Thomas was a playoff pickup as I said from the start - look at his role/minutes increase. Stepping up against his former team. And before it's all said and done, expect Brent Barry to make a significant impact. He's already shown signs.

2. New Orleans over Dallas in 6 or less. They're now up 3-1. For some reason, everyone got starstruck by Dallas and misled by their late season run. WRONG. New Orleans is the better team. Even if New Orleans wasn't the better team, they still have the best player, which is usually good enough (case in point: DWade vs. Dallas in the '06 Finals). Jason Kidd is not a winner. I've said that ever since the trade went down. He's a stat monger who will run the fast break and throw some nice alley oops. Nice punk move tonight nearly destroying Jannero Pargo's face. Dirk's street cred is fleeing away in all directions. Cuban is jawing with fans. Someone do the Heimlich on Josh Howard. The Dallas Mavericks are a train wreck.

3. I said from the beginning that if anyone is going to pull off an upset, it will be Philadelphia over Detroit. Notice how the Sixers won the season series - they can match up. They've been one of the hottest teams since the all-star break. Sure enough, series tied 2-2, though most predicted one win at most for the Sixers.

4. I did think Washington would beat Cleveland. Looks bad for Washington. I expected the slew of Wiz shooters (Arenas, Butler, Jamison, Stevenson, Mason, etc.) to be enough to offset Lebron. Game 1 boiled down to who was clutch, Arenas or Lebron, and Lebron was. So much for Arenas' self-proclaimed status as the #1 clutch player in the league. He did better in Game 4, but still not enough. Bad coaching by Eddie Jordan. I thought at one point it was against the gameplan to shoot inside 17 feet. Plus he should have done a hack-a-Ben Wallace, who might be the worst free-throw shooter in the playoffs. But I will say this: you will not see Lebron dominating the East en route to the Finals this year.

Houston, Atlanta, and Toronto don't have a chance. But who disagrees - moot point. Toronto may make things interesting, but without home court advantage they cannot beat Orlando four times.

Coming next: the wonderful mess of LA vs. Denver...