Yep, I’ve procrastinated a lot when it comes to blogging about the second round. I guess I had a hard time finding a theme for it really.

You can sum it up in one stat.

19-1

No, that’s not the Patriots record from last year. It’s the won/loss record of the home clubs in the second round.

A common phrase in the NBA playoffs has always been that “a series doesn’t start until someone loses a home game”. There’s some truth to that, but not in Round 2 as the one series where that statement can actually be applied thus far(Orlando/Detroit) has already concluded. And any road team that wins a game in the other three series thereafter will win the series entirely.

The homecourt advantage has always been most paramount in the NBA, but this year its gone to ridiculous measures. Stunning when you consider that six of the eight remaining teams have winning road records during the regular season, including Boston(31-10: best road record) who has yet to win a playoff game away from Boston thus far.

Which is not to say that the second round hasn’t been entertaining. Far from that. There have been some great highlights to remember the round by.

How about Tyshawn Prince’s gutsy series winning block of Hedo Turkoglu in the dying seconds of Game 5? Can you imagine him missing the block and picking up an ‘and 1″ basket that could have forced OT? Gutsy move on his part.

Then there’s LeBron James’ posterization of Kevin Garnett to ice Game 4 in Cleveland. One of those press photographers ought to have a photo of that moment that deserves to be on milllions of kids’ walls around the world.

Best throwdown dunk to ice a playoff game since1993 . I had to put at least one great Knick playoff memory in here somewhere…..

And who didn’t feel good for Utah’s Ronnie Price in Game 4. After being hammered by a hard foul from Ronny Turiaf Price came back in the fourth quarter to make a critical block on Luke Walton.

And who didn’t love LeBron’s mom wanting to come after Paul Pierce and KG. The unintentional comedy factor was through the charts there.

So the three remaining series have at least one(if not two if homecourt hold). Lotsa storylines abound….

Will the Hornets send the defending champs home for the season? The Spurs are still in this series thanks in part to Popovich taking defensive stalwart Bruce Bowen off of Chris Paul and putting him on Peja Stojakovic. And hasn’t the Paul v Parker matchup been the finest of the entire playoffs?

If the series makes it to seven games, will the Cavs be able to steal the series in Boston? All I know is, LeBron’s been to more NBA Finals than the Boston “Big 3″ combined. Just sayin’. And if Boston does advance, does anyone feel good about their chances against Detroit right now. Count me in the “no” camp.

Great effort by the Lakers to win game 5 with Kobe at less than full strength. But will the supporting cast be able to do what they did there for the remainder of the series? Only with the same help that they got from the men in stripes in said game.

Looking forward to the rest of the round, but should I really stay up to watch the games in their entirety considering the homecourt records thus far. Who am I kidding….absolutely!!!

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