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!!!

This one’s for all the diehards out there paying close attention to the NBA Playoffs.

Yeah, me and the other three of you out there. OK, maybe four or five.

For the past week or so I’ve done the following: Work in the daytime, come home and watch hoops until I go to sleep late at night. Little if any Stanley Cup Playoffs for me (just tell me how the Sharks are doing as I’ve got them in the pool), no visits to the downtown ballpark, and setting records for fastest click of the remote control to NBA TV anytime I hear or see the words “NFL Draft” coming out of my HD set.

Week one of the “most wonderful time of the year” is in the books and your unofficial(self appointed is more like it) WNYM NBA postseason correspondent is here with some offbeat commentary on the games that were. Maybe somewhat of an awards ceremony, if you will.

The “Why Home Court Matters” Award.

The Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks were manhandled in their first two games in Boston in losing by an average of twenty one points and were looking exactly like a young team with a losing record that hadn’t been to the postseason in nine years.

Enter Philips Arena into the equation and my oh my how quickly things change. The youthful Hawks overran the Celtics playing with a bundle of enthusiasm and energy led by the rim rattling exploits of Josh Smith. And voila! We have a series(maybe)! Tip of the hat as well to Michael Bibby for doing the nearly impossible and making the series interesting after calling out Celts fans for being “bandwaggoners”. Uh, Mike…you’re playing in the king city of bandwagon sports fans. Just sayin’

The “Hello America, Now You Know Who I am!” Award.

Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets. Chris has had an impressive career thus far in winning the ROY award in 2006 and has been mentioned as a prime MVP candidate this season with LeBron, Kobe, and KG. But let’s face it, spending your NBA career in Oklahama and New Orleans isn’t exactly going to get the word out about yourself, and not making the playoffs adds to that as well.

Enter Games 1 and 2 in New Orleans as Paul scores 69 points dished out 27 assists in two routs of the Dallas Mavericks and in the process completely outclassed future HOF point guard Jason Kidd. Paul leads a outstanding Hornet team that is solid in nearly all facets of the game. Shooters? Peja Stojakovic. Muscle underneath? Tyson Chandler, David West. Bench? Jannero Pargo, Bonzi Wells. If the Hornets stay together in the future, look out!

The “Funniest Moment of the Playoffs” Award.

This may be the best highlight of an otherwise dull series.

Honorable mention to Philips Arena going without the shot clock for much of the second half in game 3. Those time clock operators probably date back to the franchise’s days at Memorial Auditorium. (Yes, THAT Memorial Auditorium!) Speaking of the Aud….

A moment of silence to remember the passing of Darrell Garretson. He was a longtime NBA official working games for nearly thirty years also serving as NBA Supervisor of Officials for years as well.

But here in Buffalo he will always be the man whose whistle effectively ended the Braves 1974 season in Game 6 of their series against the Boston Celtics. His foul call on Bob McAdoo as time ran out in regulation of a tie game sent Jo Jo White to the free throw line for the series ending free throws. Very likely the most infamous referee whistle ever blown in Buffalo. Ever.

The “Ummm, Remember Us???” Award.

The San Antonio Spurs. Amidst all the hype of the stacked Western conference, the surging Lakers w/ Gasol… The reworked Suns w/Shaq… The Cinderella story in New Orleans…the 22 game win streak in Houston, the Spurs were admitttedly somewhat lost in the shuffle. The winning of the first two games of the Suns/Spurs series did help a bit, but it wasn’t until they annihilated the Suns on the road in Game 3 that eyebrows were raised. The Spurs raced out to a huge lead in the first quarter and never looked back with Tony Parker lighting up the LED board with 41 points. On another note….

The “Why You’ll Never Be Amongst the All-Time Greats” Award.

Shaquille O’Neal. Anybody who gets fouled intentionally at points of the game outside the final two minutes of play probably gets this award. But really, we’ve been hearing about this guy’s weaknesses at the charity stripe since the days of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and O’Neal is still a basket case when it comes to free throws.

That door you just heard slam shut could be one of two things(if not both). 1: The Suns’ championship window of opportunity, or 2: Steve Kerr packing his goods in Phoenix and headed back to being a televsion analyst.

The “Trends I Find Most Disturbing” Award.

Two share this award. First is the “fans wearing same color Tshirts for the playoffs” promotion that is sneaking its way into the NBA. Two major problems with this. One, this is a hockey thing, it simply doesn’t look right anywhere else and lets hope the trend doesn’t spread to the NFL or MLB. Also only the color white is acceptable. There have been some pretty hideous colors in the stands this past week taking focus away from the action.

Another trend somewhat unique to hockey is the whole “we gotta send a message to the other team” crap. In basketball it has appeared in the form of a hard and cheap foul in the final moments of a blowout. There couldn’t be a more utterly useless waste of energy than seeing Brendan Haywood knock LeBron James to the floor towards the end of Game 2, ditto Hornets/Mavs Game 3(the combatants’ names escape me right now). Leave that hockey stuff where it belongs.

The “We’re Trying to Build a Winner Like the Ottawa Senators Circa Late 90’s-00’s” Award:

The Toronto Raptors. If you love a bunch of stereotypical finesse Euros bombing three’s from the perimeter with Chris Bosh as the token inside guy, well then you’ve found nirvana at the Air Canada Centre. Carlos Delfino, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon(k, he does have some toughness in him) and Jason Kapono(well he’s got a Euro sounding name!) fire away from downtown. When the shots go in, its a joy to watch. Otherwise….bleccchhh!

The “So THAT’S What Became of That Guy” Award:

Jameer Nelson. Remember him? The leader of the St. Joseph’s basketball team in ‘04 that had an undefeated regular season and wound up being the consensus player of the year? There he was Saturday in Toronto jamming the dagger into the heart of the Raptors season in scoring 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter on the way to giving the Magic a 3-1 series lead.

Runner up - JJ Redick, riding the end of the bench for the same Orlando club.

The “Schizophrenic, Playing to the Level of Our Competition Team” Award:

The Detroit Pistons. Is this the team that won fifty nine games during the regular season? Or is it the team that gave the lowly Knicks their two brightest moments of the season in defeating the Pistons twice? Seems like we’ve been seeing more of the latter here.

On a good note, an upset of the Pistons may be a good thing. If nothing else hoops fans won’t have to be treated to the ear-splitting - nails - screeching - across - the blackboard sound of the Pistons PA guy. DEEEEEEE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALL!!!!!

The “There’s a Reason I Haven’t Said a Word About This Series” Award.

The Utah Jazz/Houston Rockets.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz…..

No, I’m not insinuating that this has been a dull series and quite frankly far from it. The Z’s signify what I was doing when Houston rallied to win game 3 and Memo Okur made a critical rebound late in game 4. A novel concept would have been to have had at least ONE of these games begin prior to 10PM ET during this series.

Well, that wraps up this edition…..see ya as the playoffs progress!!!