NBA Notes - LET THE PLAYOFFS BEGIN - - April 2006

James Loving - National Radio Text Service - Saturday April 22, 2006

LeBron James In His First NBA Playoffs - Barkley, Dumars & Wilkins in Hall of Fame only one was on NBA title team - Knicks Coach Larry Brown IS Down But Out?... He's Been There... Done That - CLIPPERS WIN FOR LOSING - NBA TRIVIA - DID YOU KNOW???

Today the NBA playoffs Begin and it will be LeBron James' First

The Cleveland Cavaliers barely legal (just turned 21) man/child LeBron James will be the new kid on the block in this seasons playoffs. This will be Cleveland's first playoff appearance since the 1997-98 season when now Memphis Grizzlies coach Mike Fratello was at the helm.

The Cavs 50-32 regular season record is their first 50 win season since they finished 54-28 in the 1992-93 season. Prior to this season they have had 50 wins or more only three times in their 37 year history.

The playoffs are known to be what separates the men from the boys. It is when after a LONG 82 game regular season players and teams have to be at their best to play at the top level when game pressure really comes into play when all the marbles are on the line.

The advantage is to those players and teams who have been there and done that. This most certainly will be a maturation test for the James.

The high school to NBA player had a great year finishing as the leagues third best scorer averaging 31.4 points per game trailing league leader Kobe Bryant who is another high school to NBA player. Bryant averaged 35.4 ppg. Alan Iverson who played only two years in college at Georgetown University placed second averaging 33.0 .

Last season James was also the league's third best scorer with a 27.2 per game average behind leader Iverson's 30.7 and Bryant's 27.6.

IS BROWN DOWN???

The New Your Knicks oach Larry Brown won't be participating in the NBA playoff finals for the first time in three years. He coached the Pistons to the 2003-04 NBA title against the L:akers and lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the finals last season.

TRIVIA QUESTION:

How many NBA franchises has Larry Brown coached during his 23-year NBA coaching career?

DID YOU KNOW???:

Of this seasons three inductees into to the Basketball Hall of fame, Charles Barkley, Joe Dumars and Dominique Wilkins that Dumars is the only player to be a member of an NBA title winning team?

Dumars was a member of the famed Detroit Pistons BAD BOYS (sing it now… Bad Boys, Bad Boys What-cha goanna do?) squads that won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990.

He is now the President of Basketball Operations of the defending NBA champs Pistons. It is he that has put this team together through the NBA draft and trades. He was the NBA finals MVP in 1989.

Michael Jordan said Dumars was his toughest defensive opponent.

Barkley is now a broadcaster with Turner Sports television and has been since 2001. He was league MVP 1n 1993.

Wilkins currently is the special assistant to the Atlanta Hawks executive vice president.

DID YOU KNOW???

Dominique Wilkins was born in Paris, France?

CLIPPERS WIN FOR LOSING

The Los Angeles Clippers actually won when they lost. How? Good question.

Due to the NBA playoff qualifications the division leaders of each conference are seeded 1-2 & 3. They in turn play the conferences playoff qualifying teams with the 6th, 7th and 8th worst records.

Of the three division winners the team with the best record is seeded first and play the team with the worst record that is seeded 8th.

The division winner with the second best record is seeded 2nd and the third division winner is 3rd.

The San Antonio Spurs 63-19 finish earned them the Western Conference best record. They face the Sacramento Kings whose 44-38 record tied them with the Denver Nuggets as having the worst record of the Western Conference playoff qualifying teams.

The Dallas Mavericks finished the regular season with a 60-22 record but is in the same Southwest Division as San Antonio. Since they didn't win their division they are seeded fourth behind Pacific division winners Phoenix 53-29 and the Northwest division winners the Denver Nuggets who finished 44-38.

The Clippers have HOME COURT ADVANTAGE against Denver since they have a better regular season record.

The Clippers have defeated the Nuggets in three of their four regular season meetings and 9 of 11 games played at their home court the Staples Center. ADVANTAGE CLIPPERS.

Though the Clippers defeated the Mavericks 84-71 in their final regular season game they lost the other three games that they played against the Mavs during the regular season. They don't match up well with Dallas.

In the following rounds in any match-up the team with the best record will have home court advantage.

Here's how they were seeded:

1 San Antonio 63-19 (Southwest division winner) plays 8 Sacramento 44-38

2 Phoenix 53-29 (Pacific division winner) plays 7 the LA Lakers 45-37

3 Denver 44-38 (Northwest division winner) plays 6 the LA Clippers (47-35)

4 Dallas (60-22) plays 5 Memphis 49-33

NOTE:

Should The Clippers win the playoff series against Denver it will be the first time that they would have advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 30 years.

When they were then known as the Buffalo (NY) Braves in 1975-76 they defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 2-1 in the first round and lost to the eventual champion Boston Celtics 4-2 in the second round.

Prior to this season they have only made it to the second round twice in their history having done so the previous season 1974-75 when they automatically qualified based on having a better record than two of the five qualifying conference teams. The two teams that had the worst record of qualifying playoff teams played a first round playoff to go to the next semifinal round of four.

This was the case the following season as mentioned when Buffalo defeated the 76ers as previously noted. At that time the league had only 18 teams with 9 in each conference.

TRIVIA ANSWER:

EIGHT (8) - Denver Nuggets, New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks.

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