Getting prepped for the NBA playoffs

It's just a good time of year - especially if you have a team in the NBA playoffs.  If you don't, it's still a good time of year because hope springs eternal for the new baseball season.  But in all honesty, the NBA playoffs should be good enough to edge out the non-stop Yankees / Red Sox love on ESPN.  I say should be good enough.  ESPN loves it some NY / BOS rivalry. 

But heading into the playoff stretch, it's still all up in the air as far as the seeding is going to go.  Nobody really knows.  And it's almost like the playoffs have already started in the West.  There's no more teams fighting to get in - just teams jockeying for position.  It's been fun to watch.

Here's what I'm looking at going into the playoffs.

1. Nicolas Batum is leading the True Shooting Percentage category (Hollinger numbers).  And I must say that it's nice to know I've put my time and my hobby collection behind a young guy who's now getting the numbers to stay relevant.  Last year Nic got shut out by the Rockets.  That can't happen again this year.  He's playing with some gusto.  That alone makes me excited to watch the playoffs.
2. I think the Thunder, out of all the teams that will probably be in the bottom four of the eight, have as good a chance as any to go to the second round.  Right now, if the playoffs started today, the Thunder would be playing the Lakers.  Even that being said, I'd still give them a chance to get to the second round.
3. The Lakers are not without flaws.  They can be beat.
4. Nobody wants to play the Suns in the first round.  Nobody. 
5. And lastly, I'm not sure how much it matters who comes out of the West.  It really could be Lebron's year.  And everybody in New York is hoping against hope that he doesn't start his championship legacy in Ohio.