PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - Some might say, what is the point of playing the NBA Playoffs when everyone knows we are going to end up with the Miami Heat taking on the Indiana Pacers in the East and the San Antonio Spurs going up against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West?

I would respond that you never know because, for example, the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers never all missed the playoffs in the same season but it happened this time!

Will the playoffs lack big city star power because of these absences? They will lack those big cities but there will be plenty of star power.

The big question is will Miami become only the fourth franchise in history to accomplish a three-peat?

In the first round all should go smoothly for the Heat against an unlikely opponent, the surprising Charlotte Bobcats who are just happy to be invited to the big boys' table. I see Charlotte squeaking out one win against LeBron James and co.

Indiana, which looked as mediocre as Miami since the All-Star break, should beat up on the Atlanta Hawks by the same score in order to dispell the numerous doubts concerning the team's up-and-down behavior and erratic team chemistry.

The Brooklyn Nets look ripe to create the only relative upset in the East by eliminating the Toronto Raptors who have homecourt advantage and an impressive third seed at the start. Now is when we'll see the impact of Brooklyn's vast advantage in playoff experience.

The match-up between the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards, opposes the hyper-serious Bulls and the formerly crazy Wizards who played a lot smarter this season. The key player will be Joakim Noah, the point center who had four triple-doubles this season and was the first center since 1978 to dish out 14 assists in a game.

The big-time fireworks will really start in the second round where Brooklyn and Chicago should give the favorites a lot more headaches!

In the Western Conference, the first round offers a remake of past Texas showdowns between the good old boys, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki.

The Dallas Mavericks are already thrilled to make the playoffs and they should win one game against San Antonio but as Boris Diaw states, the Spurs are a lot better than last season in large part thanks to their much-improved bench production but also because they are fueled by the disappointment of Game 6 against Miami in the Finals.

Now that Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph are back to their best level, I see the Memphis Grizzlies winning at least two games against leading MVP candidate Kevin Durant and his Thunder. These two teams have a nice rivalry going and totally opposite styles of play which should produce some interesting action!

Action is the key word in the last two first round duels in the West because the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets can put some points on the board!

Both series could go to seven games and scoring over a hundred points will be commonplace. When the dust settles, Houston and the Clippers should go through to the second round but anything is possible with these spectacular teams.

The most exciting individual match-ups will be Chris Paul facing Stephen Curry, of course, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the match-up between Nicolas Batum and James Harden deciding the Houston-Portland series. After some serious offensive orgies in the first round, the defenses should play a bigger role in the second in the West.

In any case, there is a lot to look forward to in the NBA playoffs where everything accelerates -especially the adjustments from game to game - after a long and drawn out regular season.

Fasten your seatbelts! 

George Eddy

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