It ends with fewer twists than one could predict at a certain point in the very long first round of the NBA playoffs, which saw 5 out of 8 games decided only in the seventh and final game (the 4-2 between Portland and Houston, with game 6 decided on the siren). In the end all the main favorites are saved, with the best team ever in the regular season, Marco Belinelli's San Antonio Spurs, who qualifies last, liquidating the surprising Dallas Mavericks in game-7 who had given Duncan quite a few chills and comrades.
Indiana, first team in the East, also had a very bad time, one step away from elimination in game 6 in Atlanta, after losing two games at home against a team with a negative record in the regular season, but which had already been capable of beating even Miami. On the other hand, the Heat were the only ones to win 4-0 (against Charlotte) and now they will face Brooklyn, winners of the game-7 battle in Toronto. The Pacers, on the other hand, decidedly more tired after the 7 complicated games against the Hawks, now find Washington who has regulated Chicago quite easily.
While in the East we are moving towards the announced conference final, with a few too many hitches for Indiana, in the West the games are decidedly more open, even if there were also possible surprises there. However, in the end San Antonio made it, which now finds Portland able to eliminate Houston despite the disadvantage of the field, and after seven sweaty shirts also the second and third classified pass: Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers, who will now compete in the semifinal with the first two games and the eventual beautiful home of the Thunder.
We start immediately tonight with the challenge (perhaps the most balanced, on paper, of the entire panel) between Lac and Okc and with Indiana receiving Washington. Tomorrow it will be the turn of LeBron James and Tony Parker and his companions. The race for the ring still sees all the favorites in the field, but alarm bells are not lacking.
