10 things to ponder as NBA postseason gets under way

By BOB COONEY
Philadelphia Daily News

cooneyb@phillynews.com

Will the NBA playoffs follow the NCAA Tournament and have the top seeds advance? Is this the final act for Shaquille O'Neal in Phoenix? How much has the Eastern Conference closed the gap on the West? All these questions should be answered in the next several weeks. So to help, here are 10 things to keep in mind while watching the NBA playoffs:

1The Utah Jazz are 38-12 since acquiring shooter Kyle Korver from the Sixers on Dec. 29. Korver has averaged 9.8 points in his 50 games with the Jazz.

2Denver's Allen Iverson (26.4) and Carmelo Anthony (25.7) were the highest-scoring tandem in the league this season. The next-highest duo playing in the postseason is New Orleans' Chris Paul (21.1) and David West (20.6).

3Jason Kidd posted his 100th career triple-double, and his first with the Dallas Mavericks, on Wednesday. Only two other players in NBA history have more triple-doubles than Kidd. They are Oscar Robertson (181) and Magic Johnson (138).

4A No. 8 seed has beaten a No. 1 seed in the playoffs only three times - the Nuggets over Seattle in 1994, New York over Miami in 1999 and Golden State over the Mavericks last season.

5It won't be easy for the Sixers to steal a game in Detroit. The Pistons have won 69.2 percent of their home playoff games, the fifth-best playoff percentage of all-time.

6If you don't think the first game in a seven-game first-round series is important, consider this: The team that wins the first game has gone on to win 83 percent of first-round series.

7Remember how nasty the San Antonio-Phoenix series was last season? There were suspensions and blood and, oh, yeah, some pretty good basketball. The Spurs took that one in six games. This is the best opening-round matchup by far.

8 Whether this truly means anything is debatable, but here goes anyway: The Sixers and the Pistons split their four games this season and the average margin of victory in those games was only 5.3 points.

9In his last six playoff appearances, the Lakers' Kobe Bryant has averaged 27.9 points a game. He will need all of that against the high-flying Nuggets. In 67 career playoff games, the Nuggets' Iverson is averaging 30 a game. Teammate Anthony has struggled in the postseason. In 19 games, Carmelo averages just 20.8 points and is shooting only 39.5 percent from the floor.

10 Shaquille O'Neal will be making his 15th straight playoff appearance. The only time he didn't participate in the postseason was his rookie season with Orlando. The Suns are the fourth team he's gone to the playoffs with, along with Orlando, the Lakers and Miami. *