So far, this year's crop of NBA first round playoffs has been more boring than amazing.  The Lakers swept the Enver Nuggets (credit to basketbawful).  As much as I love A.I, there's no way that a team featuring Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Kobe Bean Bryant is going to drop a 7-game series.  Apparently, they won't drop a 4-game series either.  No surprises there. 

The Spurs beat the new-look Suns in 5.  Sad, but expected.  Timmy D is too good.  Manu is too wily.  Tony Parker is too much of a pansy (is it possible to call a Frenchman a pansy and not be redundant?)  Nothing here either. 

Orlando handled its business in Toronto.  The Raptors' PG duet couldn't contain the monster that is Dwight Howard.  *yawn* 

Houston and Utah are battling for the right to get obliterated in the next round.  I don't know why everyone's on the Jazz bandwagon.  It might be Stockton-Malone II with Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer running the pick-and-roll like they're teaching a clinic.  But it doesn't matter.  They have Kyle "Aston Kutcher" Korver on the roster.  This team is not for real.  You can't seriously consider a team featuring someone who resembles the same guy who starred in "The Butterfly Effect."

And I blame Tracy McGrady for the Rockets' inability to beat the Jazz, oil prices, and my jammed finger in a pickup game this afternoon.

The Mavs broke apart like stale cookie...again.  Is it sad that that's the expected outcome?  Truth be told, Naw'lins is for real, as is the best PG of the decade, Chris Paul.  I would love to see him carry his team to the title, but probably not this year.

The Cavs-Wiz series is more hyped than it deserves, as expected.  Anyone who thinks Bron-Bron is destined for a title on this Cavs team is either high or should be high.  Although D.C.'s antics are amusing, this series is no more exciting than an ant colony.

Detroit finally finished off Philadelphia after letting them hang around for too long.  Detroit's skill will be undone by it's complacence, mark my words.

Then we have the Boston-Atlanta series at 3-2.  ...wait, what?

How in the world did the team that adopted 'Ubuntu' as its slogan get beat by the Atlanta Hawks...TWICE?!  This series should have ended in Atlanta a few days ago.  They should've thrown a Boston Three Party in the ATL.  No way does a team with this much talent and poise drop 2 games in a series like this and go on to win the title.  And I'm a KG fan.

So what does this all mean for YOUR Milwaukee Bucks?  Well, not a whole lot at the moment.  They've got a new GM, new coach, a draft lottery, and a whole mess of a roster to sort out.  There won't be playoffs in this team's immediate future, not even in the bastard cousin Eastern Conference.  However, we can take notes.

We can look at how Atlanta stood up to the best team in the league and flat-out took two games. We can look at how Philadelphia took advantage of a good team on two off nights.  We can look at how Detroit turned around and tapped into the talent that makes them great.  We can look at how Boston woke up and handled a lesser opponent.  We can look at how Washington developed a game plan and stuck with it, even if it didn't pay dividends right away, and (at least tried) to contain a superstar.

There's no hard X's-and-O's lessons here.  Let Skiles handle those lessons.  But there's some basic lessons about competition in these here playoffs, even in the lowly Eastern Conference.  I just hope that the team is paying attention.