Boston 89, Cleveland 73 

I'd rather not get too far into this, it's going to depress me and you to no end (enjoy every sandwich, I know), but we're looking at an unprecedented talent that is being shackled by the limits of his own surroundings, and the pleas of a coach who is way, way out of his league.

(Had I written that opener a year ago about KG, nobody would have blinked. Thank Ainge that this man is on a team that deserves him.)

On top of that, the Boston Celtics are ridiculously good. The depth they boast may have yet to show up on the road during the playoffs (though it was winning games for this team down the stretch in the regular season), but this team plays such perfect defense, and takes care of what it can offensively - and it's so fun to watch when everything is clicking.

A commenter pointed this out in a post from Thursday, and it was absatively spot-on - the Celtics aren't destroying offenses by trapping like mad or throwing three defenders at their main source of irritation.

The team is zoning, legally, getting Kendrick Perkins to somehow cover huge stretches of court while holding his own on the boards, and recovering when necessary. Nothing overt.

The problem for Cleveland is, yeah, the recovery is hardly necessary. It doesn't matter. None of these guys have open shots.

The ones that do get open shots are 7-3, and even if Big Z nails a series of them, he's still a 7-3 center shooting flat-footed jumpers that go in (at best) 40 percent of the time, and (at worst) rebound long and start a fast-break. It's a no-win for LeBron. He's been damned with a pitiable supporting cast, and unlike Kobe Bryant from 2005-2007, a coach who doesn't know how to overcome the mitigating factors.

(Also, LeBron couldn't post me up, sadly.)

Boston deserved this win. I saw the first half in real time and the second part of things after I knew the outcome, and it just felt like a fight that should have been stopped before the opening bell even rang.

That's not me trying to be cute with the sports analogies, this is just a one-way series that - even if the C's take a holiday upon their two-game visit to Ohio - pits one team that knows what to do versus another that has no clue how to put together a game plan that makes sense.

Also, I'm not entirely sure Kevin Garnett will let his team lose a series. He'll pull a fire alarm if he has to.

San Antonio 110, New Orleans 99

The defending champion San Antonio Spurs, not sure if you've heard -- you can't count them out. You can't count on them, but you can thank them for finally initiating what we've long assumed to be a long series. After an uninspiring first round (what, Boston/Atlanta inspired you? How many novellas did you write?), it's a unique (to this postseason) and appreciated hope that we can't help but get behind.

San Antonio seemed to get every offensive rebound that counted, the team seemed to pull out every loose ball that counted - and you know what? That's not hyperbole. For some reason, the flipped coin landed on their side of things every time out. And it had a lot to do with how they pulled out the win.

But taking away the extra possessions, the extra shots afforded by offensive rebounds (there weren't that many in comparison to NOLA's lot), and the idea that everything was coming up Popovich, this was also a team that was in the midst of its best offensive game in quite a while.

123.6 points per 100 possessions (!) for the Spurs in this one, closer in line with its 5^th-place ranking from last year in offensive efficiency versus its 15^th-place run from this year.

The Spurs worked the ball, didn't goof around, didn't rely on washed-up players chucking up 25-footers, and let Tony Parker run the show. Parker was brilliant - 31 points, 11 assists, four turnovers; and Manu Ginobili was filling in the holes.

Even as a starter, Manu acted more the 6^th-man than usual; moving without the ball, cutting to the hoop after the Spurs grabbed offensive rebounds, and generally (especially in the case of Hornets rookie Julian Wright) making New Orleans look as if it had five players guarding a six-man team.

Or four guarding a five. Your call. I've made mine. Dig.

There are still holes in the San Antonio run. Chris Paul was amazing, he was the best player on the floor, and CP3 got whatever he wanted when he wanted it. Save for that whole "win" thing. Tyson Chandler will improve, others will hit shots, and the Hornets will start to realize that desperate veteran teams shooting long shots will have long offensive rebounds.

But it will be a series. And, whatever the outcome (I think we can all bank on the Hornets, though the road team could win the next two games), it should remind of 2006's glorious Spurs/Mavericks back and forth. I'm cool with that.

Related: Behind the boxscore