After 1,230 regular season games, the NBA Playoffs are finally here. (Tomorrow!) KD and I will have our own first round predictions soon, but for now we finish with our bloggin' team experts. Up last: Spurs Dynasty and Phoenix Stan from Bright Side of the Sun breakdown the San Antonio-Phoenix rematch. Enjoy.

(Note: I actually dropped the ball trying to land a Spurs blogger. So, instead, here is an excerpt from Spurs Dynasty's look at the series. Click here and scroll down for their complete PG-13 analysis.)

Spurs Dynasty: I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you youngsters, it won't be easy. Before we always had an edge on these guys because we could neutralize Shawn Marion like nobody else could. Against everyone else the guy is a superduperstar. Against us in May he was basically Drew Gooden. Ten, twelve points, and maybe a dozen or so mostly defensive rebounds. Decent numbers but nobody you concern yourself with at the end of the day.

We made Marion a non-factor because "The Matrix" as he fancies himself can only score in one of three ways: Transition, 3 pointers, and putbacks. Well guess what our defensive specialties are kiddies? Getting back on defense, limiting threes, and defensive rebounding. Stopping Marion didn't involve a single extra sentence in our game plan, it was all stuff we do well with regularity anyway.

But now Marion is gone and in his place is the Big Fatso and all his HILARIOUS quotes. To my shock, the jerkass has proven that he can still be an effective scorer when inspired and it really is pretty stupid at this point for us to guard him one-on-one. He's still too damn big and as accurate from two feet away as you'd expect a seven-footer to be.

We gotta double him. Simple as that. Gotta double him and make him give it up. The guy is a turnover machine and just the act of making him think or pass will give us a half dozen easy fast break points. "Shaq" and "thinking" go together as well as "blimp" and "hydrogen." It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but the exact opposite. [...]

*****

Phoenix Stan, Bright Side of the Sun: This series is just like when I was growing up on the mean streets of Maryvale on the west side of Phoenix. In sixth grade there were a group of boys from the next block that always picked on me. Stole my lunch money and generally pushed me around. Then over the summer I grew three inches and put on 15 pounds, took karate lessons, bought a baseball bat and my big brother came home from the Army. We showed those punks who's boss! It's time to kick the Spurs in the teeth.

Basketball analysis starts where we left off last year. Since then, the Spurs are older, slower and have much less depth and far fewer weapons offensively. They don't have the ability to score in more then two or three ways anymore and have to hold the Suns to under 90 points to have any chance at all.

Is there anyone anywhere that thinks the Spurs are better now then they were a year ago?

The Suns on other hand, are a much improved basketball team. Most notably in all areas of the game.

Shaq of course gets most of the attention and rightly so. He's owned Duncan over their careers and makes double teams unnecessary. When you don't have to double Timmy in the post there's only two other guys on the Spurs team that can beat you off the dribble. Two. And they generally don't play well together.

San Antonio, where average defensive teams go to look good happens.

Offensively the Suns now can throw the ball in the post to Shaq. Give the ball to Grant or Barbosa in transition or on the wing to create. Post up Diaw when the Spurs switch and neutralize the Spurs best perimeter defender by playing Nash off the ball when Bowen saddles up.

And let's not forget Amare — the most dominate unstoppable offensive force in the game (over the past three months). In isolation at the top of the key where he's impossible to double or on the unguardable pick and rolls. There is no answer.

The only way the Spurs can hold the Suns to under 100 points in a game is with foul trouble. And this is the deepest Suns team yet. Gordan Giricek and Boris Diaw will be huge in this series.

Bring your cups gentlemen. It's not going to be pretty. But this time big brother is here and he's fully armed for battle.

Prediction: The Spurs will win a couple based on playoff savvy (knees, flops and whines) but that's it —  Suns in 6.

Previous Blogger Playoff Previews:
BOS-ATL | CLE-WAS | ORL-TOR | DET-PHI | LAL-DEN | NO-DAL | UTA-HOU

Related: 2008 NBA Playoffs