Let’s be critical for a minute, shall we?

I’m no school teacher, but I’d like to offer up some post-season grades to each NBA team that made the playoffs.  Let is serve as a prequel to Nique’s exit interview questions, that is if we ever get a chance to see them.

Eastern Conference:

Atlanta Hawks: B

Let’s be real.  Nobody has expected the Hawks to fare well ever since Dominique Wilkins retired.  They’ve consistently been the cellar dwellers of the league.  Yet it finally looks like Atlanta finally has a product they can be proud of.  After taking the Boston Celtics to a seventh game, Atlanta fans should expect nothing less than playoff appearances for the next several years.  They have a respectable young nucleus of players in Josh Smith, Joe Johnson and Al Horford.  It will be interesting to see if they keep Mike Bibby and for how long.  The next step for Atlanta will be actually winning a playoff series, but it appears they’re on the right track.

Washington Wizards: C-

The Wizards are still a team without an identity.  Yes, they made the post-season, but is that enough?  They’ve also done so the past few years and it seems they’re now regressing.  The Wiz feature one of the league’s more dynamic players in Gilbert Arenas, but next year could be a critical one for both him and the franchise.  Can he stay healthy?  And if so, can he coexist with his teammates?  I have a gut feeling things are going to get worse for Arenas before they get better.  In this day and age, with the emergence of Deron Williams and Chris Paul, an NBA point guard cannot think shoot first and pass second and that’s not Arenas’ modus operandi.  Caron Butler had a great season when on the floor, but I’m not convinced the tandem of Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison are the bigs that can carry a team to the next level.  I predict Arenas will eventually play his way off this team and ultimately end up on a real contender.  The question is who and will they want to take a gamble on The Hibachi.

Philadelphia 76ers: B-

There are contenders and there are pretenders.  Nobody outside of the Philadelphia locker room gave this team much of a chance to win anything, yet this confident group of individuals gave the Detroit Pistons a run for their money.  Similar to Atlanta, this team has a young nucleus of talent to build around.  But they still have question marks.  I’m not sure what it will take this team to get to the next level, but I think they’re still several pieces away.  Andre Iguodala is a fine young player, but can he consistently be the go to guy for this franchise.

Toronto Raptors: D

In my opinion, the Raptors are at a crossroads.  They have talent to build around in Chris Bosh, but the top teams in the East have set the bar high.  The Celtics Big Three will be around for a few more years at least, LeBron isn’t going anywhere any time soon, the Magic have Dwight Howard and the Heat could eventually become a force with Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and either Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley.  This means, in order to keep up with the joneses, Toronto will have to add some pieces.  And it’s unlikely they’re going to be major players in the free agent market.  This team looked flat against an Orlando team they should have competed with.  Toronto has been surprisingly good over the past two seasons, but do their fans and ownership care enough to become a serious contender.  I’m not so sure.  Unfortunately, Sam Mitchell will ultimately take the fall for a team that nobody would be able to win with.

Cleveland Cavaliers: C

 The clock ticks loudly in Cleveland.  This poor city cannot sleep for rumors that King James will eventually leave this franchise for greener pastures.  Until then, they’ll have to keep him happy by surrounding him with talent.  While anything less than an NBA title would have been a disappointment for the Cavs, those goals were unrealistic.  They were the third or fourth best team in the East, and will probably be so again next season.  Both Detroit and Boston are clearly better than the Cavs.  Despite LBJ’s performance in Game 7, this team was not getting by Boston.  In the fire sale that was this NBA season, the Cavs added Ben Wallace (useless), Joe Smith (functioning), Delonte West (decent, but not a starter) and Wally Szczerbiak (white).  The experiment of starting two centers, Z and Wallace, failed miserably.  And at times, it looked like Mike Brown didn’t know who to play.  Should he put in Joe Smith for offense or Anderson Varejao for rebounding?  What Ben Wallace gives you defensively (which isn’t all that much these days), he takes away in offensive presence.  I mean the guy was four feet away from the basket and still didn’t shoot it.  I give credit to the franchise for making an effort, but those players were not what this team needed.  Next time, use some logic when making acquisitions.  Whatever they do in the off-season, they better do it quickly and wisely for that ticking clock is only going to get louder.  Every season the Cavs come up short will make playing in Madison Square Garden all that more palatable for King James.

Orlando Magic: C+

 And yet we have another Eastern Conference team at a crossroads.  Perhaps Orlando should play Cleveland in a seven-game series for the Eastern Conference’s bronze medal, because neither of these two teams was going to get any closer than that.  The Magic will ultimately have to find themselves a point guard to play alongside Dwight Howard.  Carlos Boozer has Deron Williams.  Tyson Chandler has Chris Paul.  Even Bosh has TJ Ford.  The jury is still out (or is it) on whether Jameer Nelson is their point guard of the future.  Additionally, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu are offensive minded, non-rebounding machines.  Howard needs help on the blocks and he’s not getting it.  While this team has gotten better in recent years, in order to compete with the Clevelands, Detroits, and Bostons of the world, the Magic still have to add pieces to their puzzle.

Detroit Pistons: C (if they lose to Boston); A (if they beat Boston) 

Another season… another Eastern Conference Finals appearance for Detroit.  That wasn’t good enough for Atlanta Braves fan (fourteen division titles, one World Series championship) and it’s likely not good enough for Pistons fans either.  It’s unclear whether Flip Saunders is capable of winning a title with this team and unfortunately for him, he’ll always be living in the shadow of Larry Brown, who may have only won his title by running into a dysfunctional Lakers team at the time.  However, this Pistons team did not lose BECAUSE of Saunders.  You can’t point to any specific coaching blunders that justify him losing his job.  If anything, they’ll lose (again) in the Eastern Conference Finals because of an unhealthy Chauncey Billups, but it’s more likely that Boston is just the better team.  Joe Dumars will have some questions to answer in the off-season.  Does he keep this team intact and what’s needed to get this team back to where they need to be?

Boston Celtics:  A- (if they beat Detroit); D (if they lose to Detroit)

Danny Ainge’s bold off-season moves paid off in more than just a GM of the Year award.  Along with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have the Celtics one win away from the NBA Finals.  The pieces of this franchise fit nicely together.  Ainge didn’t just look at whoever was out there and land players that didn’t match, a la Cleveland.  Boston’s bench is capable and complementary to their core unit.  And Rondo has proven he’s more than capable of leading this team.  The only question that remains is whether they’ll be able to beat the purple and gold.  While anything less than a title will be disappointment for those in the Boston locker room, a Finals appearance should still be considered a successful season.

Museums exhibit priceless works of art.  The world boasts countless objects of near perfection.  Last night, fans were witness to one more: the Team USA’s first quarter against the Mexican national team.

Already boasting a 4-0 record in this year’s FIBA Americas Tournament, Team USA has been slowly reestablishing its international dominance…. and doing so with style and force.

For those unfamiliar with FIBA tournament rules, teams play four ten minute quarters (as opposed to twelve in the NBA) with fewer stoppages in play than the average NBA game as well.  Monday night, Team USA scored 45 points in ten minutes.

Briefly watching the sparse SportsCenter highlights does not do this team justice, for there’s no way to effectively capture the vertical dunk-fest that has become Team USA’s dominance of this year’s FIBA tournament.  So here’s an attempt to recap a near perfect first quarter, showcasing the world’s greatest basketball players playing an unbeatable level.

• Starting for Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups set the tone early scoring five points in the game’s first thirty seconds, first by launching a three-pointer and then, by converting a fastbreak lay-up off a LeBron James steal.
• Off a missed Mexican lay-up, Amare Stoudemire kicked the rebound out to Billups on the wing.  Billups took one dribble, fed the ball up-court to LeBron, who drove, drew a double team and one-handed it out to Kobe on the left wing.  Kobe spotted Carmelo Anthony (who’s been making a living in the paint this tournament) under the basket for the bucket and the foul.  All five players touched the ball in a possession that took only eight seconds, longer than it took to read that paragraph.
• At the 6:41 mark, Carmelo nailed a three-pointer, giving him eight of Team USA’s fifteen points.
• After turning the ball over the previous possession, Kobe Bryant rattled home a shot from about five feet behind the three-point line.
• At the 5:20 mark, Jason Kidd entered the game.  Cue the highlight reel.
• LeBron pulled down a strong, one-handed rebound from above the rim, found Kidd running up the floor, who then got it back to LeBron on the right wing.  LeBron then took THREE Mexican players to the hole and drew the foul.  That possession took another brief, eight seconds.  In response to LeBron’s dunk, Bill Walton muttered “We’re used to that very much.  The Mexican players… I’m not sure that they’ve EVER seen anything quite like LeBron James."
•  In the first five minutes of the quarter, Team USA missed one shot attempt.
• Quadruple-teamed in the lane, LeBron spotted an open Mike Miller, who, rather than opting for the three, immediately whipped the ball to an open Amare Stoudamire for a signature two-handed dunk.
• Mike Miller drove the lane, attracting double-team coverage, but found a cutting Jason Kidd, who threw a two-handed touch pass to Carmelo behind the arc.  Carmelo drained it.
•  Dwight Howard, after being fouled, missed his second free throw attempt, which was then rebounded by Carmelo Anthony, who out-hustled three Mexican big men for the ball.
• Then, perhaps the most obscene play of the half… Carmelo grabbed a rebound from an errant Mexican three-point attempt and kicked the outlet pass to Jason Kidd running up the right side of the floor.  Kidd took one dribble and from BEHIND THE HALF-COURT LINE, threw a strike to Dwight Howard who snuck behind two Mexican defenders, then seemingly jumped over them for the alley-oop.
• After consecutive dunks by Carmelo and Dwight Howard, Bill Walton appropriately proclaimed “this is getting out of hand quickly.”
• Michael Redd launched a three-pointer… and hit.  So far, Team USA has only missed two shots in the quarter.
• On a commercial break that could not come soon enough for Team Mexico, Better Basketball offers a video, giving viewers the opportunity to “learn shooting from perhaps the best shooter in basketball history.”  I’m excited about the possibilities until I learn they’re talking about J.J. Reddick.
• Deron Williams played the two-man game to perfection with ‘Melo in the post, who then proceeded to dunk over the man covering him.
• After another dunk, Carmelo finished the quarter with sixteen points on 6-6 shooting.
• Fittingly, as the clock wound down, Deron Williams threw another alley-oop to Dwight Howard, who flushed it emphatically at the buzzer.

Team USA finished the quarter up 45-23.  Ten minutes, forty-five points.  To my recollection, Dream Team Jr. missed a total of four shots.

Critics will say not to get excited, that Team USA has only played Venezuela, the Virgin Islands, Brazil and Mexico, and that Argentina still remains on the docket.  But after years of recent disappointment and underachieving, the Americans are playing as expected.  Coach Krzyzewski is effectively managing his players’ minutes, while simultaneously keeping their eyes on the prize.  Kobe Bryant is shutting down opponents.  The American players have all checked their egos at the door and are feeding off each other’s talent. 

Yes, the United States is turning the ball over, but that’s to be expected with their up-tempo style of play.  At this pace, Team USA is looking invincible and is one more blowout victory closer to their ultimate goal:  an Olympic gold medal.

Many pundits have criticized LeBron James' defense this season, suggesting that his defense isn't as well-balanced as his offense.  Whoever still feels this way obviously hasn't watched him in the playoffs.  Monday night's victory against the Pistons, knotting the series at two games a piece, is a perfect example.  LeBron had two key blocks in the game, one on Richard Hamilton early and the other on Chauncey Billups late.  These blocks were perfectly timed and emphatic enough to remind Detroit's backcourt who it is exactly they're driving the lane against.  LeBron's second block against Detroit's M.V.P. came during a fourth-quarter Piston drought that essentially sealed a Cavalier victory.

LeBron averaged 1.5 steals this season and nearly a block a game.  Not bad at all.  And in Game Three against Detroit, James had four steals and a block.  So the next time someone suggests that LeBron's merely an offensive powerhouse, be sure to inform them that 'we are all witnesses' and to tune into Game 5.