Truth: The Orlando Magic weren't remotely ready to challenge anyone in the playoffs. Dwight Howard will be one of the best rebounders in NBA history, but unless he does some serious work on his low-post game, Orlando will need to bring in a marquee scorer, since they don't have one. Vince Carter is the most obvious choice, being a free agent and Orlando having cap space, but should that option fall through, the Magic need to have Plans B, C, and D ready to help out their big man.

Falsehood: Cleveland showed its might by sweeping the Wizards. In reality, all four games were closer than they should have been, considering the Wizards were without their two all-stars, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. Only one game (Game 1), was won by double-digits, and even then the Cavs didn't pull away until late in the game. With Lebron, a healthy Larry Hughes, and Big Z, the Cavs more than anything showed that they have yet to possess the killer instinct of champions.

Truth: Kobe needs help. I joked about this in a previous article, but in all fairness and honesty, the best individual player on the planet should not be stuck with such sub-par teammates. Not bad, mind you, just sub-par. Sub-par will get you one win in five games. Kobe is in the middle of his prime, and while no one should be panicking about his possible decline (see Steve Nash, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan), L.A. should be worried about Kobe's patience with management. He said he wants changes now, and if we learned anything from 2004, what Kobe wants, Kobe gets.

Falsehood: San Antonio is old and slow and over the hill. How many years have we been saying this now? This "over-the-hill" team dispatched the feisty, younger, more athletic Nuggets in five games. As long as they have Duncan in the low post and funnel Coach Popavich's offense through him, San Antonio will always be a threat to win it all. What gives them an edge in close games is their near-flawless execution to get the shot they want, or the key defensive stop they need. If San Antonio loses, it will not be because they are old. It will be because they were fairly beaten.

Truth: Jerry Colangelo and Sam Mitchell are Executive of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively. Admit it, how many people thought the Raptors would win game 5? For those of you that did, how many thought they would do it with Chris Bosh getting a measly 11 points and 8 boards? Colangelo and Mitchell had the foresight to know which players to obtain and how to use them (see Calderon, Parker and especially Bargnani). If this young core can continue to develop and the two head men can keep adding integral parts, Toronto will be a future, consistent contender.

Falsehood: The Golden State Warriors were lucky to beat Dallas. This is more to smack Don Nelson around than anything else. I like what Barkley pointed out that with Nelson downplaying everything the way he did, the Mavs never found themselves able to be angry with or mad at the Warriors. Even more than that, though, is that Nelson simply outcoached his former pupil Avery Johnson in this series. Not that Nelson is hands-down the best coach between the two, but for one series, he did outdo last year's Coach of the Year. The way he attacked Nowitzki on the defensive end with double-teams coming on the blind side, no wonder Dirk didn't want to get closer to the basket.

Truth: Home-court is huge. Case in point: the Rockets vs. Jazz series. The home team has won every game. Look at the Golden State crowd; they didn't sit down once during the entire second half! The Suns are well aware that their home-court could be the difference-maker in beating the Spurs this year. Toronto, Dallas, and Utah all staved off elimination in large part because of the support of their fans. It's been a refreshing reminder that the the fans are part of this game too.

Falsehood: Miami was the defending champions this year. Forgive me for being blunt, but when at any time this season did the Heat resemble the appearance of "defending champions"? They under-achieved, failed to adapt to a changing game, didn't upgrade an aging and mismatched roster, and D-Wade may be affected long-term by his shoulder injury. It wasn't nearly as surprising to see the Heat swept as it was the Mavericks, nevermind that Miami won the Larry O'Brien trophy last year. They have some serious thinking and tinkering to do this summer.