Rasheed Wallace's jump shooting will draw Dwight Howard out of the paint in the second-round series between the Pistons and Magic. Sam Greenwood/Getty Images Ian Thomsen's Mailbag Ian Thomsen will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

4 Second-round previews

These come from an NBA advance scout ...

4. Detroit Pistons vs. Orlando Magic. "I will pick Detroit, though the series could go seven games. I've always got a concern that Detroit isn't taking the game serious enough, that they play without a sense of urgency sometimes: too many jump shots, waiting for somebody else to get it done at the defensive end, and when something breaks down they all look around at each other. Rasheed [Wallace] is the main culprit there, and if he isn't into it mentally, the team easily loses focus. I don't think there's anybody on that team to grab him and say, 'Get your act together,' otherwise they'd do it. They have to hope he's focused when they need him.

"Detroit has got someone who can defend Hedo Turkoglu off the dribble in Tayshaun Prince; he gives Detroit an equalizer there. Often when their point guard [Jameer] Nelson is off the floor for Orlando, Hedo is the ball handler in a lot of pick-and-roll situations, and it allows Detroit [from positions] 1 to 3 to be able to switch with him. Chauncey [Billups] is big enough to stay in front of him and guard him off the dribble; [Richard] Hamilton and Prince can too. If Chauncey gets in the post with Hedo, Detroit's got a problem, but they've been together long enough to know when to help.

"Dwight Howard is going to be a beast inside, and even Wallace is going to have problems with the young kid. Howard can defend Wallace's post-up game, but he's also going to have to come out and play Wallace, who will be trailing on the break, shooting threes and being in pick-and-pop situations. So Howard's going to be big in this series, but Detroit is going to be able to handle the rest of Orlando's shooters on the perimeter.''

3. Los Angeles Lakers vs. Utah Jazz or Houston Rockets. "Utah is the steadier team and will win its series against Houston. The Lakers are going to be too long for them, and they can push the tempo a little more than Utah can and play a little faster than Utah wants to play it. It will be like Houston's winning a couple of these games by getting out on the floor and spreading out Utah's defense and attacking on the run. The Lakers can do that too. I know Utah will fight them. It won't be a sweep; it will probably go six. Not having [Andrew] Bynum probably won't come into play against either team, because it's not like Utah or Houston has big men with a lot of length.''

2. Boston Celtics or Atlanta Hawks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers or Washington Wizards. "I would love to see both of those opening series go to the limit -- a pair of Game 7s on the same night -- but I don't think Atlanta has much of a chance of winning Game 6 at home and I also think Cleveland is better than Washington right now.

"If Cleveland winds up meeting Boston, Boston is the stronger team. They will make LeBron [James] give the ball up, they won't let him go for 40 night after night. And that alone will ultimately decide the whole series, because he has to dominate for Cleveland to advance. The Celtics should get enough scoring, though they did freeze up in those games at Atlanta to the point that they didn't know where to go at the end. LeBron can win a game on his own, Delonte West and Daniel Gibson are playing pretty well, and Zyrunas Ilgauskas can be a problem for Boston. That could go seven games.

"If Washington can get by Cleveland, the next round would be interesting because the Wizards competed with Boston well [in beating the Celtics three times during the regular season]. Antawn Jamison would be the key. He's their glue at both ends, and if he starts being a little more assertive then [Kevin] Garnett has to come out and guard him, and that makes him focus on one person and takes him away from the basket. But I don't think we're going to see Washington make it to the next round.''

1. New Orleans Hornets vs. San Antonio Spurs. "Now that's going to be a tough one. I thought Phoenix was going to be better than they were in the first round, and if they'd won that first game in San Antonio it could have changed the whole series. Grant Hill being out didn't help either. San Antonio changed the games with that hack-a-Shaq because it took Steve Nash out of the offense, but they won't have that kind of gimmick to use against New Orleans.

"I really like the way New Orleans is playing. It isn't so much whether David West can stop [Tim] Duncan -- but can Duncan stop West? West isn't a back-to-the-basket player who allows Duncan to get physical and block shots; Duncan has to come out to the elbow against somebody facing up and shooting off the dribble, and that isn't Duncan's strong suit. He'll either have to guard West or they'll put somebody else on West and have Duncan on [Tyson] Chandler, in which case they aren't getting good use of Duncan's defense either.

"Tony Parker vs. Chris Paul is pretty even. Parker is more of an attack, speed, dribble, get-to-the-rim point guard, and Paul is more about probing, drawing the extra defender and dropping the ball off. He's always in control. He doesn't overly commit to driving to the hole and he's always got an option to drop the ball off. With jump shooters like West and [Peja] Stojakovic and Mo Peterson, they're lethal. The Spurs' defense has to make sure Paul doesn't get into the paint because Chandler is always available to take a pass and drop it in. They can win on the road, too, as they don't have a problem playing in San Antonio.

"My respect for New Orleans has been growing throughout the year, but I was really impressed with them in that Dallas series. San Antonio's going to be better defensively than Dallas. But you look at New Orleans, they have the perimeter shooting plus they have the center and shot-blocker; sometimes you've got to give one of them up, or you have a guy like [Utah's Mehmet] Okur as your center out there on the perimeter. But the Hornets have everything -- the perimeter shooters and the guy inside at the defensive end guarding the goal and challenging shots, and Chandler also has no problem getting up and down the floor.

"I wouldn't say that San Antonio has such a big advantage in coaching. The bigger deal is that they've been together so long, they've been through all these series and that gives them a definite advantage in being comfortable together. But it isn't like Gregg Popovich is that much a better coach than Byron Scott. Popovich is a good coach in a great situation and he's done very well with it. Byron Scott is a good coach in a great situation now too. At one point while their team was still fairly new together, Popovich basically was Byron Scott.

"I'm going to say New Orleans takes them. New Orleans in six.''