Weekly Countdown: Most intriguing storylines of the NBA playoffs

5 developing stories this postseason

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will have to carry the load in the playoffs for the Celtics. Elsa/Getty Images Ian Thomsen's Mailbag Ian Thomsen will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

5. The Celtics without Kevin Garnett. Think back to the 1993-94 Bulls without Michael Jordan, who was in his first retirement phase to play baseball: They won 55 games without him and took Patrick Ewing's Knicks -- the eventual conference champs -- to seven games in the second round. That's the same kind of effort we can expect from the Celtics.

They were 44-11 before Garnett was injured in February and since then they've gone 18-9 with him playing in bits of four games (3-1). They are a proud team that held off the Magic for the No. 2 seed, and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen aren't going to allow them to lose in the first round to the young Bulls. Neither the Magic (without Jameer Nelson) nor Celtics can be expected to advance past Cleveland in the conference finals, and so the anticipated second-round meeting between Orlando and Boston will be a showdown unto itself of two future Hall of Famers stubbornly trying to hold on against Dwight Howard, who is hungry for the extended playoff experience that could eventually help him reach the NBA Finals. In short: The Celtics won't win another championship, but they're still relevant.

4. Andrew Bynum's return. The first-round matchup against slumping Utah will provide Bynum with 10 days of games and practices to consolidate his promising reunion with the Lakers, for whom he has averaged 17.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 26.8 minutes since returning for the final four games of the regular season. Not only does Bynum need to regain his timing, but Pau Gasol also must become reacquainted with the demands of starting at power forward while the rest of the newfound rotation shakes itself out.

There is no small urgency to Bynum's mission because the next round will deliver either the highly physical Rockets or the spry Blazers, who have won eight straight at home against L.A. The Lakers are going to reach the Finals, but why take chances? They don't want to feel insecure about Bynum's role and then have those fears exploited in the second round by Houston or Portland.

3. Are the Blazers too young? Or will youth provide them with the energy to ultimately give the Lakers a second-round fight? This is the most intriguing team of the playoffs, a mystery of young talent and potential that is being realized much more quickly than anticipated. I share the conservative view that the Rockets will be too physical for Portland -- but I also admit to never having believed these Blazers could win 54 games and home-court advantage in the West while Greg Oden struggled. That's what makes this the first-round series to watch. Can the young Blazers exert their will against a Rockets team that can't afford to lose another first-round playoff series?

2. Who is No. 2 in the West? It's wide open now that Manu Ginobili is gone. How much better would these playoffs be if the following players were at full strength: Nelson, Garnett, Ginobili and a hobbled Tim Duncan? Their injuries have hamstrung three of the top five contenders and decimated the early rounds.

The obvious answer to this question is the Nuggets, who as the No. 2 seed hold home court through the first two rounds on the easy side of the draw (the side that doesn't involve the Lakers). Denver hasn't won a series in ages, but Chauncey Billups has. It's all set up for the Nuggets to reach the conference finals, with the goal of peaking in time to give the Lakers a good scare.

1. The inevitable Kobe vs. LeBron Finals. These playoffs may be more predictable than ever, but the NBA may ultimately view that is a positive trend. The league can spend the next six weeks drumbeating the approach of a dream matchup between the game's biggest stars.

Grand Slam tennis tournaments can anticipate with confidence that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will meet in their championship final. Wouldn't the upcoming U.S. Open love to forecast a Sunday afternoon with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the final group? The NBA can look forward to the launch of a new rivalry with dreams that it will be this generation's version of Larry vs. Magic. Health permitting.

4 first-round matchups

I asked an NBA advance scout for his view of these intriguing showdowns.

4. Chauncey Billups (Nuggets) vs. Chris Paul (Hornets). "Chauncey is going to have to keep him out of transition. Denver sometimes is better off when they're getting the ball up and down the floor, but in this series they'll need to mix the game up defensively with some trapping. I'm sure going to try to get the ball out of Paul's hands that way, by getting an extra defender on him. I don't think Chauncey can guard him one-on-one. With Paul's quickness, Chauncey will struggle trying to stay in front of Paul. So I expect some junk defense from Denver that will make Paul give the ball up and have somebody else beat them."

In order to win the series, Paul likely will have to dominate this matchup -- but Billups isn't going to let that happen.

"I don't think Denver can run those traps in transition," the scout said. "So Paul will have to control the tempo, because if he lets Denver get back and set up defensively, then Denver will be effective defensively. The next thing for Denver is to make sure the Hornets are taking the ball out of the net -- that helps Denver get back defensively."

Which is to say that Billups needn't worry about matching Paul basket-for-basket. As long as Billups is running the Nuggets offensive productively, they can keep Paul out of the open floor and nullify him with trapping defenses.

3. Brandon Roy (Blazers) vs. Shane Battier (Rockets). "You can throw Ron Artest in there, too. I'm sure both of them will have a shot at guarding Roy.

"Brandon Roy has a lot of help, and they've got a lot more weapons than him. He doesn't have to dominate the ball as much as, say, Paul does for New Orleans. Roy can pick his spots more ... but in the fourth quarter they do look to him to take big shots.

"The Rockets will be very physical with him, and those two guys having 12 fouls between them to use on Roy is going to make it a long day for him. Can Portland win without him having a big series? I guess the answer is that I don't look for them to win. Houston has toughness and size. If the Rockets get [Carl] Landry back to go with what they get from [Luis] Scola, I think they've got the edge up front. They're the deeper team with more experience."

2. Rajon Rondo (Celtics) vs. Derrick Rose (Bulls). "Rose is so very strong on his drives, but quickness-wise, Rondo can probably stay with him. It's going to be interesting to see how much of a bigger role Rondo's going to have to play without Garnett as far as leadership on the defensive end and in making sure they're executing to get shots for Ray Allen in catch-and-shoot situations. It was so easy to throw the ball to Garnett in the playoffs and run offense through him, and don't forget that Garnett makes a lot of jump shots at the end of the shot clock -- they're going to miss that. I don't think Big Baby [Glen Davis] can be counted on to do that yet. So it will be a very interesting time for Rondo, to see him with a little more weight on his shoulders."