Martin, Kikerpill, Nash... and many other

I should brag a bit about picking all four first round winners correctly, however, the series ended a bit quicker than I thought - I expected more than one win by a lower seeded team. I should also admit that it didn\'t take a basketball genius to predict that all four higher seeds would advance - it\'s not rocket science. I don\'t want to dwell on the performances in the first round series - I\'m sure enough was said about them on this site, probasket.pl, and e-basket.pl - so I will move on to predicting the semifinal series\' results....

Anwil - Polpak: Anwil wins 3-1.

My teammate, Christian Dalmau, has faith in his Puerto Rican muchacho, Rick Apodaca, to carry Polpak to an upset victory in the series over last season\'s silver medalists. I think it\'s really because he believes that if Polpak plays us in the Finals, Ricky Martin will fly to Poland to cheer on his fellow countrymen. I could just see the sexually ambiguous former Menudo star in the front row dancing and singing \"Livin la vidA-podaca!!!\" or screaming out \"He bangs, He bangs\" each time Christian hits a tough shot. How funny would that be?!?!? In truth, if the \"Cup of Life\" crooner actually found out Dalmau and Apodaca were facing off for the Polish basketball gold, his probable reply would be - like his recent hit - \"I Don\'t Care\"!!!

Without doubt, Polpak had a great first round series and although I wouldn\'t be upset if they won the series, I don\'t have the same faith in them that Chris does. As I mentioned, I pick Anwil in four games. It would be quite a story, however, if a team who played in the First League (for those of you readers not very familiar with the Polish basketball system: the First League is ACTUALLY the second league - it is below the Extra League {this season called the DBL}, which is the league we play in - and the Second League is, in reality, the third league. It makes A LOT of sense, I know. I guess this gives credence to the many Polish jokes that circulate in America) last season were to advance to the Finals and battle for the Ch&ionship of the top league this season.

Speaking of intriguing storylines....

If I wasn\'t playing for Prokom - or any other team still alive in the playoffs - I would like to see Anwil against Czarni in the Finals. How cool would it be to see Igor Griszczuk lead his team into Wloclawek to take on the club that, from what I have heard, screwed him out of the head coaching job that he was promised after last season? I am not saying that he SHOULD be the coach for Anwil - Andrzej Urlep does a great job there - I\'m just telling you what I heard. I know that he feels quite happy to have kicked their dupa twice this season, but a ch&ionship could really bring gratification to my former assistant coach and teammate. I can\'t imagine how the fans in Hala Mistrz would react. Would they be rooting for their beloved former star who is a living legend on the streets of the city I like to call \"The Jewel of the Wisla\" or would they cheer on The Wizard of Wloclawek (coach Urlep) and his gang of Rottweilers (by the way, the only thing worse than having to listen to \"Who Let the Dogs Out?\" in Hala Mistrz is hearing \"Push It\" before each game in Hala 100 Lecia - they are both archaically passe.) ? The Anwil faithful bleed blue not czarni (black), so my guess is that they would support their squad without cursing out Igor too much. Regardless, it would be fun to see....but it ain\'t happening, folks....I hope.

Prokom - Czarni: All I will say about the outcome of this series is that I expect to be playing - or at least watching my team from the bench - in the Finals. Czarni is a solid team that will not be easy to defeat, but I\'m happy we get to make the short trip to Slupsk rather than driving all the way down to Wroclaw to meet Slask. I know some of our fans would prefer a trip to the much more cosmopolitan city and former Hitler hangout in the Dolnoslaskie region, but my buddy, Stinger, told me that some of the best road trips he\'s been on, following basketball, have been his visits to Slupsk. He said they have some fun bars and a lot of hot chicks. Hey, don\'t judge me, I\'m just repeating the words of my go-to guy for Polish info.

So, Prokom fans, enjoy the short trip to Slupsk to cheer us on, but more importantly, take Stinger\'s words to heart and celebrate what Slupsk has to offer - fun bars and hot chicks. Female fans and those not into women: I don\'t know if Slupsk has good looking dudes - I\'ll have to ask Stinger and get back to you. But, if you are there only to watch us compete, you will be happy to know that we are fully prepared for what Czarni will bring to the court. Our coaches have worked extra hard to make sure we know how to stop them. In fact, over the last two days we learned that Czarni has the Michael Jordan of the Polish League playing for them. Well, not really, but as many times as we heard the name Kikerpill in our preparation you would think that he is the hybrid love-child of the Holy Trinity of hoops - MJ, Larry, and Magic. Uwaga na Kikerpill...pick and pop with Kikerpill...if Kikerpill is 4-man...Kikerpill this, Kikerpill that.... We talked more about stopping this guy than Anthony Parker, JC Navarro, and Tyus Edney combined! Honestly, I think Jacek (our assistant coach) just likes saying his name: Kikerpill, Kikerpill, KIKERPILL! I say this because I know he likes some names - they are fun to say. Like Dante Calabria or Kaya Pekar or Papamakarios or Sofoklis Schortsanitis - ok, that last one is just plain hard to say, but Jacek likes it. Regardless, let\'s hope we don\'t let Kikerpill Kiker-Kill us or we will never live it down.

The NBA started their playoffs recently, as well. There haven\'t been any major surprises and I definitely foresee a San Antonio/Detroit Final, but one thing became clear to me after watching some of the first round games: Steve Nash is the MVP. Last week I told Michal Pacuda (from probasket.pl) that I would vote for LeBron James for MVP if I had a vote, and King James did nothing but solidify his status with a triple double in his first career playoff game. But then I watched game one of the Suns/Lakers series and totally flip-flopped my vote. The way Steve Nash enables his teammates to get easy baskets is amazing! He gets 10-12 assists per game, but he could get 20-25 per game if more of the open shots that he sets his teammates up with went in the hoop. He impressed me beyond explanation....well, not totally beyond explanation, because I will try to explain it right now. He is like a magician, but better because a magician doesn\'t have five huge dudes trying to stop him. Ok, maybe I shouldn\'t have tried to describe it, because that was a pretty weak explanation. Speaking of magicians, Magic Johnson and John Stockton come to mind when you have a discussion about the best passers the NBA has ever seen ( I throw Larry Bird in that group, but because he didn\'t play point guard many people dismiss him from the upper echelon of passers), but I may have to put Steve Nash at the top of the list. Don\'t get me wrong, I would never rate him a better player than Magic or Larry Legend, but he can reach and overtake Stockton on the list of great players and he has shown me more than I ever thought a short, white Canuck ever could.

This season an argument for MVP can be made for more stars than any season in history. The front-runners are Kobe, King James, and Nash - whose teams would struggle against Kotwica without them - but for most of the season Dwayne Wade, Dirk Noiwitzki and Chauncey Billups were as deserving as anybody. I had a conversation with some of my teammates on this topic - actually we have had several discussions about it - and there is not total agreement. Some say Kobe, some say LeBron, and some say Nash. One could argue that LeBron is too young to get it, he will have many MVPs in his career. I argued that it is almost ridiculous that Nash could get two MVPs, when players who are \"better\" than him have only one - Shaq, Iverson, KG, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Dr. J - or zero - Kobe, Isaiah Thomas and Pat Ewing. Regardless, we must take each season as it is and, in my humble opinion, Steve Nash is most deserving of the MVP trophy. I was asked in an interview recently what player I would most like to have on my team. At first I was thinking about which one of my former teammates i would like to play with again - there are several - but then I changed my thought process and contemplated who would make it easiest for me and my teammates to succeed. I chose Steve Nash. We won\'t have Nash for this series....I hope we can overcome Kikerpill.