The first round of the playoffs is flying by faster than we all expected and two of last years top teams are now gone. After the Los Angels Lakers swept the Denver Nuggets and started their short vacation as they await the 2nd round, the other teams continued to battle. Two more teams are now prepared to move on and the Lakers opponents continue to battle. The Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets are going into game 6 in Salt Lake City, as the Jazz lead the series 3-2.

After Byron Scott was introduced yesterday as the 2007-2008 Coach of The Year, the New Orleans Hornets finished off their first round series defeating the Dallas Mavericks for the 4th time in 5 games. Of course, after Mark Cuban made sure to do whatever it took to bring in Jason Kidd and essentially give the Mavs the highest payroll in the league, the blame of the loss sat squarely on the shoulders of the coach. You know, that same coach that led this team to the best record in the NBA last season with 67 wins.

Unfortunately, Avery Johnson was fired less than one short day after the Dallas Mavericks got eliminated. The team felt that it was the right time to move on without the coach that chokes in the playoffs and this summer will be quite interesting for the Mavs. I can’t imagine the team going into next season with the same roster as a few moves will obviously have to be made. I’m almost positive that Jason Kidd is stuck there no matter what, but Dirk Nowitzki is definitely a trade-able asset if the team decides they are finally willing to get rid of him.

The other team in the West that has struggled so much is the Phoenix Suns. They have really had their problems this season and the Shaq trade right before the trade deadline definitely didn’t make things any better. As they faced the Spurs this year, they lost in five games and are now ready to enjoy their summer. Shaq came into Phoenix running his mouth talking about how “when I get angry, I win championships.” It seems that he either wasn’t angry enough or just isn’t good enough to win championships.

As a Lakers fan, I can’t help but watch Suns games and get so excited when I see the Spurs bust out the Hack-a-Shaq and take over a game by Shaq missing 11 free throws in game 5. It’s a thing of beauty, when not used against the Lakers!

Either way, with the 2nd round almost set (Utah wins game 6) the playoffs are moving along and getting more exciting daily. One coach has already been fired, one coach has been named coach of the year, one coach goes for his record 10th rings, one coach goes for 5 titles in 10 years, and one coach awaits his destiny after another disappointing season of runnin-n-gunnin (Mike D’Antoni).