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#NBAPlayoffsBack: Second Round Recap/Conference Finals Preview (Eastern Conference)

The NBA's Final Four is set. Welcome to Pier 12, Philadelphia 76ers. The last two Eastern Conference Champions square off in the East Finals to determine who will represent the East in the NBA Finals.

We're coming down to the last stretch of the season. As of this writing, there are four Piers remaining and after tonight Piers 1-12 will be occupied. There's a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final round that will determine who advances to face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. We'll get to the East later, today is about the Western Conference.

The First Round is mercifully over. Eight teams have gone fishing and eight teams are left to fight for the Larry O'Brien trophy. I discussed the East last week, now it's time to take a look at the West.

Talk about a 180 – in the right direction. It was on these very pages where I broke down my disdain for what the WWE might do with the return of Brock Lesnar...then my “toldja so” regarding the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. After viewing a subpar Raw this week (which you can hear me chop up on this week’s blackrasslin podcast), which featured the return of Paul Heyman to WWE TV – as Lesnar’s legal representation, no less – I’m definitely not eating crow, but more patting myself on the back for (hopefully) helping sway WWE Creative into a path of proper thinking when it comes to Lesnar.

Everything was all good when I wrote the First Round preview. There's no way I could have envisioned the first round playing out the way it did. I mean, I've been right for the most part thus far. There are two first round series left to play (which means this post will be updated further upon their conclusion). However, things went terribly, terribly, terribly wrong for one team.

What a jam-packed week of wrestling news. If you’ve not gone through all the gory details yet, check out this week’s blackrasslin podcast, which finds me digging through everything from updates on the conditions of Sabu and Buff Bagwell to recapping this week’s Raw and the wildly entertaining (and confusing) Extreme Rules PPV, which I previewed last week. I’m going to do a bit of "I told you so" this week, and discuss the most recent machinations in this Brock Lesnar WWE return, because it’s a doozy...

With one day off between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, let’s take a look at the matchups and how they break down. I’ll also give my predictions on how I think things will shake out through the first round. Also below, the complete 2012 NBA Playoff.

We’re in the thick of it now! On Sunday, April 29th, the WWE presents Extreme Rules, live on PPV from Chicago, IL. We’ll see the return of Brock Lesnar to WWE competition, as well as both the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship being defended. I broke the card down in this week’s blackrasslin podcast, but figured I’d give you guys the heads up on the WWE’s next PPV, and give me predictions for each bout.

The regular season is complete. It seems like it was only yesterday I was furious that there would be no season, but it’s been a sprint from start to finish. We witnessed some good basketball and some truly terrible basketball the likes of which have actually never been seen in the 63 year history of the NBA. Five different teams were ranked number 1 in my power rankings, from preseason to the present. The good news for some is that the second season starts Saturday. For others, it’s time to dig for mudbugs and wait to see if the lottery ping pong balls bounce their team’s way. Without further ado, here are the final Power Rankings of the regular season. The last Power Rankings of the 2011-2012 season will appear after the NBA Finals and just as a spoiler, the playoff team that wins 16 games will be ranked number 1.

Interesting development last night on Raw, given that just a few weeks ago we learned that The Bella Twins were not re-signing with the WWE.In a Lumberjill match, Nikki Bella wins the Divas title, with the help of Beth Phoenix injuring her ankle...or is it?

Looks like having The Rock help build up your biggest show of the year for over a year really pays off. WWE released this statement regarding the WrestleMania 28 buyrate, and it’s good news...

Forgive me, but I just can’t drink the Kool Aid on this Brock Lesnar thing right now. I've said it before – I wasn't really watching WWE programming at the time of his reign. In my time getting back into pro wrestling hardcore (say, from 2004 to now), I've watched a number of his matches, and just was never that big of a fan of his. Or I didn't care. Who knows. The fact of the matter is, his return has helped get some casual fans back to watching WWE programming, but I fear that they are rushing his return a bit too quickly. More below...

Teams continue to fight for playoff positioning. Some spots are pretty much locked in while pretty much anything can happen in the middle of the pack. Here's the Eastern Conference at a glance.

Welcome back to the third installment of The Run-In. Hopefully you caught last week’s drop, where I successfully predicted 6 out of the 8 matches at Wrestlemania 28, which took place on April 1st. I wanted to spend some time going over pieces of each match, as well as this past Monday night’s RAW, which was all kinds of cray. Let’s go!

Awkward!

No more Good, Bad and #Doody around here because we don't care about the Bad or the #Doody at this point in the season. Those teams that fall into those two categories are getting ready to go play in the mud and dig for crawfish. It's time to take a look at some of the potential playoff pairings as well as the teams that are fighting to make the playoffs. Playoff seeds are current as of 4/5/12.

One of the biggest stories this NFL offseason has been the revelation of a New Orleans Saints players’ bounty by the league offices. Saints Coach Sean Payton, General Manager Mickey Loomis, Assistant Coach Joe Vitt and former Defensive Coordinator Greg Williams were all given harsh fines and suspensions by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Head Coach Sean Payton, a one year ban, and former Defensive Coordinator Greg Williams, an indefinite ban, received the harshest of those sentences. However, the biggest issue here is one that not many are talking about. While the punishments are justified and should be upheld, even after the appeal process, the bigger issue at hand is how the New Orleans Saints are trying to make up for the loss of their coach for the season: by hiring future Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells.

It’s that time of year again – Wrestlemania! For those of you who aren’t too into Pro Wrestling, let me put it into perspective: since about the middle of December, it’s like we’ve been going through the NFL Playoffs. Really exciting, almost anything-can-happen atmosphere, where the true stars (should) come out. With the John Cena vs. The Rock being set in stone for the last year, it’s been all about putting the final pieces together for this year’s showcase. And while the current Creative team at the WWE has had their share of hits and misses, the excitement is in the air, and this year’s Wrestlemania, the 28th, is building up to be the biggest show of the year. Who’s going to win, though? I’ve got some thoughts, and will be sharing my predictions today!

Let’s go match by match. Although I don’t know the final match order, I’ll go from the bottom up.

One of the most exciting days on the NFL Calendar occurs, not during the regular season or even the playoffs, but in the middle of March at the start of the free agency period. Fans from every team browse the internet while leaving their “expert” opinions on various social networking sites as their teams make moves to help them reach their lofty Super Bowl goals.

Fans dream of established superstars leaving their former teams in hopes of a big payday and coming over to their team and having the same impact; being that one missing piece that that will get them over the hump of mediocrity. Rarely however, does that ever happen. Free Agency, as the NFL knows it, is relatively young.

Is this thing on? If you’re reading this, zillz has lived up to his word and allowed me, a 30 year old Jersey cat, to write some drops for Mandom regarding the wonderful world of Professional Wrestling. My name is khal, and I run a few blogs on the Internets, two of them being rockthedub.com and blackrasslin. I’m a lifelong fan of both Pro Wrestling and Hip-Hop, and I bite my tongue for no one (word to Biggie). This is the first of what should be many drops on Wrestling (primarily the WWE-side of things), and if you’re into essentially playing Fantasy Booker / figuring out how the behind the scenes drama of real life plays into the on-screen “real life”, this is going to be your kind of section.

If you’re messing with the WWE you have to know that the “Grandaddy of ‘em All”, the Rasslin’ Super Bowl known as Wrestlemania is a week away, so let’s take a look at how this show is sizing up…

Third quarter. Home stretch time. Teams are either trying to improve their playoff chances or rev up their tanks to obtain as many ping pong balls as possible for the draft lottery.

The grind of the season has been great and we're almost to the best time of year: the playoffs. For the fourth different time in the 2011-2012 Power Rankings, there's a new number 1 team. Without further ado, here are the Third Quarter Power Rankings.

#NBAPlayoffsBack: Second Round Recap/Conference Finals Preview (Eastern Conference)

#NBAPlayoffsBack: Second Round Recap/Conference Finals Preview (Western Conference)

#NBAPlayoffsBack: First Round Recap/Second Round Preview (Western Conference)

The Run-In #6: #HeymanBack

#NBAPlayoffsBack: First Round Recap/Second Round Preview (Eastern Conference)

The Run-In #5

#NBAPlayoffsBack: 2012 Playoff Preview – First Round

WWE Extreme Rules 2012 PPV Predictions

2011-2012 NBA Power Rankings: Fourth Quarter

Nikki Bella Wins WWE Divas Title

Wrestlemania 28 Sets WWE PPV Record

The Run-In #4

#NBABack: Playoff Push! (East Update)

The Run-In #3: Wrestlemania 28 & RAW Wrap-Up

#NBABack: Playoff Push!

NFL Rewards Saints Bounty Scandal With The Big Tuna

The Run-In #2: Wrestlemania 28 Predictions

Free Agent Frenzy

The Run-In #1

2011-2012 NBA Power Rankings: Third Quarter

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