NBA prizes up for grabs

Playoff action is heating up in the NBA as only eight teams are left standing in the race to the Last Dance. In the Eastern Conference, top-seeded Cleveland is engaged in a dog-fight with proud No. 4 Boston while darkhorse No. 2 Orlando battles dangerous No. 3 Atlanta. In the Western Conference, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are matched against upset-conscious No. 5 Utah while No. 3 Phoenix takes on the rejuvenated No. 7 San Antonio Spurs.

In keeping with the playoff spirit, we’re launching a contest in partnership with NBA Asia to give you the chance to win not-commercially-available league merchandise.

We’ll pick 30 winners, each to receive a blue NBA spiralled on.file planner with the league logo embossed in front and the All-Star Dallas 2010 logo at the back. The handy organizers were flown in by NBA Asia exclusively for our contest. They are not available in any store locally.

Additionally, we’re giving away a long-sleeved, grey NBA All-Star Dallas 2010 dri-fit shirt to each of the first three winners. So the lucky three will take home an NBA shirt and an NBA on.file planner each. The other 27 winners will get the NBA on.file planner.

The shirts were hot sellers during the recent All-Star weekend. They’re perfect for summerwear. The fabric is light and thin so that even if the shirt is long-sleeved, you don’t feel the heat of the season.

Here’s how to join and win.

Simply answer three questions correctly. First, who will win the NBA title this season? Second, who will be the NBA Finals MVP? And third, who will be the losing finalist?

All entries must be in on or before May 31, a Monday. That’s because the earliest the NBA Finals may start is June 1. The other start-up date is June 3. The latest possible date to end the NBA Finals is June 17, a Thursday.

Write your answers in a slip of paper, any size will do. Don’t forget to include your name, address, age, occupation (if student, what year, course, school), telephone number and in 100 words or less, why you think this season’s playoffs are amazing. Additionally, you must include an actual clipping of a Philippine STAR front page masthead on a one-clipping-one-entry basis. No Xerox copy of the masthead is allowed. The dates of the issues where the masthead appears must be between May 5 (today) and our cut-off date of May 31, 2010.

You are encouraged to send in as many entries as you wish. The more entries, the more chances of winning. There will be no multiple winners. Address your entries to The Philippine STAR, NBA Playoffs Contest, Sports Section, R. Oca Jr. and Railroad Streets, Port Area, Manila.

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Before the regular season opened, NBA experts were nearly unanimous in picking the Lakers to repeat as champions. Slam Magazine chose L. A. over Cleveland in the Finals. “Sure, we’re well aware that adding Ron Artest to any team, not just the Lakers, has the potential to blow up in your face like a beer thrown from the stands,” wrote Slam’s Lang Whitaker. “But if there is any franchise, any coach, any star player equipped to handle Artest, it is the L. A. Lakers and Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant.”

Yahoo! Sports and The Sporting News also selected the Lakers over the Cavs. Athlon Sports went with the Lakers over Boston while Lindy’s voted for L. A. with no specific Finals opponent but named Jackson as Coach of the Year and Lamar Odom the Sixth Man awardee.

There were a few dissenters. Pro Basketball Preview and Fantasy Guide said San Antonio will beat Boston, 4-3, in the Finals and Sports Illustrated predicted the Celtics to beat L. A.

Hoop Magazine compiled views from various individuals. Seth Berkman said it will be Orlando and Dallas in the Finals – the Mavs, of course, are no longer in contention, thanks to the Spurs. Keng Shao said, “Not only should Shaq and LeBron have the best pregame celebrations, Cleveland should be taking home the trophy.” Lois Elfman said, “The Lakers will take it all unless some team’s fire is fuelled by insane jealousy of Kobe’s superhuman dominance.” And Andy Jasner chimed in, “LeBron will carry the Cavs to the finals for a second time but they won’t be able to dethrone the Lakers – get ready, Los Angeles, it will soon be time to celebrate with another parade.”

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The safest forecast is to pick the defending champions. But the Lakers were hard-pressed to survive No. 8 Oklahoma City in the first round. They lost twice on the road and barely clinched it in Game 6, 95-94. And L. A. had to battle to beat Utah, 104-99, in Game 1 of their Western semis series despite trouncing the Jazz in three of four meetings during the regular season. If Bryant isn’t bothered by his right ankle and broken finger, then the Lakers should make it back to the Finals. Retaining the title, however, is a different story. If Kobe is matched up against LeBron in the Last Dance, the King will have an advantage – size-wise and health-wise – over the Black Mamba.

Before the season started, I went out on a limb to choose the Lakers over the Cavs in the Finals. But now that the playoffs are underway, it’s looking more and more possible that Cleveland will turn the tables on L. A.