NBA Playoff Impressions: If You Are A Laker Fan, This Is Not What You Wanted To See.

Suns 126, Lakers 98 - Ugly, ugly game from the get-go, and it was over by the end of the first half (it really looked worse on the telecast, if you only caught the highlights). Here are some gaudy numbers: Nash had 16 points and 14 dimes, Barbosa chipped in another 26, Stoudamire had 20, and Marion added 18 with 10 boards. Kobe Bryant rolled his ankle with a 15 point night, and to even be competitive, he's going to have to dominate instead of dish. This team leans on him too much for him to be altruistic.

Bulls 107, Heat 89 - Ben Gordon and Luol Deng threw in 20+ a piece (Gordon had some nasty numbers from behind the 3-point line), and both Shaq and D-Wade played like crap, with 17 and 21 points, respectively (the crap line is more for the seven turnovers each of them had.) Miami has come back from 0-2 deficits before (like last year's Finals), but they're on the line here and need to figure out how to keep tabs on Gordon and Deng and get the other Heat starters going.

Raptors 89, Nets 83 - This may be the quietly competitive series of the first round, as the Raptors salvage a split on their home court before the series goes to Jersey. Chris Bosh tossed in 25 and Anthony Parker got 26 the day coach Sam Mitchell got his Coach of the Year award. Vince Carter suffered from another poor shooting night.