By Rick Morris
April 29, 2008 11:04am CDT

This week's column addresses the first round and beyond for the Eastern Conference Playoffs. All playoff statistics listed are through the first four games of every series except Boston-Atlanta, which has three-game stats in this column.

Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks: The Celtics' Big Three was expected to use this series as a collective coming-out party for an expected run at least to the Eastern Finals. While that may still happen, the biggest impression is coming from a rookie on the other side. Al Horford's winning postseason pedigree, honed during his back-to-back championship seasons down in Gainesville, is showing with authority right now as his 15.3 PPG and 11.0 RPG are both well in excess of his regular season numbers (10.1 PPG and 9.7 RPG). His production is overshadowing the scoring falloff of Joe Johnson (17.7 PPG, down an even four points from his regular season numbers). Josh Childress, though, continues to fall even deeper into the shadows for the Hawks with 6.7 PPG, down substantially from 11.8 PPG this year. Meanwhile, Kevin Garnett is starting to look more like the Minnesota KG (22.3 PPG and 10.0 RPG, compared to 18.8 PPG and 9.2 RPG this season and 22.4 PPG and 12.8 RPG last year). Surely, however, the Celts expected more than 15.7 PPG from Paul Pierce and 15.3 PPG from Ray Allen. Shockingly, Rajon Rando is within reach of both of them at 12.3 PPG. Anyone expecting Sam Cassell's extensive playoff biography to automatically translate to postseason statistical production this year is sadly mistaken (7.3 PPG, 1.7 APG). As with the Pistons' top players, the Boston core loses a bit of its fantasy sheen if the team is not perceived as completely certain to make a deep playoff run.

Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers: The team with the most humdrum statistical profile among the league's elite has lost, though perhaps not irretrievably, one of the elements that made its star players worth fantasy consideration this spring. The Pistons have a core of players who yield above-average but rarely superlative roto production, but they figured to make a deep playoff run, inasmuch as they would not have to face powerful Boston or defending East champ Cleveland until the conference finals (which they have reached the previous five years). But their vulnerability against an upstart Philly squad indicates that the streak may not reach six. Frankly, nothing speaks more eloquently about their lackluster efforts in the series than the fact that Samuel Dalembert put up 22 points in Game Three! Notwithstanding that oddity, he's still averaging only 10.5 PPG for the series, exactly equivalent to his regular season average. Scoring from talented young wings has been a characteristic of this Sixers team, and in this series, that pattern endures. Rookie Thaddeus Young is demonstrating some real promise with a scoring touch to the tune of 11.5 PPG. One fairly troubling note, however, has been the extent to which Andre Miller's distribution has waned (3.8 APG, down from 6.9 APG this season), as his scoring has remained steady (17.0 PPG, the exact same number as the regular season) during the playoffs. One big shocker, though: the "other Andre," team star Iguodala, is sitting at a mere 10.5 PPG in the playoffs, down markedly from his 19.9 PPG this season. For Detroit, Tayshaun Prince has been one statistical bright spot, as his 17.2 PPG are up exactly four PPG from his average this year.

Orlando Magic vs. Toronto Raptors: Those who expected this series to serve as a showcase for two of the most dominant young frontcourt players to come into the Eastern Conference this decade have not been disappointed. Dwight Howard's astronomical regular season (20.7 PPG, 14.2 RPG) was not even a starting point for what he has produced since the 82-game slate ended (23.0 PPG, 17.5 RPG). Meanwhile, Chris Bosh also upped his substantial game during the first round (26.0 PPG and 9.0 RPG, up from 22.3 PPG and 8.7 RPG during the regular season). Ultimately, the Magic ended up having one of the more unexpected scoring bursts from a player in the postseason, as Jameer Nelson's 16.8 PPG exceeded his totals from the season by 5.9 PPG. Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis have served as statistical doppelgangers, each with 19.2 PPG and 4.5 APG. For the Raptors, after ending the season on an exceptionally strong note, Rasho Nesterovic apparently remembered that he is Rasho Nesterovic, notching a weak 5.8 PPG and 2.8 RPG this postseason. The team has benefited, however, from the accuracy of outside shooting specialist Jason Kapono, whose 16.2 PPG total is up over 100% from the regular season tally. Andrea Bargnani, however, is a complete non-factor with 7.0 PPG and 1.5 RPG.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Washington Wizards: The Washington Wizards (some would call them the Washington Generals in light of their record against their chief playoff rival lo these past three years) continue to disregard the truism about not stepping on Superman's cape. The constant chirping and escalating hard fouls, culminating in DeShawn Stevenson's shot to the head early in Game Four, got LeBron James focused with a tremendous effort in the form of 34 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. That game brought his playoff totals (29.5 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 6.5 APG) to near the level of his career-best season numbers (30.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 7.2 APG). LBJ's teammates have not really distinguished themselves by and large from a statistical standpoint, however. Anderson Varejao in particular looks lost offensively with 3.5 PPG, albeit his 7.5 RPG is within range of his season numbers (8.3 RPG). One Cav who has brought up his scoring a bit in the playoffs has been Delonte West (11.2 PPG, up from 8.3 PPG). Meanwhile, the Wiz are suffering greatly from the diminished offense from their big gun, Gilbert Arenas. He has been living down to his "Agent Zero" nickname with his 10.8 PPG average down about half from his (limited) regular season numbers, proving definitively that his injured leg is not yet 100% healthy. Coach Eddie Jordan's decision to bench him for long stretches of games, including the second half of Game Three, reinforces that obvious notion. Proving definitively that Cleveland's hot-and-cold defense down the stretch is scorching again, neither of Washington's other Big Two options have brought up their production in Gil's quasi-absence. Caron Butler is averaging 15.5 PPG, down an astounding 4.8 PPG from the regular season, and Antawn Jamison's 17.5 PPG are down 3.9 PPG from the '07-'08 numbers. Impressively enough, Brendan Hayward's playoff scoring numbers of 13.8 PPG (up from 10.6 PPG this year) is even keeping pace with the flapping of his gums right now!