PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - The 2015 NBA Playoffs are turning out to be pretty exciting!

The first round series between the defending champions San Antonio Spurs and the upstart Los Angeles Clippers was one for the ages. A very high level of play, back and forth with tons of big shots and lots of emotional drama.

The Spurs thought that they had things in hand when they went up 3-2 by winning two games in LA but inexplicably came out flat at home in Game 6. It's rare to see the seasoned Spurs choke at home in a closeout game but that's what happened and coach Gregg Popovich was livid after the game. This lost opportunity set up a magnificent Game 7 with all the marbles in play. The Clips and Chris Paul could finally rid themselves of the "loser" label in the playoffs with a win, whereas the Spurs wanted to continue their incredible three-year run with a landmark Game 7 road victory.

Popovich felt it was a shame that two of the four best teams from the regular season had to meet in the first round and a re-shuffling of the playoff format is a good idea because the 16 best teams deserve to be in the playoffs, regardless of their conference. Of course, if the Spurs hadn't lost to the New York Knicks and the New Orleans Pelicans at the end of the regular season they would have finished second and would have avoided the Clippers.

Anyway, Game 7 was one of the best of all-time, a sort of condensed carbon copy of the whole series up to that point. Paul's hamstring pull gave his performance a "Michael Jordan flu game" quality to it, as he gingerly dragged his leg around picking his spots, contenting himself with hitting 5 out of 6 enormous three-point shots, while out-smarting the wily Spurs who should have been forcing him to drive! Paul's only drive after the injury was his game-winning bank shot off one leg that Tim Duncan was within a centimeter of blocking. An incredible game and a historic finish because by making the biggest shot of his career, Paul unloaded from his own shoulders the weight of years of playoff disappointment.

During the whole series, he never smiled while putting enormous pressure on himself and his teammates. After the victory, tears of relief streamed down his face as he embraced Duncan, his fellow Wake Forest grad who was heroic in his own right at the ripe old age of 39, averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds on 59 percent shooting for the series.

Duncan, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills made up for sub-par performances by Tony Parker playing on a hurt ankle, Tiago Splitter limping around with a bad calf and Manu Ginobili looking simply old and tired. Even Kawhi Leonard, the future of the franchise, seemed to crack under the pressure of his new leading role in Games 6 and 7. According to Pop, he's going to have to learn that people will expect him to bring it every night!

The big question for the Spurs is, will Duncan come back for another season? He's like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 39, simply exceptional and he would be a great mentor for someone like LaMarcus Aldridge or Marc Gasol.

As Pop said: "We'll probably all be back. The paycheck is pretty good".

The Clippers are confirming in the second round that they are for real, leading the Houston Rockets 3-1 despite Paul sitting out the first two games. Blake Griffin has come into his own, grinding out triple-doubles, hitting his new mid-range jump shot which facilitates his drives and low-post game. He's become a true leader while his buddy DeAndre Jordan looks like the second coming of a young Dwight Howard! In Game 4, Jordan shot 28 boring free-throws in the first half which proves we need a new rule to combat the "Hack-a-DJ" method. The tactic back-fired on Popovich in round one because he screwed up the rythmn of his own team with all the intentional fouling.

In the other second round series, the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks are surprisingly confronted with must-win situations in their respective Game 4s away from home because if they lose, they will be down 3-1! The Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards play a grind-it-out style of defense that messes with the fine Swiss clockwork style and rhythm of the Warriors and Hawks. We'll see what their truly made of tonight.

The last second round series opposing the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls is shaping up as the equivalent of Clippers-Spurs as far as intensity and big-shot making, go. I don't even want to imagine what kind of criticism new coach David Blatt would have experienced if he had gotten a technical for calling one too many timeouts or for not giving the ball to LeBron James for the last shot in Game 4. James is just carrying the whole team at this point with Kevin Love out and Kyrie Irving playing on a hurt foot like Parker. Luckily for LeBron, he's gotten some help from unconscious shooters like J.R. Smith and James Jones.

All of this adds up to some wonderful playoff emotions to come. Who will win in the bitter rivalry between LeBron and Joakim Noah? Will Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler continue to shine beyond all expectations? Will Atlanta and Golden State have what it takes to be truly successful playoff teams or will Memphis and Washigton create colossal surprises? Will this finally be the year of the Clippers after all that franchise has gone through on and off the court?

Fasten your seat belts...

George Eddy

FIBA

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