If it’s May, it’s the NBA playoffs. And this year’s edition, while already well underway, has thrown up a couple of suprises and paired a couple of old nemeses together as well. Rather than get too far in depth on the state of the second round (there will be a full Final Four preview before the Conference Finals get underway), I’m going to publish my picks in the hope that they are half as good as the first round.

After making my first round picks in drunken haste, I was later made aware that they were ridiculously good. As per the Stats Geek Smackdown on ESPN.com’s TrueHoop network, which can be found here (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/news/story?page=Smackdown-10), I managed 48 points out of a possible 56, with five points given for picking the winner of the series and a further two awarded for picking the score correctly. My first round picks were thus:

EAST                                                  WEST

Cleveland 4-1 Chicago                  LA 4-0 Oklahoma City
Orlando 4-0 Charlotte                   San Antonio 4-2 Dallas
Atlanta 4-2 Milwaukee                 Phoenix 4-1 Portland
Boston 4-2 Miami                           Utah 4-2 Denver

Beating John Hollinger goes down as the highlight of the week. My second round picks were made after the first game of the Cleveland/Boston series, so while I had a peek at the second round, my credibility hasn’t been compromised. Surely. So here they are:

EAST                                                 WEST

Cleveland 4-1 Boston                   LA 4-2 Utah

Orlando 4-0 Atlanta                     Phoenix 4-3 San Antonio

If you don’t like the picks, enjoy these Laker Girls.