Here we are in the 1st round of the playoffs and as I expected, it's been a great watch.  Three teams are now eliminated and I'll start with the biggest disappointment to me and that's the 76ers.  The last couple years they have been less than they really could be.  They're a very talented team that just couldn't put the pieces together well enough to make a serious run for the finals.  As we saw today, their coach was fired and I'd say for good reason when you have very good players but they just don't seem to wanna play hard enough for you.  I'd like to see Mark Jackson in consideration for the job because he put Curry, Thompson, and Green together and put em' on the path to greatness as a team during his time as the head coach of the Warriors. The second team I'll touch on is the Pacers who's been ousted in the first round for 5 yrs straight so I expect a little shakeup to happen on that team as well.  They're a very solid team that played pretty good in their series and I expect them to be back in the playoffs next year.  Lastly, the Portalnd Trailblazer who have been steamrolled the last 3 games against the Lakers.  Dame Dolla has come up short in the last 3 games.  Yes he's scored well, but he hasn't led his team the way that he should or could.  We've all seen this to be the case many years in the playoffs with Lillard and the Blazers and I can't seem to put a finger on exactly why they tone down rather than turn up in the playoffs.  It didn't help that he got injured in tonight's game and there's no word yet on if he'll be playing in the next game which also ends their season if they lose.  I think I expected more from the Blazers than any of the other two teams because they are definitely more talented, but they are also a team that I don't know what it's gonna take for them to lift their level of play in the playoffs because they have the tools to do just that.  I'm looking forward to what happens with the rest of this round and I'll be back with my winners & losers prediction at the start of the 2nd round.