It’s NBA playoffs time. That time of the year when the game slows down, we see more fouls and more star calls, more TV timeouts, slower games and somehow, people think that is actually better. The only thing that’s really better about it is the quality of play, since the pathetic teams of the lottery have finally been weeded out after a probably-too-long regular season.

So, with this ‘excitement’ tipping off today, let’s breakdown the first-round matchups.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Miami over Bucks in 4.
The Bucks are in way over their head. I can’t even see them stealing a single game at home. LeBron and Co. should have plenty of rest heading into Round 2.

Knicks over Celtics in 7.
The Celtics – even without Rajon Rondo – are going to give the Knicks a hard time. Boston will concentrate all of their defence on stopping Carmelo Anthony and hoping the Knicks three-pointers won’t fall. This rivalry series should get testy too, with Melo facing off with KG.

Pacers over Hawks in 6.
Indiana is the type of team that can grind you down, meaning this will be a boring series to watch. There isn’t much excitement behind the Hawks either, so I’ll take the team with home-court advantage.

Bulls over Nets in 7.
The Bulls are built for rough-and-tough playoff basketball. Without Derrick Rose, they have beat the odds and somehow made the post-season with a surprisingly good seed. That really attests to how deep the team is and how good of a coach that Tom Thibodeau is.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Thunder over Rockets in 4.
Like in the East, the top seed out west is far superior to their first-round opponent. Kevin Durant has taken an unthinkably big step forward and is the unquestioned second-best player alive.

Spurs over Lakers in 5.
I would love to give the Lakers more than one win in these playoffs, but that’s just not realistic. With Kobe and with Steve Nash limited, this team will get picked apart by the savvy Spurs. Even if a game is close, you can rely on seeing hack-a-Dwight in action, costing L.A.

Nuggets over Warriors in 7.
This one will be and exciting, fast-paced offensive series. It just sucks that Denver is so banged up. I think they’ll find a way to grind out this series by limiting the amazing Steph Curry’s impact for range.

Grizzlies over Clippers in 7.
Memphis has the defence to contain the Clips offence just enough to squeak out the minor upset. Tony Allen can check Chris Paul while Marc Gasol will deal with Blake Griffin and the alley-oop game. Another potentially great series.

Championship: Miami Heat over Oklahoma City Thunder in 6.
Durant is simply made to be a runner-up. To LeBron in MVP voting, to Melo in scoring, to Greg Oden in the draft and to the Heat in the finals.

I’m sure that you’ve heard by now, but Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant is out with a ruptured Achilles tendon and is slated to be sidelined for six to nine months.

It was bad enough watching the Lakers-Warriors game on Friday night and seeing Bryant go down twice in the in the game BEFORE the big injury. It was fairly apparent that to keep running him out there in  the line of fire would no doubt end in tragedy.

Maybe his body finally broke down and this tough season. He had played his most minutes in a season since 2007-08 – he has played the fourth most in the league – and was averaging around 45 minutes per game over the last stretch as the Lakers pushed towards the West’s final playoff berth. We also can’t forget that this is, in fact, Kobe’s 17th season in the NBA. All of that wear and tear had to add up.

But while the estimate is that he’ll miss six to nine months – with the optimistic outcome having him being ready for opening day – I don’t think that will even be in doubt.

We’re living in a day and age where athletes are overcoming serious injuries in record times. Ray Lewis came back from a torn triceps in a matter of weeks, Adrian Peterson came back from a torn ACL better than ever and Terrell Suggs came back from a similar torn Achilles tendon to play for the Super Bowl champion Ravens. Even Bryant’s teammate Metta World Peace came back from a torn meniscus just 12 days after surgery.

We can’t forget Kobe’ relentless work ethic either. If there was one athlete that could work and will himself back to 100% in record time, it’s him. After all, he’s the one that taught that LeBron James guy that working out more often is the path to success, and now look at him.

The real question is what will the Lakers do now? They’re in the driver’s seat to make the playoffs ahead of the Jazz, who need to win out and hope L.A. loses its final game. But being the eighth seed means that you have to face the top team, meaning either the Spurs or Thunder loom.

Either way that’s a tough matchup for L.A. without Kobe, but I wouldn’t think they’ll be swept or anything. Remember this is a team that still has Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard. If they can get on a good run together, there’s an outside shot they could even score a remarkable upset. Could you imagine that? A playoff run without Kobe would be one hell of a twist ending for this nightmare Lakers season.

Bryant’s injury also poses many questions for the future too: Will he be able to come back as the same player he was? Does this make Howard more or less likely to resign in L.A.? Is it finally time to start looking for a successor to Kobe? And will this injury make the Lakers a front-runner for the 2014 LeBron James sweeps?

These are all things to think about as we enter NBA playoffs minus one of the best players the league has ever seen – one that we may never see play as hard as he has always been capable of before. It looks like we have come to the sad end of an era for basketball.

I’ll start by saying that I am no expert in college basketball. I know maybe a dozen players in the NCAA and that’s a generous estimate. The base of knowledge is essentially what I’ve learned in the past few days of reading previews for the tournament starting today.

So, why should you listen – err, read – my opinion? Because it’s usually the person who knows the least about the bracket that turns out to be the winner. Granted, I can’t recall if I’ve ever won a pool, which more than likely means that I haven’t. Heck, if I had, I would be bragging about it more often.

So, here’s what I think of the tournament in a regional breakdown.

MIDWEST

Frisky underdog: St. Mary’s – they’ve already won one game and I’d take them over Memphis.

Darkhorse: Saint Louis – the Bilikens may not be known by many, but they could bust your bracket by beating Louisville.

First big favourite to fall: Duke against Michigan State in the Sweet 16 – Yes, the top four teams are that strong in this region.

Best game: Louisville vs. Saint Louis in the Sweet 16.

Winner: Michigan State – can’t go against Tom Izzo.

WEST

Frisky underdog: Wichita State.

Darkhorse: Wisconsin.

First big favourite to fall: Gonzaga against Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.

Best game: New Mexico against Ohio State in the Sweet 16.

Winner: Ohio State.

SOUTH

Frisky underdog: North Carolina – You can never count out the Tarheels, even if they’re only an eighth seed.

Darkhorse: VCU – Shaka Smart has proven to be a great leader.

First favourite to fall: Michigan against VCU in the round of 32.

Best game: Florida vs. UCLA in the Round of 32.

Winner: Kansas – Got to love Ben McLemore.

EAST

Frisky underdog: Temple.

Darkhorse: Bucknell.

First favourite to fall: Indiana against Miami in the regional final.

Best game: Indiana against Miami in the regional final.

Winner: Miami – could’ve been a no. 1 seed.

THE FINAL FOUR

The teams: Michigan State, Ohio State, Kansas, Miami.

The big winner: Kansas over Michigan State.

Why: They can score at will and have some tournament experience.

Well, the title really says it all: LeBron James is a coward who doesn’t care about fans.

Want some background? Well here you go: If he did care, he would enter the Slam Dunk competition next year at NBA all-star weekend. There’s really no reason that he shouldn’t.

As he has demonstrated in his pre-game warmup dunks, he has a massive bag of tricks that would likely win the contest. So, it’s not like he would be embarrassed at the comp. In fact, thanks to the way that fans vote for the winner, he could just throw down some average dunks and likely win.

To sweeten the pot, Magic Johnson has offered $1 million to James to compete. How can you turn that down? While it’s a fortune to most common folk like us, it may be small beans to the superstar, who likely collects around $100 million a year when you figure in endorsements. Turning down that amount of money would be like big-timing the world, saying that he’s better than them.

What Magic should have done is offered the million to James’ charity. How on earth could James tell the people that he’s supporting that he turned down a million dollars because he didn’t feel like throwing down four dunks?

It’s not like there’s a risk for injury either. Nobody in the history of the dunk off has been injured during the competition. I’m doubtful that a physical specimen like James is going to get hurt doing this.

James can’t use the excuse that he wants the weekend off either. Hell is more likely to freeze over than James is to miss out on being voted to the all-star game. And he also has shown up to watch all-star Saturday night every year since I can remember.

Joining the dunk comp would also bring some big star power to the event, which it sorely lacked this year. In recent seasons we’ve seen top players like Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin and Vince Carter enter the competition.

Some of the all-time greats have won the dunk off too. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, two guys that James is chasing on the legacy metre, have won the competition. Jordan even used the competition as a launching pad to fame.

The only thing that James is doing by not competing is showing his middle finger to the fans that want to see him in it. And if he has a good reason as to why he doesn’t want to join, I haven’t heard it. And if he offers some sort of half-hearted “I don’t feel like it,” reason, he’s just proving that he feels that he’s too good for us to watch him dunk.

If he cared about the fans and if he cared about the game of basketball, James would stop being such a coward and just dunk already.

Follow me on Twitter @danbilicki