Still have some March Madness left in you?

Well, it’s that time of the year once again when another set of bracket battles take place. Only this time, it won’t be March but late April as two brackets of eight teams, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference, engage in seven-game wars beginning April 21 as they settle old scores they left in the regular season into the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

First, the East. As expected, the Detroit Pistons once again secured the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers will have the No.2 spot while the Toronto Raptors secured No.3.

The pathetic Miami Heat weaseled their way to No.4 despite missing Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade for most of their godforsaken year. They will be in a tough first round battle with the young No.5 seeded Chicago Bulls facing them starting April 21.

The New Jersey Nets were able to overtake the Washington Wizards to take No.6. Washington, missing Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler probably for the rest of the playoffs, dropped to No.7 while the Orlando Magic, after a fast start into the 2006-07 NBA regular season, dropped to the last and final playoff spot in the East.

In the Western Conference, the BIG THREE secured the top three spots in the West side of the postseason. The Dallas Mavericks is your No.1 seed, Phoenix Suns No.2 and the San Antonio Spurs No.3.

The Utah Jazz, probably making a comeback now after their glory days with John Stockton and Karl Malone, have the No.4 spot while Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets will face them in the first round at No.5.

Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony and the rest of the Denver Nuggets will come in the 2007 NBA Playoffs as the No.6 seed while Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom were able to bring the Los Angeles Lakers to No.7.

As for the West’s last and final playoff spot, the Golden State Warriors just edged the Los Angeles Clippers in their little foot race for the postseason. If both teams finish with identical 41-41 records, the Clippers will advance since they won their season-series with Golden State. The Warriors took care of that by finishing 42-40. Sorry Clips’, there’s always next season.

Who will win the 2007 NBA Championship? Here are some odds from Bodog:

Chicago Bulls 7/1

Detroit Pistons 9/1

Dallas Mavericks 7/2

Miami Heat 4/1 (boo!)

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for more NBA basketball odds and the best betting lines on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

2007 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Western Conference