Kevin Pritchard, the general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers, has been fired.

After spending six seasons with the Blazers, it ended months of speculation that he had fallen out of favor with billionaire owner Paul Allen. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, no, he won’t be running the show in Portland once the 2010 NBA basketball season kicks off.

“This process was more public and took longer than any of us would have liked, but that was indicative of how critical a decision this was for the franchise,” Allen said in a statement. “We want to thank and acknowledge Kevin for his solid work in getting us to where we are today. Parting ways with a popular general manager is not something we take lightly. In the end, we decided to make a change.”

Portland Trail Blazers president Larry Miller said Pritchard met with Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and Miller would not specify why Pritchard was let go. Pritchard is under contract through next season and the Blazers will honor his contract. A search firm had earlier been hired to vet candidates for the job.

A rumored possible replacement, Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti, recently denied that he had been contacted about the job. Miller said Denver Nuggets executive Mark Warkentien, also said to be interested, was not being considered.

Kevin Pritchard joined the Blazers as director of player personnel in

Whichever team wins Game 1 will take control of the series.

Although that is not necessarily the case since we saw quite a few Game 1 winners who have eventually lost their respective best of seven affairs in the 2010 NBA playoffs like the Portland Trail Blazers and just recently, the top seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, but STILL, winning Game 1 of a seven-game series is STILL huge, especially when you’re up against the Lakers.

On Monday night, the Phoenix Suns will try to take control of the Western Conference Finals by beating the Los Angeles Lakers on their home floor in Game 1. That is, of course, easier said than done since the Lakers are STILL the defending NBA champions and they are STILL a team built to win that very title again but if there’s a team that can dethrone the Lakers, it would have to be the Suns.

The Phoenix Suns are clicking at the right time after a regular season full of doubt. Hell, they came this close from dealing their franchise player, Amar’e Stoudemire before the trading deadline for crying out loud.

Who would’ve thought that Amar’e Stoudemire would still be a Sun playing this deep into the postseason with an opportunity to win the Western Conference and reach the NBA Finals again since Charles Barkley lost to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls back in 1993?

The Pacific Division rivals couldn’t wait to meet each other to play for the Western Conference championship. Both the Lakers and the Suns made quick work of their second round opponents, sweeping the Jazz and the Spurs respectively to face-off against each other in the playoffs again.

However, while the Suns should be the sentimental favorites in…

Yep, the Suns are having some sort of identity crisis lately.

Well, at least in their two losses to the Blazers in their first round matchup of the 2010 NBA playoffs anyway.

In case you didn’t know, the Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trail Blazers are now tied at two games apiece heading to what would be a pivotal Game 5 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Despite the fact that the Portland Trail Blazers played the first three games of this series without their main man Brandon Roy, they still managed to win a couple of games over a very hot Suns team that has been riding on all sorts of momentum heading to the playoffs. They even won the first one on the road, shocking the Suns after winning Game 1 in Phoenix before beating the Suns again in Game 4 to tie the series.

But perhaps the reason why Phoenix lost games 1 and 4 was the fact that the Suns were having some sort of identity crisis in both losses. The Suns got outworked by the Blazers in both games, giving up too many second chances. In Game 4 specifically, the run and gun tempo that made the Suns such a delight to watch turned into a crawl, a pace to Portland’s liking.

In Game 5, the Suns know that they can’t afford to give this game away and let the Blazers take a…

Can you blame them? After a couple of seasons watching Greg Oden screw himself over, it’s about time those guys have a reliable center for a change.

As of this writing, the Portland Trail Blazers are still primed for a significant run in the 2010 NBA playoffs despite playing through with every injury imaginable this year. And since injuries have, for the second straight season, defined what kind of campaign the Blazers would be able to run this season, it looks like they are finally putting the pieces together that just might alleviate the problem next season.

And in case you didn’t get that, the Portland Trail Blazers are trying to sign Marcus Camby for a two-year extension, a move that the Blazers are probably hoping can finally give them that solid and reliable presence at the center position for a change.

Reports claim that the Blazers and Marcus Camby have been negotiating toward a new deal that would be able to keep Camby from becoming a free agent this summer. According to the reports, the rumored deal is believed to be worth in excess of $20 million.

The Blazers originally got Camby from the Los Angeles Clippers before this season’s trading deadline. The Blazers were desperate for a solution after losing centers Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden (surprise surprise…) to season ending knee injuries and Camby was, without a shadow of a doubt, became more than a suitable replacement.

Sure, the Blazers are still rooting for Greg Oden to finally get his shit together and have a healthy and productive year for a change. You see, after the Blazers got this guy as their overall no.1 draft pick three years ago, Oden spent most of his time in Portland sitting on the Blazers bench with an injured knee.

Having Camby on board for two more years will hopefully…

The series is tied, Blazers have homecourt but the Suns have their groove back.

That is the situation leading up to what would be a huge Game 3 between the no.3 seed Phoenix Suns and the no.6 seed Portland Trail Blazers in their first round best of seven series in the 2010 NBA playoffs.

This series started somewhat strange with the Portland Trail Blazers, without their main man Brandon Roy, going to Phoenix to beat the hottest team in the NBA and steal homecourt to get the early 1-0 series lead. The Blazers then, after their Game 1 win at the US Airways Center, became the first road team to win in the first round.

In Game 2, the Phoenix Suns reasserted themselves as the no.3 seeded team in the NBA. They were simply on fire in Game 2 with Jason Richardson scoring 15 of his game-high 29 points in the first quarter to fuel his team to what turned out to be a convincing 119-90 victory.

The game Jason Richardson came up with in Game 2 was just what the Suns needed. After all, they can’t afford to lose that game before the series moves to Portland for games 3 and 4 right? However, as good as J-Rich has been for the Suns in Game 2, the story was Grant Hill and his defense on Andre Miller, the same guy who torched them for 31 points, a career high, in Game 1.

”I just tried to make him work,” Grant Hill said on guarding Andre Miller…

Ah, the Western Conference. Some people still say this is where it’s at.

And with good reason too because in the West, it doesn’t matter what seed you are because any one of these Western Conference teams can go on and win the NBA championship. In the 2010 NBA playoffs, it’s more or less the same story.

Heck, Kevin Durant, the youngest player ever to win the scoring title this season, will be playing from the no.8 seed with the rest of the Oklahoma City Thunder. You see, these guys could go on and advance to, probably the second round of the playoffs. The problem is, they will be on a head-on collision with the no.1 seed Los Angeles Lakers.

That’s right, it’s the defending champions for the Oklahoma City Thunder. That’s probably why NOBODY expects them to get past the Lakers in the first round other than them Thunder players and their mommas.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Kevin Durant and the season he had but when you pit him against Kobe Bryant? They don’t call him the Black Mamba for nothing.

The no.2 seed Dallas Mavericks take on the no.7 seed San Antonio Spurs…

As expected the Western Conference is having a dogfight for playoff positioning.

With merely days before the 2010 NBA playoffs get here, the Dallas Mavericks, the Denver Nuggets, the Utah Jazz and the Phoenix Suns are all battling for control of the 2nd through 4th seeds, each of which come with home-court advantage in the first round.

The only team that knows which seed will they be at are the defending NBA world champions Los Angeles Lakers, taking the number one spot in the Western Conference for the third straight year.

The San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Portland Trail Blazers could end up as the no.8 seed to face the Lakers and unfortunately for Laker fans, all three teams can upset this Lakers team that has been struggling recently. As for now, San Antonio, Oklahoma and Portland will continue to fight for playoff positioning as the no.6, no.7 and no.8 seeds are still up for grabs.

So which of these three teams should the Lakers hope they won’t have to face in the first round? That’s easy. That team would definitely have to be the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs are currently in the seventh spot and has a tough final day schedule when they face the surging Dallas Mavericks. If they lose they would most likely end up in the eight spot and play Kobe Bryant and his Lakers.

Facing the Lakers in the first round is not an easy task for Greg Popovich and the rest of the Spurs team. But they are a veteran team composed of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and the ever reliable Tim Duncan. They all know how to play in the playoffs. And with the addition of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess, they can shock and beat the Lakers in the first round.

Hell, this Spurs team has been clicking at the right time…

We already know who are the starters, now it’s time to familiarize ourselves with the reserves.

The 2010 NBA All-Star Game is just around the corner as the NBA’s midseason classic will officially shift the attention to hoops with football season officially over. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade lead the East as they take on Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony of the West.

As far as the reserves are concerned, we have a few first-timers. Four first-timers come from the Eastern Conference; Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford, Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace and 2009 Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls.

Completing the East reserves are Toronto’s Chris Bosh, Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Boston’s Paul Pierce.

Rondo is the second All-Star from the Draft class of 2006, joining the Blazers’ Brandon Roy, who earned his third All-Star selection this year. Horford joins the Thunder’s Kevin Durant as the first All-Stars from the Draft class of 2007 while Rose is all alone as the first All-Star from the class of 2008.

Derrick Rose will have a very busy weekend in Dallas. He and his fellow sophomores will take on the rookies in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam on All-Star Friday and as the reigning PlayStation Skills Challenge champion, he’ll likely defend his title on All-Star Saturday.

Another first-timer on the East is Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace. With…

Why? Yeah, you guessed it, he is injured again.

The Portland Trail Blazers would have to once again do without their prized center Greg Oden this 2009 NBA basketball season.

Yes, Greg Oden suffered yet another season-ending injury after he broke his left kneecap against the Houston Rockets a few days ago. The No.1 overall draft pick in 2007, Oden is out once again and now have some eery similarities with Sam Bowie, the often-injured big man the Blazers selected ahead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft.

Oden underwent surgery on his left patella and the Portland Trail Blazers confirmed what they feared all along that he was done for the season. Oden, drafted ahead of Kevin Durant, has been plagued by injures in the three seasons he had in the NBA.

He already missed his rookie season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee. Last season, he sat out six games after injuring his right foot in the season opener against the Lakers, before missing 14 games after the All-Star break with a bone chip in his left knee. He finished the season averaging 8.9 points and 7 rebounds.

This season, Oden lost weight and was averaging 11.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks as a starter. Along with improved numbers in all the major statistical categories, Oden had a renewed confidence that was seldom evident in his delayed rookie season, when he admitted the pressure of being a top draft pick got to him.

Then this happened. The Blazers sure have not…

Odds to win 2010 Western Conference 
All wagers have action. The team that wins the conference final in the playoffs will be graded the winner. (This Prop is Closed for Betting)

Competitor
Price

Dallas Mavericks

15.00    

Denver Nuggets
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