4. Utah is the new Los Angeles.
For decades now, I've wanted Utah and Los Angeles to trade nicknames. L.A. Jazz. Salt Lakers. That's gold, Jerry!

At present, however, they've seemed to trade bench karma. Remember when Pau Gasol first arrived, which allowed Jackson to throw out a "B" unit of Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf and Vladimir Radmanovic (that is, if Andrew Bynum were healthy)? That was a high-energy, hot-shooting lineup.

Now, however, Farmar is 1 for 16 in the Utah series. Turiaf, an animal in the paint, was a little too beastly Sunday, getting ejected for a flagrant foul on Ronnie Price. And Walton, in the fourth quarter, became the lead in the sequel to "White Men Can't Jump", thanks to a Price hustle play.

The Jazz, meanwhile? Kyle Korver is shooting so well that people are forgiving him his "What Happens in Vegas" role. Paul Millsap, Matt Harpring and Price are playing over their heads — or at least their counterparts — as well. The Jazz's second unit, which outplayed its first unit in Game 2 in L.A., is every bit as potent as the Lakers'.

5. There are no "Will he ever win a ring?" stories here.
Since the Suns, Nuggets, Mavericks and Rockets have been eliminated, we are spared the burden of having to read (or write) a banal, trite, hackneyed and, yes, prosaic column about how Steve Nash or Allen Iverson or Dirk Nowitzki or Jason Kidd deserves a ring.

Everyone remaining in the Western Conference playoffs has either won a ring (Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher; Mehmet Okur; the Spurs) or is too damn young (Paul, Gasol, Williams, Andrei Kirilenko) to warrant much compassion.

Will anyone lose sleep if Robert Horry is unable to bejewel himself with an eighth world championship ring this June? Exactly.

What remains to be seen is whether the next round will have a familiar ring. Will Kobe and the Lakers face Tim Duncan and the Spurs in a showdown between two franchises that have accounted for seven of the last nine NBA championships? Or will New Orleans' former franchise (the Jazz) and/or its present one (the Hornets) break through to the next round?

I like the Lakers and Spurs: Talent, experience and, if it comes down to it, the benefit of the referees' doubt in any series-deciding calls.

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