Wives who married into some of the nation’s bitterest rivalries are bonding, thanks to connections made on a social networking Website. Joani Crean and Jerri Painter are two examples. While Indiana and Purdue are beating each other’s brains out on the court, the wives of Hoosiers coach Tom Crean and Boilermakers coach Matt Painter share hugs, smiles and stories.

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Normally, making bold predictions on behalf of the 2011 NBA Playoff picture don’t make a lick of sense whatsoever. 

Generally, I would be inclined to agree.

Unlike past years, the free agency deals and other transactions to boot turned a usually boring offseason into the legendary California Gold Rush combining star powers with the likes of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James on the same team.

Danny Ainge’s Boston Celtics appeared to diminish following the 2010 NBA Finals.  Paul Pierce and Ray Allen’s attractive free agent status no doubt had suitable buyers ready to acquire their services when the market opened up.  The future of head coach Doc Rivers unequivocally had Boston’s fanbase incredibly nervous.

Mr. Ainge must have been bluffing in the high stakes game of Texas Hold’em.  Thanks to a royal flush, franchise leader Paul Pierce re-signed and with that, Ray Allen fell in line as well.  Rivers created more fanatical buzz announcing his decision to stick around.  Little time altered Rasheed Wallace‘s mindset to remain a Celtic instead of prematurely retiring for good.

On the shoreline of Southern California, the Los Angeles Lakers took the aggressive approach when Phil Jackson felt the desire to add a twelfth NBA Championship ring to his personal shrine of colossal achievements.  Adding to the mix, past enemy and balls to the wall defender Matt Barnes left the Orlando Magic for purple and gold pastures.

Oklahoma City head coach Scott Brooks is fully aware the brainwaves functioning in each individual player have shifted into overdrive.  Don’t assume recovering from a last second loss at the hands of Pau Gasol and the Lakers have eased out of the minds of the Thunder one bit.

Beginning with Kevin Durant, the process of eliminating any obvious fatal flaws top the list of priorities for Oklahoma City.  Lockdown defender Royal Ivey, acquired rookie via New Orleans in Cole Aldrich, thwarts the Thunder’s team defense to a whole new level.

Confident in another return to the playoffs, the Oklahoma City Thunder are pressing forward still holding the crude memory of a painful exit from last year’s playoffs close at hand.

Leaving nothing to chance, the Miami Heat added yet another major scoring threat to an already scary roster.  Former Celtics guard Eddie House brings a dead aim three point shooting arsenal to South Beach (with LeBron’s talents).  Known as a fan favorite in Boston, House will easily earn the same fan reception from Heat followers as he did from the Bean Town crowd.

Refusing to be outdone in piling up noteworthy player services, the Boston Celtics brought in 6-11 veteran Jermaine O’Neal from Miami.  The frustrating injury endured by Kendrick Perkins hurt the C’s taking the chance of winning the 2010 NBA Title with it.  Perkins’ presence all around demonstrated his maturity while rearranging opposing coaches’ game plan when it came to post play.  Knowing good and well the injury to Perkins will keep him sidelined at least halfway through the regular season; Doc Rivers felt another move was necessary.

Breaking sports headlines yesterday, Rivers flew to Orlando to personally extend the invite for Shaquille O’Neal to join the Celtics even though the best financial offer shapes into the league minimum for veteran players.

Because the 2010 NBA offseason offered bizarre player unions and atrociously self-centered “I’m bigger than the game” state of mind moments, the intrigue to follow all of the high profile player relocations kept everyone from abandoning the trade and free agent market moves altogether.

The Western Conference depth heightens the difficulty in predicting which team will represent their respected half of the NBA. 

Until any other Western Conference team knocks the Los Angeles Lakers around without costly retaliation, Kobe’s Lakers will claim the #1 seed in the 2011 NBA Western Conference Playoffs.  LA’s core is back with no sense of complacency, but their sense of urgency continues to sky rocket as long as health issues refrain from catastrophic mass injury.

Standing in their way, the Oklahoma City Thunder will no doubt win more than 50 games, as they did the season before.  In fact, it’s not inconceivable to believe the Thunder can snag the #2 seed out west.  If that were the case, a rematch wouldn’t play out until the Western Conference Finals.

Gotta love the drama.

For the third consecutive year, the Los Angeles Lakers hold serve sending them back to the 2011 NBA Finals.

Controversy swirled around the Eastern Conference well before the 2010 playoffs even tipped off.  Miami Thrice owned much of the controversy issues resulting in harsh criticism from both the general public and old school Hall of Famers.  Glancing at the Heat roster on paper, its borderline impossible to dismiss the team as the frontrunner to win it all.

Bean Town has every reason to believe the Larry O’Brien Trophy will find its way into the trophy case nestled safely inside the TD Garden in downtown Boston.  Newest Celtic, Shaquille O’Neal, wants at least one more championship ring.  He may have picked the right place.

An instant firepower packed roster, driven to win up to eight titles as advertised by the King himself, still lacks a certain whatchamacallit.  Boston and Los Angeles are pure carbon copies of each other, which is the reason for another Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals rematch.

Shaq and Jermaine moved to Boston at the right time.  Coach Rivers leads the charge solidifying his own place in C’s historic existence.  Red Auerbach is going to fully enjoy the upcoming 2010-2011 season. 

Boston Celtics: 2010-2011 NBA World Champions  

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The final stop in the Connect Four Tour journeys to America’s Heartland, home to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Led by Kevin Durant, the Oklahoma City Thunder carved their way into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Finishing the regular season 50-32, the Thunder earned the eighth seed, advancing to the Western Conference playoff picture.

You might be wondering to yourself how in the world can a team win 50 games and yet draw the bottom spot in the playoffs. First off, the depth of the Western Conference from top to bottom leaves little to no room for error when teams set their sights on postseason basketball.

Kevin Durant and the Thunder gave the Los Angeles Lakers all they could handle plus some throughout the first round of the playoffs. A Pau Gasol tip-in with 0.02 seconds left stunned the capacity crowd of 18,342 in attendance at the Ford Center.

Prior the put back, the game certainly appeared to heading for a game seven back in Los Angeles. However, there would be no game seven for the Thunder.

At least not this year. Talk about a debilitating punch to the gut.

You don’t forget moments like that and you can be sure Kevin Durant would be inclined to agree.

Oklahoma City knew a series of moves had to be made. Returning starters Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic, Thabo Sefolosha, and scrappy Russell Westbrook by far lessens the pressure to shop around for help during the offseason.

Aiding the solid starting five, Eric Maynor, James Harden, Nick Collison, and Serge Ibaka spring off the bench ready and willing to contribute on both sides of the ball. 

Averaging slightly over 21 points per contest between the four benchmates, the Thunder bench beefed up adding lefty veteran Morris Peterson (7.1 ppg) from New Orleans and valuable three-point commodity Daequan Cook (5.0 ppg), who came over from the Miami Heat.

On draft night, Christmas came early when the New Orleans Hornets thought it was wise to trade 6-11 rookie shot-blocker Cole Aldrich to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

What a steal.

Former Texas Longhorn great Royal Ivey adds a lockdown defensive presence matching beautifully in connection with a team loaded in size.

If they are to revisit the playoff scene, the Thunder must use every single weapon at their disposal. That shouldn’t be too terribly difficult.

Over the last few seasons, the structure of the Oklahoma City Thunder organization was built around the phenomenal talent of Kevin Durant. As he goes, so does the rest of the team.

Averaging 6-7 all the way around, Oklahoma City can stretch out the opposing offense without surrendering the dribble-drive on a consistent basis.

Because of the length, Oklahoma City holds opponents to 98 points per game (11th in the NBA), averaging nearly six block shots along the way (1st in the NBA).

Cole Aldrich should feel right at home with this type of defense.

Out-rebounding their opponents, the Thunder is the on-court version of Robin Hood, ripping off eight steals per game, which is sixth overall.

Offensively, Kevin Durant possesses capability to score at will almost nightly.

Unyielding point-guard play from rock solid Russell Westbrook forces the defense to avoid double teams as much as possible. His slashing style triggers the defense to close in, opening easy scoring chances around the basket.

The free throw line had been kind to the Thunder all season long as they shot 80 percent as a team (2nd in the NBA) and 46 percent from the field.

With the good come the bad.

Turnovers troubled the Thunder over the course of the season as they coughed the ball up 15 times each game (although they forced 15 turnovers per game), ranking them near the bottom half of the league.

Knocking down shots at a clip of 46 percent on the season, the Thunder struggled particularly from long range, managing a meek 34 percent as a team.

Poor shooting from deep indicates just how essential scoring from the free throw line and around the rim are to a team expected to make another run at the playoffs.

Head coach Scott Brooks has to be psyched about the upcoming season. If he’s not, there is something seriously wrong with the hard wiring in his brain.

Although no longer considered the dark horse in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder discovered the team chemistry amongst the majority youth mixed with veteran leadership.

Oh yeah, there is also a guy named Kevin Durant.

Last season was not a fluke.

You can bet the nasty taste from the disheartening loss at the hands of the Lakers lingers all too close for comfort. Getting back to the playoffs isn’t enough.

Now that this team has been exposed to the playoffs, nothing will satisfy the Thunder unless the take home the NBA Finals trophy.

Is it crazy to think Oklahoma City can win it all?

Maybe to some.

Of all the teams capable of knocking off the Lakers, the Oklahoma City Thunder can.

Believe it.

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