- With the Antoine Walker trade, Boston actually has a shot at a city threepeat for the year, albeit a slim one at 40 to 1 odds.  Things didn't look good for the Red Sox either in Game 4 of the ALCS.

At least they will be entertaining and by conference default they are in better shape than the Lakers right now.

2 to 1 odds (my own) says Walker stays in Boston at season's end.

- Phoenix played their conference rivals this week in Seattle and at home versus San Antonio and came out victorious in both contests.  They are a dominant regular season team, at this point everyone can concede them that.  Analysts are still uncertain whether they will have what the frontcourt depth to get through a 7-game series against the likes of the Spurs, Heat and Pistons.

- And watch out for Denver!  The Nuggets will likely face the Suns or Spurs in the 1st round and with George Karl at the helm, they will have the capability to take either of those teams deep into a series.  I predicted an NBA Finals battle between the Nuggets and Pacers.  Now that we know that won?t happen, these two teams will be #8 seeds that have had bad-lucked seasons, chips on their shoulders and nothing to lose.

Though, Jermaine O?Neal sitting on the bench for the Indiana Pacers is yet another sad moment in their sad season.  

- Shaq is 33 and is becoming the Barry Bonds of the NBA, quietly racking up some of the best numbers of his career.  Though Bonds is 7 years older, in NBA years, O'Neal is roughly the same age as the slugger. There is no sign of Shaq fading, as he has been pacing himself nicely throughout the year and is beginning to pick things up with the playoffs getting closer and closer.

On Thursday the Timberwolves attempted to do a Hack-A-Shaq with 3-minutes left in the game, but O?Neal made 3 of 4, causing an abandonment of the ploy.  Any type of consistency from the free-throw line is bad news for Eastern teams outside of Detroit for the playoffs.  So is Miami?s 32-6 record versus the East.

- Kevin McHale must still be smiling from that win in Boston.

- Chris Mullin must still be smiling from the Baron Davis trade.

- Jeff Van Gandy must still be smiling from the 6 points his Rockets gave up in Seattle.  At the end of the first half of that game, the Sonics made Houston look like an Eastern Conference team, but that comeback will make Seattle very nervous when they battle in the 1st round of the playoffs.

- In closing, it didn?t take long at all for Chris Webber to begin a rocky relationship with Jim O?Brien.  There is no way that the Webber in Philly experiment will end well.  This year it will end in the lottery.

- Washington and Cleveland, the greatest threats to Detroit and Miami, are on massive slides, both 3-7 over the last 10 games.  These slides are making the Eastern Conference even more top-heavy than it was at the All-Star break.

The columnist may be reached at Christopher.Reina@RealGM.com