The league, often thought to have become boring and dominated by two excellent, yet sometimes boring teams with Detroit and San Antonio, is having its best postseason since the days of Michael Jordan.

When the thought of commending the NBA like this first came into my head I superstitiously stashed the idea away in hopes of rekindling it at a later date. See, I couldn?t jinx what basketball fans had going for them. But, with the Finals underway I figure it?s as good a time as ever to declare the 2006 NBA playoffs an enormous success.

We only witnessed one sweep; Dallas?s first round dismantling of Memphis, and just a few five-game series wins. We nearly saw Kobe Bryant, err the Los Angeles Lakers, upset the Phoenix Suns in a seven game battle for the ages. That series also gave us the Raja Bell-Kobe feud that will make TNT happy for the next few seasons.

The Spurs? Tim Duncan may not have made it back to the NBA Finals, but he did showcase his talents for the world to see. He just wanted to let everyone know that he still has it, and doesn?t plan on letting it go anytime soon. Speaking of San Antonio they, along with their 2005 Finals counterpart Detroit, failed to vindicate sports journalists around the country by bowing out long before basketball?s brightest stage.

LeBron James held a world-wide coming out party, and nearly stunned the Pistons in the process. His playoff success reminds me a lot of what Dwayne Wade did in the 2004 playoffs. Wade carried his team to a first round victory and a nearly upset over the title-contending Pacers in the second round. That can only mean that James and Wade will be battling for the chance to play in the Finals for years to come.

The Clippers won a playoff series for the first time since Billy Crystal was born, and sub planted the Lakers as Hollywood?s best hoops team in the process. Of course if Sam Cassell bolts this offseason then the Clippers might end up being a one-hit wonder, kind of like many of their movie star fans.

Sacramento, led by the NBA?s resident nut job Ron Artest, put up a good fight against the Spurs. The Kings did it with help from playoff-newbie Shareef Abdur-Rahim and the relatively-unknown newcomer Kevin Martin, not to be confused with Denver?s unhappy Kenyon Martin.

The playoffs may have been the site for LeBron James coming out party, but guys like Martin, Dallas?s Devin Harris and Josh Howard, also helped make a name for themselves this spring.

They may not have made the Finals, but in my mind the team with the brightest future is the Phoenix Suns. Think about what they accomplished this season, without Amare Stoudemire. It?s amazing. Take Dirk away from Dallas and there?s no way they?re where they are right now. Take Jermaine O?Neal away from Indiana and they?re lottery-bound. Take Elton Brand off of the Clippers are once again Donald Sterling is getting an earful from the entire state of California.

Yet without Stoudemire the Suns didn?t just do ok, they made it to the Western Conference Finals. They have a two-time MVP in Steve Nash, an underrated mega-star in Shawn Marion, and two guys named Diaw and Barbosa who have become the models for what an NBA player should be. I?m pretty sure the only position Diaw didn?t play for the Suns this year was cheerleader.

Add a healthy Amare into the mix next season and we could be looking at one of the NBA?s best teams of all-time.

See what I mean about these playoffs? Great stuff and I haven?t even really touched upon the two teams contending for the title!

Miami cruised through the regular season, but not in a ?dominating everyone we play? kind of way but more of a ?we?ll get to the postseason and start playing then? kind of way. They kicked it into gear and now they?re in the NBA Finals thanks to the youthful Wade and the older, but still intimidating Shaquille O?Neal.

The Mavericks, once thought of as soft and weak, have battled their way through the rough and tough Western Conference and have proved many of their past critics wrong. Dirk Nowitzki has solidified himself as one of the league?s elite players in the same class with Duncan and good buddy Steve Nash, all while carrying his teammates to the promise land.

But, that?s not a comment meant to disrespect his Dallas teammates. Jason Terry has been playing like a man on a mission, Howard is silently becoming one of the league?s most underrated players, and Harris is being mentioned in the same sentence as some of the NBA?s fastest men.

The playoffs have been a wonderful sight to the eyes of basketball fans around the world. The league?s international flavor is being felt more than ever with guys like Nowitzki, Nash, Diaw, Barbosa, and Nenad Krstic all having excelled on the primetime stage of the postseason.

And while the playoffs must inevitably come to an end with a shower of confetti in either South Beach or Dallas, the memories of the spring of 2006 will always remain vivid in our minds?

That is until the spring of 2007 when new rivalries are born, old ones are revisited, and a whole new cast of characters become household names.