Jerry Zgoda's NBA Insider: Eight questions for eight NBA playoff series

The NBA playoffs open this morning, when Chicago tips off at Boston against the defending champion Celtics, supposedly missing Kevin Garnett.

Just about everyone presumes the playoffs will lead to LeBron James and Cleveland vs. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers — the league’s two best teams in the regular season and arguably the two best players — in the Finals.

It all begins with eight first-round series, which leads the Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda to eight questions.

1. Can Boston be believed?

Celtics coach Doc Rivers has said Garnett might miss the entire playoffs because of a damaged knee that sidelined him 22 of the final 26 games.

The Chicago Bulls -- their first-round opponent -- are, well, skeptical.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Bulls forward John Salmons said. "I'm not buying it."

The Atlanta-Miami series might not be decided by either Joe Johnson or NBA leading scorer Dwyane Wade. The guy to watch could be Heat rookie Michael Beasley.

Arguably the most gifted and enigmatic talent in last summer's draft, Beasley this season became an afterthought to Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo and even Russell Westbrook and Brook Lopez for Rookie of the Year. Beasley averaged 24.2 points in the final five games, though, and didn't look much like a bewildered rookie anymore.

"When young guys come into our league, sometimes expectations are too high," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. "Even the great ones, they struggle when they come into our league. But eventually, they figure it out over a period of time. He's starting to find his way."

The underdog Hawks extended the top-seeded Celtics to seven first-round games a season ago. This year, Cleveland won 66 games, lost once at home before a season-ending loss to Philadelphia and wrested sacred home-court advantage away from Boston.

The Cavaliers' reward? A Detroit team that has underachieved so much all season without traded Chauncey Billups that Rasheed Wallace calls this one "David versus Goliath." The Pistons still are playoff-tested and appear better off without injured Allen Iverson.

"Obviously on paper you're thinking: Cleveland, best record in the league, best home record in the league and arguably the best player in the league with LeBron James," TNT analyst Reggie Miller said. "But you've got a Detroit team that has been there, done that and probably needs that type of challenge in the first round. It's scary if I'm Cleveland going against Detroit in the first round."

Houston's Ron Artest defending Portland's Brandon Roy is the one to watch.

The Rockets have lost their past six first-round playoff series and haven't advanced since 1997. That's the reason they gambled last summer and acquired Artest from Sacramento. When Artest tires, Shane Battier gets Roy, whose play has the Blazers surging into the playoffs. They won 10 of their final 11 games, including six in a row at home.

The Utah Jazz won 12 consecutive games in February and early March, then finished 7-11 and lost six of its final eight when its defense up and vanished.

Golden State's C.J. Watson put up 38 points, nine assists and seven rebounds against the Jazz last week on a night when the Warriors played with just seven healthy players. Utah ended its regular season Tuesday with a 125-112 loss to the Lakers, its first-round opponent.

The Nuggets have reached the playoffs yet again, but this time they enter seeded second in the Western Conference after a 54-28 regular season.

This time, after making a transformative November trade for Billups, they have home-court advantage for the first time since 1988. The Nuggets have lost in the first round the past five years, four of them with George Karl as coach.

"There are a lot of [playoff] matchups, if we play the right way, we're the best team," Karl said. "I haven't been able to say that since I've been in Denver [since January 2005]. ... If we play the right way, some good things could happen."

We know their fans are.

Just three seasons removed from a league-worst 21-61 record, the young, promising Blazers won 54 games, tied Denver for the West's second-best record and won home-court advantage in a 4-5 seeding matchup with Houston.

That could prove pivotal in Portland, where 15,000 people jammed a town square Thursday to see their hometown team introduced as ... the West's No. 4 seed.

"I was just overwhelmed," said LaMarcus Aldridge. "If this is for the playoffs, a championship would be crazy."

Chicago over Boston in an Eastern Conference 2-7 matchup is possible if Rivers is telling the truth. But let's go to the other side and pick New Orleans over Denver in the West's 2-7 pairing.

The Hornets took a predictable step back this season, from last year's 56-26 record and second seed to a 49-33 record and seventh seed during a season filled with injuries. But they still have Chris Paul, who can dominate a game -- and maybe a series -- with the ball in his hands perhaps like no other. If Tyson Chandler can get, and stay, healthy, the Nuggets might be out early yet again.

An assortment of sources was used in compiling this story.

Jerry Zgoda is at jzgoda@startribune.com