The C's absolutely escaped a dismal upset tonight. They've already lost to the Warriors once, as well as the Bulls, the Hawks (twice), the Rockets (twice), and probably some other bottom feeders in the league. Can you tell I'm slightly down on this team right now? They won their 41st game tonight, clinching their first .500 season in years, and yet I have a terrible feeling about them.

I hate to say this, but the Jim O'Brien afterglow has worn off. He was the absolute savior of this team, stepping up after King Rick the Wicked abdicated his throne last season. But even though his team is much improved...I just don't trust him. He's seemingly abandoned Vitaly Potapenko in favor of Rodney Rogers, who I'm not sold on yet. He's left rookies Kedrick Brown and Joe Forte to rot on the bench, when they might be able to pick up a few minutes and raise the energy level. He not only allowed the team to fire 3's from all over the court -- even when they're patently the wrong shot to take -- but encourages this. In some ways, they don't look much better than the team Pitino started with.

I look at all the potential first-round matchups and don't like any of them. Milwaukee and Orlando are better at the C's game than the C's are. Philly has just killed them the last few years, and even if Iverson is out, they have nothing to match Dikembe Mutombo. Ugh. Charlotte is peaking at just the right time. Maybe Indiana would be a good match (there's the Isiah Thomas factor, for one), but I'm not counting on anything.