Chris Paul’s seducing Bruce Bowen with his dribble at the top of the key, eyes darting around the court, and then before anyone’s ready for it, Paul’s weaving his way past one of the best defenders in the league, and is hoisting another patented floater over the outstretched arms of a bewildered Tim Duncan. He has abused the Spurs in the first two games of this series, and Michael Redd’s probably eating cheese somewhere wondering, ‘man, we’d be killin’ the East with him!’

In five home playoff games, Paul’s stats have been otherworldly: 56% shooting (for a point guard!), 67 assists against just seven turnovers (9:1 ratio!), and 14 steals. Yup, you read that right: He has more steals at home (hell, toss in the road games, too) this postseason than turnovers. The soulfulness of Chris Paul’s levity is breathtaking – moreso when you consider that the Mavericks were the 6th best scoring defense in the NBA and the Spurs were third. At the risk of looking ahead … in splitting four games against the Lakers this season, CP3 had 60 assists and eight turnovers.

Your task: Find one analyst who predicted the Hornets would reach the conference finals. Good luck.