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The American men's pro basketball league is in the thick of playoff season, which goes on forever. I remember back in the '80s, when it dragged on past Fourth of July. It goes a bit quicker these days, but not much.

And the first round is certainly taking its sweet time getting resolved. Of eight best-of-seven-game series in the initial round, only two were over quickly (including the Blazers' succumbing to San Antonio). Six series currently stand at 3-to-2, with two of the lower seeds (Minnesota and Orlando) getting a chance to close out their series at home in the next game.

Tonight it's the Knicks trying to eliminate the Hawks in Atlanta; the Celtics trying to do the same to the Sixers in Philadelphia; and the T-Wolves, with their opportunity to advance, at home against Denver.

Tomorrow we get the Magic with a chance to close out at home against Detroit; Cleveland journeying to Toronto to try to finish off the Raptors; and the Lakers attempting to complete the series on top at Houston.

Game 6 is always ugly. One team is desperate, and both teams are sick of each other. The spectators are loud. There are only a few surprises. Everybody just grinds.

When the immediate drama concludes, it's on to the next level. The winner of L.A.-Houston gets to deal with the defending champs in Oklahoma (who swept Phoenix). The winner of Denver-Minnesota goes to San Antonio for a date with the Spurs. In the east, Detroit-Orlando will play Cleveland-Toronto in the second round. N.Y.-Atlanta will face Boston-Philadelphia.

So, who'll win the six first-round series still going? Probably only one of the six teams that are down 3-to-2 will do it, and it's more likely a team that won't have to play Game 7 on the road. 

That would point to Detroit or Denver, and between those two Detroit looks stronger, to my untrained eye. And so this would be the second round, if I had to guess: Minnesota at San Antonio, Lakers at Thunder, Pistons at Cleveland, Knicks at Boston. That would suit the league bigwigs just fine. We'll see.

What have we learned from the post-season so far? The Blazers are not competently managed; Kevin Durant is now faxing it in; there's some weird stuff going on in the Houston locker room; LeBron James and his children got game; James Harden is still quite tiresome; the Nuggets are over the hill; Payton Pritchard, ex-of West Linn High School, is the ghost of Danny Ainge; and Josh Hart and C.J. McCollum are still contributing, having forgotten that they ever played in Portland.

Anybody else been watching?