Some safe predictions on the NBA playoffs, which start today and might go on for 62 more days, wi... Dunking A Crystal Ball...

• Kobe Bryant will go off for 50 points, maybe 60, probably in a Laker loss. (Only Elgin Baylor and Michael Jordan have had 60-point games in the NBA playoffs).

• Hubie Brown will invent an expression that will become part of the NBA's vocabulary, like "no-brainer" and "the paint." He will also cackle.

What won't be mentioned is that about half of the league's biggest stars -- Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce -- didn't even make the playoffs, or that Detroit won the NBA championship two years ago without any stars.

• Tim Duncan will be accused of being boring. Tony Parker, his teammate, will get all the attention because his girlfriend is a "star" on "Desperate Housewives" or something. Nobody will appreciate this more than Duncan.

• TV ratings won't be like they were in the good old days, which will be blamed on the lack of big-market teams going deep into the playoffs.

A New York columnist will urge the NBA to change its rules to enable the Knicks to get back among the league's elite. Unless drastic changes are made, the Knicks are going to stink for five more years.

Although they started to show some cracks late in the season, the Spurs and Pistons are playoff-tested and reasonably healthy, and it's difficult to imagine them losing four games in a series.

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