|  by Jim Slater
April 20, 2007
WASHINGTON (AFP) - When the National Basketball Association playoffs begin Saturday, superstars will begin delivering answers to the questions that have been building around the league for the past six months.
Can German superstar Dirk Nowitzki deliver a championship for Dallas? The Mavericks lost in last year's final but captured a home-court edge throughout the NBA playoffs by finishing with the best regular-season record at 67-15.
Will Dwyane Wade bounce back from injury and join Shaquille O'Neal in making Miami a champion for the second season in a row? Wade suffered a separated left shoulder in February but returned to the Heat earlier this month.
Have young stars such as LeBron James of Cleveland and Carmelo Anthony of Denver matured enough to guide their teams to the NBA promised land? Or can NBA scoring champion Kobe Bryant lift the Los Angeles Lakers back to a title?
The biggest clues to these mysteries from the season that ended Wednesday were Detroit dominating the Eastern Conference, taking a home-court edge in the East at 53-29, and Dallas finishing six games ahead of Phoenix in the West.
Opening round best-of-seven play begins Saturday with New Jersey at Toronto, Orlando at Detroit and Miami at Chicago in the East and Utah at Houston in the West.
Sunday openers find Washington at Cleveland in the East and Denver at San Antonio, the Lakers at Phoenix and Golden State at Dallas in the West.
Golden State, 42-40, reached the playoffs for the first time since 1994 but the Warriors' reward was a first-round date with the mighty Mavericks. Only twice in NBA history has a top seed lost in the first round.
"There's nothing easy in the playoffs. That's how I look at it," Nowitzki said. "Ultimately, if you want to be the best, if you want to win a championship, you have to go through the best."
The Warriors, guided by former Dallas coach Don Nelson, won all three games off the Mavericks this season and boast the NBA steals leader in Baron Davis with 2.1 a game.
"We know we have the team to do it," Davis said. "We want to come in and be the spoiler."
Awaiting that series winner will be either Houston or Utah. The Rockets, led by Chinese superstar center Yao Ming and guard Tracy McGrady, swiped the series home-court edge with a better record than the division-winning Jazz.
Utah won three of their four meetings but Yao missed two of those and averaged 23.5 points and 12.5 rebounds when he was on the court. McGrady scored 24.6 points a game but the Jazz feature Carloss Boozer, who had 20.9 a game.
Bryant, a one-man gang who averaged 31.6 points a game, leads the Lakers against a Phoenix club with the NBA's second-best record and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash, the league assists leader with 11.6 a game.
The Suns have the NBA's highest-scoring team with 110.2 points a game. The Lakers averaged 103 points a game, third-best in the league, but lost three of four to the Suns.
San Antonio led NBA defenses by allowing only 90.1 points a game and with Tim Duncan contributing 20 points and 10.6 rebounds a game the Spurs will be a formidable first-round foe for Denver, which boasts the NBA's No. 2 offense.
Anthony's 28.9 points a game ranked second in the NBA while Allen Iverson, seventh in the NBA with 26.3 points a game, ignited the Nuggets after being sent over from Philadelphia and should test the Spurs' vaunted defense.
Detroit owned the best record in the East at 53-29 but the Cavaliers caught fire late in the season and finished only three games back. They could meet in the Eastern finals provided each can get past some difficult playoff obstacles.
The Pistons, whose 12.2 turnovers were the fewest of any NBA club, begin with an Orlando club that lost all four meetings with Detroit.
Richard Hamilton led a balanced Detroit attack with 19.8 points a game while Chauncey Billups grabbed a team-high 7.2 rebounds a game. Dwight Howard led the magic with 17.6 points a game.
Barring an upset shocker, the Pistons will face either defending champion Miami or Chicago in the second round. The Bulls went 3-1 against the Heat this season and despite a lower seeding own the home-court edge based on more wins.
Wade averaged 27.4 points and 7.5 assists in 51 games while O'Neal averaged 17.3 points and 7.4 rebounds in 40 games but the Heat will need both stars at their best to beat a Chicago squad powered by Ben Gordon's 21.4 points a game.
James, fourth in the NBA with 27.3 points a game, sparks a Cleveland team that went 2-1 against the Wizards this season but Washington has lost stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler to injury and faded late in the season.
Toronto won the Atlantic Division crown by six games over New Jersey but the Nets closed the season well to book a playoff date against the Raptors, who went 2-1 against them in the season.
Former Toronto star Vincer Carter averaged 25.2 points a game to ignite the Nets while Chris Bosh led Toronto with 22.6 a game.
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