It’s probably not the new Dream Team — I mean, how can you beat Hakeem, Clyde, Charles, Scottie and MJ? — but it’s as formidable a crew as the U.S. has put together in a long, long time. The 12 man team was named today, and it lists some pretty good names.

The team is headlined by the likes of Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, but joining them will be Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Chris Bosh, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer, and Carmelo Anthony.

Though I’d leave a few of those off — there’s got to better player than Redd, Prince, and Kidd — it’s a solid squad. The starting five will more than likely be Paul, Kobe, D-Wade, LBJ, and D. Howard. That leaves guys like Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, and Chris Bosh coming off the bench, which is about as good a sixth, seventh and eighth man as it gets.

Oddly, not a single player from the World Champion Celtics. No one in LA’s complaining about that one.

I don’t know enough about players who were in college for one year, so I won’t attempt to make a mock draft that will only belittle my sports knowledge. But I will link you here, where ESPN has their 2008 NBA Mock Draft.

While I won’t make my own list, I will ask a couple of questions about this one.

• First and foremost, how in the hell do the Bulls have the No. 1 overall pick? There’s been conspiracy talk for years, and my God, just let us see the freaking ping pong balls drawn. That way, when a team that was supposed get No. 9 actually gets No. 1, we don’t feel like we’re being Tim Donaghy’ed.
• That said, the Bulls have to take Michael Beasley. Derrick Rose will probably be the best player, but they just re-signed Kirk Heinrich to a five year deal.
• Which means, in short, the Heat won, because they’re going to take Rose, and he and Dwyane Wade — barring the guy can stay healthy for a year — will be totally sick.
• No. 3 pick, Brook Lopez. Say hello to Darko Milicic.
• OJ Mayo to Minnesota? The guy will be the worst pick in the NBA Draft. He’s got no sense of what a team is, and he’s one of those guys that will never realize that athleticism will only carry you all the way in high school.
• If the LA Clippers get Russell Westbrook with the seventh pick, they’ll get the steal of the draft.
• Kevin Love to the Bobcats: Charlotte just keeps wanting to add to their list of big name college players that just don’t pan out. Sean May got fat. Love already is fat. May not be the best selection.
• DJ Augustin to the Pacers would fit nicely with Jermaine O’Neal.
• Roy Hibbert to Utah makes more sense than anything, given that Utah plays slow and, well, Roy Hibbert is really slow.

With the ridiculous 21-1 (is that what it’s at now?) home record in the second round of the playoffs, with only LA and Detroit winning road games, I wanted to go back and figure out why. Steve Czaban, host of the first team on XM’s Fox Sports Radio, made a point a week or so ago about the refs in the NBA getting too caught up in the game and making fouls because of it. Bored out of my mind, I did some research. The top team mentioned is the away team, meaning the bottom team is the home team. At the bottom, I have the differential in free throws, putting either a (+) — if the home team shot more free throws, and by how many — or a (-) — if the home team shot less free throws, and by how many.

Utah Jazz/LA Lakers Series
-Game 1:
Utah team fouls 33, Utah free throws 30
LA Lakers team fouls 27, LA Lakers free throws 46
Differential: +19 for the home team

-Game 2:
Utah team fouls 30, Utah free throws 16
LA Lakers team fouls 20, LA Lakers free throws 43
Differential: +27 for the home team

-Game 3:
LA Lakers 23 team fouls, LA Lakers free throws 37
Utah Jazz 28 team fouls, Utah Jazz free throws 28
Differential: -9 for the home team

-Game 4:
LA Lakers 33 team fouls, LA Lakers 25 free throws
Utah Jazz 27 team fouls, Utah Jazz 45 free throws
Differential: +20 free throws for the home team

-Game 5:
Utah Jazz 31 team fouls, Utah Jazz 28 free throws
LA Lakers 20 team fouls, LA Lakers 42 free throws
Differential: +14 free throws for the home team

-Game 6:
LA Lakers 24 team fouls, LA Lakers 38 free throws
Utah Jazz 26 team fouls, Utah Jazz 25 free throws
Differential: -13 for the home team

Orlando Magic/Detroit Pistons

-Game 1:
Orlando Magic 23 team fouls, Orlando Magic 15 free throws
Detroit Pistons 17 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 18 free throws
Differential: +3 for the home team

-Game 2:
Orlando Magic 23 team fouls, Orlando Magic 23 free throws
Detroit Pistons 22 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 28 free throws
Differential: +6 for the home team

-Game 3:
Detroit Pistons 20 team fouls, Detroit PIstons 28 free throws
Orlando Magic 23 team fouls, Orlando Magic 28 free throws
Differential: Even

-Game 4:
Detroit Pistons 23 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 15 free throws
Orlando Magic 19 team fouls, Orlando Magic 17 free throws
Differential: +2 for the home team

-Game 5:
Orlando Magic 27 team fouls, Orlando Magic 28 free throws
Detroit Pistons 24 team fouls, Detroit Pistons 32 free throws
Differential: +4 for the home team

San Antonio Spurs/New Orleans Hornets

-Game 1:
San Antonio Spurs 16 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 21 free throws
New Orleans Hornets 17 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 15 free throws
Differential: -6 for the home team

-Game 2:
San Antonio Spurs 21 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 19 free throws
New Orleans Hornets 19 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 24 free throws
Differential: +5 for the home team

-Game 3:
New Orleans Hornets 21 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 21 free throws
San Antonio Spurs 20 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 21 free throws
Differential: Even

-Game 4:
New Orleans Hornets 17 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 12 free throws
San Antonio Spurs 18 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 20 free throws
Differential: +8 for the home team

-Game 5:
San Antonio Spurs 30 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 18 free throws
New Orleans Hornets 23 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 33 free throws
Differential: +15 for the home team

-Game 6:
New Orleans Hornets 19 team fouls, New Orleans Hornets 13 free throws
San Antonio Spurs 21 team fouls, San Antonio Spurs 18 free throws
Differential: +5 free throws for the home team

-Game 7
Monday Night

Cleveland Cavaliers/Boston Celtics

-Game 1:
Cleveland Cavaliers 23 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 26 free throws
Boston Celtics 21 team fouls, Boston Celtics 18 free throws
Differential: -8 for the home team

-Game 2:
Cleveland Cavaliers 27 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 27 free throws
Boston Celtis 26 team fouls, Boston Celtics 38 free throws
Differential: +11 for the home team

-Game 3:
Boston Celtics 27 team fouls, Boston Celtics 24 free throws
Cleveland Cavaliers 21 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 33 free throws
Differential: +12 for the home team

-Game 4:
Boston Celtics 17 team fouls, Boston Celtics 24 free throws
Cleveland avaliers 17 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 18 free throws
Differential: -6 for the home team

-Game 5:
Cleveland Cavaliers 18 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 41 free throws
Boston Celtics 27 team fouls, Boston Celtics 25 free throws
Differential: -16 for the home team

-Game 6:
Boston Celtics 25 team fouls, Boston Celtics 13 free throws
Cleveland Cavaliers 16 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 25 free throws
Differential: +12 for the home team

-Game 7:
Cleveland Cavaliers 28 team fouls, Cleveland Cavaliers 35 free throws
Boston Celtics 26 team fouls, Boston Celtics 34 free throws
Differential: -1 for the home team

Some interesting stats:

-The averages aren’t that bad; truth be told, I was expecting a much more uneven figure than the home team only averaging right at +5 in free throw differential.

-The home team shot 12 or more free throws than the away team on 8 different occasions; the away team, on the other hand, only shot 12 or more free throws than the home team in 2 games.

-The home team shot 19 or more free throws than the away team in 3 different games; the away team shot 19 or more free throws than the home team zero times.

-Of the 24 games, only 7 times did the away team shoot more free throws than the home team.

-In all of this, one way or another, Joey Crawford is always wrong.

Cleveland Cavaliers 89, Boston Celtics 96: You know, eventually, I’m going to stop watching these games. As I watched bits and pieces of this one last night, I kinda tuned it out. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good game. For the most part, it was incredibly competitve, and the average fan at one point in the game may have actually thought the Cavs were going to win this.

But me? I’ve seen this too much in this year’s playoffs, and I knew when I turned the TV off to go to bed that two things were going to happen: The Celtics were going to pull away from the Cavs, and the Lakers, who hadn’t even begun to play yet, were going to beat the Jazz.

I just knew it.

We’ll get to the second game in a minute, but the first game I was right on board with. Boston used a 29-17 third quarter to get past Cleveland, who got their best effort out of LeBron James yet. BronBron was 12-25 from the field with 35 points, and made 11-13 free throws. The one night he really shines, Zydrunas Ilgauskas decided to completely disappear, playing 26 minutes for a measley 6 points and 7 rebounds.

The Big Three were almost in full swing — that Ray Allen sometimes has a hard time scoring now — getting 29 points from Paul Pierce, 26 from KG, and 11 points on 4-11 shooting from Ray Ray. The series is now 3-2 heading back to Cleveland, and you can count on the rest of these series to go seven.

Utah Jazz 104, LA Lakers 111: With this victory, the home teams are now 19-1 in the second round. The game was tied going into the fourth quarter, but the away team did what the away team has done best, blowing any hope of an actual upset in this thing.

Kobe Bryant played with a sore back, but still managed 26 points, and was often seen distributing the ball in the fourth rather than shooting it. Lamar Odom had 22 points, Pau Gasol had 21 points, Vladmir Ranmanovic 15 points, and Derek Fischer finished with 14, assuring all Lakers starters finished in double figures.

I heard on the radio that Game 7 will be on Monday “if necessary,” and I’ve gotta ask: If necessary? Have you been watching this? You’ve got a better chance landing on Zero in Roullette than you do guessing which away team might actually win a game. So, in other words, this next one isn’t important, and Game 7 is sometime Monday night.

I watched Game 1 of the Spurs/Suns series, and I figured I was in for one of the better series of all time. With that game pretty much kicking off the playoffs, and with Atlanta taking Boston to seven, I figured I was in for one of the better NBA Playoffs of all time.

We’re halfway through the second round now, and all we’ve got is a bunch of teams that can’t lose at home and can’t win on the road. I’m waiting for something to change — you know, something that will maybe make this thing exciting — but I’m not holding my breath.

Utah visits LA tonight and Cleveland visits Boston. If I had to choose an upset and pick a road team to actually win, I’d say Cleveland by four points, only because I feel like Boston is starting to unravel a bit. Of course, I thought this against Atlanta, and the games weren’t even close at home.

If I was a betting man — wait, I am — I’d say every one of these series will go the distance, with seven games needed to decide the winner. And the real winner in all this? Detroit, who idly awaits, getting some much needed rest for an injured bunch.

Boston Celtics 77, Cleveland Cavaliers 88: It’s hard to say Boston’s the best team in the NBA when they’re now 0-5 on the road in the playoffs, and three of those losses were against the Hawks, but at the same time, it seems that everyone who plays on the road is incapable of putting together some sort of winning effort. Take away Detroit’s win — a win in which they had to come back from 15 down against a team that pretty much choked it away — and the second round home teams would be 16-0 (as of now, they’re 15-1).

LeBron James scored 21 points, but was only 7-20 from the line, and continues to struggle with his jump shot and three. He did have a nasty dunk on KG, and his mom did get involved when Paul Pierce decided it best to grab his entire body and bring him into the crowd to prevent him from an open dunk.

Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rando led the Celtics with 15 points, and Paul Pierce put in 13 on a bad shooting night. The Celtics are now winless on the road, and you have to wonder how many series they can really win without taking one away from home. If Cleveland can win Game 5, you may be able to wrap this thing up.

The Spurs visit the Hornets tonight, and the Jazz head back to LA. I’ve got a hunch — just a hunch — that the home teams will probably be 2-0 tonight.

Utah Jazz 98, LA Lakers 109: The Jazz have a very impressive home record, and they’ll need every game at home if they plan on beating the Lakers. The soon-t0-be-announced MVP Kobe Bryant had 38 points for the Lakers, 24 of which came in the first half. Just about every time the guy touched the ball the fans started chanting MVP, and it was often that he was touching it. Carlos Boozer had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Jazz, but fouled out in the final five minutes while still within 5 points. Utah just played a series in which T-Mac was scoring at will, and it looks as if things won’t change with this Lakers star; Kobe was scoring at will, passing to get his team in it, and all around handling the Jazz from the opening tip. The Lakers are yet to lose a playoff game this year, the only team to have done so. Utah shot only 37 percent from the field, which would normally be the worst percentage of any team in a given day, but thankfully for Utah, the Hawks had played earlier.

Give the guy a break, but then give him a hug. He’s out in the first round. Again.

Dallas Mavericks 94, New Orleans Hornets 99: The Mavericks made a late push at the end of the game to try and salvage the season, but it was an oh-so-feeble attempt to end their imminent doom. Chris Paul had 24 points and 15 assists — 11 of which came in the first half alone — and David West led all Hornets with 25. Dallas exits in the first round for the second year in a row, and there’s speculation that Avery Johnson’s job may be on the line. I’d squash the speculation: If you’re looking for a finger to point, point it at the guy that pulled the trigger on the Jason Kidd trade. Wait. He’s the owner. Bye, Avery.

Philadelphia 76′ers 81, Detroit Pistons 98: Three games into the series, it looked as if Philly may actually steal one. Five games into the season, it doesn’t look like they stand much of a chance. Detroit manhandled Philadelphia, going up 12 at the half, 20 by the third, and then coasted to victory through the fourth. Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 21 points, followed by Rip Hamilton (20), Rasheed Wallace (19), and Tayshaun Prince (17). Detroit now has a 3-2 lead heading back to Philadelphia.

Utah Jazz 69, Houston Rockets 95: It’s odd the Jazz swept the first two games at home, went back to Utah, where they had a 37-4 record through the regular season, are playing Tracy McGrady — who’s known for choking it up in the first round — and this thing is still going on. Not only going on, but Houston is beating the ever living hell out of them. Utah was 36 percent from the field and 22 percent from beyond the arch. Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 19 points on 8-18 shooting. T-Mac led the Rockets with 29 points. The series is 3-2, and resumes Thursday night in Utah.

Phoenix Suns 87, San Antonio Spurs 92: They said it would be one of the best first round series ever, and I agreed. Problem is, it wasn’t. The Spurs won the series 4-1 last night, on the back of two solid performances by Tony Parker (31 points), and Tim Duncan (29 points and 17 rebounds). Shaq finished with 13 points and nine boards in only 29 minutes of play, posing the question: Why the hell did they trade for a guy that can’t run the court for more than 29 minutes? Good call, Steve Kerr, it’s nice to see you’re still helping the Spurs win Championships.

Utah Jazz 90, Houston Rockets 84: About every April is time for us to get ready to depart with T-Mac, and the April of 2008 appears to be no different. The Rockets lost 90-84 last night, dropping their second in a row to the Jazz, and now have to take at least one of two from Utah in Utah. The good news for the Rockets is that they don’t need to win both; the bad news is that Utah is 37-4 at home this year, pretty much clinching the Jazz’s chances of making it to the second round. Tracy McGrady had 23 points, nine assists and 13 rebounds, but managed zero points in the fourth quarter, giving him a total of one point in both final quarters played thus far. You hate to put it on the guy’s shoulders, but my God: He’s cursed in first round playoff games.

Washington Wizards 86, Cleveland Cavaliers 116: So much for this thing being a rivalry. Because to be a rivalry, Washington, you have to actually put up a fight. And even if you’re not putting up a fight, at least put your arms over your head to ball up and deflect some of the punches and kicks that are coming your way. LeBron James had 30 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, leading the Cavs to a 2-0 victory, and showing that his stats, just barely better than T-Mac’s stats, are way better in victory. Gilbert Arenas was 2-10 for seven points; beyond that, is it just me, or is the guy starting to look fat? I know he’s been hurt, but goodness: He looks about a hundred cupcakes too heavy right now.