Get ready for the ride, NBA playoffs are here

It’s a long season, and there are too many other things going on -- March Madness, the juggernaut that was the New England Patriots, the Britney soap opera -- to possibly keep up with the NBA from start to finish.

Don’t bother denying it. You’re here now and that’s all that matters because, with apologies to those 14 teams counting lottery balls and scheduling summer workouts, the real NBA season starts Saturday.

Yes, it’s playoff time, and there are almost as many good plot lines as there are series. So grab a greaseboard, and let’s break them down.

Any talk about the playoffs has to start with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

It was about this time last year that Bryant was whining about his teammates and demanding to be traded. When Kevin Garnett wound up in Boston, not L.A., it didn’t help matters. Bryant has been known to sulk on occasion, and most assumed the Lakers were a lost cause before the season even began.

Yet here they are, entering the playoffs as the hottest team in the NBA and Bryant an MVP candidate.

“Last year we were still searching for an identity going into the playoffs,” Bryant said. “We’ve had an identify for a while.”

Yeah, the team nobody wants to play.

The Lakers have won eight of their last nine, including a 106-85 thrashing of the defending champion Spurs. Yes, San Antonio was playing without Manu Ginobili, but the Lakers abused the Spurs so badly Lamar Odom was the only Los Angeles starter who played in the fourth quarter. The Lakers also beat New Orleans, Dallas and Washington during the run.

Bryant, meanwhile, is playing perhaps the finest basketball of his career. He’s still getting his points, finishing second to LeBron James with 28.3 per game. But 12 years into his pro career, he finally seems to have realized he can’t win without his teammates. His 1,690 field-goal attempts are his fewest in a full season since 2001-02, while his assists, rebounds and steals are all up.

The Lakers must play 50-win Denver and its Globetrotter-like tandem of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson in the first round. But the Lakers aren’t the same team that got run over by Phoenix in the playoffs the last two years. With the addition of Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol, the Lakers could very well be built for the long haul.

Of course, we said that about the Dallas Mavericks the last two years and look what happened to them.

There won’t be any epic collapse by Dallas this year, but that has more to do with lowered expectations than the Mavs themselves. Jason Kidd has taken longer than expected to settle in with his new former team, and Dallas is just 12-11 since March 1.

The Mavs did beat New Orleans in the last game, avoiding a first-round series with the Lakers, but they also lost to Portland and Seattle in the two games before that.

Dallas isn’t getting any younger -- certainly not after trading away Devin Harris -- and its chances for a ring get more and more elusive every year.

Which brings us to the Suns and Spurs.

This series looks like it got lost on the way to the Western Conference finals. That’s what you get when the West is so brutal a 48-34 Golden State team can’t make the playoffs. (Over in the East, they’ve let just about anyone in, as evidenced by the 37-45 Atlanta Hawks.)

Think the Suns got Shaquille O’Neal for his comedic timing? No, the Big Fella is supposed to put a little scare into the bigger, brawnier defending champion Spurs, let them know there’s more to the Suns than running-and-gunning.

Most thought Phoenix GM Steve Kerr had lost his mind when he acquired O’Neal -- and his equally large contract -- for Suns star Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. But Phoenix is 18-11 since O’Neal arrived, including two wins over guess who? Yes, the Spurs.

Boston is the NBA’s best team -- as well it should be after acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the off-season while still managing to hold on to Paul Pierce. The moves have already paid off big, with the Celtics making the biggest single-season turnaround in league history.

Their 66 wins are more than that of the league’s worst three teams combined (Miami, 15; Seattle, 20; Memphis, 22).

But all that is little more than trivia geek fodder in the years to come. As the Mavericks discovered last year, the regular season is just the warm-up act for the real show.

So kick back, and enjoy the fun.