By Jeremy Brunner

All right, I may be a homer, but I am picking the Jazz to beat the Rockets in the playoffs. The X-Factor will be Jarron Collins, a player Jerry Sloan trusts from previous playoff experience. The X-Factor for the Rockets will be Tracy McGrady, T-MAC will exceed his regular season scoring average(24.6PPG), but those extra shots will hurt Houston. I'm picking seven close games, with the Jazz winning four of them.

Game 1: Rockets 89-87

Paul Milsap will have his best game of the series, scoring 11, but the Rockets will prevail at the Toyota Center.

Yao Ming - 25 Points

Tracy McGrady - 25 Points

Carlos Boozer - 20 Points

Game 2: Jazz 85-82

Carlos Boozer will score a two-plus-one just before the buzzer to provide the difference in a three point win for the Jazz. The Rockets waste 21 points from Rafer Alston.

Mehmet Okur - 24

Yao Ming - 32

Game 3: Rockets 82-81

Houston upsets the Jazz to win the first game at the ESA. Utah gets a solid game(17 points) from Andrei Kirilenko, but he can't overcome the Rockets dynamic duo with ten points from Juwon Howard.

Yao Ming - 25

Mehmet Okur - 21

Game 4: Jazz 105-103

The Jazz get the kind of balanced team effort that won them 51 games this season. Houston loses despite a monster 11 point game from Vassilis Spanoulis.

Carlos Boozer - 19

Tracy McGrady - 30

Game 5: Jazz 106-103

Jerry Sloan and company turn the momentum of the series around with a big upset win in Houston. Deron Williams has his best game so far with 20, getting some help from AK(11) and Gordon Giricek(12). Juwon Howard scores 20, but Yao Ming is held in check for the second straight game.

Carlos Boozer - 20

Deron Williams - 20

Tracy McGrady - 26

Game 6: Rockets 96-94

What a game. Deron Williams is outstanding again, scoring 23, and Matt Harpring plays his best game of the series, but Yao answers all challenges to force the game seven back in Houston.

Yao Ming - 31

Matt Harpring - 26

Game 7: Jazz 93-92

In the biggest game of the year for everybody, and its the Jazz who score last. Its back and forth in the final minute. Ronnie Brewer hits a jumper to put Utah up. Luther Head answers for the Rockets. Then Deron Williams gets the last laugh, D-Will dunks on Yao to score the game winner.

Carlos Boozer - 24

Yao Ming - 33

A little too in depth? Perhaps. So I will speed through the rest of my playoff picks.

Detroit over Orlando in 5

Miami over Chicago in 7

Cleveland over Washington in 6

New Jersey over Toronto in 5

Dallas over Golden State in 7

Suns over Lakers in 7

Spurs over Nuggets in 7

Round two

Pistons over Heat in 6

Nets over Cavs in 7

Mavs over Jazz in 4

Spurs over Suns in 7

Conference Finals

Pistons over Nets in 6

Spurs over Mavs in 4

NBA Finals

Pistons over Spurs in 7

Agree/Disagree? Post below