In many ways, injuries have cheated us out of a lot in these playoffs.  If not for injuries, the Lakers vs. Rockets match-up would have given us the Kobe Bryant vs Tracy McGrady battle that many called for in the early 2000s when (believe it or not) McGrady had an argument to be the better player.  If not for injuries, the Celtics vs. Magic match-up would have given us the last two Defensive Players of the Year facing off as Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard could have battled over the crown of the best preps-to-pros big man of this generation.  Instead Garnett, McGrady, Yao Ming, Jameer Nelson, Leon Powe, and Dikembe Mutombo are now watching the games in business suits while players like Andrew Bynum play hurt at a fraction of their usual effectiveness.  But you know what?  Instead of ruining the basketball, in some strange way the injuries have created two very compelling stylistic match-ups that we otherwise never would have seen.

Lakers vs Rockets: From top-to-bottom, the Lakers are the most talented team in the NBA.  They were the overwhelming favorite to win last year's title, then after they lost in the Finals they were the pre-season favorite to win this year's title.  They have easily controlled the tough Western Conference all season long, and these playoffs were expected to be merely a formality as they marched on to their inevitable meeting with LeBron James in the Finals.  The Rockets, on the other hand, had not made it out of the first round of the playoffs since the days of Hakeem Olajuwon and were led by two players in McGrady and Yao that had not been out of the first round ever.  With McGrady gone before the series began and Yao gone after game three, this series was supposed to be over in no more than five games with the Lakers easily moving on.

Instead, we go into game five tonight with the series tied at two games apiece.  And to get at why, we can move beyond basketball analysis and get purely into toughness.  On Friday night, before Yao went down, the TNT crew of Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith pointed out that since Yao did not have a pit bull mentality, the Rockets went out and surrounded him with a team full of pit bulls led by guys like Ron Artest, Shane Battier and Luis Scola.  Meanwhile, you've got Magic Johnson (a Laker for life) and LA columnists blistering the Lakers for their "embarrasing" play, their lack of effort, and their lack of toughness.  Colin Cowherd just hosted a radio show where the entire premise was that the Lakers, despite their talent, are just soft.

Toughness isn't something that you can quantify, but its presence or lack thereof can often show up in images.  Thus far, the images of this series are Battier on his feet with blood running down his face after getting beat on in game one.  Scola refusing to back down from Lamar Odom and Luke Walton, then returning to his feet to keep playing after a Derek Fisher helmet-to-helmet tackle.  Artest after a questionable Bryant elbow talking to the refs, then when they refused to acknowledge it going directly to Bryant to make his displeasure known.  Carl Landry, the man who got shot in a car-jacking attempt less than two months ago, dropping 20 points and 10 boards.  And Aaron Brooks, the smallest man on the court, skying to catch a half-court alley-oop to finish a quarter. 

The Lakers are the better team, and when this series is over I expect them to be the ones marching on.  But these Rockets have that dog in them, and the battle between the all-heart underdog and the mighty, overconfident favorite is the type of storyline that you see coming out of Hollywood all of the time.  Only this time instead of playing out in a movie, we get to see the reality show version and it is becoming must-see TV.

Celtics vs Magic: In the East, the storyline is reversed.  The Celtics are the better team, but for the second straight round injuries have pulled them back to the level of their opponent.  But while in the last round the advanced stats said that the Celtics minus KG were roughly equal to the Bulls, in this round the Celtics minus KG should be clearly weaker than the Magic.  The Magic control the interior on both offense and defense, which is generally the key to winning in the playoffs.  And while both teams sport three healthy All Star-caliber players, the Magic are led by an MVP-caliber player which should make the difference.

But, the Magic also have two significant flaws: lack of a strong backcourt presence, and lack of experience.  And the Celtics are using these flaws to keep themselves squarely in this series.  With Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen the Celtics have the confidence to know that they can always get themselves back into a game no matter what with some good shooting and timely defense.  And because the whole team has been through the fires together, they all have the confidence to take and make the big shot at the crucial moment...which leads to Glen Davis hitting one of the most unexpected (and funniest) buzzer beaters in NBA history to win Game 4.

Last season, the Celtics were able to win on talent and toughness even though they had no experience together.  This year, after surviving the wars to take home last year's title, they have learned to win on experience and toughness when the talent is no longer in their favor.  As Barkley pointed out on Sunday night, the Magic should win this series.  They have the better team, and everything has lined up for them.  But the Celtics, like the Rockets, seem determined to write their own movie-like ending and when all is said and done the battle to overcome as the Little Engine that Could may even be more endearing than the Juggernaut that conquors all.