Hello March Madness ... goodbye NBA parity

We cover the Rookie of the Year race and more injury woe in Phoenix ... but we also have to ask: Is a Boston vs. Denver matchup in the NBA Finals as inevitable as it seems?

Is the first Monday in March too soon to start thinking about the NBA Finals?

If so … guilty.

Let us explain via the Monday Musings:

Basketball's buzzword last season, as the playoffs approached, was parity.

Seemingly numerous playoff teams had a chance to win it all in the most wide-open NBA anyone could remember.

And the Denver Nuggets, finally banishing the frustrations of 46 fruitless seasons after leaving the ABA behind, did just that to capture their breakthrough NBA championship.

Miami's run to the Finals as just the second No. 8 seed in NBA annals to go that far, furthermore, only heightened the Anything Goes expectancy.

This season?