When the NBA playoffs begin Saturday, the only sure thing is that there will be no sure thing.

In the past, you could almost guarantee that San Antonio or the Los Angeles Lakers would be representing the Western Conference, while the East would be filled with knock-down, drag-out affairs that produced a team with little or no chance of winning the title.

But the Detroit Pistons turned the tide last year with their stunning upset of the Lakers in the Finals.  The trend continued this season, with five new teams - some of them horrifyingly young and inexperienced - in the playoffs.

This postseason promises to have more of an unknown quantity than any playoffs of recent memory.  Even among the top seeds, there are plenty of questions.

“We think we have a playoffs that’s going to be less predictable than in past years,” NBA commissioner David Stern said.  “We have a lot new teams in the playoffs, we have a lot of teams that last year really struggled and turned their seasons around this year.”

Can the Phoenix Suns run and gun their way to a championship? Can the Denver Nuggets carry their momentum into a series with San Antonio?  Are the Seattle SuperSonics overpriced as a No. 3 seed?  Do the Dallas Mavericks really plan on playing defense?

Did the Miami Heat peak too early?  Are the Indiana Pacers a sleeping giant?  And do the kids in Chicago or Washington overcome youthful jitters to advance to the conference semifinals?

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“I think this is the first year for NBA basketball where the seeds don’t matter,” Boston Celtics forward Antoine Walker said.

There are some health questions as well.  Is Shaquille O’Neal ready?  What about Tim Duncan?  Is Bobby Jackson going to play for Sacramento?  Is Brad Miller?  Is Richard Jefferson going to make his return?

Although the postseason has many questions, it will get under way with “The Answer” - Allen Iverson, who will lead the Philadelphia 76ers into Detroit to take on the defending champion Pistons on Saturday afternoon.

The NBA scoring champion, Iverson led the 76ers to the seventh seed in the East.  He is joined by trade deadline acquisition Chris Webber and three other starters who never have played a postseason game.

“You have different faces,” Sixers veteran guard Aaron McKie said.  “Of the previous playoff teams that I’ve been involved with here, the only ones left are me and Allen, so it is definitely different.”

Philadelphia won eight of its last 10 games but Detroit finished even stronger, taking 11 of 12.  With the best coach and starting lineup in the NBA, the second-seeded Pistons appear prepared to defend their title.

“The season is just starting,” said Pistons center Ben Wallace, who gives his team a huge advantage in quickness and strength on the front line.

Walker’s third-seeded Celtics face the sixth-seeded Pacers in the first round for the third straight year.  Two years ago, the seeds were reversed and the Celtics pulled the upset.  The Pacers, who have overcome huge personnel issues this season, look capable of doing the same.

“I think Indiana has a mental edge,” said Boston coach Doc Rivers, who never has won a playoff series.  “They swept us last season and that should be in our minds.”

In the West, a pair of series that may go the distance begin Saturday.  The sixth-seeded Sacramento Kings visit the SuperSonics and the fourth-seeded Mavericks host the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets.

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