The second round of the NBA playoffs has been full of twists and turns. Road upsets! Late comebacks! Overtime thrillers!
And untimely injuries to the league's brightest stars, a tremendous bummer that doesn't warrant an exclamation point.
On Tuesday, the fifth-seeded Indiana Pacers became the first team to advance to the conference finals. Three more teams will join them in the coming days.
As the playoffs continue with must-win games for the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, let's take stock of the most important trends and takeaways from the second round thus far, including which recent champion has the easier climb.