Both the Houston-Utah and the Detroit-Orlando series are following familiar paths. In each the better team has held serve at home and is up 2–0 as play shifts back to Salt Lake City and Orlando for games three and four, tonight and during the weekend.

Since the Eastern Conference series involves the no. 1 seed versus the no. 8 seed, it’s logical to expect that the Magic players are counting down the days until their summer vacation starts. Meanwhile, since the Rockets-Jazz series is matchup of the no. 4 and no. 5 seeds, you might expect that the change in scenery just heightens the battle.

There has been no shortage of surprises in this season’s first round, so it may qualify merely as eyebrow-raising than jaw-dropping that the reverse seems to be the case in these two series. Barring a sudden reversal of fortune, Houston and Utah seem to be tumbling toward a sweep, but Orlando has already put up a good fight and may be able to extend its series well into next week.

On paper, the Rockets-Jazz series looked like one of the most entertaining matchups in the first round. The two teams finished a game apart in the regular season, Houston going 52–30 to Utah’s 51–31. (The Jazz have the higher seeding by virtue of being a division champion, but Houston’s better record entitled it to the homecourt advantage.) The two teams figured to vie during the final weeks of the season for a leg up in their playoff series. But instead of a heated competition, the teams went in opposite directions; Utah slumped through the final quarter of the season going 8–12. Houston soared to a 14–6 record and that included a meaningless loss to Utah on the final night of the regular season when, homecourt advantage secure, it rested its key players.

Three point shooting and defense is another indication that this isn’t the closely matched showdown that it once seemed. The Rockets take and make a lot of treys to spread the floor and keep teams from sagging on center Yao Ming and swingman Tracy McGrady. During the regular season they ranked third in attempts and fifth in accuracy from behind the arc while Utah ranked only 16th in defending shots from way downtown.

So far in this series, Houston hasn’t gotten that part of its offense untracked, hitting only 13 of 51 attempts but it’s up two games to none because of it’s stifling defense. The Rockets, who finished third in Defensive Efficiency (points per 100 possessions) during the regular season at 97.5, have cranked it up a notch and are allowing Utah, a very good offensive team, only 88.7. They’ve accomplished it via a switch in defensive assignments that leaves Ming guarding Carlos Boozer on the low post rather than having to chase Utah’s sharpshooting pivotman Mehmet Okur all over the perimeter. And by matching Okur with a player agile enough to stay in his face, usually forward Chuck Hayes, the Rockets have limited the Turkish center to a nightmarish 4 for 23 in the series. The Rockets D has also made forward Andrei Kirilenko vanish in plain sight; the former All Star has managed a mere two points in 34 minutes of action due to in part to Yao’s defense of the rim and Houston’s physical play.

Kirilenko and Okur are due some sort of bounce back at home, but Houston’s cold shooting from behind the arc isn’t likely to continue. Utah looks like a team that peaked too soon, while the Rockets are on a roll. Jeff Van Gundy may finally coach some secondround action for the first time since Allan Houston, Larry Johnson, and Latrell Sprewell were in their primes.

Detroit’s two wins over Orlando were not the usual no.1 versus no. 8 routs, and that raises a flag, since most expected this series to be little more than a formality. However, Orlando finished strong, winning six of its final seven to take the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In the two close losses, 98–90 in Game 1 and 100–92 on Monday night, it’s been Detroit, not Orlando that is playing over their heads. Detroit’s Offensive Efficiency number is a mind-blowing 115.7 points per 100 possessions, well above the team’s season average of 106.2. On the other hand, the only thing that separated Orlando from a Game 1 victory was miserable free throw shooting. The Magic, a 70.2% team during the first 82 games, shot an abysmal 18–36 from the line in Game 1.

I don’t think Detroit can sustain its remarkable offensive efficiency on the road, and I think the Magic will recover from their woes at the line. In their first two games these teams have been much closer than the 13-game margin between them would suggest. I still think Detroit will emerge victorious from this series, but right now it looks like a better fight than your usual oneversus-eight matchup.

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After a relatively quiet regular season, the coaching carousel has begun to spin furiously this week. The firings of VP Rick Sund and coach Bob Hill in Seattle were expected as a new ownership group took over a year ago and the team seems destined to move to Oklahoma City in the near future. However, the resignation of Rick Carlisle is a mild surprise. His Pacers have struggled mightily since the Malice at the Palace in 2004, but the problem has seemed like the roster construction, not the coaching. Of course, it’s a whole lot easier to change coaches than it is to unload bloated guaranteed contracts like those belonging to roster deadweights Jamaal Tinsley. There are a lot of good coaches available right now but before any leap at the available openings, they should consider Carlisle’s plight a cautionary tale.

mjohnson@nysun.com