On the April 10 edition of ESPN’s KIA NBA Countdown, analysts Magic Johnson, Jalen Rose and Bill Simmons provided insights on several of the NBA’s top storylines including the scoring title and possible NBA Playoff matchups between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks as well as the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs.

The show also featured footage from Hannah Storm’s upcoming interview with injured Boston Celtics’ point guard Rajon Rondo. The full interview will air during Face to Face with Hannah Storm – a one-hour special hosted by Storm – Thursday, April 18, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

KIA NBA Countdown next airs Sunday, April 14, at 12:30 p.m. on ABC.

Rajon Rondo to Hannah Storm on the Boston Celtics strong play without him:

I just try not to listen too much into it. I’m still talking to Danny weekly and Doc all the time. At the same time, I was happy for my teammates. We were winning. I wanted to make the playoffs because I think we were under .500 or right at .500 at the time, so I definitely wouldn’t be rooting against my team. And like I said earlier, those guys are like my brothers. So I wished them well. No big deal. I wasn’t jealous or buying into people saying they are better without me. If they are, they are but for the most part, I’m still a Celtic.

Magic Johnson on the Celtics in the NBA Playoffs:

I didn’t think that they would play this well without Rondo. But give Jeff Green a lot of credit. He looks like the player he was when he was playing for the Thunder. He’s averaging about seven more points and he’s playing both offense and defense very well. The key for them in the playoffs is going to be the guards. Avery Bradley, Courtney Lee, Jason Terry. What can they do in the playoffs because if they play well and shoot well, then they have a chance to be a dangerous team.

Jalen Rose on a New York Knicks-Boston Celtics playoff matchup:

You see this happen a lot in the league where there’s a team that’s an upstart team – even though they’re an older team in the Knicks – versus a team that has a championship pedigree in the Celtics. There’s going to be a lot of pride for a seventh seed in the Celtics led by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers on the sideline with no Rondo. Now you go matchups. Jeff Green, we need you to play Carmelo. We need you to do the best job you can. Avery Bradley, we need you on J.R. Smith. And now you hope that they take those matchups personal.

Bill Simmons on the scoring title:

I love scoring titles. I’m excited Carmelo has staged a ‘score d’état.’ He now has a 0.03 lead over Durant with a week to go. They both play at the same time – April 17, Wednesday night, 8 p.m. Carmelo is playing out of his mind right now. This is the best he’s ever played.

Johnson on the Los Angeles Lakers’ path to the playoffs:

That eighth spot is where it’s really going to look good in the West. Who is going to end up playing the Spurs or the Thunder? The Lakers right now are playing good basketball. They must beat the Portland Trail Blazers tonight if they are going to really secure this eighth spot because I believe they’ll beat the Spurs at home. I think they’ll beat Houston and Golden State at home but if they don’t beat the Portland Trail Blazers, I don’t think they get in. If the Lakers are in a position the last game of the season to win and get into the playoffs, they are going to win that game. And then, they’ll be riding a five-game winning streak. That’s what I like about this for the Lakers. Into the playoffs, this will give them some momentum for whoever they face in the first round.

Simmons on the Lakers’ weaknesses:

I think the Lakers are a .500 team. I don’t think they play defense. I don’t trust them. I think they have roped the Lakers fans and the Lakers lovers and the former Lakers into a false sense of security down the stretch. I just don’t think they are good enough.

Johnson on a possible Lakers and Spurs matchup in the first round:

If the Lakers win and get into the eighth spot and if the Spurs end up in the first spot, the Lakers are going to beat the Spurs. Playoffs are about matchups and some teams are a bad matchup for other teams. The Lakers are a bad matchup for the Spurs. The teams that beat the Lakers are athletic and they are fast and quick. The Spurs are not athletic. Parker is but the rest of the guys are not great athletes. They play together well. They are a great team, very well coached by Popovich. But the Lakers size will give the Spurs problems.

Rose on the big men in the Lakers-Spurs matchup:

I’m going to take it to the post. We know Tim Duncan is going to be productive – give you a double-double. Give you a couple of blocks. Tiago Splitter has improved. He’s playing very good basketball. But the Lakers’ bigs – Pau Gasol, he’s playing at a high level. Dwight Howard since the All-Star Game is playing at an extremely high level. I like that matchup for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Simmons on the San Antonio Spurs without Manu Ginobili:

The big injury right now is Manu because I don’t know if the Spurs are a true title contender or not. If they don’t have Manu, the Manu we know and we love and the guy who can come in and change games and change the course of the game, I don’t think they’re a title contender.

Rose on the Denver Nuggets without Danilo Gallinari:

On the play, you see when Gallinari got injured – look at Kenneth Faried and what he does. He kept playing. He stole the ball. I think he’s the guy upfront who’s going to stabilize them. More minutes for Andre Iguodala, he’s in a contract year. More minutes for Wilson Chandler, who’s a scorer. They are going to be better defensively.

Simmons on the Nuggets as sleepers:

The key part of being a sleeper is you have to be able to say, if you won the title, ‘nobody believed in us except for the people right here.’ I think this Gallinari injury actually opened that door for the Nuggets to be that team. I think they are deep, they can shoot threes, they can play defense and also have only three playoff loses so far, good coach – I think they are a sleeper.

Johnson on George Karl:

The person I do believe in is George Karl. He’s a Hall of Fame coach. This guy has done nothing but win basketball games. And big games as well. I think Ty Lawson is the key here. If he’s healthy, he makes everybody on that team better because of his speed and his quickness. Wilson Chandler will be a great replacement. The key for them is who is going to take the big shots for them in the fourth quarter. In the three-minute mark on down, who is going to take the game over when they need a victory?

Rose on the Brooklyn Nets:

Don’t sleep on the Nets as a team in the Eastern Conference. Here you have a top flight point guard, you have a top five shooting guard and an All-Star center who is playing at an elite level. Why aren’t we talking about the Nets?