The Skyliner

Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Sports

With the NBA playoffs quickly approaching, the teams and rankings are beginning to take shape. All but the final seeds have been established in the Eastern and Western Conference. Teams are beginning to wind down their regular season and dial up postseason play. Here is a brief summary of what to expect going into the 2008 NBA Playoffs


Eastern Conference
Predicted Winner: Boston Celtics


The teams involved in the Eastern Conference playoffs are the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers and the yet to be determined eighth seed (either the Atlanta Hawks or Indiana Pacers). In the East, the only two teams that are talented enough to win against the much stronger Western Conference are the Celtics and Pistons.

The Celtics hold the NBA's best regular season record and have fared well against Western opponents this season. The Pistons, however, have been the most consistent Eastern Conference team over the last several years and all their key players have playoff experience.

The Magic are talented enough to push either of these two teams to the limit, and Lebron James always brings his game to another level with the Cavs come playoff time. Last season, Lebron took over in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead his Cavaliers past the Pistons and into the NBA Finals. Regardless, the Eastern Conference will come down to the Pistons and Celtics and probably a game seven to determine the winner.


Western Conference Predicted Winner: Los Angeles Lakers


This is where the NBA gets tough. All of the Western Conference playoff teams have more than fifty wins this season. All of the playoff teams have fared well and competed hard against each other and all of them have the ability on any given night to beat the other teams. So when looking at the West, you have to predict based on intangibles. The teams involved are the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and the yet to be determined eighth seed (either the Denver Nuggets or the Golden State Warriors).

All of these teams are efficient and talented enough to win an NBA title, but the strongest contenders in my opinion are the Lakers, Spurs and Mavericks. The Lakers have been re-energized this season thanks in large part to a talented cast of role players surrounding Kobe Bryant. Who can forget that this season started with Kobe begging to get out of LA after a obscenity-laced rant against the team not trading young star Andrew Bynum? Now, the Lakers are sitting pretty atop the West and look poised to make their push back to the NBA Finals. In my opinion, the only team in their way is the defending champion San Antonio Spurs.

The two teams split the regular season match-up, each team winning two games apiece. I like the Lakers though in the playoffs, because of Kobe and the experience of Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

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