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Sunday’s NBA Playoff Match Ups

 (Orlando Magic @ Boston Celtics Game 7, Houston Rockets @ Los Angeles Lakers Game 7)

The Eastern and Western Conference finals are almost set! Only two games and two teams hang in the balance and Sunday will be the deciding factor coming in form of two game sevens for both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic and defending champion Boston Celtics.

The Orlando Magic has proved at times that they were the better team over the Boston Celtics, but if the Celtics are anything without Kevin Garnett it is resilient. The Magic’s biggest problem in this series was getting Dwight Howard involved offensively. Although at times he has comparisons to Shaq, their offensive game is completely different. Howard struggles to create his own shot and is much more of a force in the defensive paint rather than in the paint on offense.

Even though Howard hasn’t had the best series, the Orlando supporting cast has stepped up big with the play of Courtney Lee, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu.

All three of these role players have hit big shots and have pretty much been the difference in this series for the Magic.

The Boston Celtics on the other hand have dominated in a completely different way. Yes, they have great role players with great outside shots, but it has been the guard play and the unexpected contribution of Big Baby Glen Davis that has helped the Celtics stay alive in this series.

You can never count out Ray Allen or Paul Pierce, but it has been the bench effort that has taken this series to a seventh game.

With game 7 being in Boston the scales automatically tip in the Celtics favor as they play well on their home floor, but honestly, this game could go either way.

As of right now the Celtics are favored by -2.5 and that is a pretty reasonable spread. The Magic may be able to end the Celtics repeat run at a championship, but you can never count out Boston’s ability to come through in clutch situations like this one. I think the Celtics advance to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.

Most people thought that this series was over when the Lakers came out in game five and beat the short handed Rockets by 40 points. I am not going to lie, I thought the say thing, but the Rockets much like the Celtics are as resilient as they come in the NBA and have a never say die attitude about them.

Game six was yet another disaster for the Lakers. The Rockets got out to a ridiculous lead early and kept it all night long. The Lakers did show signs of promise in the second half, but then Aaron Brooks and a few role players took over and made the game completely out of reach for Kobe Bryant and company to mount a comeback.

Game seven in Los Angeles should be another story altogether as the Lakers will come out extremely motivated and ready to play. The spread for this game right now is at -12 in the favor of the Lakers. This could be a good spread, but with the way this series is going you never know which team will show up at tip off. I think the Lakers will win and advance to play the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, but that spread is a little to high for a game seven.