2008 NBA Playoffs

The NBA has two distinct seasons. One, the regular season, and two, the season that counts, the Playoffs., which start at the end of this week. As always, we can look forward to a two month mini season of do or die hoops until a champion is crowned in June. So let's kick things off with a preview of the NBA playoffs as we take a look at how things shape up in the East and the West and offer a few predictions along the way.

Eastern Conference Playoffs - 2008

Preview - Predictions
 

I think we all know what the end result of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs will be with Kevin Garnett and the rest of the Boston Celtics hoisting up the Eastern Conference championship trophy after completely dominating the competition, but like any playoff series in sports nothing is set in stone and anything can happen.

The only problem with this season’s Eastern Conference playoff chase is that most of the eight teams that will make the cut will be God awful teams that will probably get swept easily by the few big dogs in the East, but there are a couple teams in the East that might just make some waves and possibly shock some of the power houses that are favored to crush the underdogs.

It is obvious that there are only really about four teams out of the eight that make the grade in the East that will actually be able to contend with the almighty West and here they are: Boston Celtics (no brainer), Cleveland Cavaliers (you can never count out King James), Orlando Magic and the always competitive Detroit Pistons.

The clear cut favorite is Boston with a very talented team and the ability to play lock down defense night in and night out, but then you have the Detroit Pistons who have more playoff experience and team chemistry than any team in the East by far. With the Orlando Magic you have a very young team with the ability to beat anyone on any given night, but their inexperience will be their undoing as they won’t be able to hang with the veteran teams like Boston and Detroit.

And then there is LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers who are the defending Eastern conference champs. The Cavs are a very hot and cold team, you never know what team you are going to see every night, one night they may beat the San Antonio Spurs convincingly and then go and lose to the Clippers or the Miami Heat by 20. If LeBron isn’t putting up a triple-double or scoring like a madman then the Cavs have no chance.

Besides these four teams, in my opinion, no one has a chance at getting further than the first round, except for the Washington Wizards with a healthy Gilbert Arenas, but that is a long shot considering the fact that the Wizards coaching staff don’t think he is healthy enough to be in the starting lineup.