It's the Conference Finals!

So the Conference Finals are here, and Game 1 of the East is already done with the home team (Boston) winning. Game 1 of the West occurs tonight and this is year, and these series will be off. These four teams are, hands down, the four best teams in the NBA, and now it comes down the essentially, the professional Final 4. A potential 14 games (7 potentially from each conference) of good ol' slug 'em out basketball. As your resident non-expert NBA follower, here are my following predictions and theories (someone's got to make them, and if JE Skeets and Kelly Dwyer can, why not me? Not like I get paid to do this like them).

Eastern Conference:

Boston Celtics vs Detroit Pistons

Looking at the Eastern Conference you honestly have to ask yourself, is there any reason these two teams shouldn't be here? Now, someone might have the courage (I'd like to say audacity) to say, Yeah, what about that guy named, LeBron James? And of course I would reply, "Seriously, is there any reason these two teams shouldn't be here?" No knock on LeBron, but I'm still going with the fact that last year was a fluke. Looking at the team around Lebron, they still don't have what it takes, LeBron either needs better help or he needs to leave (some would say to New York or New Jersey in 2010). Regardless, he didn't make it and here we have the two best teams of the regular season (record-wise) duking it out in the Eastern Conference Finals.

I've said this to several people already, but during Round 2, I said that if Cavs force a Game 7 on the Celtics, despite winning the series, they (the Celtics) are going to be in trouble. I think to say they have road woes is something of an understatement, but to put it succinctly, they are the only team in the Conference Finals that has not won a road game. They're playing some crazy ball in the Garden, but I wouldn't hold it above the Pistons, or should they advance, whoever wins in the West, to steal a game there. The Celtics now have at least 2 (maybe 3) road games to show that they can do what they do somewhere other than Massachussets.

Pistons have been playing the way they're supposed to be and competing nicely in the postseason, clearing out the Orlando Magic even with a sidelined Chauncey Billups. Now with Billups back in the lineup, I don't expect Detroit to fold like last year. They've been 0-2 in their previous two Eastern Conference Finals appearances, disappearing after a commanding 2-0 lead to LeBron James last year and then falling to the Miami Heat the year previous. The main thing that Detroit has to work on is keeping their head in the game, but then again, I think both teams need to do that, and if Boston does it, I like their chances better.

I think the best matchup would be Rasheed Wallace on Kevin Garnett. Both players are solid defensively and have a range that eludes many power forwards. The Celtics have much more to attempt to stop as the Pistons use a much more balanced offense and attack than the Cavs did. Rajon Rondo has the length and speed to bother even a guard like Billups, and really has an opportunity to at the very least disrupt the Pistons offense as Billups is known to hold on to the ball too long. While he's no LeBron, Paul Pierce has shown he is still one of the most effective scorers in the game, and Tayshaun Prince will have a tough time guarding him. If anyone is up for the task though, it would be Prince. Richard Hamilton we look to be his usual consistent self, finding thing spot up jumpers and cutting to the rim with regularity, of course Boston will work extra hard to stop him. The key I think to this matchup though, I think will be whether or not Ray Allen will be able to find his postseason shooting touch. He didn't look to hot in the Cavs series, and still hasn't seem to be able to find his shot. I think once his touch is back, the Pistons are going to be in a lot of trouble. Allen isn't exactly a great catch-and-shoot kind of guy, which is what the Celtics need, but if they can run a couple of plays for him, then I think he'd find his groove very fast. I think because of his poor shooting Allen has been criticized as "disappearing" in the playoffs, but I think that it's because the team needs him to be a Reggie Miller, that is, a Reggie Miller that's a third scoring option. Allen is more comfortable making his own shots off the dribble, but he doesn't get the option very often. Catch-and-shoot like Jason Kapono, Eddie House, Daniel Gibson, even Peja, isn't Allen's forte. In my opinion, he's still adjusting.

Regardless, I see Boston waking up on the road, finally.

Celtics in 6.

West:

Los Angeles Lakers vs San Antonio Spurs

The last time I remember a competitive matchup between the Spurs and the Lakers was when the Lakers still had Shaq, and when Allen Iverson's 51 point Game 1 in the NBA Finals kept abruptly halted the Lakers' 12 game post season win streak. The Lakers who promptly finshed the post season with championship rings on a 16-1 post season record (I'm sorry, I didn't follow in 2002, but apparently they won then too). Ok, so maybe it hasn't been that long, say 3 years, since Shaq was traded. Anyways, it's something of a revival of two major powers in the Western Conference, of course Spurs are always a perennial contender, so I would argue that anyone is a rival, but the fact that they've won all save 2 (Detroit in 2004 and Miami in 2006) of the last 9 championships, I suppose you could say it's something.

Now the Lakers summarily tidied up Denver Nuggets, who simply collapsed after Game 1 and essentially invited the Lakers over for 2 games of practice scrimmages prior to Round 2 (who knew? I thought they could steal a game). Afterwards, it was deja vu for Jerry Sloan (well not quite) as Phil Jackson exited him and his Jazz out of the running for the NBA Finals again in Game 6. Now the Lakers are rested up and once again ready to make their run for the NBA Finals, of course, only one thing standing in their way, wait, that's right, the defending champions. San Antonio has shown that despite their age, their players can still complete. They proved Steve Kerr and idiot by summarily handing Phoenix and their Spurs stopper Shaquille O'Neal an early 4-1 exit out of the first round. Then showed why they are the defending champs and how experience does matter when they finished out the New Orleans Hornets in a tight 4-3 series.

Now as far as matchups go, neither one of these lineups have been complete, the Spurs having won prior to the Gasol trade and the Lakers later winning when Ginobili was out with a groin injury, so we have yet to actually see these two rosters go at each other full force. As hard as Bruce Bowen will try, there really isn't anyone or anything short of season ending injury that can stop Kobe Bryant. What the Spurs are going to have to do then, is play the Lakers soft interior. They have to out body inside on all the rebounds where their overall size and physicality can help them win out. Of course to do so, the shooters from the outside are going to have to do their jobs as well. As for the Lakers, they just have to pass, do what they do well and they're nigh impossible to stop. I get the feeling though, the bench is going to need this year as a growing experience, as they seemed to fade a little in Utah series. Tough call, but experience is not dead or overrated, not if you have the talent to go with it (sorry Dallas).

Spurs in 7.