NBA Conference Finals Preview

Please save us from having to watch this guy dunk 100 times after each of Rafer Alston's atrocious fadeaway 3 point attempts.

Eastern Conference - (1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (3) Orlando Magic

Analysis by Stanley

In basketball, the better team almost always wins a series.  There are almost no flukes, and there are not too many surprises.  When a team that is the underdog surprisingly wins a series, one can look at the series after and point to the mismatches that made the underdog actually the better team.  Well, this one has no gray area.  The Cavs are going to destroy the Magic.  

Everything about the Magic is boring.  Their fans can't get into a game (they have to give out little noisemakers, which is the ultimate sign of bad fans), their court looks really amateurish, their best player can't win a game for you down the stretch, they have a crappy point guard starting, and they have a bunch of other crappy players that actually get serious minutes.  

So why the hell am I ripping on the Magic left and right?  Well, when they doled out over $120 million to Rashard Lewis, you just knew that they weren't actually going to be a serious title contender.  Or that if they were, then there was something seriously wrong with the direction of the NBA.  Orlando has Dwight Howard (superstar that can't win a game for you like LeBron or Kobe), Hedo Turkoglu (makes some three's and puts up decent fantasy numbers), Rashard Lewis (a slightly better Hedo Turkoglu), an injured Jameer Nelson (the injury being the reason Nelson has not played since mid-season, and also why Orlando has no chance in this series), and Rafer Alston (Jameer Nelson's replacement, who shoots way too much and really just sucks it up when he gets out there).  

Meanwhile, the Cavs are just loaded and have looked unbeatable so far.  Say the Magic found out a way to guard LeBron James (an impossibility, but let's just say this happened).  The Cavs will beat you with Mo Williams, Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and even Joe Smith.  But if the Cavs completely shut down Dwight Howard (entirely possible), then the Magic would become one dimensional.  They would start chucking up three's.  You just know that Rafer Alston would start trying to shoot ridiculous fadeaway 3 pointers, bricking every shot.  

The Cavaliers will run over the Magic in this one.  Expect blowouts in Games One and Two.  The Magic will take one game at home in some sort of lucky fashion, and then the Cavs will close it out back home in Cleveland.  This is a huge mismatch.  Just send the Cavs to the finals right now where LeBron has a chance to bring home the hardware.  

   

Stanley-Cavs in 5

Scott - Lebrons in 5

Western Conference - (1) LA Lakers vs. (2) Denver Nuggets

Analysis by Scott

Nobody thought the Lakers would even be tested on their way to the finals until the Rockets took them to a nerve-wrecking seven games.  But, of course, Kobe prevailed and got his team one step closer to a return to the finals.  Before they can do that, however, they'll have to get by Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets.  The Nuggets have lost only 2 games in the postseason thus far, but will face their first serious opponent against the Lakers tonight.  

While the Nuggets have been dominant, they're going to run into serious trouble against the Lakers.  Two glaring concerns:  J.R. Smith guarding Kobe, and Nene guarding Pau Gasol.  And, figure that Kobe is pissed due to the Rocket's push to 7 games, and he could do some serious damage against the Nuggets.  To Denver's advantage though, is their fiery, emotional style of play that can turn either positive or negative.  It will be vital for the Nuggets to stay composed especially considering Kobe will likely go off at least twice now that he and the Lakers can play the terribly overused no-respect card.  While the Nuggets have the ability to keep up and score with the Lakers, but the question lies in whether or not they can really defend the Laker's tandem of Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum.  The Nuggets; hopes also lie largely in the hands of Melo and whether or not he can go back-and-forth with Kobe.

Scott - Lakers in 5

Stanley-Lakers in 7