The Eastern Conference has gone through a change that has made it stronger than it has been for some time. Instead of producing one or two possible championship-worthy teams, which it has done for quite a few years now, there are five legitimate championship teams coming from the East this year. Those teams are the Boston Celtics (38-13), Miami Heat (38-14), Chicago Bulls (34-16), Atlanta Hawks (33-19) and Orlando Magic (33-20).
Now, before all you New York Knicks fans get riled up about my not including your team in the list, you have to realize that while the Knicks look better this year than they have for a while, better in this case means barely above .500.
Amar’e Stoudemire has reenergized the Knicks, Madison Square Garden and the city of New York by playing near MVP level, but the Knicks are still far from the NBA Finals, let alone the Eastern Conference Championships.
With Kendrick Perkins back in the line-up, the Celtics look ready to make up for last year’s loss in the finals to the Los Angeles Lakers. Rajon Rondo has been playing at a very high level, averaging a league-leading 12.4 assists a night, and the veterans on the Celtics have been carrying their weight, with Ray Allen one three-point basket away from tying Reggie Miller’s record of 2,560 career three-pointers. The Celtics have continued playing great defense this year and are ready to make a deep run this postseason.
Remember that question everyone had at the beginning of the year, after LeBron made his decision to take his talents to South Beach? The question was, “Can LeBron and Wade work together on the court?” The answer is yes. Definitely yes. With the Heat half a game from first place in the East, Erik Spoelstra has found a way for LeBron and Wade to mesh on the court. Now, the question for the Heat is how long before they make it to the NBA Finals. With so many top teams in the East this year, I’d say that they may have to wait one more year before the King has a chance at getting crowned.
MVP candidate Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls is ready to make some noise this postseason. After being knocked out in the first round for the past two years, Rose is putting together a statement season with new teammate Carlos Boozer. With wins this year against tough competition, including the Heat, the Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks and the Celtics, the Bulls look like they’re ready to make it past the first round of playoffs.
With the same core squad that made the second round of playoffs last year, the Hawks seem ready to make another postseason run.
This past offseason, they re-signed Joe Johnson, who has scored 20.1 points per game, to a six-year contract for $119 million. Despite many calling the deal ridiculous, Johnson has played hard and will look to advance the Hawks further this postseason than last.
Orlando shook up the basketball world when it made deals with the Suns and the Wizards to bring back Hedo Turkoglu and add both Jason Richardson and Gilbert Arenas. With both the new and the old, Orlando has been playing at the level at which it was when it made it to the finals against the Lakers in 2009.
The West, on the other hand, is lacking quality teams this year. Usually fans can expect an excitement-filled brawl to get to the Conference Finals in the wild west, but this year most observers have already booked the Western Conference Finals game for the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Betus.com is giving the Lakers 14 to 19 odds and the Spurs 5 to 2 odds for winning the Western Conference Finals with the closest contenders at 10 to 1. In the East, all but the Hawks have better than 8 to 1 odds for becoming the Eastern Conference Champion.
I’m looking forward to another great playoff season this year. Personally, I’m hoping for a Lakers-Celtics finals rematch resulting in Kobe’s sixth ring, the Lakers’ 17th championship banner (which would tie them with the Celtics), Phil Jackson’s impending retirement on one side and the Doc’s impending retirement on the other. Combined with the age of all of the Celtics’ veteran players, the matchup would make for a finals with so much at stake on both sides.
Then again, I’m a sucker for intense and entertaining playoff series.
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