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East will come down to Pistons, Celtics But don't sleep on Washington or Orlando By Chris Winkler It’s been 21 years since the Boston Celtics last won the Eastern Conference. A hard fought seven-game series that saw Larry Bird and the Celtics defeat Isiah Thomas’ Detroit Pistons. It gave Boston its fourth-straight Eastern Conference title. Now, if the Celtics plan on getting back to the NBA Championship, it will undoubtedly come down to beating the Pistons again. The Celtics and Pistons will finish with the top two records in the NBA, and there is little doubt either team will struggle through their first two rounds to set the stage for another Celtic-Piston showdown in the East final. What happens in the rest of the East playoffs remains to be seen. Although the Western Conference playoffs will be much more appealing, the East is strikingly even after the top two teams. The third-seeded Orlando Magic, led by dunk-champ Dwight Howard, seems to be the only team that can contend with the top two. We all know about Howard, but it’s been the play of the other big men, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, that have made the Magic a legitimate contender. Turkolgu, a 6-foot, 10-inch tall native of Turkey, is having a breakout season averaging career bests in points (19.6) and rebounds (5.8). He’s eleventh in three-pointers made with 162. Lewis, also 6-foot 10-inches tall, is third in the league with 218 three-pointers made. He has quietly been one of the top offseason pickups in the NBA, averaging just over 18 points per game. The Magic will likely face either the Toronto Raptors or the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. The four-five series finally appears to be settled with the Washington Wizards running away from the 76ers Saturday to give them the No. 5 spot. They will take on the defending East champions Cleveland Cavaliers. A mid-season trade that saw the Cavs revamp their surrounding players for Lebron James hasn’t really worked out the way GM Danny Ferry probably hoped it would. The Cavs have had a nice surprise from Delonte West, who has stepped right into the point guard position and played well since coming over from Seattle. But Wally Szczerbiak, also acquired from Seattle, hasn’t really found his shooting ability in Cleveland. Also, we knew Ben Wallace wasn’t known for his scoring, but it’s hard to imagine he’s only averaging 4.3 points per game as a Cavalier, in a 30-minute role. The Wizards have played well without superstar Gilbert Arenas who missed 67 games in the middle of the year. Led by Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, the Wizards hung around in the mediocrity of what is called the Eastern Conference and are going to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. They have lost to the Cavs in the first round in each of the last two seasons. The 76ers and the Raptors will battle it out during the final week of the season to see who will get the six or seven seed. Toronto, who is supposed to be here — unlike Philadelphia — has hung around .500 after having a few mid-season injuries to their two stars Chris Bosh and T.J. Ford. The good news is both are healthy, and the Raptors resemble the team that was supposed to compete with Boston for the Atlantic Division crown. Philadelphia was pegged by nearly every analyst to finish dead last in the entire Eastern Conference. But led by emerging star Andre Iguodala and steady veteran Andre Miller, the Sixers are heading to the playoffs for the first time since trading Allen Iverson. Don’t expect too much, but this team did split the season series with Detroit. Barring a large collapse, the Atlanta Hawks have won the right to get obliterated by the Boston Celtics in the first round. They probably won’t win a game, but this is a nice building block for a young team that will make the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 1999. As for who wins, I like Boston in four over Atlanta, or whoever they’ll play. Detroit does not have much of a problem against either Toronto or Philidelphia. The same goes for Orlando, but if it’s the 76ers, that could be a long series. The upset, if you want to call it that, will be Washington finally beating Cleveland in seven. Detroit will take out Orlando and Boston will take care of Washington with neither going longer than six games. In the end, I like the more experienced Detroit Pistons to get back to the NBA Finals in a fantastic seven-game series. |
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