The stage is finally set for the 2009 NBA Playoffs and it’s going to be a great match-up for the Conference Finals! The top seeds were both expected to move on and they did, while my darkhorse picks for both East and West moved forward too. The West saw the Lakers needing 7 games to down the Rockets who were without Yao for the last 3 games and will face the peaking Nuggets led by the very reliable Chauncey Billups. Denver proved to be too much for the Mavs on both offense and defense as they were very dominant in closing out that series.

On the Eastern front, Lebron James was unstoppable again and his Cavs swept the Hawks and made them look terrible every game. While the Magic finally snapped the Game 7 leprechaun magic that hounded all teams spanning from last year with a blowout win at Boston today setting up a great match-up against the Cavs!

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs (3) Orlando Magic

The leprechauns are finally gone and their Game 7 streak of wins (32-0 all-time) is OVER. Sure, KG was out, but that’s how it is in the playoffs! They just didn’t have enough bigs to cover Dwight Howard as the Magic proved that having the defensive player of the year anchor your D beside unbelievably accurate shooters on the wings would be a daunting task to overcome. And the Celtics found that out an hour ago.

The Cavs… what CAN you say about them? Lebron is un-guardable and has made it his mission to get to the Finals and win it all this year. It seems like they can do it, but they need to run through 2 more very tough teams and the Magic will be their first real test. Forget about the Pistons and Hawks as those teams stood no chance against them. Lebron is 1-2 this season against Dwight’s Magic and this series will be quite entertaining as it pits the unstoppable force against the immovable object!

This is going to be a great series but I reckon the advantage is to the Magic. The only reason I’m re-thinking it is because the Cavs are so dominant at home all season and don’t look to back down on that record anytime soon especially in the playoffs. But the Magic are proving to be legit this season and really don’t care where they play as evidenced by their Game 7 thrashing of the Celtics on the road today. The key for the Magic to win is how well Rashard and Hedo play because Dwight is a constant and no one from the Cavs side can actually guard those 2 shooters. And when Turkoglu plays as well as he did today, good things will happen for the Magic as it opens up everything for them. I don’t see how Dwight gets in foul trouble against Z or Varejao as they aren’t really scorers and that gives him more room to play help D, unless Lebron finds a way to bait him. And boy are the Magic TOUGH down low and can play great D outside too.

The keys to the Cavs winning this series are two-fold. Lebron has to play consistenly well but distribute the ball enough to get his teammates confidence up. In the 3 games they played against the Magic this season, only Lebron has shown any sort of will to win while his team has played terrible except for Mo in 2 of the 3 games. They need Z and Delonte to step it up otherwise they will have a very difficult time facing this hyped up Magic squad. I’m going with the darkhorse for this series but it will be very interesting to see how the first game goes. Can’t wait! Magic by an inch in Game 7!

PICK: Magic in 7.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs (2) Denver Nuggets

The Lakers finally got past the pesky Rockets today with a Game 7 win at home, as it should be, but were pretty disappointing in this series. Even without Yao, Houston was still able to pull off 2 wins to bring it to a decider. In any case, what matters is that the Lakers got there and will be tested by a very versatile Nuggets team.

I love the Nuggets this season but like them even more in the playoffs as everything has come full circle at the right time. JR Smith is finally growing up and George Karl finally has confidence in him. Chris Andersen has been special and is having the best year of his career. Both are vital playing off the bench to spell the starters and they lose NOTHING when they come in and that’s a rarity these days on any elite team. You add their new skipper in Chauncey Billups to the mix and you have got a complete team that can actually win it all this season. The Lakers are going to have a very difficult time playing these Nuggets even if they are up 3-1 this season against them as that team in the regular season is light years away from the one it is now. You have 2 bigs in the middle in K-Mart and Nene, with Birdman off the bench, then Melo who has been scoring at will in these playoffs and Smith off the bench will for sure give the Lakers headaches each and every single game.

Kobe’s crew finally did their homework and destroyed the Rockets in Game 7. There is a lot to fix though as the series showed a lot of weak parts in the Lakers game. Bynum definitely needs to play well against the Nuggets otherwise Pau is going to have his hands full with all the banging he’s going to get from the big men of Denver. The key to the Lakers winning this series is how well Odom and Ariza play and how well their team plays D against this offensive juggernaut.  I’m sure Kobe relishes this match-up against Melo and I see Kobe having a better advantage but they will probably cancel each other out. So it’s going to be how the other guys play but the Lakers won’t win this series if Bynum plays nonchalantly and if Odom doesn’t aggressively push the ball.

Let’s see how Kobe and Ariza play D against Melo and company but for sure it’s going to be another great series to watch! And as much as I love the Nuggets, I think Kobe has one up over Melo after playing together in that Olympic team and he may just have enough to keep the Lakers afloat to the Finals. I won’t be surprised if the Nuggets pull an upset in Game 7 though!

PICK: Lakers in 7.