Eastern Conference Finals Preview

Now that the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics have both moved on to the Conference Finals, it'll be a showdown of the best teams in NBA battling each other. One team, a Eastern powerhouse with a ring to prove it, against the other team, a newly formed "Big 3" trying to get Boston back in conversation of NBA champions. This will be an all-time classic series.


Why the Pistons Will Win: The Pistons have been arguably, the best Eastern Conference team in the playoffs. They have had a little bit more trouble than expected with Philadelphia, but they fought through it in 6 games. The Orlando series, which many thought could go to 7 games, went only 5 games thanks to holding man-beast Dwight Howard to 15 points per game and rookie Rodney Stuckey's emergence after Chauncey Billups went down in game 3. Now they face their biggest challenge in the Boston Celtics and are looking forward to the task of guarding the "NBA team". Tayshaun Prince has been the best player (16p, 6.2r, 56fg%) and now after guarding Andre Iguodala and Hedo Turkoglu, will have his hands full guarding "The Truth". If Chauncey can come back from his hamstring injury fully healthy and Rasheed (13.9p, 6r, 1.9b) play like the superstar he can be, the Pistons will look forward to the NBA Finals.

Why the Celtics Will Win: Even though Boston is playing in the Conference Finals, they have been a slight disappointment in the playoffs so far. First, a sub-par team like the Atlanta Hawks took them to the limit in seven games. They showed that even though they are a great defensive team, an all-star scorer like Joe Johnson still managed to take them out of their comfort level. The same thing happened with Cleveland, a seven-game series which an all-star scorer like LeBron James managed to will his team near the end. Now with Detroit, they have a chance to focus on the whole team instead of one particular player. Granted you could throw Rip Hamilton into that category but he has been average against the Celtics. With a fully-rejuvenated Paul Pierce (18.7p, 4.8r, 4.1a), a big defensive stopper in Kevin Garnett, a slumping shooter who's dying to have a breakout game (Ray Allen), and players who play their roles exceptionally, look for Boston to regain its former glory in the playoffs.

Outcome: Boston may have fatigue going against game, but they now have poise and confidence after going to two straight seven game series. Detroit, on the other hand, have had a week's worth of rest, the all-star floor general back in the lineup and the "underdog" label in this series. I expect:

Rasheed and KG canceling each other.

Tayshaun playing great defense on Pierce.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Sam "ET" Cassell playing big minutes.

Chauncey not being 100%.

Kendrick Perkins rebounding like a mad man.

Rip having 30-point games but little else.

Ray-Ray getting his 3-point shot back.

Celtics winning in 7.

I will have the Lakers-Spurs series tomorrow.