Heading into Round 2 (East Edition)

After a dominate performance against the Detroit Pistons, the Cleveland Cavaliers will continue their quest for a NBA title against the Atlanta Hawks, who limped past the Miami Heat after a game 7 win.Although the front office of the Hawks has done an outstanding job in free agency and the NBA draft the last few seasons, the young and talented Hawks will undoubtedly struggle against a much more experienced and talented team in the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers are obviously anchored by MVP candidate Lebron James but their talent goes beyond the All-Star small forward sensation. Mo Williams and Delonte West spur the back court for Cleveland and all year, this dynamic duo has provided much offensive help for James. The front court of Ilgauskas and Varejao isn't as stellar as most, but they are very solid role players who bring energy and effort. The bench for the Cavaliers is the only striking weakness. Ben Wallace, once a feared defender in the league, has fallen off, mostly in part to due injuries. Daniel Gibson, known for his heroics against the Detroit Pistons two years ago, does not see very much time off the bench. Also, Aleksander Pavlovic, a sharp-shooter from Serbia, like Gibson, is also seeing his minutes dwindle as the season progresses. Former No. 1 overall pick, Joe Smith, is the only bright spot off the bench for the Cavaliers. Since his signing late in the season, Smith has provided much needed shot blocking off the bench and also a savvy array of offensive versatility that has greatly given James more room to maneuver around the basket.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, they will be lucky to win one game against the Cavaliers. They are thoroughly outmatched in this series but Hawks fans can still expect their team to go out and give it their all. I'm picking Cleveland in four games, five at the most.

Onto the most exciting match ups of the Eastern semi-conference finals, the showdown between the No. 2 seeded Boston Celtics and the No. 3 seeded Orlando Magic. These two teams have been on a colision course all year as they continually swapped places below the Cavaliers for the fight for second in the East. Even though, the Celtics are wthout Kevin Garnett and will undoubtedly face some type of fatigue due to their 7 game series against the Chicago Bulls, do not expect the Celtics to lay over and let the Magic run all over them.

The Magic will need solid play from Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis. Also, at this point in his career, Dwight Howard is going to have to show that he is indeed the unstoppable force he dubbed himself a few seasons ago. Howard has the opportunity to reap the benefits of the short-handed front court of the Celtics. I'm expecting this series to go at least 6 games. I want to pick the Celtics because of the resiliency they have shown since losing Garnett but at this point, the Magic are the better team and it would be surprising if they found a way to lose to the Celtics.

That's it for this installment! Enjoy the Eastern semis everyone!