Orlando Magic vs Boston Celtics

Interesting point guard match up between Rajon Rondo and Jameer Nelson. It can be argued that Nelson’s play has been a big part of the Magic’s success in the playoffs. The former St. John stand-out has been shooting the lights out from three point range and has been successfully directing the Magic offense. Nelson has never played this great before. Rondo is the Celtics Big One. He has the ability to dominate games with his versatile skills.

Kendrick Perkins gives the Celtics the comfort of not double teaming Dwight Howard in the post. This means that Orlando’s shooters won’t be getting the open looks they had against the Hawks and Bobcats.

Orlando has a better bench. That’ll come in handy against the old Celtics.

This will be a great match-up and expect it to be a six game battle with the Celtics shocking Orlando.

Phoenix Suns vs LA Lakers

The Lakers still remember the Suns eliminating them from the playoffs before the Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant era. Kobe Bryant, the real greatest basketball player in the world, is still stinging from those Phoenix losses. His determination and motivation alone is enough to win this series. But Kobe’s personal vendetta may also be the Lakers downfall. He may become overeager to win games by himself and forget to pound the ball inside to Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

The Suns will counter LA’s advantage in height by getting out in the open court every chance they get. This may be Steve Nash’s last chance to finally reach the Finals.

It’ll be an entertaining series but the Lakers are too determined and motivated to be denied. Lakers in 7.

NBA Merchandise

Hey hoop fans, it just might be time to show your support for your favorite team with our selection of NBA merchandise. Your kids’ bedroom need a major sports makeover? Check out our NBA bedding for their favorite team. Flaunt your love for your NBA team by checking out our NBA watches and NBA jewelry. To see some great basketball merchandise, head on over to the NBA store.

The eastern conference brings us the Cleveland Cavaliers versus the Orlando Magic.  The Magic actually won two of their three match-ups against the Cavaliers in the regular season, but the Cavaliers breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs without a single loss and are looking pretty unbeatable at the moment.

Take our quick poll and tell us if you think the Cavaliers will continue to dominate and win this series, or if you think the Magic have what it takes to dethrone King LeBron.

In the western conference, we have the Los Angeles Lakers taking on the Denver Nuggets.  Everyone expected the Lakers to be here in the conference finals, but they did show some inconsistency in their 7 game series against the Rockets.  The Nuggets are playing really good basketball right now, losing only one game in each of their first two playoff series.

This looks like it could be another seven game series in the making. Take our poll and tell us who you think will come out the victors and move on to the NBA finals.

Check out the NBA Shop to stock up on some NBA merchandise in this final month of the season.  Don’t forget that June 21 is right around the corner.  An NBA watch makes a great Father’s Day gift for your basketball-loving dad!

Photo by Keith Allison available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.