NBA Eastern and Western Conference Preview!!!! by Ronald Carthen

Just for the record LeBron James will never fill Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant's shoes. LeBron needs another All-Star player to help him win a title. With that being said we have from now until the end of the summer to see where he will play for the rest of his life.

Now it's time to talk about four teams who have a chance to play in the NBA Finals this season. You have the Orlando Magic, who are 8-0 in the playoffs, going against the Boston Celtics, who knocked out LeBron and the Cavs, and Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers facing Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. With the LeBron distractions taking over the attention of the playoffs, I'm looking forward to watching both series. Take a look at my predictions and preview of both series as we move closer to the NBA Finals. 

The Magic deep roster will lead them to victory over the Celtics in Game 7!!!!

The Orlando Magic have not lost a game since April 2nd. They are having way too much fun right now in the playoffs, after sweeping the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds. Now they are finally going to get some competition in the postseason. The Celtics have to find a way to get Dwight Howard in foul trouble like the Bobcats did. Howard only averaged only 26.5 minutes in the first round against the Bobcats due to his foul issues. When he faced the Hawks, everyone was scared to defend him. Howard averaged 37.3 minutes, 21.0 points, 13.3 rebounds, and shot over 84% from the field (27-for-32). I know the Celtics are a good defensive team but I don't see Kendrick Perkins to stop him or Kevin Garnett coming in to help.

The Celtics perimeter defense will be tested in this series, with so many three-point shooters on the roster. The Magic have shot over 38% from the three-point range (89-232). There best three-point shooters this postseason are Rashard Lewis (24-for-52), Mickael Pietrus (21-for-41), and Jameer Nelson (19-for-47).

Vince Carter will finally play in his first Eastern Conference Finals. The 11-year veteran averaged 18.3 points, shot 51% from the field and over 46% from the three-point line against the Hawks in the semifinals. If he continues to play this well nothing will stop this team from winning an NBA championship.    

Key Matchup-Rajon Rondo vs Jameer Nelson: It's about time that both point guards will finally get some competition, but in this case it's against each other. Jameer Nelson has been flawless this postseason. He leads the team in points per game this postseason with 20.5 points and shooting over 51% from the field. Rajon Rondo earned his contract extension this season. When you have Mo Williams defending you, of course you'll average 20.8 points and 11.1 assists in the series. Let's see if he'll continue to have his break out postseason.

The Celtics "Big 3" have played a huge role in their run despite Rondo taking over the team day by day. Kevin Garnett had a great series against the Cavs. Shaquille O'Neal, Antawn Jamison, and Anderson Varejao didn't have a shot of stopping KG of averaging 18.8 points and shooting over 52% in this series. I'm very interested on Stan Van Gundy's gameplan and see how Lewis will guard him. Ray Allen came up big in LeBron's fall in the playoffs. In Game 5 of the series, he shot 6-for-9 from the three-point line in a 120-88 win. Ray is averaging over 42% from the three-point line and averaging 17.2 points. Paul Pierce struggled in the Cavs series. He only averaged 13.5 points on only 34% shooting. He better figure out a way to make some more baskets, especially in this series.

Kobe Bryant will lead the Lakers to their third straight NBA Finals appearance in Game 5!!!!! 

Kobe Bryant needed the much needed rest after dealing with injuries with his finger, knee, and what ever other parts of his body he has broken this season. Kobe has won four NBA titles and is still hungry to win more championships. Kobe scored 30 points or more in every game against the Utah Jazz in the semifinals. He averaged 32.0 points and shot over 52% from the field in his last series. The question isn't who's going to stop Kobe, it's if Kobe will hurt himself in this series and that will not happen.

Nobody on the Jazz roster was able to stop Pau Gasol in the semifinals. Pau averaged 23.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and shot over 60% in the last series. The Suns have played much better on defense but I don't know if Amar'e Stoudimire and especially Channing Frye will be able to stop Pau from getting 20 points a game, especially if the Lakers are in transition.

Key Matchup-Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant vs Jason Richardson: Jason Richardson has exploded this postseason after averaging only 15.7 points in the regular season. Jason has averaged 21.9 points and shot over 51% from the field and 51% from three-point range. I think both of these guys will switch off in this series and will shut down Richardson's postseason performance.

Amar'e Stoudimire's shooting percentage dropped from 54% in his series against the Portland Trial Blazers to only 47% against the San Antonio Spurs. He will have a tough time with an unhealthy Andrew Bynum and any other bigs that want to stop him, but I think he'll average 25 points in this series.

35-year old Derek Fisher better be happy he's facing a 36-year old point guard, but his name is Steve Nash. Fisher has had a hard time defending younger guards like Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook, but this will be no different against Nash. It looks like Fisher will need Kobe's help to shutting down Nash, who averaged 22 points, 7.8 assists, and shot 55% against the Spurs in his last series. Nash swollen eye should be great after a week off from Tim Duncan's elbow shot.