By Guest Blogger Tyler Daly:

With the NBA’s regular season quickly coming to an end, many teams and fans have begun to look towards the postseason and what it could hold for their respective squads.  Everyone believes their team has a shot at the title, but how realistic are the expectations for the top teams?  Here are the teams with the best shot at winning a championship:

1) Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers struggled by their own fans’ standards throughout the first half of the season, and there’s no mistaking that they didn’t look like the Lakers of old.  But as many championship-caliber teams do, Los Angeles has turned up the intensity since the All-Star break, going 15-1 in that span.  The Lakers have the deepest team in the NBA, and their physicality on the boards through Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum will pay dividends in the playoffs.  They also have two things that no one else in the league has, Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.

2) Chicago Bulls: The Chicago Bulls are peaking, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  With top MVP candidate Derrick Rose as their leader, the Bulls have climbed atop the Eastern Conference and shown everyone they are a force to be reckoned with.  Rose does it all for them, attacking the basket, hitting jump shots, and dishing to Deng and Boozer.   Joakim Noah gives them a great physical presence inside, something they will need to match up with Orlando or Boston in the playoffs.  The only thing that seems to be a weakness for this team is their lack of outside shooting ability.

3) San Antonio Spurs: Despite dropping five straight, the Spurs still have the NBA’s best record at 57-18.  The losing streak is mostly due to the injuries to Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli, a sign to some that this veteran squad may be slowing down.  The Spurs are a nightmare offensively, dominating from the inside-out through Duncan and Parker.  This is an experienced squad who has seen it all so don’t be surprised when they have a strong showing in the playoffs, regardless of where they finish in the Western Conference standings.

4) Dallas Mavericks: The Mavericks are arguably one of the deepest teams in the NBA this year, and they use their bench to the fullest.  They share the ball extremely well, averaging a league-best 23.7 assists per game.  Dallas is a group that consistently sees all five starters in double figures, as well as Jason Terry coming off of the bench as the league’s most valuable sixth man.  Tyson Chandler has given the Mavericks a presence inside they have often lacked, and Dirk Nowitzki has proven he is not too old to carry this team.  One large looming concern for Dallas is their recent playoff woes, with consecutive first round exits at the hands of the Hornets and the Spurs.  A key factor will be the pending return of Caron Butler from a knee injury that has kept him out for most of this season.

5) Boston Celtics: The Boston Celtics are a team that somehow still flies under the radar despite their star-packed roster.  Consistently they shake off attention near the end of the season by dropping easy games and “showing their age.”  Forget about what you see and hear, Boston is more than ready to compete for another title.  The C’s share the ball extremely well, especially through Rajon Rondo.  He’s second in the league in assists, and has plenty of teammates to hook up with a highlight play.  Don’t sleep on the Celtics, they will be ready come playoff time.

6) Miami Heat: The Heat have been in the spotlight from the first tip of the season and will remain there until their final buzzer sounds.  When that will be is a hot button topic at the moment.  Miami certainly has all the tools to win a championship on paper, but we all know games aren’t won on loose leaf.  The trio of stars in South Beach have struggled against top talent across the league this season, especially when teams have forced them into the half court offense.  Lebron James and Dwayne Wade have begun to show they can share the ball with each other as of late, but the lack of conversions in clutch situations has all Heat supporters nervous.  Look for this team to wear down their opponents in a seven game series by slashing to the basket and getting out in transition.

7) Orlando Magic: Orlando is a team that has found themselves consistently on the cusp of winning a title.  They have the most dominant physical presence in the league behind Dwight Howard and have great shooters all across the floor like Redick, Nelson and Turkoglu.  Their defense is also ranked 5^th in points allowed, so many are scratching their heads as to why this team can’t seem to get it done.  A major hindrance for Orlando is their lack of a go-to scorer down the stretch.  Thy have struggled in clutch situations, and after trading away key role players like Pietrus and Gortat, this team will need a little more than magic to seriously entertain title hopes.

Oklahoma City Thunder: The Thunder are the last team that any Western Conference foe wants to see in the playoffs.  This extremely young squad, led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, plays with an incredible amount of energy and owns one of the best home court advantages in the league.  This team can score in all ways, especially after acquiring Perkins from the Celtics.  Teams have had success against the Thunder when they play physical, as these youngsters play a predominantly finesse style of play.  Oklahoma City surprised many by pushing the Lakers to the limit in the playoffs last year, but a looming first round matchup with the new-look Denver Nuggets could prove troublesome for this inexperienced group.

To the chagrin of players and coaches, the NBA is pumping out five games this year on Christmas day. Phil Jackson and LeBron James have already expressed their distaste for christmas games, but fans have every right to be thrilled with the christmas schedule. Here are two marquee match-ups:

Boston Celtics at Orlando Magic:

This game is intriguing on so many levels. Firstly, these are two Easter Conference contenders with Boston leading the pack all season. Orlando is fresh off of a 123-101 crushing of the NBA-best San Antonio Spurs.

Orlando, though, have essentially a brand new team after making two blockbuster trades this past week. With the additions of Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu (who already played for Orlando in the past) and Earl Clark. After watching this new team demolish the San Antonio Spurs, it will be interesting to see how they fair against the next best team in the NBA on a back-to-back.

More importantly, it will be interesting to see how Orlando can manage these new moving pieces. Stan Van Gundy has already stated that Jameer Nelson is his guy, but with Gilbert Arenas in the fold, it will be difficult to manage the two. Arenas had a solid outing against the Spurs, putting up 14 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. At some point, Van Gundy might have to eat his words and hand the reigns over to Arenas. Otis Smith didn’t bring Arenas and his absurd contract over from Washington so that he could come off the bench for 30 minutes a game.

Arenas may be the headline of the trades made, but let’s not overlook the value that Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu can bring to the team. Both of these guys are very solid veterans, and the last time Turkoglu played for Orlando, they made it to the NBA finals.

If Van Gundy can find a way to make the pieces fit, this Orlando team could be very dangerous.

Miami Heat at Los Angeles Lakers:

This game, of course, is the premier match-up of the night, as two star-studded teams will square off in LA.

It will be interesting to see how Miami plays against one of the best teams in the league. They played a tough, close game with the Dallas Mavericks a week ago in what was a surprisingly low-key match-up, but ended up with a two-point loss to the defensive-minded Dallas team. It seems that Miami has a tendency to look great against mediocre teams, but when they go up against the best of the NBA, they fall short — especially against great defensive teams.

Also, there is a chance Dwyane Wade won’t be playing in this game, which puts a damper on the game — and the outcome — entirely. The value of this game is that we can get an idea of how good Miami really is, as they’ve now had over 30 games to build chemistry, but without Wade in the mix, this game is entirely about entertainment value.

LA, on the other hand, is just now getting fully healthy with Andrew Bynum returning from injury. It’s hard to imagine the Miami Heat shutting down both Pau Gasol and Bynum with Chris Bosh and Zydrunas Ilgauskas leading the front court defensive efforts. Bosh and Ilgauskas are two decorated offensive players, but they have yet to prove their worth (it’s too late for Ilgauskas) on the defensive end, and this will cause problems for them agains the better teams in the league. WIthout Wade, this game will be very one-sided in favor of LA.

By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Geoff Nelowet:

Between Ray Allen’s eight three-pointers and Rajon Rondo’s triple-double, the LA Lakers would have had to bring their absolute best work Sunday night.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, they didn’t. Not only that but, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum combined for 21 fouls. Ron Artest fouled out, and the others nearly did as well. For most of the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant was nursing five fouls, which essentially opened the floodgates for Rajon Rondo, as Bryant was assigned the task of guarding him throughout the game.

The Celtics playing in LA has been an interesting dichotomy – the Celtics have been the best road team in the playoffs, and the Lakers were previously 9-0 at home. In game 1, the Lakers dominated the underperforming Celtics, and the reverse happened in game 2.

At some point, both teams will show up, and it will make for an epic game. At this point, though, the Celtics have all the momentum as they head home for game 3. Ironically, after looking back at Phil Jackson’s perfect 47-0 series record after winning game 1, that figure now seems entirely irrelevant.

It is interesting to see how well Rasheed Wallace and Nate Robinson have played in the playoffs. Wallace had a quiet seven points and seven points in just 18 minutes, but he led all players with a +/- of +17. That statistic, point differential when on the court, can be misleading at times, but in this case it probably isn’t – Wallace has been a very solid player this post-season, and one could argue that he should be starting over Kevin Garnett. As for Robinson, he has been a spark for the Celtics off the bench, and he proved against Orlando in game 6 that he can be serious threat in the fourth quarter. It seems that everything is coming together for Boston at the right time.

It is hard to argue against Phil Jackson’s 47-0 series record after winning game 1, but at this point Boston looks like a better team. The LA Lakers massive foul trouble is indicative of that. Across the board, the Lakers’ key players could not guard the Celtics’, which accounts for a roster fraught with players with five-plus fouls. The likes of Kobe Bryant, a superstar that tends to have calls go his way, was on his way to fouling out at the onset of the fourth quarter. Guarding Rajon Rondo is clearly a difficult task, and that will take the Boston Celtics a very long way.

By Guest Blogger Geoff Nelowet:

Phil Jackson is 47-0 in playoff series when his team won game 1, and after a 102-89 thrashing of the Boston Celtics, it looks like the LA Lakers may do just that.

If the Celtics want to make a serious run in this series, they will have to start by playing better defense. They allowed Pau Gasol to be far too efficient in the paint, and the Celtics will never play well when Gasol is cruising to 23 points and 14 rebounds. Kobe Bryant also had yet another strong performance with 30 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Again, the Celtics relied on their defense throughout the playoffs, and when they become an average playoff team, they look much more like the regular season Celtics.

Rajon Rondo also had probably his worst game of the playoffs, as he shot 6-14 from the floor and had difficulty getting to the paint with any consistency. Kobe Bryant did an excellent job guarding Rondo all night. The Celtics have relied on Rondo and strong team defense to guide them through the playoffs, but against the Lakers neither really showed up.

It will be interesting to see how Boston responds after game 1. It looked like they were just happy to be in the finals last week, as they put forth a sub par effort. Credit must be given to the Lakers, though, because they looked like a substantially better team with an answer to everything Boston attempted.

I’m going to pick the Celtics to come back from a lackluster effort. I think Rondo will have a much better game, and the team will lock down on Gasol and Bryant. It will be difficult for the Celtics to win the series after losing game 1, but anything is possible, and it is still a very long series. Finals score: Celtics 99 Lakers 88

The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the NBA’s power houses over the last 10+ years, but their star has really begun to fade this season. Last night they blew a perfect opportunity to pick up a game in the Western Conference, as the Lakers were without both Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. Instead of picking up a game, the Spurs lost 101-89, falling to 29-21 for the season and tying them for 6th place in the Western Conference.

Last night was a disappointing loss as the Spurs came out of the gate on fire and had a 6 point lead at the end of the 1st quarter. While it went down hill from there, they were only down by 3 at halftime and just 5 points heading into the 4th quarter. The 4th quarter is where the Spurs should have won the game. They were the deeper team with the injuries to the Lakers stars, but instead played their worst basketball of the night. What was most disappointing was how the Spurs lost, allowing 5 Lakers in double figures and getting out rebounded. With no Kobe or Bynum the Spurs should have been able to defend the Lakers better, and there is no excuse to get out rebounded when the Lakers were without their only true center. Last night’s disappointing loss was another in a long line of tough losses to teams San Antonio should have beaten.

As shocking as it may be, it is quite possible that the Spurs could miss the playoffs this year. Portland, Houston, Memphis and New Orleans are all right there fighting for the ‘final’ playoff spot, but its just as likely that two of those teams get in and the Spurs end up watching the playoffs from home. There might be 30 games remaining in the season, but the Spurs haven’t shown they are better than any of these teams, and have struggled mightily against the top teams in the West. In fact the Spurs are just .500 (16-16) against the West, compared to 13-5 against the East.

Now I know people will say they are only 2.5 games out of first in their division, so its premature to write their eulogy, but if you look at the numbers the concern should be there. The Spurs are 19-10 at home but just 10-11 on the road. Of their remaining 32 games, 20 of them are on the road. Also of those remaining 32 games, only 12 of them are against the Eastern Conference. And it could be hard for the Spurs to maintain their dominance of the Eastern Conference, since 6 of those games are against the Cavs (2), Magic (2), Celtics, and Hawks (4 of which are away as well).

Overall I hope I’m wrong and the Spurs can defy the odds and make the playoffs (and do some damage when they are there) as I like the team and respect the way they play the game. But I think some changes need to be made, either through a trade or shaking up the lineup some, because right now this team can’t compete any longer with the top teams in the league.

Cavs-Celtics:  This was the premier matchup last night, and the fans weren’t disappointed in the game (except for those in Cleveland). It was a great all-around game against two teams that should be playing well into the summer. The Celtics were too much for the hometown Cavs, and showed a balanced attack last night. Boston dominated the boards and shot the ball better than Cleveland. That has to be frustrating with the Cavs, especially the part of losing the battle on the glass, considering they have the two biggest guys on the floor in Big-Z and Shaq. The most promising thing for the Celtics was the play of Rasheed Wallace, showing that he can fit in with the other veterans and stars in Boston. For the Cavs, they need to get more balance on offense, and find a way to get their big men better opportunities.

Lakers-Clippers:  The Lakers showed that they are still and elite team last night, but you have to be impressed with the way the Clippers played. Both teams were without a star player last night, Pau Gasol for the Lakers, and Blake Griffin for the Clippers, so this wasn’t the “A game” for either team. The Clippers showed something special last night, not only were they without Griffin, but they also had to deal with the mental aspect of that loss. No one thought the Clippers could respond, but they did last night even in the loss. The fact that they only loss by 7 to the reigning champs is pretty good. And in many ways the Clippers gave that game away last night. They had nearly twice as many fouls as their LA counterparts, not to mention turning the ball over four more times. Also two of their best players, Baron Davis and Al Thornton went a combined 5 for 21. If you eliminate the disastrous 1st quarter, then the Clippers would have won this game. For the Lakers outside of relying too much on their starters it was business as usual. They capitalized on the Clippers mistakes, and forced them into situations where they had to foul. One area of concern was their free-throw shooting, where they only shot 67% from the line. They will need to improve there if they want to close out games against the Western Conference’s tougher opponents.