NBA Conference Finals Predictions - 2009

1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs 3 Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic will need a lot of Magic if they are going to beat the Cavaliers in a 7 game series. I think Cleveland easily takes the first 2 games at home, loses game 3 and then wins the next 2 games. The Magic have no one to contain LeBron James and if he needs to play a lot of minutes I think he averages 33-9-9 this series. Cavaliers win in 5.

1 Los Angeles Lakers vs 2 Denver Nuggets

This series will be a long hard fought series. The Lakers showed in their series against the Yao Ming-less Rockets that they are beatable and I think the Nuggets will beat the Lakers in this series. Name the last finesse team that won the NBA Finals? You can't, that is exactly why the Lakers will not win the NBA finals or this series. The Nuggets have come together as a team in the past two months and if the new Nuggets were able to play the Nuggets of January they would easily win by double digits. Kobe will have a lot of pressure on him in this series and Dahntay Jones will most likely be asked to play guard him. Since the Nuggets aren't reliant on Jones' offensive presence as much as his defense it won't hurt them offensively if he gets into foul trouble. Carmelo and Kobe became good friends last summer during the Olympics but Anthony had this to say about Bryant,"That's my man. That's my guy, but I don't know him this week." That's the mindset you need to be successful in this series.The Lakers have home court advantage in this series but I don't think it matters. Nuggets win in 7.