Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks were able to squeeze themselves into a playoff spot within the last week and a half.

They have managed to finish the season under .500 and still clinch the eighth seed, which means they will have to face the No. 1 seed in Boston.

It may not be fair for people to write off the Hawks against the rejuvenated Celtics, but that just may be the case. The Hawks are 0-3 against the Celtics this season and in those games, Atlanta had nothing for the C’s. In all three games against Boston, Atlanta lost by 10 or more points.

Paul Pierce scored 22.3 points per game against Atlanta in his matchup against Hawks forward Marvin Williams. Williams isn’t the right defender for Pierce for obvious reasons.

Pierce’s strength and ability to drive the ball to the basket is too much for Williams and Doc Rivers knows that.

Because of the mismatch, Rivers runs plays that involve Pierce going straight to the basket and with Pierce being a good ball handler, he has no problem setting up the play and trusting himself to do the right things.

This is Rivers’ fourth appearance in the playoffs as a head coach with little success. All four appearances resulted in a first round, but if there is a year to change all of that, it’s now.

He has a hungry team in All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen. These three were the best on their respective teams, but once they got together in Boston, they’ve done nothing but show their strength as a unit.

The three players have brought a boost of confidence to the rest of the team by leading them to the best record in the NBA. We all see they are comfortable playing with each other.

There may be a lot of star power on this team, but they don’t let that affect how they play, unlike some other teams would allow (cough-Denver-cough).

Atlanta is eager to knock Boston out of their place, but the numbers just don’t convince enough people to choose them over the C’s. This is a team that doesn’t possess a lot of playoff experience and even if they did, would it be enough to upset Boston?

Mike Woodson has yet to accomplish anything as an NBA head coach, but he’s only been coaching for four seasons.

No disrespect, but it’s obvious that Atlanta doesn’t have enough weapons to overcome the powerful C’s.

Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers

If an upset were to occur in the playoffs, this would be the logical pick.

Philly has been one of the hottest teams coming into the playoffs. Throughout February and March, the 76ers were able to compile a record of 19-9 which included a couple of small winning streaks.

These hot runs surprised many and now the 76ers see themselves holding down the seventh seed in the East, which sets up a series against the veteran-filled Detroit Pistons.

One advantage for Detroit is that they consist of veteran players, which enables them to know how to play come playoff time. They’ve been to the Eastern Conference Finals four seasons in a row.

The last two seasons have been failures under the head coach, Flip Saunders, and this may be his last chance to retain his position in the Pistons organization.

Many blame him for the playoff losses in the past couple of seasons and feel that he is not capable of guiding a championship-caliber team into the Finals.

That may be true, but there is a lot you can learn from being booted out of the playoffs two years in a row, especially since he still has the same team. The Pistons have gone through the first round without a problem over Saunders’ tenure in Detroit and this is the time where it seems like the Pistons have their heads on straight.

Saunders will usually rest his starters toward the end of the season, giving them time to relax before the playoffs begin, enabling them to come out with a lot of energy and take care of business early in the postseason.

The thing for Philadelphia is that the 76ers been using their starters the last couple of weeks of the season in order to retain a playoff spot and fight their way to a higher seed.

Detroit, on the other hand, clinched the second seed early and they had nothing to worry about, giving the starters the opportunity to rest and letting the bench develop over the last couple of weeks.

Philly is no pushover, though.

The teams split the season series, giving Philly a confidence boost going into the playoffs. Andre Iguadola is averaging almost 20 points a game against the Pistons this season and he has been the strength of their success.

But Detroit just may have too much for Philly, and it would be a monumental upset to see the 76ers pull off a series win against the Pistons.

Orlando Magic vs. Toronto Raptors

Orlando won the season series between these two teams, 2-1.

And if you want honesty, the Raptors 41-40 record is a fluke. The Raptors have a really young, energetic team that hasn’t showed their full potential yet this season and the chances of it showing in the playoffs doesn’t favor them.

Orlando, on the other hand, showed its potential throughout the 2007-08 season.

They were able to get off to a hot start and play consistent, team basketball which led them to clinch the third seed in the playoffs. Not many would have picked the Magic to do what they’ve done this year, but their team is among the best in the East.

The Raptors still show weaknesses in their lineup and many question their toughness. They do have Chris Bosh who has put together another solid season, scoring 22.5 points and grabbing 8.7 boards a game. But they don’t have anybody that can replace him off of the bench.

So, Bosh could easily get into foul trouble and the middle would be open for Dwight Howard. The matchup between Howard and Bosh will be a fun one to watch because they are both the big men whom their franchises revolve around.

Bosh is probably the most versatile and Howard is more intimidating. Both are excellent defenders and bring a lot to the table when it comes to leadership.

But when it comes to the all around team aspect, Orlando has a lot more. Hedo Turkoglu is one of the most underrated players in the NBA and can hit clutch threes and drive the ball to the basket.

Another threat that Orlando has is Rashard Lewis, who is among the best at the small forward position. He compliments the team in all aspects of the court.

Since coming to Orlando, Maurice Evans has been a key for the Magic’s success by being a solid bench player and a good fill-in for spot starts.

There are just too many threats on the floor for Orlando when it comes to playing Toronto. Both teams rank among the top-five in the NBA in shooting the three ball, but Orlando is mediocre at protecting the perimeter.

That shouldn’t be a problem for Orlando, because they are among the best when it comes to scoring in the paint, which is needed come playoff time because you can’t win off of jump shots all day.

Orlando is the favorite for this series.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Washington Wizards

This should be one of the most intriguing matchups in the Eastern Conference.

This showdown has a lot of significance to it because of the trash talking that has already occurred on the Washington side.

Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson had the nerve to say that the NBA’s leading scorer, LeBron James is overrated. And superstar Gilbert Arenas went on to say that he doesn’t believe that the Cavs can beat the Wizards in the playoffs three years in a row.

In saying that, Arenas does have a point.

The Cavs have entirely different look to their team with the additions of Ben Wallace, Delonte West, Joe Smith, and Wally Sczerbiak. So, it will be interesting to see if head coach Mike Brown can get them to run well in the playoffs.

It shouldn’t be any different than the regular season, but the energy level will have to be turned up a notch if they want to dominate the first round.

On the other side, Washington didn’t have Arenas in last year’s first round series against the Cavs, so they have a different look to their lineup.

Since Arenas has returned from that knee injury that sidelined him for most of the season, he has been held to limited minutes for precautionary reasons.

In only about 21 minutes per game, Arenas has come off of the bench and put up 14.6 points per game. That is an encouraging sign for the Wizards going into the playoffs.

The only thing that concerns people is that the Washington “Big Three” hasn’t played that much together in a while.

Caron Butler has been bothered by injuries over the last several of weeks of the season and he’s basically been on and off of the court.

Jamison will be the key going into this series for plenty of reasons. Jamison possesses all kinds of abilities on the floor. He knows how to play exceptional defense,  can make cuts to the basket, and his jumper is a threat. This has been one of his best seasons thus far, averaging 21.4 points and 10.2 rebounds a game.

The Cavs are coming into this matchup with questions still surrounding their ability to play team basketball.

LeBron the star of the team, but they tend to get the job done when it needs to be accomplished. And with all of the recent trash talking that has been going on in the Washington locker room, the Cavs will feed off of that.

We all know LeBron loves it, as he showed it a couple of times this season when he had fans taunting them and he went on to take over those games and lead the Cavs to victory.

If he is on the court with the same people who were talking trash about him and his team, imagine the possibilities.

This looks like a matchup that is truly evened out on all sides, and it looks like it will go deep. But the Cavs may be the ones that take this one away for the third consecutive year.

As you can see, there are a few terrific match ups coming out of the first round in the Eastern Conference.

There will likely be a lot of series going to deep, so the great matchups indicate that it will be difficult for a sweep to occur in this first round.