NBA Playoff Predictions: Can Orlando Magic Beat Any of East's New Big 3?

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The 2011 NBA Playoffs are right around the corner, and all 16 of the postseason berths have been clinched. The Eastern and Western Conference have eight teams each who will battle it out for a trip to the 2011 NBA Finals. Yet while we may know which teams will continue playing once the regular season, it remains to be seen who they will match up with and which team will have home court advantage in each series.

The Orlando Magic are looking to get back to the NBA Finals. To do that, they will need to first defeat the Atlanta Hawks in the opening round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. They will also need Dwight Howard to stop picking up technical fouls, or his team may have to find a way to win without him.

It will awfully difficult for Orlando to find that many ways to accomplish that feat.

The Magic have clinched the No. 4 seed in the conference, and would have to face the Chicago Bulls if they can get past the struggling Hawks. While they may not even get past Atlanta, it would very highly unlikely that they could upset Chicago in the second round. Although, Howard missed yesterday's game against Chicago due to serving out a one game suspension for his 18th technical foul, and the Magic only lost by three points.

Still, the postseason will be different. The Bulls had absolutely nothing to play for yesterday. They will in a week or so when the playoffs start.

But it will all depend on Howard. especially if he can not pick things up on the court - both literally, and figuratively, according to Fox Sports.

"Dwight Howard is promising that he will speed up his routine at the free throw line, which is a good sign for the Magic," reported Fox. "Howard served his one-game suspension, for his 18th technical foul of the season, Sunday. The technical foul came when he was whistled for taking more than 10 seconds to shoot a free throw, and he responded by rolling the ball into the stands. It was the third time this season he was called for the violation. 'I guess I'll just speed up a little bit,' he said."

Howard does it all for Orlando, both offensively and defensively. He averages a very impressive double-double, and it has been hard to predict what Orlando can do in the postseason due to all of their roster moves this year. If Hedo Turkoglu can play like he did in the playoffs for the Magic in the past, it would be huge. Same goes for Jason Richardson and Gilbert Arenas, who have had some difficulty fitting into the lineup at times.

If some of the Magic can get things going, defeating the Hawks should not be all that difficult. They could even pull it off in five or six games. But if they struggle to play cohesively, or if Howard has to miss a game or two, it could be an early exit for Orlando.

For more on Howard and what he and his fellow All-Stars have accomplished this season, make sure to check out Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Allen Kim, who sat down to interview in, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic Talks to B/R About the NBA MVP Award.

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