Projecting the Playoffs: East No. 1 Through No. 8

Considering we're 2/3's through the season i figured what the hell, lets try and figure who's heading to the playoffs and who's staying home

East:

1.) Cleveland Cavaliers (50-13) - Cleveland has enough power to hold against a Celtics team which is battered up and down with injuries. King James is defying all doubters and showing why he is a prime candidate for his first MVP.

2.) Boston Celtics (49-16) (2.0 GB) - Boston has been ravaged by injuries of late. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have been playing too many minutes. Yet they are experienced and deep. I plan on seeing them at least until the conference finals.

3.) Orlando Magic (47-17) (3.5 GB) - The Magic have their own well publicized injury to deal with. Jameer Nelson was playing at an all-star level until his untimely injury. Although the Magic aquired Rafaer Alston who has played well in Nelsons absence.

The Magic have enough firepower to overcome both teams above them, but are they going to be able to do it when it counts most? In a seven game series?

4.) Miami Heat (35-29) (15.5 GB) - Miami has played much better as the season has worn on. The Heat have an MVP candidate in Dwayne Wade who's season is becoming more and more historic by the day.

I went with Miami over Atlanta even though Miami is 1.5 game back of Atlanta. Simply because Wade has this young team playing with passion. A passion that night in night out takes so much energy, but somehow their young legs won't fold

5.) Atlanta Hawks (37-28) (14.0 GB) - Atlanta has Joe Johnson, no matter what kind of game he's having he is still the one who wants to take and make the big shots. They are one of the more athletic teams in the league with forwards like Josh Smith and Marvin Williams.

That being said, the Hawks are suceptible to falling in love with the three-pointer. Which is easy to figure why. Mike Bibby, Johnson, and Williams are all above average three point shooters. This is why I figure Atlanta as the fifth seed

6.) Detroit Pistons (32-31) (18.0 GB) - The Pistons have truly come on since the benching of Allen Iverson. People have knocked Iverson for ruining the Pistons but look at his stats you'll see he has done his best to fit in.

With the run they have been on I almost put them over Atlanta. Five games I realized was too much for these Pistons to overcome in such a short time. Yet I believe these Pistons will run perfectly with Iverson now the spark off the bench.

7.) Philidelphia 76ers (31-31) (18.5 GB) - I was one of those people who thought Philly was really going to do well this season. Instead they regressed. They're extremely athletic and an O.K. shooting team, but who really thinks they'll go on any sort of run in the playoffs? Not this guy

8.) New Jersey Nets (28-35) (22.0 GB) - Deciding on the last seed in the playoffs was like drawing straws. So I went with the Nets. They are not great at home and not great on the road. Yet somehow they get wins. Thats good enough for me. Also overcoming a injury rattled Bucks team shouldn't be too tough.

Now to be honest I don't see many if any upsets in this years playoffs. It looks to be Cleveland vs. Boston in the Conf. Finals

Cleveland vs Boston- Cleveland in seven games. I think this will be a great conf. finals, much like last years playoff battle between the teams. Although I believe Mo Williams will prove to be perfect in drawing defenses away from James and giving him an even greater chance to score in quantity. This matchup will go down in history...mark my words.