NBA Playoffs 2011: The Eastern Conference Winner Will Win NBA Finals

I know that the Conference finals have barely gotten underway, but it is hard not to look forward to the looming NBA Finals.

The matchups themselves are intriguing, and the potential story-lines should be appealing to every NBA fan.

Will we see a rematch of the 2006 Finals with the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks?

Or will we see a battle of the young teams, with the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder?

One thing, however, is for certain: It will be a matchup of pure offensive firepower from either the Mavs or Thunder against the defensive brick walls of either the Heat of Bulls.

This offers up the unstoppable force against the immovable object, which should make every NBA fan salivate.

In the Eastern Conference finals so far, the four final scores, when added up from both teams, is equal to 345 points.

So far it has just been brutal defensive possessions on both ends for both teams. Neither team has shot above 50 percent in either of the games, with the best shooting percentage being 47 percent by Miami in Game 2.

Compare this with the Western Conference finals, where these four scores add up to 439. Defense has been left in the rear-view mirror, with Dallas shooting 53 percent in their Game 1 win, followed up by Oklahoma City shooting 55 percent in last night's Game 2 road victory.

But what does this mean for the NBA Finals?

For one, if I was a fan of the Thunder or Mavs, I'd be very worried.

Don't let the Eastern Conference finals matchup fool you. Yes, while both the Bulls and Heat are two of the top defenses in the league, they are no slouches on offense.

The Bulls boast the MVP in Derrick Rose, a player who can seemingly get to the rim at ease. He is surrounded by offensive talent and shooters, as well as pure energy players, such as Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah.

The Heat—well, this is fairly obvious— have two of the best offensive players in the league in Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, with another top 30 player in Chris Bosh. They are surrounded by shooters, and now finally have Udonis Haslem back, helping shore up the bench—notably their weakest link throughout the whole season.

Another advantage playing into the hands of the East is the fact that whoever wins, whether it be Miami or Chicago, will have home-court advantage for the Finals. Both are strong at home, especially Miami, who is yet to drop a home game all post-season.

Time will tell which team will represent their conference in the Finals, but I'd put money on the winner of the East being heavy favorites to take it all.