This is a question that should be very easy to answer right? Not so fast. A lot of people will tell you that its going to come down to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The way that the second round of the playoffs is playing out thus far would lead you to believe that the Cavaliers might not make it that far. After Game 2 on Monday night, the Boston Celtics look like the team to beat in this series. Now things can change; however for the Cavaliers to win this series they have several things that they need to fix. The easy answer would usually be to stop the big 3; Garnett, Pierce, and Allen. But now there is a point guard by the name of Rajon Rondo who has been the difference so far in this series with Cleveland. The series sits at 1-1, but could easily have been 2-0 in favor of Boston.

Rondo has basically been able to get whatever he wants in this series. No one has really been able to stop him. His quickness and decision making ability have led to him averaging 20 ppg and 15.5 apg. In Game 1, Rondo was very aggressive in attacking the basket and scored 27 points. In Game 2, he deferred more to his teammates in dishing out 19 assists and scoring just 13 points.  Amazingly enough the talk in this series has been the injury to Lebron James, and not the play of Rondo. Rondo is basically beating the Cavaliers by himself with a little bit of help from his teammates. James is trying to put his "elbow" injury behind him, but it has definitely been bothering him thus far. He has gotten help from his teammates in Game 1, but not in Game 2. The other thing is when you are not making free throws that makes it very difficult to win games. In this series the Cavaliers are shooting 67 percent from the charity stripe, that is not going to get it done. Boston has shot over 81 percent from the line.

So in order for Cleveland to win this series, they are going to need to shoot a lot better from the free throw line. They are also going to need to find a way to slow Rondo down and make him beat you with his jump shot not his attack to the basket. When the defense makes Rondo shoot the jump-shot, that is one of Rondo's weaknesses and makes him more of a one-dimensional player. If Cleveland can't find a way to slow Rondo down along with the usual suspects; Allen, Pierce, and Garnett, then they are going to have a hard time moving on to the Conference Championship. Cleveland also needs better contributions from their bench, along with a better showing from Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, and Shaquille O'Neal. I still think Cleveland will win this series, but its going to be a great series going the distance, seven games.

The other series in the East is the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic. What else is there to say about this series as in Game 1, the Magic dominated the Hawks in every facet of the game in winning by a 43 point margin. Orlando got a great game from Dwight Howard, who has been known for his attitude in games when he commits stupid mistakes. But in this game Howard was on his game by scoring 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and blocked five shots. They also had a solid game from Vince Carter who had 20 points The other difference was getting 41 points from their bench, mainly JJ Redick and Mickael Pietrus. Now after Game 1, I'm sure your thinking the Hawks are going to get swept in this series. Not so fast, after receiving a beat down look for Atlanta to come back in Game 2, and give Orlando all they can handle. If Atlanta loses Game 2, then this series should go five, maybe six games with Orlando moving on to take on Cleveland.

The series between the Lakers and Jazz has been close. Utah has had their chances in both games to win, they just couldn't do enough to overtake Los Angeles in either game. In Games 1 and 2, Utah has gotten off to a slow start and have been unable to recover from that as they trail 2-0 going back to Utah for Game 3. In order to get back in this series the Jazz have to win one at home to keep the series going. In the end, the Lakers have too much size and talent for the Jazz to overcome to win. The series should probably go five games at the most with the Jazz winning one at home. The Lakers still have Kobe Bryant, and he always comes through in the clutch when he needs to. He has scored 30, and 31 points respectively in Games 1 and 2. Pau Gasol has also been huge so far with 25, and 22 points in Games 1 and 2.

The other series in the West is the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns. The sleeper in these playoffs so far is down in this series 0-2. Steve Nash has carried the Suns so far with 33 points in Game 1 and 19 in Game 2. He has also dished out 16 assists in the first two games. Nash has also gotten some help from Jason Richardson and Amare Stoudemire. Amare has scored 23 points in each of the first two games while Richardson has scored 27, and 19 respectively in Games 1 and 2. The Spurs have gotten strong games from Tim Duncan and Tony Parker but it hasn't been enough thus far. They haven't gotten the contribution out of George Hill that they did in the first round, so now Coach Popovich has a decision to make. Does he continue to start Hill and bring Parker off the bench? Or does he make a change and put Parker back in the starting lineup? This series has a chance to go seven games, but it should go at least six with Phoenix coming out on top.

So in the East it should be a rematch of last year, with the Orlando Magic taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the West, it should be the Phoenix Suns matched up with the Los Angeles Lakers. These two series have the potential to both go seven games, and should be a sight to see. The second round of course is not over yet, but with Phoenix and Los Angeles both up 2-0 in their series, they should move on to play each other for the Western Conference championship. Stranger things have happened however, as the Spurs and Jazz are both very good teams and have the potential to pull the upset, but it is unlikely that they will do so. With Orlando about to go up 2-0 in their series, they will likely move on to play the winner of the Cavs-Celtics match up. I still think that Cleveland will win, but it is going to be a great series, possibly going seven games. Either way this years playoffs are shaping up to be something special.

The two best teams on paper coming into this years NBA Playoffs were the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers. The #1 seeded Cavaliers lead the #8 seeded Chicago Bulls 3-1 with a pivotal Game 5 coming up tonight to close out the Bulls. Besides a crushing blow in Game 4 to the Bulls, all of these games thus far have been closer than the seeding would expect. The Bulls have played their best basketball in the series in Games 2 & 3. The guard play of Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich have outplayed the guards of Cleveland. In Game 3, they combined for 58 points.  If Rose and Hinrich can put up big numbers in Game 5, than this series will go back to Chicago for Game 6. If Lebron James keeps playing the way that he has in the first four games of this series, they will have a great chance to close out this series.

The #1 seeded Lakers have had a tough time dealing with the #8 seeded Thunder's speed. After getting out to a comfortable 2-0 lead, the Lakers have dropped the last two in Oklahoma City, leading up to another pivotal Game 5 in Los Angeles. The speed of Russell Westbrook and the play and defense of Kevin Durant have been the difference in the last two games. Westbrook is averaging 21.8 ppg and Durant is averaging 26.8 ppg. Durant also has averaged over 9 rebounds per game as well. These two have been playing like its not their first ever playoff series, leading up to what should be an exciting Game 5. If Kobe Bryant plays like "The Black Mamba" in Game 5, then the Lakers will be able to close out the series in 6.

The sleeper in these NBA Playoffs so far however is the San Antonio Spurs. They lead the #2 seeded Dallas Mavericks 3-1 with a chance to close out the Mavericks in Dallas tonight. The Spurs have gotten a huge lift from their bench in this series, especially from George Hill. Hill scored 29 points in Game 4 and 17 in Game 3, both victories for San Antonio. So if your Rick Carlisle, the strategy is simple right? Stop Hill. Dallas needs bigger contributions from its stars, Dirk Nowitzki and Caron Butler. Otherwise, this series will go to the Spurs.

The other series are as follows in the East; the #2 seeded Orlando Magic have swept the #7 seeded Charlotte Bobcats. The #4 seeded Boston Celtics lead the #5 seeded Miami Heat 3-1, with Game 5 being in Boston, with the Celtics having a shot at closing out the Heat. Dwayne Wade was the reason why this series didn't end in a sweep for Boston. He scored 46 points. The #3 seeded Atlanta Hawks and the #6 seeded Milwaukee Bucks are tied 2-2 leading up to a crucial Game 5 on Wednesday in Atlanta. Brandon Jennings and John Salmons have been the difference for the Bucks in their last two victories.

So the theme so far in these playoffs, is that most of these series have been very close. In the Western Conference, the other series are as follows; the #3 seeded Phoenix Suns lead the short-handed #6 seeded Portland Trail Blazers 3-2. The #4 seeded Denver Nuggets are trailing the #5 seeded Utah Jazz 3-1 with the season on the line for the Nuggets on Wednesday. So keep watching these playoffs, as it will be very interesting to see who plays for the NBA championship. Stay Tuned.