NBA PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS - EAST 1st Round

Celtics(1) vs Hawks(8) - The Hawks have had a great season so far, and they deserve their props. But, the Celts have had a historic season, and unfortunately for the Hawks, the Celts don't take games off. Even though the Hawks are solid at home, I see the Celts wrapping this one up in 5 games.

X Factors - If the Hawks want any chance at winning this game, Mike Bibby will have to be in his old school Kings form, dropping 30 a game, and Josh Smith and Al Horford will need to play amazing D, neutralize Pierce and Kg, and score a lot themselves. Unfortunately for the Hawks, I don't see that happening in this one. Boston's X Factors to me have to be Rando and Ray Allen. Because you already know what you are getting from KG and Pierce every game.

Pistons(2) vs Sixers(7) - The Sixers are another awesome young team that have played great all year, and AI2 has been terrific this year. But with all due respect to other Pg's in the East, I think Andre Miller has maybe been the best PG all season long in this conference. He has been a great leader and has had an amazing season numbers wise, and has run this young team seamlessly. The Pistons have been the Pistons, and as usual have been a great team all year long and have been cruising for a while. One thing different with this year's Pistons team is that they are finally letting their young players play and get quality minutes, and resting their starters legs during the regular season. Usually the starters get burnt out deep in the playoffs, and I think for that reason, it is going to be a fairly easy series for the Pistons. I'm going with the Pistons in 6, cause they do have their lapses sometimes.

X Factors - If the Sixers want to win, AI2 needs to have a great all around series, and AMiller and Dalemb need to play out of this world for them to have a chance. For the Pistons, their X Factor has to be Sheed and the Pistons Bench. If they produce, which they should, this one might be over quick.

Magic(3) vs Raptors(6) - The Magic have had a really great year and have consistently been atop of their division all year long. Superman is a beast on the blocks, and Hedo has had a huge year, but I'm smelling an upset in this one. The Raps were having an amazing season until Bosh got hurt and went down. Now Bosh is back, and the Raps are solid at home, so I smell an upset. I know the Raps have struggled towards the end of the year, but I look for them to bounce back in this series and pull the upset in a tough 7 game series. Bosh should neutralize Superman, but can the others pick up the slack?

X-Factors: For Orlando, I think Hedo and Lewis need to have a good series for them to win. They have been solid all year long, but they need to heat up this series to take this one to the house. For the Raps, I think their guard play needs to be solid. They need Calderon, Ford, Parker to all have huge games throughout the series, and that will open it up for Bosh to do his thing. Let's see how this one goes, but I think it is upset city baby!

Cavs(4) vs Whiz(5) - This to me is going to be the best series in the East, going 7 games. This is already becoming a heated rivalry with the Deshawn and LBJ beef and the whole Jay Z and Souljaboy thing, but its going to go up another level come the playoffs. The Cavs have knocked off the Whiz the last two times in the playoffs, and the Whiz are looking for revenge. The Whiz have Agent Zero coming back as well, and are playing great ball. I look for a heated series, and for the Whiz to win this series in 7.

X Factors - We all know what King James is going to do, but to win this series his groupies, are going to have to come up big. Ben the Bum Wallace will need to get boards and finish layups, and their so called "sharpshooters", need to actually hit their wide open shots. Will Wally, West, Boobie, Sasha be able to hit this series? That's the big question for me. On the other side of the ball, Agent 0 is by far the biggest xfactor. Coming off the bench, if he plays the way he is capable of playing, this will help the Whiz to pull off the upset in this series. Another X factor is Caron Butler because he is coming off an injury as well. He has quietly had a huge season, and if he can keep it up, that would be huge for the Whiz. I still think the Whiz pull this one out in 7, and I have some bets riding on it with the CAVS MAN CAVS fans, so let's see how it goes.

Be back later with our 1st round West predictions...