[romeopov]

The East is really up for grabs. The Heat haven't dominated the East in the Playoffs. Even Lebron said it was luck to some degree and it's good to have luck on your side. Last year Boston took them to 7 games and they had a tough time against the Pacers. This year they should have lost to the Pacers and 99 out of 100 games the Spurs win when they're up 5 with 28 seconds to go. So I would say the Heat are still the favorite but by a slim margin. The Nets, Bulls and Pacers will give the Heat a serious run.

My pick is the Nets. Pierce and Garnett will neutralize the off and on play of Deron Williams and that will be huge for the Nets.

Look at the starting line up:

Deron Williams
Joe Johnson
Paul Pierce
Kevin Garnett
Brook Lopez

You then have players like AK coming off of the Bench.

Last year Wallace, Humphries or Evans couldn't balance the sporadic play of Williams. You now have Pierce and Garnett to fill in the holes.

The one problem I see is the Coach. A Jeff Van Gundy would have been better to Coach this veteran squad over first time Coach Jason Kidd.

[hotelis]

Lebron = team chemistry. I dont know if these guys can get to the finals right off the bat. If it werent for KG I would definitely say no. but as far as "value' goes, this might work out. But I would think Bulls and Pacers are much more hungrier and angrier teams right now.

[Git Lo]

Reggie evans was a big loss, who is coming off the bench for d will?

[chefko]

indiana....