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There was a lot of talk during the NBA season about seeing a possible rematch between the heated rivals of the Lakers and Celtics or possibly even seeing the Orlando Magic reached the finals from the East, but now it looks like the two best teams in the league are headed straight for each other.

Personally, as a Lakers fan, I would love to see the Lakers beat down the Celtics in a rematch, but seeing Kobe Bryant and LeBron James go head to head in the finals sounds to good to miss!

I really don't see teams in either conference knocking off the Cavs or the Lakers in the playoffs this season. The Lakers will cruise especially with Manu Ginobili out for the San Antonio Spurs, but the Cavs could possibly struggle against the Magic, Celtics or even the Miami Heat.

Should be an interesting NBA playoffs this time around! As if it weren't good enough last season!

It is the last game of the season for the West leading Los Angeles Lakers they will face their likely first round opponent in the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz are in bit of a slump right now as they have lost three straight heading into this game against the number one seed Lakers. Before today the Lakers were fighting for best record in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but after LeBron James and company made quick work of the Indiana Pacers yesterday the Cavs have wrapped up the best record and will have home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

The only thing the Lakers have to play for is momentum. If Kobe and company are going to play the Jazz in the first round they will not want to lose to them at home before the series begins. The Jazz on the other hand will be playing to possibly not play the Lakers in the first round which would drastically improve their chances of advancing.

Although the Jazz have everything to win here, the Lakers will not let it happen in their house and should cover the -6.5 point spread tonight in LA.

As of right now the spread is -6 points in favor of the Blazers. There are only a couple home courts in the NBA right now that are extremely hard for opponents to play in and the Rose Garden is one of them.

There are a lot of tough places to play in the NBA these days like Los Angeles, Cleveland and Boston, but one place that gets left out quite a bit is the Rose Garden in Portland.

With both the Blazers and the Jazz with identical records and jockeying for position in the Western conference playoffs, this game is as important as they come and you better believe the die hard fans of Portland will be there in force to support their beloved Blazers.

Take the Blazers -6 to beat the Utah Jazz tonight!

Since the NCAA tournament is three games from over and most of the superstar athletes with NBA careers are contemplating their future we can now start to talk about who will be the number one draft pick in the next NBA draft.

Without a doubt, unless the team with the top pick needs a guard, it will be Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. The kid could quite possibly be the future of the NBA when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are past their prime. The guy has all the skills and is as good as they come in my mind.

Another possibility is Stephen Curry. He definitely doesn't have the size, but his scoring ability is undenieable. He reminds me of a Kevin Durant in a smaller frame.

Ricky Rubio is one name you might not have heard of, but you will soon enough. If you saw the Olympics last year then you know who I am talking about. One of the next great international point guards in the NBA.

There has been no player in the NBA playing better than the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade lately. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are winning games and have the two best teams in each conference, but Wade is playing like the favorite for the MVP right now.

The Heat will be taking on the Memphis Grizzles on Monday night and although the Grizzles will be a good team in the future with some promising young players, this season has been the same old story for a perinial underachiever.

The spread as of right is -8.5 in favor of the Heat and although at first glance that sounds pretty accurate and a risky bet, with the way Wade is just destroying teams lately Miami will win this game by at least ten points.

Besides the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs there has been no better team in the West this season than the reborn Denver Nuggets. Chauncey Billups has brought new life to his hometown team and more importantly a good defense.

The Phoenix Suns on the other hand are and the verge of a serious rebuilding period. Steve Nash is still a great point guard, Jason Richardson was a great addition and Shaq seems to be playing like the Lakers Shaq, well kind of, but they are definitely not the dominant team they used to be only a couple of seasons ago.

With that being said I think the sports books giving the Suns -3.5 points in this game is ridiculous, the Nuggets are a much better team and are on a nice win streak. The key here is that the Nuggets have a pretty good defense and the Suns D is damn near non existent.

Taking the Nuggets over the Suns is a no brainer. Take advantage of the sports book putting faith in the Suns offense instead of the Denver D.

Although at first glance you might think the Lakers should just destroy the Golden State Warriors that is not case. I do believe Lakers will beat the Warriors, but not by the 13 point spread.

The Lakers are by far the best team in the NBA right now in my opinion. When Kobe and company are on their game, there is no one that can stop them, but there are a few teams that always give the Lakers trouble and the Warriors are one of those teams.

For some reason, no matter how bad the Sacramento Kings, Portland Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors are the Lakers always have trouble closing them out. The Lakers do end up beating these teams on a regular basis, but it is always close battle.

The Lakers will win, but they will not cover the spread.

Here we go again! The Andrew Bynum talk of return has resurfaced as all sorts of different dates and time tables get thrown out there for the media and Lakers fans to chew on.

First I heard the big kid would be back the end of March, which hopefully happens, then I heard he would be back for the playoffs. Which ever happens I think it is nothing, but a positive for the Los Angeles Lakers. Since the Lakers have pretty much wrapped up the first seed in Western conference, Bynum really doesn't need to be rushed back, but his defensive presence in the paint is sorely missed by the Lakers.

The big question now is if the Lakers can wrap up home court advantage throughout the playoffs. With Bynum in the lineup the Lakers chances of wrapping up home court would be greatly improved, but even if he can't get back before hand Kobe Bryant and company should still be able to clinch home court.

The Los Angeles Lakers are without a doubt the favorite to come out of the Western conference this season, but as we get closer and closer to the playoffs there are a few teams out West making a run to challenge Kobe Bryant and company.

There have only been about two other teams in the West this season besides the Lakers that have really made a impact. One is the Denver Nuggets who have done nothing, but improve after they traded Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups. The other team is the San Antonio Spurs who struggled with injuries in the beginning of the season, but once they got healthy they started to play like the same ol Spurs who dominated the West in past seasons.

Recently the Utah Jazz have come out of the depths of the West and turned into a legit contender. Deron Williams has played great all season long, but have struggled without Carlos Boozer in the lineup due to injury.

As of February 1st though, the Jazz have won 14 of their last 15 games which has made them the hottest team in the NBA right now.

It will be hard to top the Lakers in the playoffs with the way they have played all season long, but if any team can give Kobe and his boys a run for their money it is the Utah Jazz. The Nuggets and the Spurs will be in the running for challenging the Lakers, but I think the Jazz might end up surprising teams in the playoffs this season.

Although the Phoenix Suns have some very talented players like Steve Nash, Shaq and Leandro Barbosa their playoff chances seem to be getting slimmer and slimmer with every passing game.

Shaq may be reborn, but with Amare Stoudemire out of the year and the competition in the Western conference as tough as ever with the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets all playing at an extremely high level right now the Suns are quickly becoming a team on the rapid decline.

What will happen in the offseason? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, something will happen.

Although the trade deadline past with any significant moves going down in Phoenix this offseason could be potentially huge for the Suns. Shaq's value right now will probably never be higher and neither will Steve Nash's, but both Barbosa and Stoudemire are still young and worth building around.

Potentially the Suns when healthy look like a damn good team, but with every other team in the West only improving and getting younger Phoenix just can't hang with the heavyweights in the West anymore.

Will the Suns make the playoffs this season? No. Is this the end of the Steve Nash era in Phoenix? Most likely.

With the HUGE free agent market in 2010, expect the Suns to make some pretty big moves to reclaim their former greatness in the West.