Coming into this NBA season the Boston Celtics were flying high as the top dogs in the NBA after trouching the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals back in June. The Celtics seemed to defy all odds in the playoffs and get their 17th championship banner at the expense of Kobe Bryant and their hated rival Lakers.

To start their NBA title defence the Celtics were smoking hot out of the gate and looking virtually unbeatable, so much so that people were making comparisons of 08-09 Boston Celtics to Michael Jordan's 95-96 Chicago Bulls who won a league best 72 games. This fantasy of winning 70+ games came to grinding halt when the Celtics face the Lakers in a Finals rematch on Christmas day.

Even though the Lakers didn't exactly manhandle the Celtics on Christmas day, it was a pretty convincing win which caused Boston to expose their weaknesses to the league and resulted in somewhat of a downward spiral for the Celtics as they suffered their first losing streak of the season.

The Orlando Magic on the other hand has been flying under the radar this season beating some the NBA top teams this season including the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets and the San Antonio Spurs. Dwight Howard has lead the way for the Magic by being a dominant force in the paint. Superman (as he has been nicknamed) has been a match up nightmare for every team in the league. With his strength, mobility and quickness around the basket he has quickly turned into the best center in the game.

Along with Howard there have been plenty of role players getting it done in Orlando. With Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis as Howard's supporting cast the Magic have quickly made their way to the best record in the NBA and legitimate title contenders in the East.

The one team that will stand in their way when it comes playoff time will be the defending champion Celtics who have already beaten the Magic in the begining of December in Boston. LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers and Allen Iverson's Detroit Pistons will probably be in the mix as well, but I get the feeling this match up between the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics will be the two teams to meet in the Eastern conference finals.

Not only does this game in Orlando have playoff implications, but it was also be a very entertaining game with Dwight Howard going head to head against Kevin Garnett. Definitely a must see match up!

The Orlando Magic are five point favorites.