New faces this time as Conference Finals start

26 teams have now taken their vacation while the 4 remaining will try to put their hand on the championship as the challenges await them. These teams namely in the East, the top seeded Chicago Bulls go head-to-head with the Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference Finals duel while in the West, the aging Dallas Mavericks will try to make one more push as they go toe-to-toe with rising Oklahoma City Thunder.Obviously, teams will be lead by their respective superstars. The Bulls will be lead by this year's MVP Derrick Rose, the Heat by their talented trio of two-time MVP LeBron James, former Finals MVP Dwyane Wade, and All-Star Chris Bosh, the Mavericks by their veteran superstar Dirk Nowitzki, and the Thunder of course by two-time scoring champion Kevin Durant and their 1st time All Star Russell Westbrook. But superstars will not be able to do it by themselves and the defense will be focus mainly on them, so expect some players to step up in the likes of Mario Chalmers(Heat), Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer(Bulls), Jason Terry(Mavaricks), and James Harden(Thunder). So expect a lot of great things to happen!!!

For those interested, checked the complete schedule of games in this url posted.
http://www.nba.com/2011/playoffs/2011/04/13/schedule/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt2

A New Champion will be crowned

Most of us didn't expect this. It was a true shocker knowing the Lakers(the defending champs) was on their way to make another run for a championship for the third straight year. Most analysts call it the "three-peat". But after getting passed the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers eventually stumbled in the second round, actually getting swept by the 3rd seeded Dallas Mavericks led by their veteran superstar Dirk Nowitzki. Obviously, fans, players, coaches, analysts didn't expect this to happen. One could always imagine the Lakers, after evolving into one of the elite teams in the NBA, entering the Finals for consecutive years. The Lakers will have an early vacation this summer and a lot of questions and critics will be raised and thrown to them. Peolpe will start asking, "What will happen to the Lakers's future with the exit of Phil Jackson?", "Will their be trades done?", and a lot more. But for now the Lakers's run is over. A new Champion is to be crowned as the 2011 NBA Playoffs continues with the Mavericks having the chance to get back to the dreamland, the young OKC Thunder and the suprising Memphis Grizzllies would try to make pushes towards a championship. In the East, the Chicago Bulls led by newly crowned MVP Derrick Rose would try to get past the Atlanta Hawks to have a chance of entering the Finals again. The other matchup features the Boston Celtics led by their Big Three and of course their crafty point Guard Rajon Rondo against the newest Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh and the rest of the Miami Heat. So expect all these remaining teams to slug it out and do their best to achieve the ultimate gold, The NBA Championship Trophy.