The NBA playoffs shot off April 17, and you couldn’t ask for a better start with the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics getting into a rumble courtside, Portland upsetting Phoenix and close games all around. But the exciting element is not knowing who is going to win with no obvious top dog this season. But I have some predictions of how the 2010 playoffs first round will end.

Let’s start with the Western conference, the Los Angeles Lakers matching up against the Oklahoma Thunder.  At the end of the season, I was pretty skeptical about this choice but after the first game, the Lakers proved themselves even with Kobe struggling. I have to choose the Lakers as the winner of the series. Oklahoma just doesn’t have a chance because they are too inexperienced under pressure and with the Lakers starting forward Andrew Bynum post injury of a sore Achilles tendon and Pau Gausol playing some of the best ball of his career, the Lakers should pull through with a win.  Although the Lakers are tied 2-2 in the series, I believe they are going to put this one in the bag.

Next is the Dallas Mavericks who are going to face off against the San Antonio Spurs.  I think Dallas should win if Dirk and Caron Butler can perform at their best. Dallas will also have to be able to control Duncan in the paint and keep Ginobli off his game to win. In this series, don’t count anyone of these teams out. This will definitely be the series to watch. Dallas is losing 3-1 in the series.

Another matchup is the Phoenix Suns against the Portland Trail Blazers. I pick the Suns over the Blazers because the Blazers have little playoff experience and just can’t run with the two time MVP Steve Nash, and because once again, they are the Blazers.  Currently, the series is tied at 2-2.

And last in the West is the Denver Nuggets vs. the Utah Jazz. This one is too close, but if I had to go with a coin toss I would have to choose the Jazz. I feel Deron Williams will bring it home for the Jazz but with Carmelo leading the Nuggets you can’t really be sure what will happen. Utah is leading the series 3-1

Going over to the East are the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Chicago Bulls. Cleveland is going to take this series over the Bulls because honestly, the Bulls are weaker in every aspect of the game. Lebron is too much for them to handle, their offense is too weak to keep up with Cleveland’s high scoring performances and they are just too inexperienced in playoffs despite last year’s seven game series with the Boston Celtics in the first round. But expect the Bulls to put up a fight especially after the performance of Derrick Rose. This should be somewhat of an entertaining series. The Cavs lead 3-1.

Next is the young Milwaukee Bucks against the high flying Atlanta Hawks.  As of right now, the Bucks don’t have much of a chance against the Hawks with Brandon Jennings struggling, Joe Johnson on fire, Al Crawford destroying them on both sides of the court and once again, the experience factor with which the Bucks fail to have will surely lead to their demise. Series is tied at 2-2.

Now all that is left is the Boston Celtics vs. the Miami Heat.  The series took off in the wrong direction for the the Heat as they lost three games in a row to the Celtics, making analyst and fans believe it was going to be a quick four game series. After last game Dwayne Wade and the Heat showed that they are not ready to go down with out a fight, and NBA fans just might get to watch an interesting series. I still have to go with the Celtics on this one because the Heat are just not a strong enough team to pull three games in a row against one of the toughest teams in the East.  Celtics lead 3-1 in series.