The NBA championship. My pick and why.

The West has become a total one team show. Sad but true. Ever since a certain Chris Wallace (GM Memphis Grizzlies) decided to give the Lakers a gift (God knows why) the Lakers are the top dogs of the west. But there is a silver lining. Without Bynum, they're not invincible. With Bynum there are only 4 teams in the league that can beat them: the Cavaliers, Magic, Celtics & Spurs (sorry but I don't care how old they are they're still a team that cannot be underestimated).

Of these four I think the Magic are out of it without their starting point guard Jameer Nelson. Rafer Alston is a good player but he's not in the same league. You look at the Celtics, Cavaliers and Spurs they're all injury-ridden but have still maintained top-notch records. These three teams (full-strength mind you) are the only teams that can beat the Lakers and to me the favourites are the Cavs. I'm not saying this just because i'm a LeBron fan. I have my reasons:

The Cavaliers (again injury free) have two exellent shooters in Delonte West and Mo Williams in the starting 5. What this does is it allows James to drive the hoop the way he loves to and pass the ball out on the double team. This has been something he couldnt do over previous seasons.

The bench is one of the deepest in the entire length. With the recent addition of Joe Smith the bench looks formidable with the likes of Gibson, Szczcerbiak, Pavlovic, Varejao, Hickson, Kinsey, Wright & Jackson coming of it to add to the experience of Smith.

However beside all these reasons there's one big reason why the Cavs are the favourites in my book. The Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs have been beaten only once there (with West, Wallace, Ilgauskas all injured) by the L.A Lakers. The 'Q' has turned out to be a fortress for this team just as it was last year during the playoffs when LBJ nearly took the series away from the Celtics. Only this time, they've got a capacity crowd (a bit on the rowdier side) every night baying for the opponents blood. Any team that has to win here uring the playoffs .... well sorry i just dont see that happening.

During the playoffs, to me the possibility of Cleveland winning away is more than Cleveland losing at home. And so all I've got to say is "GO LeBron!! This is your year !!!"