NBA Preview: Lakers and Celtics the Teams To Beat

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With much of the sports world focused on the rained out World Series, the NBA regular begins October 28 with a three-game schedule: the Cleveland Cavaliers meet defending champs the Boston Celtics; the Milwaukee Bucks face the Chicago Bulls; and the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Portland Trail Blazers, a game that will feature the regular season debut of Greg Oden, the highly-touted Blazers draft pick that missed all of last season with a knee injury.

Over at ESPN, they polled their endless list of NBA correspondents to see who they think will win the Western Conference. Most see the Lakers as the favourites to come out of the perenially competitive West, thanks to Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and returning center Andrew Bynum.

The Lakers will hardly have an easy road, however. The New Orleans Hornets have a young, athletic lineup and an offense run by Chris Paul, arguably the best point guard in the game.

Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs are always in the mix at the end of the year, thanks to coach Gregg Popovich and a team of savvy, team-first players, who genuinely get along (for proof, check out this story about the Spurs attending the funeral of a teammate's deceased mother.) Other teams on the rise are the Houston Rockets, who have added combustible guard Ron Artest to their lineup. If Artest can learn to play alongside stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, the Rockets could be a real threat.

While the Utah Jazz are too much of a known quantity to be considered a dark-horse team, they still have the ability to sneak up on people. Headed by Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, who both won Gold medals with the US Olympic basketball team in Beijing, the Jazz play the type of disciplined, smart basketball that head coach Jerry Sloan always demands from his players.

Over in the East, the Celtics are seen as the team to beat. Their star trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen are a year older (particularly Allen, who has lost a step over the years), but they should have enough gas in the tank for a serious run to the Finals. If young players like Rajon Rondo continue to develop and coach Doc Rivers continues to preach sound defensive play, the C's could repeat as champs for the first time since the days when legend Bill Russell wore Celtic green.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be legitimate challengers, they're going to have to get a career year from star Lebron James. Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas once said Lebron is "carrying them, but you take him off the team and they're the Cleveland NBDL team.

Other teams in the hunt are the Detroit Pistons, a team that seems to be in the mix every year, due to hard-nosed team play and the offense of Chaucey Billups and Richard "Rip" Hamilton. The team might win beat the rest of the East if rookie coach Michael Curry manages to light a fire under his team, particular young grinder Jason Maxiell.

For now, it seems like the Lakers and Celtics appear destined to meet in the NBA Finals. NBA Commissioner David Stern would like nothing more than to have two of his marquee franchises meet in the Finals. But commissioners rarely get what they wish for when it comes to the Finals. Just ask Bud Selig as he sits in Philadelphia waiting for the rain to stop.