Now that the pretenders have been eliminated and the contenders are fighting it out to see who gets to the conference finals, it’s time to reassess the match ups.

In the east the Pistons have a 3 games to 1 strangle hold on the Orlando Magic and appear poised to make yet another east final. In the other match up The Boston Celtics look like world beaters at the garden, but continue to struggle on the road as they are still winless on the road. LeBron James has struggled in every game, so if he can get his game together the Celtics could be in serious trouble. The Cavs can even the series tonight with a win at home. Oddly enough the Celtics won the most road games in the regular season in 34 and are the only team left in the playoffs NOT to win one on the road. Funny how things change when the games matter.

In the Western conference the Lakers cruised to two home victories to take what most people thought was a commanding lead in the series, but once the scene moved to Utah where the Jazz are the NBA’s winningest home team, the Jazz evened the series with two tightly contested games and now that series is a best of three. I still expect the Lakers with newly minted league MVP Kobe Bryant to advance to the Western finals.

The same can be said in the other semifinal with New Orleans winning their two home games and San Antonio winning their two. With every one of the four series, the teams are so closely matched; I can see why the home court advantage means pretty much everything, but I still wonder why one of these teams can’t rise up and take a game on the road.

I’m guessing the teams with the most remaining home games will advance. So it looks like the Lakers, Hornets, Pistons and Celtics will be playing for a spot in the NBA finals. And like I’ve stated before - the whole country is waiting for a Lakers/Celtics match up, so let’s hope the two teams hold up their end of the revenue bargain.