2010 NBA Playoffs Power Rankings: Title Contenders

It's almost time for the NBA playoffs. That means it's time to look at what teams are most likely to win the NBA Championship.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers have played great basketball this season, and seem ready to make another run at a championship. Lebron James looks poised for his second MVP award and is still the best player in the NBA. Antawn Jamison has started to assimilate himself into the Cavs' gameplan after a rocky start. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is back after being traded mid-season. Shaq should be ready to play by the time the Cavs face the teams he matches up the best against (Orlando and the Lakers). Considering the importance this season is to the Cavaliers' future (Lebron is a free agent after this season), everyone should be playing at their highest level and the Cavaliers could find themselves winning their first NBA Championship.

2. Los Angeles Lakers

Based on how they've played the last few weeks, I almost dropped the Lakers down in my power rankings. They are the defending champions, however, and the playoff experience of Kobe Bryant and coach Phil Jackson cannot be underestimated. They haven't been playing inspired basketball lately, but there's very little reason for them to push themselves too hard at this point in the season. They have the number one seed in the West locked up, and they can't catch the Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA.

3. Orlando Magic

The Magic have locked up the number two seed in the east, and it seems almost inconceivable that the Eastern Conference Finals won't be the Magic versus the Cavaliers. Although the Magic dispatched the Cavs fairly easily in the playoffs last year, the Cavaliers are retooled and match up much better against the Magic than they did last year. That being said, few teams besides the Cavs and Lakers match up well against the Magic, so if they manage to avoid one or both of those teams in the playoffs, they have the talent to win a Championship.

4. San Antonio Spurs

It's not how you start the year but how you finish, and the San Antonio Spurs have been very impressive over the past month of the season. They still have some questions regarding their reliability, however. Can Manu Ginobli keep playing at the rate he has in the second half of the season? How well will Tony Parker play after missing almost a month with a hand injury? The one thing that cannot be questioned is the experience of the Spurs, who have a lineup filled with veterans, many of whom have quite a bit of playoff experience as well.

5. Phoenix Suns

Another team from the Western Conference that has ramped up its play over the last month or two, the Phoenix Suns have benefitted the most from Amare Stoudemire's resurgence as an elite-level power forward. The Suns have struggled the last few seasons assimilating their run-and-gun offense into the much slower pace played by many teams in the playoffs. They also need to be worried about Steve Nash, who has been bothered by a balky back in the second half of the season. Without a healthy Nash, the Suns will likely be unable to climb out of a very tough Western Conference.

The Rest of the Pack

6. Oklahoma City Thunder (Lack of playoff experience really hurts the Thunder)

7. Utah Jazz

8. Dallas Mavericks

9. Atlanta Hawks

10. Dallas Mavericks (They've fallen back down to earth after that thirteen game winning streak)

11. Portland Blazers

12. Boston Celtics

13. Charlotte Bobcats

14. Miami Heat

15. Chicago Bulls/Toronto Raptors (Doesn't matter who wins this spot, they'll lose to the Cavs in the first round. This will be updated as soon as the playoff teams are finalized.)

16. Milwaukee Bucks (Sorry Bucks fans, but without Bogut, your chances are pretty slim)

Source(s):

http://espn.go.com/nba/standings

All statistics retrieved from ESPN.com