Basketball Predictions dabbled with an attempt at Hockey

This is well over-due and any REAL predictions that I could make would be totally skewed by early performances and results. Like three weeks ago I would have said the Celtics were a lock to repeat as NBA Champs, or North Carolina had no weaknesses. Obviously it would be ridiculous of me to make predictions at this point and then claim superiority when they come true. So, take the information I am about to provide with a grain of salt. If you made attempts to profit from my football predictions, I would not advise you not to continue that practice with basketball. While I have much more experience in playing basketball, there are many more factors that I don't have a strong grasp on (like small schools) which make it harder to predict. I am hoping to do my own rankings; possibily a Top 65 or Brackletology thing.

The NBA is an interesting league. It's not as money-based and baseball but has more of an ego issue than the NFL. It goes through cycles of dynasties and parity... you had the Bulls for 3 years, some parity with a minor Rockets run, 3 more years of the Bulls, some parity, the Lakers for 4 years, some parity with the Spurs sprinkled in, and now you have a possible Celtics dynasty. The start they got out to was unbelievable, but they've fallen back to earth. The Lakers are talented, but they haven't closed out some of the weaker teams like they should have. The Cavaliers have LeBron, but still not a complete team. There's always the Spurs, but they just get older every year. Several other teams could get hot at the right time at sneak up on us (Hornets, Hawks, Magic, Rockets, Pistons). I'll try not to pick with emotion but here we go:
Eastern Conference: Cavs over Nets, Magic over Sixers, Celtics over Heat, Hawks over Pistons. Cavs over Magic, Celtics over Hawks. Cavs over Celtics.
Western Conference: Lakers over Suns, Hornets over Blazers, Nuggets over Rockets, Jazz over Spurs. Lakers over Hornets, Jazz over Nuggets. Lakers over Jazz.
Finals: Lakers over Cavs in 6.
I hate to say it but I think Cleveland can make it there but still can't beat a Lakers team I real can't stand.

For college, my dark horse is St. Mary's. Look for Mizzou to get very close to the tournament, maybe win the NIT. My Final Four (right now) is Texas, North Carolina, Duke, and Connecticut with Texas taking down UNC for the championship.

Oh, and I'll take Ovechkin and the Captials in the NHL.