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As the All-Star Game is on the horizon for February 17, it is time to start predicting who the best players of the year will be. Throughout this season, we have the Boston Celtics who were last place last year but are on pace to having the best record ever in a year, 74-8. The 2005-2006 Champions, Miami Heat, are looking at a 19 win season. Then there's the Detroit Pistons, who are great like usual.

These are the teams and players who have and will continue to make an impact on the rest of the NBA season.

MVP: Dwight Howard - With 30 Double-Doubles in 35 games, the former #1 pick is helping the Magic to be the best in the Southeast. He has 22.4 PPG and leads the league with 15.2 RPG.
Although many would believe Kevin Garnett to be the MVP, there is a lot more talent on the Celtics than on the Magic.

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant - He leads all rookies with 19.9 PPG and is a BIG reason why Seattle isn't worse than Minnesota. He's even been named the Rookie of the Month for November and December. The only other contender for the award was Greg Oden but he is expected to miss the entire season due to surgery.

Sixth Man: Manu Ginobili - Manu of the San Antonio Spurs is having his greatest season yet. He's averaging career highs in PPG - 19.3, RPG - 4.6, and APG - 4.2. He's also the 2nd leading scorer on their team, behind point guard Tony Parker which is why the Spurs are still the best in the west.

Defensive: Josh Smith - He's obviously having a great defensive years. He has 96 blocks and 57 steals for the year which rank him #2 and #10 respectively. We may see more of him in the playoffs as Atlanta is currently the 8th seed in the East.

Most Surprising Team: The Boston Celtics. Although there were many people talking about them having a great season, no one could suspect that they would be this good. I predict them to slow down at the end of the year, going 68-14.

Eastern Conference Champions: I like Detroit edging out Boston in a 4-2 series. My main reason is that Detroit as a whole have more talent than Boston's "Magnificent 3", not to mention more playoff experience.

Western Conference Champions: Phoenix in a close one with San Antonio. Phoenix obviously has the talent to beat San Antonio, in which I can only predict it as a 7 game series to determine if the Spurs can be stopped.

NBA Champions: The Phoenix Suns. I'm not sure on this one, but I believe that Phoenix can pull the upset against Boston. MVP honors will go to Steve Nash, as he is definitely the best point guard in the NBA.

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