The only team that scares me is Miami, and I feel like we match up pretty well with them. We'll miss Rondo for sure, though.
I learned last year that this Pacers team will never take advantage of their strengths. They were up 2-1 against a Bosh-less Miami, posting up everyone and dominating the inside. For some reason, the rest of the series they thought it would be more fun to jack up jumpers and try to beat Miami by making threes. How'd that turn out? Oh right, 4-2 Miami.
Any Carmelo-led team will never win an NBA title. He will forever be a loser, and the rest of the Knicks team does not scare me one bit.
Atlanta has Josh Smith, who likes to take jumpers at the worst possible time. Their supporting cast is rather weak, so they don't scare me.
Milwaukee has two great guards. Good thing we have Bradley and Lee. Next.
Brooklyn has a backcourt that hasn't lived up to expectations, and is soft on the inside. Can't forget the punk Wallace. We'd beat them, too.
Chicago is very good, and I think we'd lose to them, but the one advantage we have (this is based on my opinion that Rose will not come back for the playoffs) is that we can get buckets when we need them. I'm not so sure the Bulls can.
Overall, I think we can beat any team in the East except for Miami and Chicago.