Only four teams are left in the playoffs to contest the Larry O’Brien Trophy that goes to this year’s National Basketball Association (NBA) champion.

For sure, there will be a new champion. That’s because 2008 titlist Boston has been eliminated from title contention, having dropped a 4-3 decision to Orlando in the East semifinal series.

In a pair of best-of-seven conference final series, regular-season leader Cleveland takes on Orlando for the East title and the LA Lakers clash with Denver for the West crown.

The Cavaliers and Lakers are favored with home-court advantages over their respective foes.

Denver, however, could give the Lakers a huge headache as the Mile High City outfit appears to be the best (and most consistent) team out West at this time, having posted an 8-2 record during the first two rounds of the playoffs, including a pair of 4-1 triumphs over New Orleans and Dallas. In the twin defeats, both on the road, the club lost by just two points each time.

Denver also has won 16 straight home games (including 6-0 in the playoffs) at the Pepsi Center going into the conference finals. The Nuggets, though, were beaten, 3-1, by the Lakers in their head-to-head regular battles.

Cleveland, which qualified for the NBA Finals in 2007 for the first time in franchise history, is the slight favorite to snare its first-ever NBA crown followed a failed bid against San Antonio two years ago.

The Cavaliers are much-focused and have already shown a killer instinct this early, methodically crushing the opposition in the playoffs’ first two rounds with a suffocating defense that is built around the all-around brilliance of newly-crowned NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James.

However, skeptics feel that the Wine City squad has yet to be tested as its earlier victories were against playoff also-rans.

Owner of a league-leading 66-16 card during the regular wars to earn home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, the Cavaliers scored 4 –0 sweeps over Detroit and Atlanta in the playoffs’ first two rounds and put together eight straight double-figure victories to set a new NBA playoff mark. Their average winning margin was nearly 17 points a game.

James is doing it all with per-game norms of 32.9 points (on a .532 field-goal clip), 9.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 2.0 steals in the playoffs. His supporting cast (or the LeBrons) includes All-Star guard Mo Williams (14.8 ppg), Delonte West (13.3 ppg), Lithuanian center Zydrunas Ilgauskas (10.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and rugged Brazilian power forward Anderson Varejao (5.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg).

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Here’s our take on the Eastern and Western final series (playoff statistics in parentheses):

EAST
1-Cleveland (66-16) vs. 3-Orlando (59-23)
Forecast – Cavaliers over Magic, 4-2

For the first time in the ongoing playoffs, Cleveland will be tested against a legitimate championship contender. There won’t be a four-game sweep here, but James and his friends should be able to handle Orlando.

The Magic whipped Philadelphia, 4-2, in their opening playoff series and deposed 2008 champion Boston via the maximum seven games during the second round to secure their first conference finals assignment since 1996.

There’s an upbeat feeling in Magic Kingdom because of the Superman-like dominance of All-Star center Dwight Howard (19.6 ppg, 16.6 rpg, 2.8 bpg, .609 FG pct.).

Orlando needs bookend forwards Rashard Lewis (19.9 ppg) and Hedo Turkoglu (14.2 ppg) to provide consistent offense from the outside to lighten Howard’s load inside the paint. The Magic’s cat-quick court general Rafer Alston (12.8 ppg, 4.7 apg) and his Cavs counterpart Mo Williams will likely cancel each other out.

LeBron James’ multi-faceted game presents a huge problem for Orlando, but the Magic won’t go away without a stiff challenge.

WEST
1-LA Lakers (65-17) vs. 2-Denver Nuggets (54-28)
Forecast – Lakers over Nuggets, 4-3

After easily disposing of Utah, 4-1, in the first round, the off-and-on Lakers were pushed to the limit by Houston in the second round, squeaking past a spunky Rockets unit that did not have the injured Yao Ming in the final four games of their seven-game thriller.

The Lakers have not shown any sense of urgency to finish off their foes as swiftly as possible and feel that home-court advantage throughout the Western playoffs is all they’ll need to reach the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year.

Probably that is what will happen – another Game Seven against Denver at the Staples Center.

The much-improved Nuggets, though, could be a tough nut to crack.

Even All-Star guard Kobe Bryant (27.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.5 apg, 2.2 spg), 7-foot power forward Pau Gasol (18.5 ppg, 10.8 rpg) and part-time starter Lamar Odom (12.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg) will surely concede that.

The Lakers need aging point guard Derek Fisher (7.2 ppg, 2.0 apg, .366 FG pct.) to come out of an extended slump and 7-foot center Andrew Bynum (5.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 14 mpg) to show the stuff that is capable of.

Once a playoff also-ran, Denver became a bonafide NBA title contender following the trade acquisition of cerebral playmaker Chauncey Billups in early November.

An outstanding facilitator, the 6-3 Billups (22.1 ppg, 7.3 apg) brings stability to the Nuggets’ once helter-skelter offense and also provides the points himself with his outside shooting.

The 32-year-old Billups, who quarterbacked the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 NBA championship against Bryant and the Lakers, also has made better players out of hotshot Carmelo Anthony (27.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 4.3 apg, 2.0 spg), super sub J.R. Smith (16.3 ppg) and Brazilian center Nene (12.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg).

Expect a physical and high-scoring series between LA and Denver.