The Nets pulled off the only First Round upset in the Eastern Conference. Their reward? A trip to Cleveland for Game 1 at Quicken Loans Arena, less than 40 hours after finishing off the Raptors at the Meadowlands. The Cavs thoroughly dominated the short-handed Wizards in their First Round sweep. And now they have a chance to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1992. As New Jersey and Cleveland get ready for Game 1, we've got a few questions that need to be answered:

Last year, LeBron James made the playoffs for the first time and surpassed expectations by giving the 64-win Pistons a serious scare in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. So, leading into this season, with James just 21 years old, expectations were even higher for the Cavs.

But the regular season was a bit of a disappointment to some, with the Cavs recording the same amount of wins (50) as they had the season before. And some thought James (who's numbers dropped a bit across the board) was either tired or uninspired. But the playoffs are a new season. James and the Cavs made quick work of the Wizards, and if they can keep winning, their regular season problems will be forgotten.

Michael Jordan's ascension from First Round loser to NBA champion took several steps. He lost in Conference Semis once and then the Conference Finals twice before beating the Lakers in the Finals in 1991. Will LeBron lead his Cavs into next round for a matchup with the Pistons or Bulls, or is he going to have to wait another year before reaching the next level?

The Cavs haven't played since Monday and it's hard to say how much of a test the Wizards without Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler really were. Meanwhile, the Nets played Friday night in a Game 6 thriller, one of three games in their series against the Raptors that was decided in the final minute.

Will the Cavs be rusty? Will the Nets be tired? If so, will it effect the outcome of Game 1?

Last season, the Cavs were in the other position, playing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semis in Detroit on a Sunday afternoon after beating the Wizards in Game 6 Friday night. The Pistons had two extra days of rest, were up 21 by halftime and cruised to a 17-point victory. But obviously, the Cavs recovered (even after losing Game 2 as well), taking Games 3, 4 and 5 to put Detroit on the brink of elimination, before falling in the final two games.

Sure, the Cavs have LeBron, but their biggest advantage may be up front. Cleveland out-rebounded the Wizards by 12.5 boards per game in the First Round, easily the biggest differential (in fact, it was twice that of Chicago's 6.25, which was second) in either conference. Zydrunas Ilgauskas (19.0 PPG, 11.0 RPG) and Drew Gooden (14.5 PPG, 10.0 RPG) each averaged double-doubles against Washington.

Jason Collins did a tremendous job of slowing down Chris Bosh in the First Round, but it helped that Bosh only weighs 230 pounds, to Collins' 260. Collins will not be able to push Ilgauskas (260) around nearly as much as he did Bosh.

Ilgauskas and Gooden have combined for only 14.7 boards per game against the Nets over the last two seasons, but the Cavs are outrebounding the Nets by 6.4 boards and have grabbed more than 10 offensive boards per game in the seven meetings.

Unless Raptor fans are going to bus down from Toronto to Cleveland (and honestly, I wouldn't put it past them, especially with hockey season also over in the GTA), Vince Carter is not going to hear a chorus of boos and jeers every time he touches the ball at the Q.

The unruly crowd clearly had an effect on VC in Games 1 and 2, when he shot 13-43 (.302). So, will we see a weigh-of-his-shoulders Carter in the Conference Semis, now that the pressure of playing against an entire country is off? Carter averaged 27.8 points on .563 shooting in the four games in Cleveland over the last two seasons.

"You got a list of things, a list of priorities," Richard Jefferson, who will have the assignment, said after Game 6 against Toronto. "He's so unselfish. He gets his teammates involved. He does so many things. It's not just the LeBron show. He's not a Kobe Bryant, where he's just going to go out there and score at all costs. He's really goes out there, gets 30 a game and gets seven or eight assists on most nights. That's impressive."

But guarding LeBron is not a one-man assignment. Jefferson will have at least one teammate ready to help on every possession, and Jason Kidd will probably guard James at times. The Nets may also choose to go zone in order to keep LeBron out of the paint. They'll take their chances with Larry Hughes and Aleksandar Pavlovic trying to beat them from the perimeter.

James is averaging 31.0 points, 7.7 boards and 6.3 assists while shooting .470 from the field against the Nets over the last two seasons.

Lawrence Frank (36) and Mike Brown (37) are the two youngest coaches in the NBA, and Frank is almost four years younger than Nets veteran, Clifford Robinson. But both (Frank twice, Brown once) have been this far in the playoffs before, and they were each assistants (Frank with NJ, Brown with SA) when the Nets and Spurs met in the 2003 Finals.

Still, neither has made it to the Conference Finals as a head coach, so this will be a first for one of the two.

In the First Round for the Cavs, Aleksandar Pavlovic struggled with his shot, but he did hit a big jumper in Game 3. In this round, he'll have to guard Vince Carter or Jason Kidd, which means that Eric Snow could take away a lot of his playing time if Pavlovic isn't getting it done on the offensive end. Anderson Varejao gave the Cavs 6.0 boards in just 20.0 minutes per game against the Wiz, and he'll be asked to do the same in the Conference Semifinals.

For the Nets, it was mostly Jason Collins on the defensive end (containing Bosh) and Boki Nachbar on the offensive end (coming up big in Games 1 and 6) in the First Round. But don't overlook the contributions of Antoine Wright, who hit some key jumpers, grabbed the biggest rebound of the series and was solid defensively throughout. He'll probably get a chance to guard LeBron for a few minutes every game, and more than that if he does it well.

They don't quite have as much of an advantage as they did over the Raptors, but the Nets' core is still more experienced than that of the Cavs when it comes to the postseason. That experience could certainly be seen early in the Toronto series, as the Nets knew what contact they could get away with down low, and they didn't panic when their opponent made a run.

But eventually, you saw the Raptors grow up before your eyes, playing much tougher in Games 5 and 6 than they had the rest of the series. Will the same happen with the Cavs? Or are they grown up already? Late-game execution will be an indicator of each team's toughness and experience.

LeBron James sprained his ankle in Game 1 against Washington, but says, "I'm almost back to 100 percent."

Jason Kidd suffered a strained knee in Game 1 against Toronto and continues to receive treatment, but he hasn't shown any signs of it bothering him.

Anderson Varejao strained his Achilles tendon in Game 3 of the First Round and sat out practice on Thursday, but says "It's perfect."

And the one injury we know the least about, because it happened late Friday, is Jason Collins' strained hamstring.

You already know that Jason Kidd averaged a triple-double in the First Round, and you probably know that James was the next closest to pulling it off, averaging 8.5 boards and 7.5 assists against Washington.

But did you know that, of the last seven postseason triple-doubles, Kidd (four) and James (two) have six of them? LeBron did it in each round last season, including his first ever playoff game. And Kidd has recorded nine postseason triple-doubles with the Nets in 14 total playoff series.

Over the last two regular seasons, Kidd obviously leads the NBA with 20 triple-doubles, and James is second with six. In James' eight total (regular and postseason) triple-double games, the Cavs are 7-1. In Kidd's 22 total, the Nets are 17-5.