Zack’s Picks in the West
For me, trying to predict what’s going to happen in the Western Conference this playoff season is like trying to pick a winner on Survivor: all I can think about are all the reasons why each team can’t win. As far as I can tell, there are five teams with a legitimate shot in the West:
San Antonio- I think everyone is making too big of a deal about what happened last year (they ran in to a really talented Memphis team that presented all kinds of match up problems and they didn’t have Manu Ginobli), but I still can’t help feeling like the Spurs aren’t really legit. Or maybe it’s just that this seems like the same team that peaked 7 years ago.
Oklahoma City- A month ago they looked like the clear favorite, but they’re a young team, they’ve pretty much been playing 500 basketball for the past month, and, of course there’s the whole Durant/Westbrook thing. Not to mention the real issue with the Thunder: they don’t have any big men who can score. If Perkins and Ibaka are on the floor at the same time, and they need to be against a team like the Lakers, the Thunder are basically playing 3 on 5 when they have the ball.
Los Angeles Lakers- This team is a mess. They have no depth, who knows which Pau is gonna show up, I don’t have a whole lot of faith in Mike Brown, and, to top it off, you have the whole situation with Meta World Peace. The fact of the matter is that the Lakers really need Artest, and if you really need Ron Artest right now you’re probably in trouble.
Memphis- I know it’s a bandwagon pick, but Memphis seems like the most together team in the West. Still, it’s not entirely clear to me what this team is all about. They were a deadly team last year with Zach Randolph dominating inside, and they were a pretty good team this year with him sitting on the bench. How do they put all the pieces together?
Los Angeles Clippers- I really really want to root for the Clippers this year, and I’m going to. But, let’s be honest, as amazing as Chris Paul is, this team has a lot of flaws. The biggest of which is Vinny Del Negro. This team has played together for 66 games and it’s not entirely clear that they have any kind of an offensive strategy. It’s already cost them some games in the regular season, and you can bet it will cost them even more in the playoffs. They’re also a young team that doesn’t match up well against bigger teams, and there are a few of those in front of them in the West.
So, who do you pick? I know it’s a cliche, but this year in the West, even more than usual, I think it comes down to matchups. So, first round:
Spurs over the Jazz- The Jazz are an interesting team, but there’s no way the Spurs lose to an 8 seed two years in a row.
Thunder over the Mavericks- I still think that a team with Dirk is dangerous, and we shouldn’t forget that everyone was writing off Dallas last year. But this is a different team (no Chandler or Barrea), and what Dirk did last year was a once in a career kind of thing.
Lakers over Nuggets- Despite all their flaws, Bynum has been playing really well, and that makes this Laker team dangerous.
Clippers over Grizzlies- This may be wishful thinking, but I honestly think that Chris Paul is gonna do whatever it takes to win this series. He won two games against the Lakers last year with a much worse supporting cast. If anyone can shut him down it’s Tony Allen, but I don’t think anyone’s shutting him down.
Round Two-
Spurs over Clippers- This is just a bad matchup for the Clippers. If they were the three seed, and could play Oklahoma City in the second round, I think they would stand a pretty good chance. It’s gonna be a close series, but Popovich is gonna out coach Vinny.
Lakers over the Thunder- I hate to make this pick, because I don’t like the Lakers and I like pretty much every player on the Thunder. That being said, pretty much everything has gone right for them since they stole the Sonics, and I would like to believe in some form of cosmic justice. That and I actually think that the Lakers just match up really well against the Thunder.
Round Three-
Spurs over Lakers- If the Lakers make the finals we’re only one series victory away from a sixth ring for Kobe, and I can’t endorse anything that makes people feel like the Kobe/Jordan debate is in any way legitimate. Plus, Greg Popovich is just the best coach in the NBA.
At the end of the day, though, I think all these teams in the West are just playing for the right to lose to Miami in what I hope will be an epic finals. I’ve been saying it since our first podcast at the start of the season, so I gotta stick with it. This is Lebron’s year.
At least until next year, when the Clippers get a new coach and win it all.
-Zack
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