NBA Playoff Breakdowns [West]

skyhookii

LA Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder
The spotlight will definitely be on Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, but with two of the top ten perimeter defenders in the league, Thabo Sefolosha and Ron Artest defending them respectively, they kind of cancel out each other. The X-factor therefore, as it always is, for the Lakers is Lamar Odom. Lakers have a lot of advantage on the inside with Andrew Bynum + Pau Gasol vs Nenad Krstic + Jeff Green, but the Thunder have the advantage of Russell Westbrook vs Derek Fisher. Shannon Brown will likely see a lot of minutes, though. This series should be interesting to watch, but if Lamar Odom shows up every game, it shouldn't be a long one.

Prediction: Lakers in 6


Dallas Mavericks vs San Antonio Spurs
This is the 3rd time in 5 years that the two teams met in the playoffs, including second in a row. During the regular season, neither team was able to stop the opposing All-Star forward, i.e. Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan. The deciding factor of this series will be whether or not Caron Butler and Shawn Marion can stop Manu Ginobili. Tony Parker will have the edge on Jason Kidd (like last season), but the backup PGs for the Mavs (Rodrigue Beaubois and JJ Barea) aren't bad. George Hill could be out for a while after aggravating the ankle injury, so I see the Spurs not being able to keep up with the Mavs all series.

Prediction: Mavericks in 7


Phoenix Suns vs Portland Trail Blazers
This would've been a nice series but Brandon Roy will be out for 1-2 weeks, during which Phoenix can absolutely take the series. Although Nate McMillan has coached the team to 50 wins without Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla and Brandon Roy for parts of the season, dealing with various injuries to key players, I don't think the Blazers can make it through without Roy in a full series. LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Miller will have to step it up but Stoudemire has been playing the best basketball of his career since the All-Star break, so I don't really see them being able to stop him. If Brandon Roy can make it back early, the Blazers might be able to make a comeback, but without Roy, I see the Suns winning easily.

Prediction: Suns in 5


Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz
Interesting series which should be really exciting. Both teams are missing key people, with Denver not having George Karl and Utah not having Kirilenko and maybe Boozer for a few games. Kenyon Martin has returned for Denver but he has yet to get to 100%. Without Kirilenko to guard Carmelo Anthony, the Jazz may be in some trouble stopping him. Denver has lost 8 of 18 games but the playoffs are different. With JR Smith coming off the bench and hitting shots, they will be hard to stop. Utah, on the other hand, doesn't really have much of a bench but they have been more consistent. It's hard to make a decision here.

Prediction: Nuggets in 6

xkx0704

Lakers will win the west
nice breakdown

skyhookii

Didn't do so well in the West with 2 wrong predictions :S