Well, okay, not many teams can beat the Lakers. Although I think Dallas helped themselves out a ton with the trade, which was obvious in that whippin that they handed L.A. What it comes down to is 3-pointers and bench play when beating the Lakers. The Lakers really have a weak bench and their point guards can be exposed defensively. I really don't know, but the Lakers are not the best team in the league right now. Maybe come playoff time they will, but not now. Portland also has a good chance because of their bench and the fact that everybody can shoot.
No one is a seven game series. Dallas has about the best shot at it, due to matchups. Other than that, hand them the trophy again this year.
The only team that can beat the Lakers is the Lakers. And even though I don't like Phil Jackson, he is pretty damn good at getting his teams to not beat themselves.
Utah's handled them pretty well in the playoffs before and LA has yet to go through them directly to win the title. Dallas, Sacramento, and Portland all have a better shot than they're getting credit for.
No one can beat the Lakers in a Seven Game series unless the whole team is replaced with NBDL players.
Kings are the only team that has a shot against a relatively healthy Lakers. I said it before the season and I am sticking to it. Mavs don't have enough time to jell nor interior players (Lafrenz helps, but not enough yet), Blazer's don't have a superstar that can carry them, and the Spurs don't have enough outside of their superstar. That said if the Kings-Lakers play I probably will have to route for the Lakers. Webber and the King's fans traps are worse. I guess of the contenders I'll have to route for the Mavs as I don't think the Nets are really contenders and the Wolves have played themselves out of any shot at contending.
