the only playoff game was Spurs/Dallas. Interesting game. Don't think Dallas can beat them in 7 game series. Kobe was off tonight, threw up a 3 for 20. They still almost got the game back at the end. Portland didn't look good. Still not impressed with OKC.
I think a lot of people are forgetting the Mavs. While they did lose two key pieces in Barea and Chandler, they have a decent plug-in for those roles in Mahinmi and Beaubois AND they still have Dirk, Kidd, Terry, and Marion. Mavs match up very well with the Lakers, Spurs, and especially Thunder. Marion will give Durant a hard time and I dont think the Thunder have a disciplined offense to beat the Mavs in a 7 game series. Spurs have the discipline but Duncan is too old to carry this team through out the playoffs and Manu's health is always a concern now. Spurs will be relying a lot on their young talents and I think the Mavs experience will have the edge. Lakers are worse off than they were last year and that team was swept. There is absolutely no one on that team that can check Dirk. A focused Odom was their best option and he is de-focused and on the Mavs now. While the Mavs may not be as good as last year, the other teams have not made any significant improvements for me to give them the edge over the Mavs. I still say the Mavs come out of the West.
He's shooting 43%; he'll be off a lot of nights. That's what you don't get. This version of Kobe Bryant isn't leading the Lakers anywhere, unless he concedes to his big men (unless he's on, meaning shooting 50%+). It's baffling how people still think anyone outside of OKC can win the West.
Kobe's more healthy than last year. Yes, his FG% went down because he had to force a few more shots, but he couldn't even play this many minutes last year. And that became a big problem in playoff. They played a lot of more ISO this year and the offense is awful. But they did get a decent PG to plug their biggest hole. Bynum finally plays like an all star and their defense is better. Sessions just schooled Barea the other day. And Barea was the one killed the Lakers last year. Playoff is all about match up, you can live with Dirk scoring 30 but if you need to double Barea, you got no chance. Not saying Lakers are the favorite, but they have a better shot than last year.
That's not the point; it's Kobe's mindset. After tonight's loss, Lakers fans are fuming at Kobe right now, not b/c of his shot selection, but b/c he doesn't concede to the big men. Bynum has been playing like an all-star all year. Since the break, he's playing like a superstar. Kobe needs to acknowledge that and be 2nd fiddle when need be. He's not as efficient as he once was (he never was). It'll make his game much easier when they go inside out.
Hard to say who, but I have a feeling either the Spurs or Thunder will be upset in round 1 ,depends on the matchup. Spurs don't wanna see a healthy HOU, LAC, MEM. Thunder probably don't want to see LAC, MEM or DAL. As a result, I can see LAL winning the West, since the WCF will probably not be the #1 v #2 and the Lakers match up well with both teams. My sleeper pick, though, is Memphis.
Well, my team nicked the Lakers tonight. Pretty stupid play by Bynum. I saw nothing to change my opinion about Lakers or Spurs coming out of the West. Watched Jazz punk OKC in Utah. OKC just doesn't have enough post-up game. You gotta be able to play a signficant amount of possessions with in back to the basket post-up mode. OKC is way overbalanced with the face up game. At this point, so is the Lakers. I agree with some of the comments here about Kobe. If the Lakers would establish Bynum and stick with him, they'd would have about 7 more wins right now. On one other note, the Achilles heal of the Lakers isn't age, nor is it Coach Brown, nor is it Kobe jacking. It's Bynum's stupidity. His stupidity is a little different than Westbrook's however. Westbrook goes off on the opponent, gets out of control and wanting to fight. Bynum's frustration deal mostly with the refs. Even the shove last year that got him suspended was really a result of being frustrated with the officiating more than the opponent. Brown and Kobe really need to get through to him for them to max their potential. But I still think it's the Lakers or Spurs.
