I missed this earlier. PG - Westbrook/Maynor vs. Lawson/Felton Advantage for Thunder. If Westbrook brings his "A" game, a HUGE advantage. SG - Safalosha/Harden vs. Afflalo/Smith Slight advantage for Nuggets. Sefolosha can be a major drag on OKC sometimes. I like Afflalo more than most people. JR Smith is a wild-card. Maybe the same for Harden. SF - Durant/Cook vs. Galinari/Chandler Huge advantage Thunder PF - Ibaka/Collison vs. Martin/Harrington Close to even. If Ibaka hits his jumper and is focused, definite advantage Thunder. Maybe Harrington bombs away and wins a game for Denver. C - Perkins/Mohammed vs. Nene/Anderson Advantage Nuggets because of Nene. Depends if he plays "big" or "small". Very frustrating player for me over the years because his effort-level varies so much.
I expect this to be the best series in the first round. I have no idea who will win. The Nuggets are so good now that they lost their diva and have the speed to run anyone off the court. On the other hand, the Thunder have the marquee names that usually decide series (due in part to ref bias). I'll say Thunder in 7, just because of HCA.
Durant and Co. will probably get it done. But it will be tough against George Karl's nuggets, and lest we forget that karl knows a little something about playoff basketball and he has motivation due to his recent health problems to make one last run at it. Not to mention that Mile High air in Denver runs mighty thin when Karl's team is running you up and down the court. This will be tough for OKC.
The Nuggets don't have any weapon to stop Durant or Westbrook. Westbrook, with his incredible size, speed and athletism, will make things extremely hard for Lawson. We have already seen what Durant could do against the Nuggets. They need their frontcourt to step up, but unfortunately with Perkins and Ibaka, things will be very tough. The paint will be clogged, making it difficult for the Nuggets guards to drive in. I don't see the Nuggets winning this one.
The thing is, last week in Denver Lawson handed Westbrook his own behind. It was brutal. I doubt WB lays that big an egg in any of the games, but it isn't like WB can shut Lawson down at will. At least I don't think he can.
I don't think OKC has an advantage there at all. Lawson & Felton aren't big names but they are incredible PGs, and this is the strength of the new Denver.
Which game are you referring to? Lawson and Westbrook went head to head twice. The first time they went head to head, Lawson had 28 points, 1 rebound and 5 assist. A very good performance. Westbrook however had 18 points, 1 rebound, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Not too shabby either. The very last game they played each other however, Westbrook completely destroyed Lawson. Westbrook played an incredible all around game. He had 17 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 steals. Lawson however, only had 5 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 6 TO. I think the advantage definitely goes to Westbrook. We know he brings his A-game in the playoffs (we saw that last year against the Lakers), and when his mind is focused on an all around game instead of just scoring, Lawson will have a huge problem trying to score against Westbrook.
The stat line on the first game doesn't really tell the story at all. WB was in "hero mode" and completely out of control on offense while Lawson destroyed him on the other end. The game was about even after the 3rd Q despite Westbrook, not because of him. The Thunder went on a 16-0 4th quarter run to take control when Maynor came in for WB. When WB re-entered with a couple of mins left, you could tell he was humbled. Indeed the next game WB made Lawson look pretty bad. It was ugly. But I still say if Lawson plays aggressive and with confidence, he will be a handful. WB's problem is it becomes personal when the other PG torches him and he disrupts OKC's offense by trying to return the favor. He made a complete fool of himself doing this in Denver but found redemption in the re-match.
I agree. If Westbrook focuses on playing an all-around game instead of scoring, like what he did in the last game of the season series, Lawson has no chance. Although I think we've seen that even with Lawson playing well and Westbrook not so much, the Nuggets still fall to the Thunder. Obviously, Lawson vs Westbrook will not be the deciding factor of the series. Kevin Durant will. If they can contain Durant, they have a chance, and unfortunately for them the only person who has a remote chance of going up against Durant is Anthony, and now that he's gone nobody will check Durant.
Damn. Look at the crowd. I am so jealous. It is a sea of blue. We could never get close to that at Toyota Center.
