How The West was ONE!

Destiny Calls

I dare a man of the hardwood to tell me the Western Conference is wide open, I'll Wait....Exactly what I thought. Yes I am a Laker fan and Yes I am completely bias in my opinion, BUT, I have some interesting knowledge to back it up. If the Lakers get beat in the playoffs it will  not happen until The Western Conference finals or Finals. Why you ask? Because of match ups and adjustments. Three teams in the West give the Lakers Nightmares, OKC, Portland and Denver. Two of which play each other so now we are down to two teams. Either OKC or Denver and Portland. Now I will tell you why none of these teams will actually beat LA in a SEVEN game series.

ZEN!

Phil Jackson is one, if not thee best, coaches of all time to make adjustments in a basketball series in a matter of days. No other coach left in the playoffs, outside of Doc Rivers and George Karl, are even close to his level. Depth is an overrated term in basketball I feel but having atleast two or three guys off the bench to produce is a key factor. Now that elimantes Portland because for one they have no size on the court or on the bench and their bench players do not produce at a high level. And Denver still has no true identity as what type of team they want to be. The playoffs is not the time to figure that out. If the series was best out of three like it was in the good ole' days then I would be preaching a different sermon to you all!

New Era vs. Old Vet

So that leaves us with the pesky and God given Super athletic and talented Oklahoma City Thunder. This team is deep, They have a superstar in KD aka "Durantula" aka Kevin Durant, a budding star in Russell Westbrook, and a solid pack of role players that include the best name in basketball, Serge Ibaka. So why can't they beat the Lake show you ask? Well, They can and very possibly could uspet the two-time defending champs, BUT, one thing stands in their way. Lamar Odom, yes I said Lamar Odom. Most people think it is Bynum being healthy, Pau getting his touches, the bench mob, or even Artest slowing down KD but that is not the case here. Outside of the Black Mamba Kobe Bryant, Odom is the biggest mismatch for teams in the playoffs. He is a Guard in a tall forwards body. He can go by "bigs" and shoot over small athletic forwards. OKC had trouble defending Odom last season in the playoffs and this year Odom is playing his best since he was a Clipper. If you ask me he is should have been an all star this year, but again I'm a Laker fan and all my opinions are Bias.