You can find my Eastern Conference Matchups here.

This is going to be really hard and really wrong probably. Considering that there are only 7 games separating the first and eighth seeds, would anyone be surprised if every road team won? Could you imagine how awesome that would be if the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th seeds all went through to the next round?

The Western Conference is going to require X-factor players really stepping up, because there is not that big a separation between the top two best players of each team. I’m going to focus the looks at each matchup along those lines.

1 Los Angeles Lakers versus 8 Denver Nuggets

Top Players:
Los Angeles Lakers - Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol
Denver Nuggets - Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson

Possible X-Factors:
Los Angeles Lakers - Luke Walton or Ronnie Turiaf
Denver Nuggets - Chucky Atkins

No team will ever go anywhere with Anthony Carter as their point guard. He doesn’t do anything for his team at all, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Chucky Atkins gets a ton of playing time over A.C. Also, I remember hearing on ESPN that George Karl said that Chucky Atkins made a huge impact to how well his team played. That was the night they dropped 168 points on Seattle.

I wanted to put Kenyon Martin and JR Smith on the list, but it is a requirement for them to play well to keep up in this series. Remember when Kenyon Martin was the shit in New Jeresey, and people were talking about him like the next Ron Artest? Is it cliche to compare every headcase that’s a good player to Ron Artest?

As for the Lakers, I just think they have too much going on their side. Their bench is solid, and I don’t think they need to reach that far to have players step up. Jordan Farmar, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, and Sasha Vujacic are all going to make impacts in one way or another. I also wanted to put up Andrew Bynum, but the only thing that matters is if he’s going to play again or not. But if he does, can you imagine a front court with three 7-footers? I couldn’t even imagine what that kind of length allows a defense to do in a 2-3 zone.

I’m going with the Lakers 4-2 in this series, but that’s a bit of a stretch. I’m basing everything on the idea that Denver is going to fold under the pressure of the Lakers depth. Here’s what’s kind of odd, Carmelo Anthony hasn’t proved much of anything in terms of competitiveness, and AI is one of the most dedicated competitors of this generation. But, my mind keeps going back to the 2006 playoffs, and Kobe Bryant sulking at the end of his bench in the deciding game of the series against the Suns. God he can be such a douche, and yeah, they’ve been successful so he’s playing well, but how long until Kobe gets pissed off? I just don’t think the the Nuggets have the kind of team chemistry that’ll throw Kobe off.

2 New Orleans Hornets versus 7 Dallas Mavericks

Top Players:
New Orleans Hornets - Chris Paul and David West
Dallas Mavericks - Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard or Jason Kidd

X-Factors:
New Orleans Hornets - Bonzi Wells and Julian Wright
Dallas Mavericks - Josh Howard or Jason Kidd

I really have liked NO this year. They have a really good story and they have really good team chemistry. You have to love people throwing around the phrase “best 6 foot guard ever, even better than Isiah” after one season! Such nonsense, even though I am a huge fan of Paul’s, and think he deserves a lot of credit for whats happening in the Big Easy. But save “the best ever” after at least 3 or 4 seasons. Can we do that?

Here’s the thing, Dallas is set. Dallas has their shit together. Everyone in Dallas knows what they need to do, there is no mystery to it. That kind of stability is hard to come by. New Orleans, though, has a lot riding on some things to fall their way. I just don’t know.

Also, in the sports world there is always the “count-’em-out” phenomenon. Tom Brady has based his entire career on it. The New York Giants won a Superbowl based on it. Has there been anyone more counted out then Dallas? Myself included?

I just hate to say it, but Dallas is going to take it 4-3. But at least there’s going to be another decade of Chris Paul to Tyson Chandler alley-ops.

4 Utah Jazz versus 5 Houston Rockets

Top Players:
Utah Jazz - Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer
Houston Rockets - Tracy McGrady

X-Factors:
Utah Jazz - Andrei Kirilenko
Houston Rockets - Their entire friggin team!

Houston doesn’t have a chance in hell. I don’t even think that Utah is going to have to play that hard. Will there ever be a more impressive stat like 22-wins in a row going to someone as unimpressive as the 2007-8 Houston Rockets? Not to mention they’re not even going to have Rafer Alston for the first two games of the series.

They’re gonna get killed. Utah takes it 4-1.

3 San Antonio Spurs versus 6 Pheonix Suns

Top Players:
San Antonio Spurs - Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker
Pheonix Suns - Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire

X-Factors:
San Antonio Spurs - None
Pheonix Suns - Shaq (duh!), and Father Time

Wow, what a first round matchup. This series is totally compelling. San Antonio is in the same situation as Dallas, they’ve been playing together enough that there’s not much room for anyone to squeeze out. They are a machine built to win championships.

Total side note, I FUCKING HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE CALL TIM DUNCAN “TIMMMYYYY”, can this be banned? Jesus Christ.

Pheonix is so likable. I really have enjoyed this team. They play basketball the way that I’ve always thought that it could be played, and it’s only gotten better. There are several things that Pheonix does in their style of play that I love a lot, while other teams who play that same style don’t pull off. Sure Pheonix is fast and obviously runs up and down the court (even with Shaq who is looking pretty fleet-footed lately), but they don’t launch 3’s uncontrollably like Golden State does. That kills me about the Warriors. While Pheonix, on the other hand, leads the league in both Field Goal Percentage and 3-Point Percentage. I love smart basketball like that.

But the flaw of Pheonix is quite possibly also the flaw of San Antonio. Tim Duncan, Michael Finley, Brent Barry, Robert Horry, Bruce Bowen, Damon Stoudamire, and Kurt Thomas are all getting up there. Then again, so is Steve Nash, Shaq, and Grant Hill are all candidates for NBA Retirement homes.

I would like to say that San Antonio is going to be able to ride Manu’s bald spot, and Tony Parker’s apparent giant wiener (how else could he have landed Eva Longoria?) out of this round, but I’m not sure. San Antonio is deep, but they just don’t seem to be playing the same way they have for the last decade. They don’t dominate anymore, eventhough the Utah Jazz may have an objection to that after Wednesday’s 109-80 beating.

I’m going with Pheonix 4-3, because a motivated Shaq is an out of control freight train. Also, because San Antonio actually have people to properly guard Shaq, he’s not going to foul out. Isn’t that ironic? If anyone whose been watching games this year, Shaq gets in foul trouble so much because most centers aren’t big enough to guard him properly. So the majority of Shaq’s fouls come on flying elbows to their faces.

The terrible thing is that in the next round either team is going to be facing either New Orleans or Dallas. God, how is any team in the West not going to be completely beaten up for the Finals?

Enjoy the games.

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