You wanted it, you got it! Here it is the Western Conference Playoff rundown. I'll exclude the Lakers and Thunder for the moment because there will be a much more detailed article about that in the days to come. I can hear you shaking with glee.
I've been looking over the teams and the series match up and I've got to say this is going to be one tough playoff run for every team involved. It's going to be tricky to predict the winners here, but hey, I'll give it a go.
Denver and Utah will play each other in the first round. Two power houses that have no love loss between each other. This promises to be a gritty series with Denver using its muscle to try and deal with Utah but that doesn't mean Utah are weak, they will give as good as they get. What will be especially interesting will be the battle of the point guards, Deron Williams and Chauncey Billups. Deron has really shown himself this season and runs the offense with precision as well as being a scoring threat himself. Chauncey has come to Denver in a seamless transition and has demonstrated his maestro ability orchestrating the team. The keys for Utah will be tempo, they will have to push on the offensive end and slow Denver down on defense. Denver will have to use it's size and athletic ability down low. These two teams are very similar so it could really go any way. I'm going to go with Denver just because they have a slightly better interior game, with the likes of Nene and Andersen however we will see how well they do with their coach struggling with throat cancer, it could prove to be a distraction or an inspiration, we shall see.
Denver 4-3
Phoenix will take on Portland in this series. Again two teams that are not at all dissimilar both like a faster tempo, small lineup. I think Phoenix will be able to edge Portland slightly out of their game because they are a much faster, high scoring team. I just don't think Portland's defense will be able to stop the quick scoring pace of Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. Brandon Roy will continue to be a thorn in their side and it will be on his shoulders that Portland will win and he is more than capable of doing just that. Portland will have to take care of the ball, prevent turn overs and hustle back on transition defense, easier said than done. Phoenix will have to keep Amare moving on offense and not fall into the trap of focusing too much of their defense on Brandon Roy. I'm going to give this one to Phoenix because of the fluid offense they are able to produce.
Phoenix 4-2
Finally we have Dallas and San Antonio. This one is interesting because we just don't know what San Antonio team will show up. Will they be solid reliable vets using their potent basketball knowledge or will they be the slow old men staying up past their bed time. Dirk Nowitzki is going to provide a lot of problems for the Spurs spreading the floor where San Antonio would prefer to remain in zone defense. Tony Parker is going to have to go to his quickness to out pace Jason Kidd and Ginnobli will have to have his scoring hat on to provide the spark on offense. If those two get on a roll it will be extremely difficult for Dallas to keep up. Let's not forget Mr. Duncan whose post game will be very lucrative against the slack defense of Dirk. So, that job will probably fall to Haywood who is going to have to show all of his defensive prowess in dealing with Tim. Dallas will have to pick up its defensive intensity to contain and dishearten the Spurs, they are extremely vulnerable when they don't get into a rhythm. San Antonio will have to make sure their offense is oiled up and ready to go. In my opinion they should let Dirk do all of Dallas' work on offense and keep players like Caron Butler and Jason Kidd quiet. This will allow San Antonio to control the pace something that will help establish their rhythm. I'm going to go with Dallas, it was very close and I nearly went with San Antonio but I think the energy that Dallas will have will be the final victor.
Dallas 4-2
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