The First Round is mercifully over. Eight teams have gone fishing and eight teams are left to fight for the Larry O'Brien trophy. I discussed the East last week, now it's time to take a look at the West.
First of all, clap for the Clippers. They're in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Chris Paul led the way and is only making his second semi-final appearance in his career. A familiar foe awaits him in the San Antonio Spurs. The Grizzlies had their opportunities but couldn't match the desire of their inexperienced opponent. Truth be told, they blew this series when they surrendered a 27 point lead in game 1 which resuscitated the Clippers' hopes and dreams.
The Spurs are now the number one overall seed in the playoffs since the Chicago Bulls were eliminated. San Antonio has been down right dominant and hardly anyone realizes have thorough they've been in destroying the opposition. Dig this: the Spurs are 42-7 since January 29 and have had three separate win streaks of 10 or more games including their current 14 game win streak. Tough. However, the Clippers happened to inflict one of those seven losses in the form of a 120-108 beatdown. Tony Parker didn't play though, so there's that. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are hobbled and are coming off of a seven game series while the Spurs are refreshed after sweeping the Jazz.
The Lakers matched their less heralded neighbors by also getting taken to the limit in a seven game series. Their defense helped them to advance when they were able to put a halt to Ty Lawson's assault on their team. The Lakers are doomed by their consistent exhibition of apathy/arrogance. Fortunately for the Lakers, the Nuggets ran out of gas. Their semi-final opponent is all gassed up and ready to circumnavigate the globe without any pitstops. OKC has been chilling hard since they sent the Mavericks #fishing early.
Here are the second round West matchups (series breakdown in parenthesis)
1 San Antonio Spurs. (SAS won 2-1)
4 Los Angeles Clippers
2 Oklahoma City Thunder. (OKC won 2-1)
3 Los Angeles Lakers
With the Clippers hobbled and the Spurs winning 85% of their games since late January, I'm picking the Spurs in a sweep. The Spurs are going to show the Clippers what a championship team looks like. The most intriguing part of this series should be the master-flop classes that Manu Ginobili and Chris Paul engage in.
The Thunder finally get a chance to exact revenge onthe Lakers after being ousted in six games by the Lakers in 2010. The tables will be turned as the younger legs of OKC race past the gray heads of the Lakers. The Lakers will get one for Kobe's pride, but that's all I'm giving them.
One versus two in the Western Conference Finals.
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