The Lakers begin their quest for the 14th NBA Championship of their storied franchise against the legendary coach, Jerry Sloan and his Utah Jazz. The Lakers pulled away from the pack of playoff jockeying teams this season, winning the western conference by eleven games and once again entering as the favorite to represent the west in the NBA Finals.
The Utah Jazz have been inconsistent all season, enjoying long winning streaks but also suffering through lengthy losing streaks, one of these losing streaks coming at the end of the season, causing them to fall from fifth in the west to eighth and win the opportunity to play the Lakers in the first round. The Jazz do have a valid excuse for their short comings early this season because many of their players were missing in action due to various injuries. It was miraculous for them to even be in a position to capture the fifth seed. The collapse at the end of the season came when they had been playing very good basketball and had all of their players healthy.
"I think our players will come together and if the effort's not there, then we don't have much of a shot," said Jerry Sloan in an interview before the start of the series. "If you don't play hard, it doesn't make a difference who you're playing."
What was the reason for the collapse? The Jazz were unable to win on the road. Going into the playoffs they were an atrocious 15-26 on the road. Don't expect them to suddenly find the answer against the Los Angeles Lakers. The end of the road will quickly come for the Jazz. Expect this series to go to a Game 5 with the Lakers winning 4-1.
The #2 seeded Denver Nuggets will be facing the New Orleans Hornets in the first round. This series should be a thriller. Expect a lot of flash and high scoring games as these two teams can definitely light up the scoreboard.
The Nuggets have been unable to make it out of the first round while Carmelo Anthony has been the face of the franchise but this team looks to be more dangerous than previous teams. They have better shooters: Billups, Smith, Kleiza, and Anthony have all had break out games and can take over the game with their scoring if they get hot. Denver's defense has also drastically improved. Chris "Birdman" Anderson is the 2nd ranked shot blocker in the league and he comes off the bench for the Nuggets.
The Hornets key asset, Point Guard Chris Paul will need to take his game up a few notches for his team to have a shot at winning. In many ways, he will need to play the same roll that Dwayne Wade is playing for the Miami Heat, simply take over the game. In last season's playoffs, Paul was able to do just that and will his team to the Western Conference Finals before coming up short against the Lakers. Paul will need to average nearly a triple-double and also score nearly 30 points per game for the Hornets to have a shot at scoring enough to beat the Nuggets.
Expect to see the Nuggets advance to the second round. Their athleticism and scoring ability should be enough to catapult them to the next round. Their shooters are firing at all cylinders, their defense is continuing to get better, and they seem to lack the stretches in the game where they would make numerous bad decisions and give up easy points to their opponents. Billups's leadership has them looking like a legitimate contender this season. Carmelo Anthony will need to continue with his balanced all-around game and also become more efficient offensively for them to have a shot at making it to the NBA Finals.
The match up between the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks is interesting because it is not quite clear who will win the series. The Spurs have suffered numerous injuries this season to three big three: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli. The most recent blow they received was news of Ginobli's season-ending injury to an ankle that has bothered him all season since he had surgery on it in the off-season. Although the Spurs have added key pieces in Drew Gooden and Roger Mason Jr., it will still be up to Duncan and Parker to pull them through the playoffs.
The Mavericks on the other hand, played very well towards the end of the season, moving up to the #6 seed after being picked not to make the playoffs at All-Star break. Their hot streak leading into the playoffs could actually be the momentum they need to quickly disperse the Spurs and move into the 2nd round. Sports analysts do not feel confident that they will advance in the playoffs and it appears to be bothering the Mavs.
"It feels disrespectful when you watch these shows, TNT, ESPN, and they're talking, 'Walk through the Mavericks, that's who you want to play," Jason Terry said. "Ok. We'll see if that's who you want to play."
Unfortunately for Jason Terry and the Mavericks, even though they are hot heading into the playoffs, they are exactly who the Spurs want to play and who they will knock out of the playoffs in the first round. It is difficult to believe that the Spurs who are seeded #3 in the west, will lose in the first round. They have withstood the diversity throughout the season so expect them to get past the Mavericks and meet the Nuggets in the next round.
The final match up in the west involves the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers were able to move up to the fourth seed in the western conference but they are picked as the underdog to advance. The reason for being deemed the underdog? They are the youngest team in the playoffs and most of their players lack playoff experience. It will be up to Brandon Roy, to set the tone in the series for Portland and lead them past the Rockets.
The Rockets on the other hand, have had an up and down season. They lost Tracy McGrady to a knee injury after the All-Star break and yet they are still seeded fifth. Their defense and outside shooters to surround Yao Ming have enabled them to quietly surprise teams around the league and continue to win.
In this match up, I'm going to pick the underdog to beat out the favorite. Portland has the younger team and lacks experience but they have played every game this season with tenacity and gave 100 percent. Roy will put this team on his back and carry them into the second round where they will lose to the Lakers in another exciting series.
That's all for this installment! Enjoy the playoffs and I will be back to go over the results of the first and and second games of the first round.
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