Western Conference Playoff Preview

With the season set to end in less than 2 weeks, I figured this would be a good time to take a closer look at the Western Conference standings. Right now the standings starting from first to eighth are: 1) San Antonio Spurs, 2) Los Angeles Lakers, 3) Dallas Mavericks, 4) Oklahoma City Thunder, 5) Denver Nuggets, 6) Portland Trail Blazers, 7) Memphis Grizzlies, 8) New Orleans Hornets. The Western Conference is much more deep than the Eastern Conference, which means it is harder to project who will win each game. With only a few games left there are a few things that could change the way the playoff matchups look now. For one the Spurs could lose their one seed to the red hot Lakers if they keep losing, this could really hurt the Spurs who have been in first place almost all year long. Also the last 3 seeds, the Blazers, Grizzlies, and Hornets are all within a game of each other.
Looking into the first round matchups, no matter whom the Spurs and the Lakers play I’d expect them to win because those are the no doubt best teams in the west. Now depending on whom the Mavericks play they could be in for some trouble. The Mavericks are a kind of soft team so if they play a team like the Blazers, they could be in for some trouble. Right now they are in line to play the Blazers, and I think the Blazers will beat them. The last matchup against the Thunder and the Nuggets will be a good one as well, but I expect the Thunder to pull it out. Into the second round I expect the Spurs and Lakers to get to the Finals, like I said earlier these two teams are just better than everyone else in the Western Conference. This is another one of those matchups where I am split, my heart says the Spurs and my brain says the Lakers. This time I’m going with my heart though I think the Spurs will represent the west in the NBA Finals.