Since nobody knows how the 3 through 8 will look out west, we will just jump to the probably conference championship match-up. Thunder v Lakers.
The Lakers have a fantastic star studded starting 5, the Thunder an almost equally fantastic starting 5, that is almost as star studded. The Thunder by far have the better bench with James Harden and Nick Collison. The difference maker in this series though will be the back-court. The Thunder's combination of Westbrook, Maynor, Harden, and Sefolosha are a much more youthful and athletic bunch than the Lakers with Kobe and Nash. The speed and driving ability of the Thunder will be able to repeatedly break down the Lakers defense at the point of attack, forcing Howard to guard the basket far too often. Not that Howard is not one of the best defenders in the league, but you can only stop a clean drive to the basket so often without getting into foul trouble or your own man getting a lot of uncontested buckets, both of which are problematic. The Lakers needed some youth to run with the Thunder, and all they got was older and slower. Better, but older and slower.
This will certainly be a good series, 6 or 7 games most likely, but the Thunders youth and athleticism will make the difference. They will earn the right to plat for the Larry O'brien trophy for the 2nd straight year.
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