The 82 game regular season wrapped up on Wednesday night and starting this Saturday, April 17th the second season begins. Eight teams will begin play for the right to represent the West in the NBA Finals. The following is a brief look at each team along with their current odds to win the conference.
Los Angeles Lakers 2-3
The odds makers are not overly concerned with the Lakers late season swoon, but you have to wonder if this team itself is not suffering a bit of doubt about their ability to repeat as champions. After losing six of their final 10 games, LA finished with a 57-25 record which was still tops in the West. Resting Kobe Bryant down the stretch to try and get him healthy for a grueling postseason is part of the reason for the poor play, but it does not account for all their problems. Only time will tell how good this team still is.
Dallas finished the season with a record of 55-27 by winning eight out of their last 10 games and five straight. They come into these playoffs as the team with the best chance to unseat the Lakers in the West, but they will have to get by their in-state rivals, San Antonio in the first round to have a chance to make a run. Led by Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, the Mavericks can beat anyone when they are playing at a high level.
Phoenix Suns 14-1
Phoenix routed Utah in the final game of the regular season 100-86 to finish with a record of 54-28 and lock up the third seed in the conference. If they are going to make a deep run in these playoffs it will be on the backs of their leading scorer, Amar’e Stoudemire who averaged 23.1 points per game and assist leader Steve Nash who averaged 16.5 points and 11 assists per game.
Denver Nuggets 6-1
At one point in the season it appeared that Denver actually had a chance to catch the Lakers for the top spot in the West, but after a very average last month and a half of the regular season they will be lucky to get by the Jazz in the first round. They finished with a record of 53-29, but were a dismal 19-22 on the road. With players like Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups they could still quickly catch fire and make a run, but to me that is an unlikely scenario.
Utah Jazz 8-1
Utah had everything to gain and everything to lose going into their final regular season game at home against the Suns. A win would have given them the second seed and home court advantage until the conference finals, but the inevitable loss dropped them all the way to fifth. It will be a test to see how they respond to the disappointing loss, especially opening up on the road in Denver.
Portland Trail Blazers 25-1
Portland finished 50-32 and edged out the Spurs for the sixth seed on a tie breaker. Whether or not they can take advantage of facing Phoenix in the first round as opposed to the Mavs remains to be seen. At times this season the Trail Blazers played like one of the elite teams in the league and at times they looked as if they did not even belong in the playoffs. How far they go in this tournament strictly depends on which team shows up.
San Antonio Spurs 10-1
San Antonio has been another one of those up and down teams playing without a lot of consistency this season. Having a healthy Tony Parker back in the lineup certainly helps their chances, but they will need a huge effort from Tim Duncan, the rest of the starting five, and the bench just to get past Dallas in the first round.
Oklahoma City Thunder 25-1
Oklahoma City makes their first trip to the post season and as a baptism by fire, gets a shot at the defending world champion Lakers in the first round. Led by the league’s leading scorer, Kevin Durant who averaged 30.1 points per game this team has to be able to play every game with an intensity and a complete sense of reckless abandon to have any chance to get by LA, but crazier things have happened.
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