NBA Stuff

Last night Aaron and i got to go to the Nuggets-Suns game, so in honor of that, i thought i'd post my thoughts about the closing run of the season. By the way, the Nuggets destroyed the very flat Suns 123-111. JR Smith is going to make or break this team, he has a terrible shot selection but he redeems himself by making these ridiculous 3's. if he misses 2-3 three-pointers last night this game could have ended a lot different

anyway, lets talk about the West

Here's how i'm feeling about everything going on in the West. First, the trades

I like the Shaq trade even though it hasn't really produced results yet. Shaq is old, so is Grant Hill and Steve Nash so i'm not surprised when i see games like i did last night, these guys just don't have enough gas to play 82 games plus playoffs. I think as long as the Suns get in they'll be fine, Shaq will play better and D'Antoni has 20 more games to figure out how he'd like to play this squad. Remember, Shaq isn't going to fill up the stat sheet, he's more of a creating/holding player and he totally opens up the floor for Amare.

I don't like the Mavs and Jason Kidd. Kidd didn't do anything with Vince Carter and Jefferson in New Jersey in a weaker Eastern Conference so whats to say he's going to do anything with basically Dirk and Josh Howard? I'm not scared of the Mavs this season at all

Now the Lakers are looking great. Rumor is Bynum might not be on the fast track to recovery so that could suck for them, but they've shown they can win without Bynum for now. The thing i'd be worried about with the Lakers is peaking too early. They can't play a ton better than they are now, 9-1 in their last 10, but Kobe does carry the load and come playoff time he's gonna be a little worn out.

Now what about PLAYOFFS?

Well, the West is ridiculous! I think the Nugz might be in trouble, people thought Houston would fall apart without Yao but remember, this team has played so many stretches without Yao and/or McGrady that they can handle it just fine, especially with Scola playing awesome. Plus they have the greatest coach ever to get teams into the playoffs in Adelman so they'll get in.

I think the race for 8/7 will only be between Denver, Golden State and Dallas, with Denver being left out of the dance. None of these teams will be a factor in the later rounds of playoffs anyway.

As for the newcomers to the playoffs this season, the Hornets and Jazz, wouldn't bet on these teams either. I love both these teams, i really enjoy watching Derron Williams and Chris Paul play, and it looks like both of these teams will be around for awhile, but i just don't think you can do it with a PG as your key player, at least not in todays NBA. We're seeing the Nuggets suffer without a PG so yes, it's vital to have a good one, but you can't get points as easily through a PG as you can a PF like Duncan, Dirk, Amare, Carmelo. The Jazz do have Boozer but i'm just not excited about that. The Hornets have Peja, Chandler, and West but i don't know, none of those guys have shown the maturity to take a team far in playoffs.

Who does that leave? the Spurs and the Lakers and the Suns. You can't really discount the Spurs until they don't succeed in the playoffs, and this season has given us no reason to think they're any worse than they've been in the last few years, its the same team and they're all healthy.

The Lakers are my pick to represent the West, i'm just hoping that Kobe proves to everyone how good he is and carries this team to a championship.

The Suns will be competitive, but not good enough, Amare is too emotional to handle the playoffs and i'm not sure if Shaq and Nash are as motivated this year as they've been in the past.

So you heard it here first, i'm thinking a Lakers/Spurs western conf. showdown with a nod to history with a Lakers Celtics final. how amazing would that be? Go Celtics!!