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NBA Western Conference playoffs report
By David Zizmor April 27, 2008 |
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The match-up between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets has to be the least interesting match up of all the games in the playoffs simply because the Nuggets don't really know how to play defense. The Lakers are first and foremost the number one team, their a very good team, they arguably have the best player in Kobe Bryant and when you have to deal with that and if you can't play defense your already one step in the hole. The Nuggets can score with anybody they have Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson two of the best scorers in the NBA but when you can't stop anyone on defense you’re really screwed in the playoffs. In the playoffs you have to score but the Nuggets have to stop people too and the Nuggets simply can't do that. You've seen it in the scores both teams have scored in triple digits which is kind of rare for the NBA in the last 10 years or so. The Lakers have been scoring 10-15 points more than the Nuggets and that's really it in a nut shell. The Nuggets just can not stop the Lakers, the Lakers have too many weapons, they play too good a defense or just enough defense or just enough defense anyway to slow up the Nuggets on a few possessions here and there. Dallas vs. New Orleans match: These two teams are a little bit evenly matched and the fact of the matter is that Dallas has playoff experience and the Hornets do not. As good as the Hornets are they might suffer from a little bit of the inexperience. The one thing the Hornets have going for them they are the team with the best player on the floor in Chris Paul the point guard who has just been outstanding. Paul is showing the world why he's a potential MVP. In years past Dirk Nowitski would be the guy that everyone would think is the best on the floor but this year it's Chris Paul and when you got players at point guard that's tough to beat because there are point guards who are at the level that Chris Paul is those players are the ones who control the game. You saw it in Phoenix with Steve Nash but Nash isn't doing it because he's playing a team that is just as good against the Spurs. The Hornets they have Chris Paul and Paul can distribute he can make every single play on the Hornets better. San Antonio vs. Phoenix: Everybody had to be fascinated with this series going in because these are two of the glamor teams. The Spurs who are the defending champs and the Suns well, their the go-go Suns, their quick, their fun to watch and the Spurs have just been out playing them left and right. Part of it is maybe the Spurs are better but the other part of it is that Phoenix just got a little bit old they might have just missed their window kind of like the way the Sacramento Kings did six years ago and once you get to that point and you don't get into the finals sometimes it's never going to happen. Nash keeps playing great ball but this year he was a little bit slower as good as he was, he wasn't the Steve Nash who won the MVP award back to back. Shaquille O'Neal it was a really fascinating trade for Phoenix to make that trade to get Shaq in the middle and giving the Suns a defensive presence in the middle who can play the Tim Duncan's of the world. However, not to say Shaq has been a complete failure for the Suns he just hasn't meshed just yet sometimes it takes 30-40 games and you saw it with the Warriors last year, it took about 20 some odd games before Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington really got into the mix and got into the flow of the game. For Shaq that's the same situation. The trade bringing Shaq to Phoenix happened back in February and Shaq had a number of injuries that he had to deal with as well and he's not totally in the flow and he's played well but he's not the dominate force that he was back in the day. Utah vs. Houston: The Houston Rockets don't miss Yao Ming that badly and when the Rockets lost Yao they won 22 games in a row without him so you can argue that their actually better without Yao. It's not to say Yao is not a better player because he certainly is, not a lot of 7 foot six guys in the middle has the skill set that Yao does and matter of fact in the NBA there's zero, it's just Yao Ming. So when Yao got injured everybody thought that was the end of the Rockets but it turns out that the Rockets are not that bad without him and partly it might be the players around Yao were better when they didn't have to distribute the ball to the center. The Rockets clearly play better when their focusing on the wing, penetrating from the outside instead of having to dish inside and their skill set fits just a little bit better without having the big guy down low. Down the stretch if the Rockets get into the deeper parts of the playoffs they might miss Yao and they might need his help because Yao was going to be needed against someone like the Jazz. David Zizmor reviews the NBA Playoff teams each week on Sportstalk Radio. |
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