Here we go, the Western Conference Finals between the 2 best teams in the conference battling for the right to advance to play for the championship in the NBA Finals. Let’s start off with the Spurs, who after getting knocked out of the playoffs early last year there were many talking about breaking up this team, they were too old and didn’t have another run in them.
Well, fast forward another year and here they are in the conference finals after sweeping both, the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers and haven’t lost a game since April 11th, that 18 games in a row. This year there “Big 3″ are healthy in the playoffs and they’ve looked great. They, of course, are the #1 seed.
Now let’s look at the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the #2 seed coming off of winning there series against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. This Thunder team was crowned the team of the future 3 years ago when they pushed the Lakers in the playoffs. Now they’re making there 2nd straight trip to the Western Conference Finals, last year they lost to the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder are lead by 3 time scoring champion Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, also they have the 6th man of the year in James Harden.
Now to the series, the Spurs won the season series 2-1, but I think we can throw that out of the window now because this is the playoffs. The front court match-up should be a test for the Thunder trying to defend one of the greatest power forwards ever in Tim Duncan, Serge Ibaka lead the league in blocks and Kendrick Perkins is a tough and physical down low. In the back court we have the speedy Tony Parker, who had an MVP type season and Manu Ginobili against Russell Westbrook and Thabo Sefolosha, which should be a great match-up. Now we add the bench, which could be the difference because the Thunder usually go about 10 deep lead by James Hardin and the Spurs, also go about 10 deep also. So I expect a great series between these 2 and could possibly go 7 games. Can the Thunder break through and finally advance to the NBA Finals or will we see the Spurs go for there 5th title in 13 years? This is a hard one to pick because my heart wants the Thunder to win but instincts say the Spurs will win it. Winner: Spurs in 7 games.