Western Conference Finals Preview

(1) LA Lakers vs (3) San Antonio Spurs: When first looking at this match-up, I thought I would take a look at the season series to see if their were any trends between the two teams. However, even though the season series was tied 2-2, you can basically throw out all the games because these two teams haven't faced off with their current rosters yet.

In the first three matchups, San Antonio took the 2 of 3(Nov 13. & Jan 23.) but the Lakers didn't have Pau Gasol yet and still had a healthy Andrew Bynum. Also, Tim Duncan missed the game that San Antonio lost. In the final match-up of the season between these two teams, Pau Gasol was on the team but Manu Ginobili missed the game with an injury and the Lakers won.

One thing I did notice though from the last game between these two teams was that the Lakers crushed the Spurs on the boards 51 to 36 and I don't think it would have mattered much in that department if Ginobili had played. The Lakers also pretty much had their way on offense shooting 50% from the field, 52.6% from 3-Point land, and 82.4% from the line. Also, Tim Duncan did not play particularly well in the game.

Here's what Spurs coach Greg Popovich had to say about the Lakers after that game:

"They're the best in the West at this point," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Their rhythm is good, everybody knows their roles, they are playing confidently, defense looks very good. Heck of a team."

I don't think much has changed since then for the Lakers, especially since their offense has been extremely efficient so far in the playoffs. Nobody has been able to slow them down and they get alot of easy buckets. The bench and overall team shooting on the Lakers has also been solid. Not to mention, when worst comes to worst, they can have Kobe take over a game if they need to.

As far as the defense, well this is what Kobe Bryant had to say after that same game about the teams defensive identity:

"It's just like offense," he said. "You have to find out what your identity is. I think we have found that defensively. We are very aggressive. We have a tremendous amount of versatility -- wings and bigs who are fast and athletic and long. We can get after guys."

The defense and rebounding are the only parts of the Lakers team that I question, but judging from the quote above, Kobe and the Lakers seem awfully confident about their defense. They have done nothing to make me think that their defense won't hold up against the Spurs either.

So as you can see, I'm starting to think the Lakers will take this series. It won't be easy though if Pau Gasol and the rest of the big men can't contain Tim Duncan, then I can definitely see the Spurs winning the series. I do think that Tim Duncan is the biggest key to the series for both teams. If the Lakers can contain him, then they have a great chance to win the series but if he goes off and has a monster series, then I think the Spurs will win assuming they get enough production out of Parker and Ginobili. Duncan had a tough series against New Orleans but he played extremely well against the Suns, so we will see what happens.

When all is said and done, I think the Lakers will be slightly better than the Spurs and win the series.

Prediction: Lakers in 7

Previously: Eastern Conference Finals Preview