LCB Hoops Picks: Western Conference, Second Round

With the first round finished out West, myself and Berndon join forces yet again to bring you our picks for who will play in the Conference Finals.
Berndon: I had a hunch that with the parity displayed throughout the season out West, that the first round of the playoffs would mirror the competitive nature of the regular season. Although none of the series' went the full 7 games, all were closely fought old-school physical playoff battles. The big names have shined for those that moved on, but the real keys might just be some of the role players who have expanded their roles, a la George Hill, Wesley Matthews, etc. That's one of the best parts of the playoffs, seeing the Robert Horry's of the world emerge and become heroes.

Langston: Before the first round, I stated that I had no idea if the Lakers were ready to defend their crown. After disposing of the pesky team from OKC in six games, I am still left with a lot of questions regarding the Lakers. However, I like their chances to move on to the conference finals. The biggest question mark for the Lakers is the injury to Andrew Bynum, but with Mehmet Okur out for the playoffs it balances things out. The Lakers have owned the Jazz in the playoffs over the past two seasons and took care of them with relative ease in the regular season, winning the series 3-1 with all three wins by fourteen points or more. So while I have no idea if they're playing their best basketball or not, I feel confident that the Lakers will make their third straight trip to the conference finals.

Picks
Berndon
(1) Los Angeles Lakers v. (5) Utah Jazz: I couldn't tell if the Lakers were just diplaying their usual arrogance and cruising until they really had to play last series, or if Oklahoma City was actually just a damn good team, especially for an 8 seed. It was probably a little bit of both. Now they get Utah, a team they took care of 3 out of 4 times in the regular season, including once without Kobe. Utah is banged up, but might get Andrei Kirilenko back by Game 3. L.A. is banged up, as Kobe is a walking injury report, with Andrew Bynum also hurting. I think this will play out in typical Laker fashion, where they'll decide to fully show up at the end and close it out, as I see it going 6. There's only so much Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer can do, and even though the supporting cast is getting better as the games go forward, there's a difference between playing against an insane team that needs the voice of reason to come from their coach to one with a coach who is the reason they have won multiple championships. The Lakers won't make the same mistakes Denver made, and Boozer won't have as much of an impact on the boards. Lakers in 6.

Langston
(3) Phoenix Suns v. (7) San Antonio Spurs: For the second straight series, the Spurs face off against a team they know extremely well. This will be the fourth time in six years that the two teams have matched-up in the playoffs, with the Spurs winning all the previous series. The names we have come accustomed to hearing will be key factors (Tim Duncan, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, Manu Ginobili, Jason Richardson) and a couple of new names will be introduced as x-factors (DeJuan Blair, George Hill, Channing Frye, Jared Dudley). However the biggest factor for this series is tempo, the team that forces the other to play at their pace will win this series. During the season, the Suns won that battle, taking the season series 2-1 with both teams breaking triple digits in each game. Both teams have highly efficient offenses ranking in the top ten, the Spurs appear to be the superior team on the defensive side of the ball ranking 9th to the Suns 19th. I, like any other basketball fan, love watching good offenses run their sets. However, with both teams being so efficient, the edge has to go to the team with the better defense, influencing me to pick the Spurs in six. Well that and I have absolutely no faith in Jason Richardson.