West Finals

30 Teams start, 16 continue, 8 more are dismissed early, 4 more a little later, and 4 remain. The long awaited LeBron/Kobe Finals has again been put off for another year if ever. Here's how they got here.

The Phoenix Suns return to the Conference Finals for the third time in the last six years under Steve Nash point guard direction. They arrived after a dismal first game against the undermanned Blazers but took the next 4 in ass kicking fashion blowing the Blazers away in three of them. They then renewed one rivalry against the San Antonio Spurs fresh from dismissing a very disspointing Mavericks and shocked the basketball world by sweeping the aside to earn a long deserved trip to the Conference Finals. The top West seed Lakers make their third consecutive time and their insane 40th trip to the final four in 62 years, 30 times they have advanced to the Big Dance. New kids in town OKC Thunder led by scoring sensation Kevin Durant gave the defending champs a tough series even embarrassing them in game 4 before bowing out to them in six games on a Gasol tip in. Next was an old nemesis Utah Jazz who got rid of the George Karl less Denver Nuggets in yet another disappointing showing by a west top seed. Utah fought hard in typical Jerry Sloan fashion but in the end lacked the size without Okur and less than 100% AK47 to prevent a four game sweep for the first time in their franchise history.

The Lakers have a score to settle against the Suns for the ousting back in '06 and '07, while not the same rosters, the 5 hold backs from those teams still have a bad taste. Lakes have home court and dominated them in the regular season. A couple of games though were on the 2nd night of a back to back and Lakers smoked the Suns whose only victory was scored against an Artest less Lakers team, also in big fashion. The Lakers are not 100% but look better than they had in the last month of the regular season sans Bynum who still looks injured sometimes. The Suns have 2 key members past their mid 30s even though they are currently not playing like it and still have decent big body Robin Lopez without playing in the post season. For the most part neither have no significant injuries, yet. The 3 pointer is key for the Suns offense and even though I keep reading the Lakers defend the 3 better than anyone, I beg to differ as time and time again Lakers get burned by open 3s or 3s in transition. For the Suns to pull an upset, Nash and Amare must play like the All-Stars they are and Richardson must be one of their top 3 scorers in every game. The bench has to continue to be productive as they have been and keep the offense rolling and win the hustle battle. Without Lopez the Suns are undersized and are gonna have their hands full if the Lakers go that rout. Both Gasol & Bynum can wear you down with their length and frustrate them with easy point blank buckets. Stopping Kobe is probably gonna fall on Grant Hill who has been Suns best defender, but if the Lakers role players due their job and hit their open shots it will be a long series for the Suns. The Lakers to advance for the 3rd straight finals a feat they have done 5 times before they must pound the ball inside and try to get Amare in foul trouble. The Bigs must come out and contest the 3s if they want to remain on the floor. If the Laker run the offense through Gasol it should be a pretty smooth attack if everyone moves and hits their open shots. The ability of the Lakers to go small with Odom in the lineup negates the Suns fast paced attack as LO can match their speed but also has strength and height advantage. The reserve guards have got to be effective as they will match against the young combo of Dragic and Barbosa both who shoot the ball well and are very quick, contain them and Lakers can wrap up the series fast. The Lakers have the personnel to counter any attack the Suns come up with, will they have the mindset? If so, Lakers will close out and head back to the NBA Finals in 5.