OT: Who is the favorite to win it all this year?

[Texas_Ranger]

i'd say OKC. Tis their year.

Imma explain why

Durant=Lebron
Westbrook>Iriving
Ibaka>Love
Adams>Thompson
Collison>Varejao

Jew>Scotty Brooks

advantage: thunder

Adams and Collison better than Thompson and Varejao... The Cavs 2 are 3 times better.

[Killakobe81]

Here is my list of favorites (in order):

1. Cavs
Pros: weak East, Lebron (of course) , could be one of the best passing teams in the NBA ...
Cons: No proven chemistry, weak defenders, and as great as he is Lebron has come up short at times. No way you can blame him for the Spurs loss his team let him down ...but as good as he has been the last 5 years I still think he let himself down with two finals losses. That was not the best Lebron or even close. I think they can win but not sure they will but favorites.

2. Spurs
Pros: Great team chemistry. Proven depth. Best coach in the biz. Tony working the paint and Duncan on the block. KL's upside. Great 3 point shooting. Diaw's versatility
Cons: Age of 2 of big 3. Making the finals 3 straight years especially in the west is very hard. I dont know why but I just dont trust them to accomplish that in a very tough West. Put em in the East different story. I'm going to call it now no repeat. dont have a great reason because they are the best team, I just dont see this group making the finals in three straight years.The hunger wont be there. they will finish top 2 in West destry their first round opponent but lose in 2nd or WCF ...

3. Clips
Pros: Blake. Not sure if improved range is real or just a hot streak but if he maintains that and the Clips feature him in the right way, Oh me oh my! Paul despite the hate on here is driven for a le and is the best PG. Doc though overrated has some of the best inbounds plays and plays out of timeouts in the biz. Great bench scoring from JJ and Big baby.
Cons: SF is still a weakness and even if stacked at other spots I think they are lacking an elite wing defender. On paper a really good team with only a few holes ...but I still dont trust this team.

4. OKC
Pros: The 2nd best player in the game playing in his prime with a top 10 player also in his prime. Serge patrolling the paint. Reggie Jackson providing scoring off the bench
Cons: They will miss Sefolosha on defense. Perk sucks. Books sucks. I really must have a lot of faith in KD/Russ to keep em this high.

Honorable mentions:

Gstate: I love their mix of shooting/scoring (Curry, Klay, Barnes, Lee) and (defense Bogut, Green Iggy). Kerr is unproven as a coach not sure I trust their paint defense outside of Bogut.

Mavs: I love their offense. Glad they brought back Tyson (never should have let him go). Though overpaid Parsons gives them speed and scoring. A big 3 of Dirk, Montae and Parsons means they will GET buckets. I think like the Clips they lack a perimeter wing defender. But Rc is the best coach north of Pop I say Mavs snag 4th seed or better in a tough West.

[Clipper Nation]

Yea, and what led to that? I have never before or after complained about officiating. I dont think it was a fix like the NBA. It was just poor officiating. That game was historically bad. Ravens were beat. They needed 20 consecutive calls in a row to comeback.

Blaming the refs for another patented Fivehead choke
Did the refs throw that pick in overtime?

[100%duncan]

Spurs.

[~O~]

Hmm...I see there is no type of humility for the Eastern Conference here and I believe its warranted. Since the beginning of the millenium, the east hasn't been at all entertainingly compe ive. Just a bunch of overhyped machines and most of the Eastern teams that have won weren't very liked by diehard basketball fans. I liked the Pistons team that won and made it to the finals twice. The Nets as well but they just couldn't get over that hump.

Its lucky I post in a eastern conference forum also where we discuss the east more than the west. I guess its about immediate, local, and playoff compe ion. Local compe ion is much more relevant.

But yes, the West still has better teams which truly overshadows how much the east has gotten. Most considerably, through this stacked draft.

Read this if you want.


So I have Bulls, Wizards, Raptors, Cavaliers, Toronto as top 5 East. Spurs Mavs Portland, Phoenix, Clippers out for the Weest.

Eastern Conference Finals.....bulls wiz. Western Conference finals. Mavs SPurs please.

I'm starting to think the world doesn't believe that LeBron is human due to subliminal oversaturated advertising as he's had to carry a team to the finals for almost 5 straight seasons. Hold fast....

But yes, I truly don't see...looking at that roster....how that team could possibly make it to the finals. That Bulls team however. Yeesh. Got rid of booze and now banger Gibson starting with Gasol. Mirotic off the bench. Derrick Rose looks healthy enough to last for once. We'll see.

[Horse]

OKC still matches up well vs the spurs. The spurs caught fire for a few games in the playoffs, sure the ball movement created a lot of open shots, but the spurs were still nailing shots at a phenomenal rate.

If you look at the playoffs once we really figured a team out we never looked back. I don't see what okc did to get any better. Each yr they don't win westbrick will tire of playing second fiddle while Durant will get closer to DC. We take them out this season they may blow it up.

[ambchang]

If you look at the playoffs once we really figured a team out we never looked back. I don't see what okc did to get any better. Each yr they don't win westbrick will tire of playing second fiddle while Durant will get closer to DC. We take them out this season they may blow it up.

Is that why game 6 was so close? The Spurs were obviously the better team in the series, but OKC matches up with the Spurs very well. They have a very strong mid range game, and their quick defenders negates some of the Spurs ball movement.

Westbrook went absolutely crazy in a few games that series, it's partly him catching fire, but it's also partly the Spurs having trouble containing him. If he ever gets his emotions in check, and figured that the he essentially unstoppable driving to the basket (big ifs), he can be as good as Durant.

[Chinook]

Is that why game 6 was so close? The Spurs were obviously the better team in the series, but OKC matches up with the Spurs very well. They have a very strong mid range game, and their quick defenders negates some of the Spurs ball movement.

Spurs won without their best offensive player. That player is now the healthiest he's been for a couple of years. OKC lost the guy they used as the primary defender on the perimeter. So they pretty much have to hope Ibaka can cover up that loss. That will be hard if the Spurs continue to draw Serge out on the perimeter.

In reality, the Spurs have always (meaning for the last few years) matched up well with OKC defensively. It's just that they relied too much on Parker, and Tony could be stopped with Sef and Ibaka. Now that the Medium Three have improved so much, the Spurs are just a lot better overall than they were, while OKC is only slightly better. , had Green not slumped in 2012, the Spurs may well have won that series.

Westbrook went absolutely crazy in a few games that series, it's partly him catching fire, but it's also partly the Spurs having trouble containing him. If he ever gets his emotions in check, and figured that the he essentially unstoppable driving to the basket (big ifs), he can be as good as Durant.

Westbrook only went crazy in Game Four, and even then, he didn't go off until semi garbage time (only 10 points off 13 possessions against Green and Parker in that game). It's frankly shocking how well the Spurs defended KD and RW this last series. The 4-2 result doesn't do justice to the match-up issue OKC has with SA now, especially if their bench can't play make up for losing Jackson.

[Malik Hairston]

Can't see the Clippers winning with those terrible wing players and lack of defensive system, tbh..

Since 2003, how many le teams haven't had elite wing defense?..

The 2006 Heat are probably the only team that comes to mind, tbh..

It'll be a problem for the Cavs, too, with a declining(on defense) Lebron as their only competent wing defender( Marion)..

[Killakobe81]

Can't see the Clippers winning with those terrible wing players and lack of defensive system, tbh..

Since 2003, how many le teams haven't had elite wing defense?..

The 2006 Heat are probably the only team that comes to mind, tbh..

It'll be a problem for the Cavs, too, with a declining(on defense) Lebron as their only competent wing defender( Marion)..

More built in excuse making. Even Lebron is shying away from "favorite status" i think he does not want to be favored, because he is soft or lacks faith in himself, team, or coach. I think the blame he got for 2010.2011 has made James leery of being the le favorites. Yes, their defense is shaky but with a good system they can be solid and the offense should be elite. Plus they have Lebron Freaking James.

No hiding Lebron and his minions pressure is on to win NOW.

[Horse]

Is that why game 6 was so close? The Spurs were obviously the better team in the series, but OKC matches up with the Spurs very well. They have a very strong mid range game, and their quick defenders negates some of the Spurs ball movement.

Westbrook went absolutely crazy in a few games that series, it's partly him catching fire, but it's also partly the Spurs having trouble containing him. If he ever gets his emotions in check, and figured that the he essentially unstoppable driving to the basket (big ifs), he can be as good as Durant.

That thing was over till the zebras showed up and we still beat em at their place.

[ambchang]

Spurs won without their best offensive player. That player is now the healthiest he's been for a couple of years. OKC lost the guy they used as the primary defender on the perimeter. So they pretty much have to hope Ibaka can cover up that loss. That will be hard if the Spurs continue to draw Serge out on the perimeter.

In reality, the Spurs have always (meaning for the last few years) matched up well with OKC defensively. It's just that they relied too much on Parker, and Tony could be stopped with Sef and Ibaka. Now that the Medium Three have improved so much, the Spurs are just a lot better overall than they were, while OKC is only slightly better. , had Green not slumped in 2012, the Spurs may well have won that series.



Westbrook only went crazy in Game Four, and even then, he didn't go off until semi garbage time (only 10 points off 13 possessions against Green and Parker in that game). It's frankly shocking how well the Spurs defended KD and RW this last series. The 4-2 result doesn't do justice to the match-up issue OKC has with SA now, especially if their bench can't play make up for losing Jackson.

Sefolosha was pretty ineffective vs Parker last season. Parker figured him out and was going off in games 1 and 2. If Parker can get more in the passing mode and less on the scoring mode, I think the spurs will play better, but Parker doesn't seem to really get that yet.

As for Westbrook, he absolutely blew the game open in games 3 and 4 by himself. Saying that he only did so in semi garbage time was pretty far from the truth. People can hate him all they want, but Westbrook, when his head is on straight, can be devastating.

[ambchang]

That thing was over till the zebras showed up and we still beat em at their place.

Game 6 was pretty evenly called, everything considered.

Of the refs were biased, no way would they not call that strip on Westbrook. It's a clean strip, but a biased ref would call that 10 out of 10 times.

[Chinook]

Sefolosha was pretty ineffective vs Parker last season. Parker figured him out and was going off in games 1 and 2. If Parker can get more in the passing mode and less on the scoring mode, I think the spurs will play better, but Parker doesn't seem to really get that yet.

Yes, and that's a big reason why OKC no longer matches up well with the Spurs.

As for Westbrook, he absolutely blew the game open in games 3 and 4 by himself. Saying that he only did so in semi garbage time was pretty far from the truth. People can hate him all they want, but Westbrook, when his head is on straight, can be devastating.

Westbrook is good, just not usually against the Spurs. In Game Four, more than half of his points came against the Spurs deep bench. He single-handedly ended the Spurs' comeback attempt, but he did not go off against the team's regular rotation.

[ambchang]

Yes, and that's a big reason why OKC no longer matches up well with the Spurs.



Westbrook is good, just not usually against the Spurs. In Game Four, more than half of his points came against the Spurs deep bench. He single-handedly ended the Spurs' comeback attempt, but he did not go off against the team's regular rotation.

No .... The thunder blew out the spurs twice and had a very tight game in game 6 after sefelosha was proven to be useless on both offense and defense. Parker hero ball is the best thing for the thunder to defend because they have multiple layers of defense that can stop Parker.

Wesbrook absolutely at wrecked the spurs and he played great in game 6 as well.