Someone Picked us to Win the le

[ezau]

Scouts' forecast for 2010-11 season

By Ian Thomsen ( Sports Illustrated)

Once again I've empaneled a half-dozen NBA advance and personnel scouts to predict the standings and champion for the 2010-11 season. These are the same league experts who have broken down all 30 teams in exhaustive detail for our annual scouting reports in this week's magazine, with their full reports to be posted on SI.com Friday.

Let's start with their view of the regular-season race in the East. Miami will run away with the No. 1 seed in conference, according to votes cast in our recent survey (the average rating by the six voters is in parentheses).

Conference Finals

Here are all of the predictions for the Western finals:
Lakers over Oklahoma City
Lakers over Oklahoma City
Lakers over Dallas
Lakers over Dallas
Lakers over San Antonio
San Antonio over Lakers


Everyone thinks L.A. will reach the NBA's Final Four, and one voter alone believes they won't advance, thanks to the rejuvenation of the Spurs by Tiago Splitter.


The Heat are almost as solid in the East. Every voter likes Miami to reach the conference finals in what is viewed as a three-team race.
Miami over Boston
Miami over Boston
Miami over Boston
Miami over Orlando
Boston over Miami
Orlando over Miami

NBA Finals

Lakers over Miami
Lakers over Miami
Lakers over Miami
Miami over Lakers
Boston over Lakers
San Antonio over Orlando


The experts think five teams have a chance to play in June and four can win the championship. The Lakers are favorites but they're not a dominant pick, based on their tenuous win in Game 7 last year and the health concerns of Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.


And yet, as much as Miami has established the agenda for this season, most of the experts believe the hype will backfire on the Heat while serving to inspire Kobe. "This whole thing could light a fire under Bryant," said one scout, "because he's still that good and he's going to realize he doesn't have too much time left."


The most surprising pick has Tim Duncan's Spurs beating Dwight Howard's Magic. "It will be the story of the great center bowing out," the scout said of Duncan, who hates to be viewed as a center, "against the young great center."

[#2!]

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164270

[chazley]

If I were a betting man, I would say the Spurs have the second best chance at representing the West in the Finals, ahead of the Thunder and Mavs. The Thunder are never going to win a le with their current roster, bottom line, considering the frontcourts of every other contender in the league. Plus, we already beat the Mavs so I'm not worried about them in the least.

I wish we could've played the Lakers in the first round.. we probably wouldn't have won, but I would prefer going out in 7 games to the Lakers as opposed to getting swept in the second round.

Health permitting, we are capable of winning a le this year. I think the Lakers have more questions marks regarding age/injuries than the Spurs at this point.