Oops.

Oh yeah, I've seem to forgotten to post my Western Conference Playoff Predictions...sorry.

Basically, my top 8 are:

1 San Antonio
2 New Orleans
3 Utah
4 Los Angeles
5 Phoenix
6 Golden State
7 Houston
8 Dallas

Yeah, that's right, a Spurs-Mavs FIRST ROUND series. I think the Spurs take that in 6 and Dallas re-trades Kidd. I think Houston falls to seventh and faces a New Orleans team they know they can beat so this match-up should be a doozy. The Rockets scare the Hornets because no one on their roster can check T-Mac and because the Rockets big men aren't afraid of the Hornets'. New Orleans has got the talent advantage at all the positions except the two so this one should go down to the wire. And even though I want to T-Mac to get out of the first round, I think they lose game 7 (but I hope they don't). It's a rematch of last year's West semis and I think Utah still has the advantage over Golden State. Deron has been great this year and adding Korver has transformed them. The Warriors need Monta and Al to step it up big time to keep up with the Jazz because Jax and B-Diddy can't do it by themselves. Finally, we have LA-Phoenix. I say Lakers in 6. This is the year LA beats Phoenix. No one on the Suns can guard Kobe and it seems that they don't mind Amare scoring all over their big men just as long as they do the same to the Suns. Shaq's got his work cut out for him in this series. And D-Fish will give Steve Nash fits. This was the Laker's best personnel move.

So the second round will be Spurs-Lakers and Hornets-Jazz. An even more exciting second round? Wow. Spurs-Lakers will be a classic as San An tries to stop Kobe's march to the 'chip and I gotta give this one to TD and co. Manu is crazy this year. He's gonna match Kobe from points 1-45. If Kobe drops 50, the Spurs got Parker and TD to make up the deficit and then some. Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto will defend well against Andrew and Pau (which will not be as dominating a tandem as everyone seems to think) and LA's younger supporting cast falls short to the Spurs' veteran bunch. San Antonio in 6. New Orleans has Chris Paul. Utah has Deron Williams. This could be the first of many playoff battles between the two top pg's in the 2005 draft. I think Utah pulls it out in seven games because Carlos Boozer and Memo Okur are better than David West and Tyson Chandler (only slightly though) but if Chris Paul can play like the MVP everyone says he is, I wouldn't be surprised to see NO win it.

Finally, the Spurs will beat both Utah and New Orleans. Why am I talking crazy? Why am I picking the older, slower guys to beat the two of the best young teams in L? Because Tim Duncan is the best power forward in both series. TD is STILL fantastic. Never forget that. And again, that Manu guy is pretty tough too. Spurs in 6.