If Sunday night was an indication of anything, Oklahoma City is legit, as in really legit. |
Two nights ago in the Chesapeake Energy Arena the Thunder put on a sensational display for a national audience to watch, take note and allow for their jaws to drop. Oklahoma City dismantled the Miami Heat in every facet of the game. The only team that usually gets embarrassed when the Miami Heat play is their opponent. Not on Sunday, not versus the Thunder, not with Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook playing like they have all year. OKC has been on fire all season and hold a three game lead in the West for the conference's best spot. But can anyone catch the Thunder? Is anyone good enough or deep enough to take Oklahoma City out in the Western Conference Playoffs?
The answer is a definite N-O. Oklahoma City is far and away the most talented team in the West from top to bottom and it's looking like they might just have the league's MVP in Kevin Durant. Russell Westbrook is still doing his thing while steadily improving. Serge Ibaka and James Harden are do-it-all stars that gel this team together, while Kendrick Perkins remains the mean muggin' stalwart in the middle. The Thunder also made a shrewd move by acquiring Derek Fisher who brings leadership and a boatload of championship experience that should be invaluable come playoff-time.
The teams that the Thunder are looking down on all have some major flaws. The Spurs are old and will look old at some point in the playoffs even with Greg Popovich trying to handle his ancient team. San Antonio's ship has sailed, and even though they have an abundance of experience in all situations, I just don't see them being able to best OKC in a best of seven series. The Lakers on paper look like the most dangerous team, especially with the acquisition of a real point guard in Ramon Sessions. But these Mike Brown, Kobe Bryant disputes are going to make crunch time decisions hard, plus no one knows and or believes Andrew Bynum's knees can last until late May. Actually I'm not even sure Bynum's knees will last the next twenty minutes. The other Los Angeles team is having similar problems with their coach Vinny Del Negro, but Blake Griffin's lack of defense is an even bigger issue. Aside from CP3, the Clippers are incredibly young and already showing signs of immaturity down the stretch. The Mavs tried to replace Tyson Chandler's defense and team leadership with Lamar Odom, but instead they got an underachieving pre-madonna who has already heard more boos than his ex-brother-in-law Kris Humphries did. Simply put, Dallas just isn't the same as last year. The last and final team in true contention is the Memphis Grizzlies. This team is finally getting healthy and starting to make a push toward the top of the Western Conference standings. They also are the team that pushed OKC to a Game 7 last year and always will be considered "dangerous" as long as Zach Randolph can come back to his 20 and 10 form.
This year's main argument against the Oklahoma City Thunder is that they are really no different from last year. At this point last season we started to realize that this young Thunder team was a force to be reckoned with, especially after the acquisition of defensive big man Kendrick Perkins. They rolled into the playoffs and looked like the favorite out of the West after they escaped the Memphis Grizzlies in the semis. But once they met the overly experienced Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, their immaturity was exposed after they blew a lead in decisive Game 4 and lost the series in a disappointing five games. Skepticism is always going to hang around until the Thunder can actually break through and live up to their name as the newest western conference dynasty. While they are, on paper, not that different from last year, they should have a chip on their shoulder from last playoff's ugly exit. Adding veteran Derek Fisher won't do much on the court, but his presence in the locker room should help Russell Westbrook from self-imploding like he did last year. Oklahoma City will not let a repeat of last year happen, and I can guarantee you that.
Now, whether or not they'll be able to beat Chicago or Miami in the Finals is a different story. If dismantling the Heat on Sunday was any indication of how a series between those two teams could go, watch out Miami. But for this very moment I can confidently say that the Oklahoma City Thunder will represent the West in this year's NBA Finals.
0 comments:
Post a Comment