Best team in the West
The Western Conference is a little bit more wide open than the east. The Thunder, with a 22-6 record best in the west, had a easy win also beating the Jazz 111-85 James Harden was the leading scorer with 22 off the bench. If there was a year for OKC to come out the west I think this may be the year. With Kobe and the Lakers struggling and the Mavericks still hungover from their championship run last season, the road to the finals don’t seem as hard. But the bad thing about that is 7 other teams got that same mindset. My pick to come out of the west is the Spurs because they’re the veteran team. Now on a 8 game winning streak the Spurs are second in the west at 20-9. Tony Parker, Manu and Timmy D showing why veteran leadership is needed on any team, none of them putting up stellar numbers but stepping up at the right moments. And with no superstars on the squad, Coach Popovich also showing why he is a hall of fame coach. But like I said before if Russell would stop jacking up 3s and trying to score 30, OKC would be my pick. The Clippers can also make some noise in the playoffs. Chris Paul in my opinion is the MVP right now and adding Kenyon Martin to already strong bench Clippers are going to be very tough to beat. Another team on my radar is the Nuggets. If the Nuggets can find a closer they can beat anybody. They’re two deep at every position and and have a great coach in George Karl. But of course you can’t count the defending champs until someone beats them and you can’t count out Kobe Bean.
