Pick Your Poison

On Wednesday night we will all know what the NBA playoff pairings will look like for the Western conference. However, as of today, things are still up in the air. If the NBA playoffs started today, here is what the Western conference playoffs would look like:

(1) LA Lakers vs. (8) Denver Nuggets
(2) New Orleans Hornets vs. (7) Dallas Mavericks
(3) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Phoenix Suns
(4) Houston Rockets vs. (5) Utah Jazz

Depending on what happens this evening though, the above could change. If the Lakers beat the Sad Sac Kings tonight, they will be locked in to the #1 seed. However, if the Lakers lose and the Hornets beat the Clippers tonight and the Mavs tomorrow night, New Orleans would have the #1 seed. Also, if Dallas loses tomorrow night to New Orleans and the Nuggets beat Memphis, the Nuggets would slide into the #7 spot and Dallas would slip back to #8 (Dallas and Denver would end with the same record but Denver would have the tie breaker because they beat Dallas 2 of the 3 games they played this year). So, for those of you who don’t have an ice cream headache right now, my question is…who would you rather see Dallas play in the first round?

The Mavs went 1-2 against the Hornets this season and 1-3 against the Lakers. The Mavs loses against the Lakers were by 4 points, 2 points and 4 points respectively. The Mavs loses to the Hornets were 4 points and 9 points respectively but the 9 point loss was Jason Kidd’s first game with the Mavs which needs to be give some consideration. So, even though Dallas has only 2 wins in 7 games vs. the Hornets and Lakers combined, the games were close and Dallas could have won 4 of those.

Both the Lakers and the Hornets are extremely good teams, both have had great seasons and both have legitimate MVP contenders in Kobe (for the Lakers) and Chris Paul (for the Hornets). However, I think I would rather play the Hornets for a few reasons. One, even though the Hornets had a really good year, they are still a very young team and relatively few players on that team have much playoff experience. And the playoffs are a different animal than the regular season. Two, I think the Lakers are a better team so I would rather not play them right out of the shoot. For the Mavs to get to the Finals again, they will probably have to face the Lakers but postponing that as long as possible, in my opinion, is the best scenario. And three, Kobe is the best player in the game and, seemingly, explodes most of the time when he plays Dallas. Chris Paul is a Kobe starter kit but, like I said, is still very young and has never experienced NBA playoff basketball before. There are several players on the Mavs roster that have been to the playoffs, and made deep runs in the playoffs, so I think that experience will serve better against a young Hornets team.

If both the Lakers and Hornets win tonight thus locking both into the #1 and #2 seeds respectively, I kind of wonder if New Orleans will play their full roster the full game tomorrow night vs. Dallas. The game will be meaningful to Dallas, regardless of tonight’s outcome, as Dallas will be playing for #7 seed. I would think if New Orleans is locked into the #2 seed, they might play their starters for one half thus giving Dallas and easier shot at winning and securing the #7 seed. That’s what I’m hoping for at least. So, I guess I gotta root for the Lakers and the Hornets to win tonight. But nothing is guaranteed this year in the Western conference.