Western Conference

 I’m saying Thunder. Durant and Westbrook are too good. No one on the Clippers will be able to even try to guard KD. I really like the addition of Caron Butler. Not because he can be KDs back up, but it will allow Durant to play the 4 with Butler at the 3 which will be pretty hard to guard.

 I’m saying Thunder. Durant and Westbrook are too good. No one on the Clippers will be able to even try to guard KD. I really like the addition of Caron Butler. Not because he can be KDs back up, but it will allow Durant to play the 4 with Butler at the 3 which will be pretty hard to guard.

 Butler is on his 4th team in two yrs (Clips, Suns, Bucks, OKC) we’ve seen the best of Tuff Juice. If OKC is expecting him to be more than a spot up shooter they’ll be vastly disappointed. I still think the Spurs are the Favorite to come out of the west but the Thunder and Clippers have a great shot as well.

 Butler is on his 4th team in two yrs (Clips, Suns, Bucks, OKC) we’ve seen the best of Tuff Juice. If OKC is expecting him to be more than a spot up shooter they’ll be vastly disappointed. I still think the Spurs are the Favorite to come out of the west but the Thunder and Clippers have a great shot as well.

 I wouldn’t be surprised if the Clippers, Thunder, Spurs or Rockets come out of the Western. They are all so good it looks like every game in the playoffs will come down to just a couple of possessions. The Western conference playoffs will be so much fun to watch this year. 

 I wouldn’t be surprised if the Clippers, Thunder, Spurs or Rockets come out of the Western. They are all so good it looks like every game in the playoffs will come down to just a couple of possessions. The Western conference playoffs will be so much fun to watch this year. 

I agree with Tyrober,there are at least 5 teams that can win the West,the Clippers,Spurs,OKC,Rockets and Memphis..

 Memphis is a 1/2 game out of the 8th seed and 1 game out of the 7th seed..If they can remain healthy,teams would fear them more than the Suns or Warriors,becuz Memphis have proven they can beat the top teams in a series….They’re a close net veteran group that appears to have no team jealousy…They have amore productive bench,their outside shooting is still a weakness,but has gotten better…They seem to miss Hollins in close games,he knew how to push them into that next gear to maintain leads when they had it..The vets havent tuned coach Joeger out,but they seem to be more drawn to assistant coach Elston Turner…..

OKC has lost 3 straight since Westbrook’s return..But 2 of those 3 loses came against the Heat & Clippers…Butler signing gives them a more experienced backup for KD over Perry Jones…..Butler is injury prone and shooting 38% on the season..But he can defend and make and take good shots..

You can never count the Spurs out..Last season almost everyone wrote them off..But they were a Ray Allen 3 pointer from winning another title..

I like the Clippers signing of Glen Davis..He is upgrade in the frontcourt over Mullens & Hollins..Plus he knows Doc system….

Houston could be a darkhorse,but their overall lack of playoff experience ,besides Howard and Harden might become a problem….

I agree with Tyrober,there are at least 5 teams that can win the West,the Clippers,Spurs,OKC,Rockets and Memphis..

 Memphis is a 1/2 game out of the 8th seed and 1 game out of the 7th seed..If they can remain healthy,teams would fear them more than the Suns or Warriors,becuz Memphis have proven they can beat the top teams in a series….They’re a close net veteran group that appears to have no team jealousy…They have amore productive bench,their outside shooting is still a weakness,but has gotten better…They seem to miss Hollins in close games,he knew how to push them into that next gear to maintain leads when they had it..The vets havent tuned coach Joeger out,but they seem to be more drawn to assistant coach Elston Turner…..

OKC has lost 3 straight since Westbrook’s return..But 2 of those 3 loses came against the Heat & Clippers…Butler signing gives them a more experienced backup for KD over Perry Jones…..Butler is injury prone and shooting 38% on the season..But he can defend and make and take good shots..

You can never count the Spurs out..Last season almost everyone wrote them off..But they were a Ray Allen 3 pointer from winning another title..

I like the Clippers signing of Glen Davis..He is upgrade in the frontcourt over Mullens & Hollins..Plus he knows Doc system….

Houston could be a darkhorse,but their overall lack of playoff experience ,besides Howard and Harden might become a problem….

 I think the Clippers are the best in the West at this moment. Of course you can never count San Antonio out. Houston can make a run if they get the right matchups. Portland is super talented with a very well put together roster, but they are probably a year away since most of their guys haven’t played in the playoffs in their current roles. Everyone is giving OKC a first round pass, but Golden State is not going to be a cakewalk for them and I wouldn’t be surprised if they pull off the 8>1 seed upset.

 I think the Clippers are the best in the West at this moment. Of course you can never count San Antonio out. Houston can make a run if they get the right matchups. Portland is super talented with a very well put together roster, but they are probably a year away since most of their guys haven’t played in the playoffs in their current roles. Everyone is giving OKC a first round pass, but Golden State is not going to be a cakewalk for them and I wouldn’t be surprised if they pull off the 8>1 seed upset.

It’s pretty tough to make a prediction right now. OKC looks like the best team, they have a great defense, they’re one of the most athletic teams, but Westbrook is injury prone and they can’t afford to lose him in the playoffs. Also, their offense relies heavily on isolations for KD and Westbrook, they lack the kind of ball movement fluidity teams like the Spurs or Miami have, so they might be vulnerable in the playoffs.

San Antonio looks like the most consistent team, their peaks might not be the highest, but they rarely take games off, they’re probably the most balanced team on the two sides of the ball, and nobody has their polish and experience. But their record against top teams is alarming: they’re 0-3 against OKC, 0-1 against the Heat, 0-3 against Houston, 0-1 against Indiana, 1-2 against Portland. They have a winning record against the Clippers (2-1) and Golden State (2-0), but combining all the games against those teams they’re 5-11. It doesn’t sound good, plus they’re older and less athletic than other teams.

The Clippers have been very good and they seem to be better than last year and they finally look like a real contender, but their bench has been really weak, especially in the backcourt, behind Blake and DeAndre there wasn’t much. Now Big Baby is definitely a nice addition and if Turkoglu has something left in his tank, like 8-10 minutes per game, providing shot and passing ability as a stretch 4, and if Granger isn’t as washed up as he looked with the Pacers, they might have fixed that problem. I still think they’re vulnerable: their defense has improved in the second half of the season and now they’re not worse when both Griffin and Jordan are on the court (but that is mostly because their back up bigs sucked big time), but yet they’re not on the level you’d expect from a team with a real shot to win the ring. Also, while they’re very efficient on offense, they’re basically the opposite of the Spurs: they take a lot of plays off (even whole games) and when Griffin isn’t hitting shots they have some spacing issues smart teams can take advantage of. And there’s always the old crunch time problem when both Griffin and Jordan are on the court: Griffin has been shooting free throws a lot better this year, but will he be trustworthy if opposing teams put pressure on him with intentional fouls? If he does, it’s great news. If he doesn’t we have a problem.

Houston in my opinion isn’t a real contender. Their offense is great, but their defense is pretty weak and only Dwight has kept them in the average range, otherwise they would have been awful. Also they’re pretty much inconsistent and unexperienced. Imho they’re not good enough to win three series in the western conference, it’s really tough and they’re not ready.

Portland is slowing down a lot, they are a combined 15-11 through january and february and while they are 18-4 against Eastern conference teams, they’re "only" 22-14 against western conference opponents, which is still decent but not what you’d expect from a real contender. Their offense is simply awesome, but their defense is well below average. They lack experience, guys in their roster makes a total of 114 playoffs game played and only Matthews and Mo Williams have been relevant contributors for team that made it past the first round. On paper they look like the perfect upset victim candidate and they might as well end their season not getting one of the first 4 seeds. They could still give some serious headaches to pretty much everyone, because their offense is so explosive, but same as Houston, I don’t see them coming out as winners from 3 consecutive battles against those western conference teams.

I thought Golden State had a real chance to be a competitor, but they haven’t been as good as they could. Their defensive system is impressive and they have managed to build a very efficient defense even with a few weak individual defensive players. But their offense has been really disappointing, they rely too much on isolations and the ball hasn’t been moving as it should and as they could considering how many gifted passers they have. Also, they’re not playing enough pick and rolls. it looks like something changed in their team: while last year you could sense the enthusiasm in their players, everyone cheering for teammates plays, everyone ready to help a teammate who had fallen to the ground to get up, everyone high-fiving everyone during timeouts.Now some players seem to have poor body language and you don’t see much excitement (and it doesn’t help trading the king of bench celebrations mr. Bazemore). I think they could still turn the corner and start playing better on offense mostly because in the very first games of the season, before Iguodal got hurt, they didn’t seem to play this way. But even if they do, it’s going to be really tough for them to make a run in they playoffs, since they likely won’t have home court advantage in any series and they might end up against the Spurs or the Thunders in the very first round. They’re the most dangerous team to find in the first round, but I wouldn’t bet on them to make a deep run.

As of now, I take OKC as the favorite, but the competition is really tough in the West and the first 3 teams mentioned all have good chances to make it to the finals. I think health, luck in the seeding and mileage will play such a huge role, because pretty much every team from the very first round could force anyone to a 7 games series. Teams like Dallas, Memphis might ne the 8th seed and they’re really tough teams to beat. I think OKC and the Spurs have a small edge over the Clips, but if they (especially San Antonio) have to play too much, they might find themselves without much in the tank when they get to the conference finals. So it’s all up in the air and we’re gonna have so much fun.

It’s pretty tough to make a prediction right now. OKC looks like the best team, they have a great defense, they’re one of the most athletic teams, but Westbrook is injury prone and they can’t afford to lose him in the playoffs. Also, their offense relies heavily on isolations for KD and Westbrook, they lack the kind of ball movement fluidity teams like the Spurs or Miami have, so they might be vulnerable in the playoffs.

San Antonio looks like the most consistent team, their peaks might not be the highest, but they rarely take games off, they’re probably the most balanced team on the two sides of the ball, and nobody has their polish and experience. But their record against top teams is alarming: they’re 0-3 against OKC, 0-1 against the Heat, 0-3 against Houston, 0-1 against Indiana, 1-2 against Portland. They have a winning record against the Clippers (2-1) and Golden State (2-0), but combining all the games against those teams they’re 5-11. It doesn’t sound good, plus they’re older and less athletic than other teams.

The Clippers have been very good and they seem to be better than last year and they finally look like a real contender, but their bench has been really weak, especially in the backcourt, behind Blake and DeAndre there wasn’t much. Now Big Baby is definitely a nice addition and if Turkoglu has something left in his tank, like 8-10 minutes per game, providing shot and passing ability as a stretch 4, and if Granger isn’t as washed up as he looked with the Pacers, they might have fixed that problem. I still think they’re vulnerable: their defense has improved in the second half of the season and now they’re not worse when both Griffin and Jordan are on the court (but that is mostly because their back up bigs sucked big time), but yet they’re not on the level you’d expect from a team with a real shot to win the ring. Also, while they’re very efficient on offense, they’re basically the opposite of the Spurs: they take a lot of plays off (even whole games) and when Griffin isn’t hitting shots they have some spacing issues smart teams can take advantage of. And there’s always the old crunch time problem when both Griffin and Jordan are on the court: Griffin has been shooting free throws a lot better this year, but will he be trustworthy if opposing teams put pressure on him with intentional fouls? If he does, it’s great news. If he doesn’t we have a problem.

Houston in my opinion isn’t a real contender. Their offense is great, but their defense is pretty weak and only Dwight has kept them in the average range, otherwise they would have been awful. Also they’re pretty much inconsistent and unexperienced. Imho they’re not good enough to win three series in the western conference, it’s really tough and they’re not ready.

Portland is slowing down a lot, they are a combined 15-11 through january and february and while they are 18-4 against Eastern conference teams, they’re "only" 22-14 against western conference opponents, which is still decent but not what you’d expect from a real contender. Their offense is simply awesome, but their defense is well below average. They lack experience, guys in their roster makes a total of 114 playoffs game played and only Matthews and Mo Williams have been relevant contributors for team that made it past the first round. On paper they look like the perfect upset victim candidate and they might as well end their season not getting one of the first 4 seeds. They could still give some serious headaches to pretty much everyone, because their offense is so explosive, but same as Houston, I don’t see them coming out as winners from 3 consecutive battles against those western conference teams.

I thought Golden State had a real chance to be a competitor, but they haven’t been as good as they could. Their defensive system is impressive and they have managed to build a very efficient defense even with a few weak individual defensive players. But their offense has been really disappointing, they rely too much on isolations and the ball hasn’t been moving as it should and as they could considering how many gifted passers they have. Also, they’re not playing enough pick and rolls. it looks like something changed in their team: while last year you could sense the enthusiasm in their players, everyone cheering for teammates plays, everyone ready to help a teammate who had fallen to the ground to get up, everyone high-fiving everyone during timeouts.Now some players seem to have poor body language and you don’t see much excitement (and it doesn’t help trading the king of bench celebrations mr. Bazemore). I think they could still turn the corner and start playing better on offense mostly because in the very first games of the season, before Iguodal got hurt, they didn’t seem to play this way. But even if they do, it’s going to be really tough for them to make a run in they playoffs, since they likely won’t have home court advantage in any series and they might end up against the Spurs or the Thunders in the very first round. They’re the most dangerous team to find in the first round, but I wouldn’t bet on them to make a deep run.

As of now, I take OKC as the favorite, but the competition is really tough in the West and the first 3 teams mentioned all have good chances to make it to the finals. I think health, luck in the seeding and mileage will play such a huge role, because pretty much every team from the very first round could force anyone to a 7 games series. Teams like Dallas, Memphis might ne the 8th seed and they’re really tough teams to beat. I think OKC and the Spurs have a small edge over the Clips, but if they (especially San Antonio) have to play too much, they might find themselves without much in the tank when they get to the conference finals. So it’s all up in the air and we’re gonna have so much fun.