Originally Posted by
dcdevil2009
I'll give you Howard, but I'd probably take Paul over Rose at PG. Although both are stellar players, Paul is a better defender (four time 1st or 2nd team all-defense and perennially top 5 in steals) and does a better job of making his teammates better (Clippers/Hornets without Paul v. Bulls regular season with Rose injured). Rose puts up gaudier scoring numbers and is just entering his prime, but Paul is a better passer and better shooter.
I'm with you on the Spurs/Thunder matchup. It's going to be two of the league's most efficient offenses playing some of their best basketball of the season. The Spurs are clearly peaking at the right time, while the Thunder had the league's best record for most of the year until a late season slump. Not to discount the Spurs' recent dominance, but they haven't exactly played the strongest competition in the playoffs. The Jazz were a fringe playoff team and the Clippers, despite having Chris Paul, are still a few pieces away from being serious contenders (until Griffin can hit free throws or make teams respect his jump shot, they won't go anywhere). The Thunder, on the other hand, played a veteran Mavs team, which is admittedly better on paper than in real life, and a Lakers team with 3 of the top 25-30 players in the game (Kobe, Bynum, and Gasol). Granted going from Phil Jackson to Mike Brown and Lamar Odom to the somewhat under-appreciated Josh McRoberts hurt, but they still had Kobe and upgraded to Ramon Sessions at PG. It's going to be interesting to see whether the Thunder can break through this year or continue their recent trend of losing to the eventual champion. I'm going to go ahead and pencil in the Heat to come out of the east, and predict that the Thunder take out the Spurs in 6. If the Heat get Bosh back, I think their defense is going to be too much for the Spurs/Thunder in the finals, with the Thunder lacking a serious offensive threat inside. Without Bosh, I think they can still beat the Thunder in the championship, but Duncan and the Spurs are too balanced and would abuse the Heat's bigs on the offensive end.