Nuggets, Lakers bound for Western Finals

The NBA playoffs in the Western Conference have been about as entertaining as Mike Myers' The Love Guru - not at all. While the Eastern Conference saw three of its four series go at least six games, the Western Conference had only one go six, while the other three series were decided in five games.As expected, the Lakers and Nuggets cruised into the second round, while Houston was able to use their playoff experience to get by the inexperienced Blazers. The Dallas Mavericks pulled off a mild upset by beating the suddenly mortal Spurs, but considering the Spurs' energy man and postseason stalwart, Manu Ginobili was sidelined with an injury the upset becomes more like a set.

Now the first round is in the rearview mirror, it's time to re-think the West's final four. The first semifinal features the top-seeded Lakers against the Rockets. On paper, this looks like a series in which the brooms may be necessary.

Houston may have a problem, since they lost all four contests against the defending conference champion Lakers during the regular season. For the Rockets, reaching the second round is an accomplishment, considering they hadn't reached the second round since 1997. The Lakers are exactly where they expected to be, and have legitimate reason to think the Larry O'Brien trophy is theirs for the taking.

It would be bad news, however, if the Lakers assume the Rockets will just cower and roll over for Los Angeles. The Rockets are full of gritty veterans and talented players who could steal the series from the Lakers if allowed to hang around. If the Rockets hope to advance to the conference finals, they need Yao Ming to dominate inside, especially since Andrew Bynum is nowhere near his pre-injury self.

Defensively, the Rockets need to make Kobe a one-man team, by letting him get his and making sure the role players and Pau Gasol don't go off. If the Rockets can do that and Yao dominates the paint, the Rockets have a chance to pull off a big upset. As much as I would like to believe the Rockets could pull off the upset, the Lakers are too deep and talented and see Kobe and company prevailing in six games.

The other semifinal has already played its first game, and the Nuggets drew first blood using a late run to beat the Mavericks 109-95. The Mavericks showed some fight by being as close as one point, but succumbed to the Nuggets offensive barrage late. If the Mavs are to steal a game in the Mile High City, they are going to have to get better bench production than they did in game one. Aside from Jason Terry, who is a de-facto starter anyway the bench scored only 15 points.

Dallas is also going to have to stop settling for jump shots and get to the basket more. They only went to the line 13 times compared to 36 trips to the charity stripe for the Nuggets.

Denver needs to continue to keep the defensive pressure on Dallas, just like in the first game where they forced 20 turnovers.

Denver is playing too well right now, and Dallas is overmatched by the deep Nuggets. The Nuggets win in five, and will advance to play the Lakers for the right to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.