Who comes out of the West?

[Castle Black]

We all know it’s the Lakers. Unless you’re just naive.

[mademan]

I think Lebron will be in good health at least by then, and i take playoff Lebron even without AD over anyone in the West besides the Clips. If AD's healthy, i see the Lakers coming out. If not, i'll take the Clips

How wild is it that nobody is giving the top 2 seeds in the West almost anything besides a far outside chance to make the finals? It's all Lakers, Clippers and now Nuggets but no Jazz or Suns

[Beethoven]

I think it will be the Clippers, It's difficult to find a weakness.

they are absolutely a great team. Clicking now. I do see them able to come out of the west. They arent arrogant like they were last year, that was one of the factors to their downfall. If they do come out, hope they nail another team right now going through the same arrogance minded steps of building a team.

Interesting choice of words given that Brooklyn is in the East. Who are you talking about?

talkin about brooklyn nets , it was not obvious?

[Apz]

Any of top 7 in west can make it. But to me its between lakers and nuggets

[GYK]

Lakers wings make jump shots, them
If not, Nuggets
I like the Jazz but not as much

[Beethoven]

Lakers are gonna eat some nuggets listenin to some jazz at the barbershop getting a fade by a pair of clippers.

[ibraheim718]

Nuggets. Davis doesn't finish the season healthy.

[JRoy]

As much as I want to say Blazers as a fan, the defense is so damn bad.

Hoping for Jazz or DEN

[Nites]

I got Clippers. Would rather Jazz or Nuggets though.

[Yuri Vaultin]

Nugs

[LakersSoul]

Any of top 7 in west can make it. But to me its between lakers and nuggets

I agree.

Lakers got better but need to get healthy.
Nuggets were dangerous and added Gordon.

However:
Clippers are playing with focus and added Play.Rondo.
Suns look dangerous with Cpaul.
Jazz are the hottest team right now.

[DaPessimist]

Lakers still have the best two players. Assuming their stars are healthy the Lakers will come out of the West.

[Beethoven]

I have a feelin that Lebron is not coming back 100%. He dam washed now ..


Heard me LeBron?? I called you washed . You done.

[picko]

If the Lakers are healthy then I see no reason to pick against them.

If the Lakers aren't healthy then I don't see a clear front-runner out of the Jazz, Clippers and Nuggets.

[schnakenpopanz]

suns would be a nice dream, but let's seem them play out the last weeks first. their schedule is brutal.

[Catchall]

I'm at the point where if the Jazz had homecourt advantage vs. the Clippers, I'd favor the Jazz slightly. The Clippers haven't been getting good guard play, and they're going to have a hard time replacing Lou Will as their 3rd scorer. I'm not buying in on Reggie Jackson, Rajon Rondo or Luke Kennard to provide that shooting and scoring lift. Clippers will need strong play from Ibaka and Morris as stretch bigs in order to stay with the Jazz. The Clippers' bench unit also misses Trez Harrell's pick-and-roll game and his offensive rebounding, whereas Ibaka can disappear for stretches. Jazz are a tough matchup for the Clips because Gobert takes away the rim and forces their stars to hit from mid-range. Kawhi has to go terminator mode, and Paul George has to make shots at a high level.

Jazz and Nuggets would be long, tough series. Compared to last year, the Jazz gain Derrick Favors and Bojan Bogdanvoic, while the Nuggets lose Gary Harris, Mason Plumlee and Torey Craig. Aaron Gordon replaces Jerami Grant. The main difference with the Nuggets this year is that Jokic is now hitting ~40% of his 3PAs and is otherwise playing at an MVP level. Michael Porter Jr. is also progressing. The Jazz need a specific defensive scheme to deal with Jokic. The Nuggets need to find defensive guards from somewhere to guard the Jazz's backcourt. Gary Harris was a series-changing defensive player last year. Tough series either way.

As for the Lakers, their perimeter play is a patchwork. They're supposed to dominate inside on both ends of the floor due to their size and get out in transition where they're nearly impossible to stop. Their interior defense has slipped a notch, and their outside shooting is hit or miss. I think Denver or the Clippers can potentially take out the Lakers if they meet up. They need Davis to be 100%. Drummond isn't going to carry them much.

The Lakers are probably going to be playing from the 5th or 6th seed, meaning they're going to have some extended and tough series to get to the WCF. If Davis gets too nicked up, they won't make it out of the West.

[Catchall]

I'm hoping we get out, but if we do it would be similar to the '95 Rockets no?

How would you feel about Lakers/Clippers in the 1st round?

[Seattlesun]

Lakers are gonna eat some nuggets listenin to some jazz at the barbershop getting a fade by a pair of clippers.

And then head home to mother after after Sunsset.

[EArl]

I'm hoping we get out, but if we do it would be similar to the '95 Rockets no?

How would you feel about Lakers/Clippers in the 1st round?

In my opinion that is the worst matchup for us in the 1st round.
After that maybe the Nuggets not in the 1st round either, although I am not worried about them as much.
Every other team I think we can beat even if not 100 percent firing on all cylinders.

[SK21209]

There’s a reason why the champion is almost always one of the top 2 seeds. The Lakers are awesome when healthy, but even with AD and LeBron healthy having to win a play in game and then 3 series on the road against 3/4 of the Suns, Clippers, Jazz and Nuggets just to face the Nets in the Finals is absolutely brutal. I don’t think it’s likely they pull it off if that’s the case.

I love the Clippers roster and vibe right now but it will all depend on how healthy PG, Ibaka and Bev. I think we have the highest ceiling in the West but that means jack **** as we proved last year. I think Utah has to be the favorite right now; they’re having some health luck, they’ll be the only team with a (probably) easy first round series, and they’ve got the most continuity going into the playoffs.