The Southwest Division NBA Preview

Dallas Mavericks - 36-30 record last season. 7th seed in the playoffs. Lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 1st Round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

Ideal Rotation: Darren Collison, Vince Carter,  Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Kaman / Rodrigue Beaubois, OJ Mayo, Dahntay Jones, Jae Crowder, Elton Brand

Storyline/s: Mark Cuban had a plan for the offseason, but Dwight Howard and Deron Williams were not in on that plan, so plan B netted them Mayo, Brand and Kaman, then traded for Darren Collison. Dirk is going to be unavailable for the start of the season. Has the window of opportunity closed for them, considering that Dirk, Beaubois and Dominique Jones are the only players from the 2010-11 season still with the team (and the latter two did not even figure at all in the postseason title run)?

X-Factor/s: Can OJ Mayo prove himself to be a top-caliber-esque player? Can either Brand or Kaman come close to their 2006 Clippers form with the Mavericks?

Prognosis: Exiting first round of the playoffs.

Houston Rockets - 34-32 record last season. Missed the playoffs.

Ideal Rotation: Jeremy Lin, James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Patrick Patterson, Omer Asik / Toney Douglas, Scott Machado, Carlos Delfino, Terrence Jones, Donatas Montejunas

Storyline/s: Just before the buzzer sounded, the Rockets traded for what they believe will be a true go-to-guy option in Harden. This after Orlando spurned their interest in Dwight Howard.

X-Factor/s: Lots of newcomers, but can the two key holdovers (Chandler and Patrick) steady the ship with all the new faces?

Prognosis: Missing the playoffs.

Memphis Grizzlies - 41-25 record last season. 5th seed in the playoffs. Lost to the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1st Round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

Ideal Rotation: Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol / Jerryd Bayless, Wayne Ellington, Quincy Pondexter, Darrell Arthur

Storyline/s: The indelible stigma from last season was their collapse against the Clippers in Game 1 of the playoffs. They did however stretch their matchup to the full seven games. Can these guys make the next step?

X-Factor/s: They missed Darrell Arthur's contributions last season. He returns, now recovered from the injury that he incurred. They were really bad from shooting outside, so they acquired Ellington to hopefully fix that hole. Wayne and Quincy are expected to plug the hole left by OJ Mayo.

Prognosis: Exiting the first round of the playoffs.

New Orleans Hornets - 21-45 record last season. Missed the playoffs.

Ideal Rotation: Greivis Vasquez, Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Anthony Davis, Robin Lopez / Austin Rivers, Xavier Henry, Hakim Warrick, Ryan Anderson, Jason Smith

Storyline/s: The Hornets naturally struggled last season after having to deal with the Chris Paul trade drama in the short offseason. It did not help matters that one of the assets they managed to secure missed a chunk of the season due to injury. They lucked out on securing new ownership, then the rights to the top overall selection in the draft.

X-Factor/s: Greivis gets the starting job while Austin gets mentored on how to run the offense. AFA got some playing time from his Olympic run with Nigeria. Will it translate to an improved game this season?

Prognosis: Missing the playoffs.

San Antonio Spurs - 50-16 record last season. Division Champions. Lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.

Ideal Rotation: Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw / Gary Neal, Danny Green, Stephen Jackson, Matt Bonner, Tiago Splitter, Dejuan Blair

Storyline/s: Do they still have one more run in them? They'll have to start it without Manu. They stood pat while the other contenders re-armed. Can they stay healthy?

X-Factor/s: Can Danny Green, Stephen Jackson and Gary Neal collectively step up in Manu's absence at the start of the season?

Prognosis: Division Champs. Exiting in the Conference Semifinals

Western Conference Playoff Manuscript

Well, this was supposed to be the playoff preview for the Western Conference, but since I'm posting this already after the Lakers get bounced (I predicted the Lakers to supposedly advance in 6, so I am terribly wrong in this case), might as well do a little revisionism and post-script action.

So, let's go straight to the nitty gritty.




2 - Los Angeles Lakers vs 3 - Dallas Mavericks

Regular Season Analysis: The Lakers held a 2-1 edge in the regular season, winning the last 2 meetings. Dallas did not shoot well in their regular season losses against LA. Peja Stojakovic only played in the third and final game.

What went wrong for Los Angeles: True to form to their regular season, save for Lamar Odom, the bench was relatively non-existent.That already put more pressure on everyone, especially with Pau Gasol, who already has been receiving major flak based on his performance in the previous series.

What went right for Dallas: Dallas stroked it from long distance. They tied a playoff record with 20 three-point conversions in a game during Game 4. To put it into comparison, the Lakers converted just 15 threes for THE ENTIRE SERIES. And when you watched the game, most of those were coming off good screens and great execution. The Jet went bananas in the last game, 32 points off a record-tying nine three point conversions. Also give credit to how the Mavericks defended Kobe and made it difficult for him to score. Barea has been a pest and made things brutal for Laker defenders to the point they had Ron Artest guard him.


Man of the Series: Dirk Nowitzki has been great all series long. Unstoppable from Games 1-3. He was there in Game 4, but the BTS took care of things in that one to the point that he was pretty much irrelevant.

4 - Oklahoma City Thunder vs 8 - Memphis Grizzlies

Regular Season Matchup: The Grizzlies have a 3-1 edge in their regular season duels. It is important to note that Rudy Gay only played in the first 2 games before his season-ending surgery. In addition, they only met once after the trade deadline that netted Kendrick Perkins for Oklahoma City and Shane Battier for Memphis. Memphis won said particular meeting. All games were relatively close, with winning margins of 4-9 points. Each team scored in triple digits in all the games.

Keys for the Thunder: Shot selection. The white elephant in the room has been Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant's shot attempts. The issue is not that, because Kevin is a guy that does not really that vocal in demanding the ball. The issue is and remains to be on the decision-making Russell conducts in the process.

Keys for the Grizzlies: Paint dominance. They have two of the better (possibly the best remaining in the postseason) low post scoring options in Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. Mike Conley has played within himself and controlled the ebb and flow of how things roll.

X-Factor/s: It's all about the Celtic championship pride running down the veins of Kendrick Perkins and Tony Allen on each side.

Prediction: Oklahoma City in 6.