| Western Conference Finals Preview: Los Angeles Lakers vs. San Antonio Spurs |
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| Written by Ryan.W | |
| Wednesday, 21 May 2008 | |
 In every sport you will always find heated rivalries, in the Major League Baseball you have the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the San Francisco Giants. In the NFL there is the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, the classic QB showdown of Peyton Manning versus Tom Brady, but when it comes to the NBA there are only a few rivalries that stand the test of time.
The most famous NBA rivalry is the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers, which with any luck will be the NBA finals match up this season if they can both get past the conference finals. Although the Lakers and Celtics are arguably the best rivalry in professional basketball, it has been a long time since both teams have been contenders like they are this season, but in my opinion; the best rivalries are the ones in the same division or same conference like the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers.The Los Angeles Lakers are one of those teams that you either love or hate, much like the San Antonio Spurs (who I despise) and when the two go up against each other, tempers flare, emotions are high and it usually results in a very competitive, very entertaining match up. That is why I believe this year’s Western conference finals will be one of the best we have seen in recent memory because if anyone can take down the defending champs it is the Lakers, but you could also say the same for the Kobe Bryant, if any team can stop this season’s NBA MVP, it is Tim Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs. If you are a NBA fan, either fanatical or just someone how follows the game from time to time then you have watched the replay or had the pleasure of viewing NBA history live when Derek Fisher hit the game winning shot in 2004 against who else, but the San Antonio Spurs. They just call it 0.4 when referring to the play in which D-Fish hit a seemingly impossible shot in game 5 of the Lakers series against the Spurs. The shot was nothing short of amazing in a series that was as entertaining as they come, especially game 5. The Lakers and Spurs rivalry started many years before that series in 2004, but that shot cemented the rivalry in NBA history. Some have said that if D-Fish didn’t hit that shot, who knows how many championships the Spurs could have won on top of their two after 2004. That is like an itch you can scratch, a pain in the back that just never goes away or something that you can never change and will stick with you forever. That being said, you have to think that the Spurs have a huge chip on their shoulders when it comes to playing the Lakers in the playoffs, especially in the Western conference finals. What a better way to avenge their loss then smashing the Lakers championship dreams into a million pieces? There will be no doubt that Tim Duncan and his boys will be extremely motivated coming into this series, especially since we will see the 0.4 video replayed about a hundred times over the course of this series. The Lakers on the other hand will be looking to prove that they are for real. They easily handled the Denver Nuggets in the first round and had a little adversity in the Utah series, but they have really yet to be tested so the Spurs will be throwing stuff at the Lakers that they haven’t had to deal with yet and that is a legitimate triple threat in Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and of course Tim Duncan. I still believe the Lakers will win this series in 6 or 7 games, but this without a doubt will be a very competitive series as the Lakers have no real answer for Parker or Ginobili for that matter. A big factor in this series will be the health of Trevor Ariza. If Ariza can play at a 100% and put a body on Ginobili, then the Lakers chances are good that they can contain this season’s sixth man, if not, this could be an extremely tough series for the Lakers on the defensive end. Prediction: Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games         Set as favorite Bookmark Comments
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