All I want right now is for the playoffs to start. This is bar-none the worst part of the regular season right now. The good teams are starting to rest their players. The bad teams are resting their players in hopes of getting a worse record so they can have better odds at getting one of the top two picks in this summer's draft.The only exciting stuff going on right now is the race for the eighth playoff spot in the West and the jockeying between Denver and the Lakers for the sixth and seventh seeds.
As of tonight, before any games have started, Golden State holds the last playoff spot. The Clippers are just half a game behind them and New Orleans/OKC just a game back.
Personally, I'd like to see the Warriors hold onto the eighth spot. They would end up playing Dallas in the first round and, besides the Suns, nobody has played the Mavericks better than Golden State. They have beaten Dallas in both of their games so far this season, with a third scheduled for the 17th of this month.
In the two spots ahead of Golden State, the Nuggets currently sits in at the sixth spot and the Lakers are in the seventh spot. The Lakers are a game and a half back of Denver.
In their current positions, the Nuggets would end up facing the Spurs in the first round and the Lakers would play the Suns. I think everybody (me included) would rather see a first round matchup between the Nuggets and Suns.
The speed that these two teams have on floor would make for a very entertaining game. Who wouldn't want to watch two future Hall-Of-Famers in Steve Nash and Allen Iverson (and possibly Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire) go at each other for seven games. These are two of the fastest guys in the league; guys who never seem to slow down. Sounds like can't miss games to me.
I also think it would be more competitive than if the Suns played the Lakers, despite the seven game series the two teams had in last year's playoffs. Both teams styles of play make for an easily watchable series.
I think a matchup between the Lakers and Spurs would be a better series then the Spurs taking on the Nuggets. It also has an outside shot at reviving the on-life-support Lakers-Spurs rivalry of the early years of this century. A rivalry that all but died when Shaq was traded to the Heat. But it probably won't revive it, it might just bury it for good. Buy hey, we'll never know until it happens, right?
These teams also have styles of play that would matchup well and make for great basketball to watch. The Lakers and Spurs played one of the better games I watched this season when the Spurs beat the Lakers 96-94 in overtime on January 28th in L.A.
Me being in favor of a Spurs-Lakers first round series has nothing to do with my personal bias' (amazingly), I am just thinking which matchups would be more competitive and better for the fans to watch. Honestly.
As for the Eastern Conference playoff races, well, no one cares.
