Yeah I went to bed before the lakers/sacto game thinking that there was no way in hell the lakers would lose. then I heard about that play. it doesn't surprise me. the kings are a young team. over the last few years they have lost a lot of close games like that.
I think this year's playoffs could be the best ever. While earlier in the year it appeared to be a 4 team race, late in the year the bottom teams came on strong and the top teams all looked surprisingly weak. The lakers, spurs, and mavs all limped into the playoffs looking very beatable. how the mavs almost won the #2 seed by default just proves that the lakers are not immune to some worries. Now bynum's health is in question? Even dirk publically stated that they pretty much had to settle for the 3 seed just a day or two after they lost that ugly game in LA. So I'm not completely sold that the lakers don't have some concerns.
as far as the upset special? most are picking portland to beat dallas and I understand why. however, i really wouldn't consider that an upset. If over half of the critics are picking the underdog(by the seed) then it isn't a real upset. You aren't going to win a lot of money in vegas with that one. that's more of a trend right now.
the only true safe bet in the west first round are the lakers(with or without bynum). From there every series could be really interesting. no one is really talking about manu's health. if he is out the grizzlies can legitmately beat the spurs. they have always notoriously lost to playoff teams when one of their big three is gone(or not 100%). In fact memphis is 2-2 against them this year because of this.
from there I would say don't sleep on denver beating the thunder. denver is kind of the no name stepchild team that gets no respect because they don't have a star, but they have a great coach and have been playing great ball over the last couple of months. in fact they finished with a top record when you go back the last 20+ games. When you look at this series, OKC is still young and everyone is jumping on their wagon to make a run. Remember...early in the year they struggled to deal with all of the pressure of expectations. In a game earlier in the year where dirk went down in the first quarter, the mavs still beat them in OKC. I know they have perk now, but this could be a team that struggles in the playoffs and is prime for an upset against a team like denver that i guarantee you is feeling disrespected and overlooked. Hell you already have experts picking OKC as the team that might beat LAL, so I guarantee george karl is throwing gas on that fire. the nuggets are solid.
