Are the Nuggets really ready to overtake the L.A. Lakers?

The Denver Nuggets and L.A. Lakers Western Conference Finals series has been, to say the least, solid entertainment compared to recent Western Conference Finals. What’s even more is that this series has great potential to go to seven games if the Nuggets can win their final home game of the matchup tomorrow night in Denver. However, are the Nuggets just teasing us with their inconsistent finishes to an inevitable convincing elimination game by the L.A. Lakers or can they really win or get damn close to beating the Lakers?

In all honestly, these Nuggets somewhat remind me of this year’s Orlando Magic. Whereas the Magic seemed to learn how to deal with adversity and the importance of playing hard every minute in their second round series when they played the Boston Celtics, the Nuggets could be finding that out in this series versus the Lakers. I don’t think that the games of this series and the seven of Orlando’s when they beat the Celtics have been identical in order, but out of order, yes.

The Nuggets blew games one and three against L.A. where they had manageable leads in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. This same thing happened to Orlando in games one and five against Boston. The only difference was, the Magic held on to win game one after giving up a 20+ point lead. In game two of the Nuggets’ series, they seemed to get it right as they made up for their follies in game one and picked up a huge road win. The Magic seemed to do the same as they blew out the Celtics in game three at home. However, those were teasers because both teams eventually brought their series to a 2-3 hole. Also, in game two, Orlando was blown out by Boston after they had been blowing out the Celtics in game one for the better part of four quarters. Like this scenario, the Nuggets blew out the Lakers in the fourth quarter of game four, only to get blown out last night in game five.

Now, judging by these similar shares of ups and downs, the Nuggets look like they could be going through their “take the next step” occurrence. They just need to play a tight game in Denver for game six, and take in all the situations they’ve dealt with in this matchup thus far into L.A. for game seven, and they could definitely move onto the finals.

Let’s not forget one more similarity that I see in the Nuggets and Magic, and that is the fact that they are more or less the same teams; loaded with talent and yet inexperience for the most part, but definitely having legitimate chances to become champions.

Detroit Red Wings = Boring Hockey

Ode to the Detroit Red Wings for making a 3-2 overtime Conference Finals game one of the least entertaining hockey games I have ever seen. Outside of Hawks and Wings fans game two of the Western Conference Finals quite frankly was boring. The Red Wings are so methodical in how they play the game that despite how quick their team is moving all the time the game appears to be going at a snail’s pace. There is rarely any up and down the ice play, chances come very infrequently and when they do come along there is almost never any counter attacking for either side. I take nothing away from what the Red Wings do because they create chances for themselves and tend to capitalize on them when they do arise meaning they don’t need the up and down style of play to be successful. However, it makes for slow play with little to no suspense at all. I think Detroit will win the series and move on to the finals where they will employ the same style that got them there in the first play no matter who they play. But for the sake of the NHL and hockey fans generally I hope Chicago can find some way to come back to win this series… or at least whoever the Wings end up playing in the finals forces them out of their style allowing the game to pick up the pace.

Western Conference Finals Preview

The Conference Finals start Sunday afternoon so before they get rolling let’s take a lot at both series to see what we should expect from both and most importantly who will win!

Western Conference:

The Western Conference features the regulars versus the new kids on the block as the Detroit Red Wings take on the Chicago Blackhawks. Detroit won the Stanley Cup last year and are in position to be the first team to repeat as champions since they did it in 1997-98. This process is nothing new to the Red Wings and they’ll be all business come Sunday afternoon whereas the Blackhawks have not been here in quite some time. Chicago is looking to return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992 where they were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins. With those facts in mind which team has the edge? The easy answer is the Detroit Red Wings and rightfully so but there are other factors that play into this series that will make it a lot closer than it might first appear on paper. The following are what I think each team needs to do to win:

Detroit simply needs to remained focused on their goal. One of the things they pride themselves in is not retaliating to any post-whistle scrums, cheap shots, or “jaw-jacking” the other team might do which they have to continue to do. The Red Wings must allow their superior level of skill to shine through no matter the circumstances and stay out of the penalty box. This series is different from the previous two in that way because it is a natural rivalry that goes back to the 1920s and the early days of the NHL. But the most important factor for Detroit is going to be the play of Chris Osgood. There is no denying all that Osgood has accomplished but none of that is counted toward his record in this series. Osgood has played well thus far in the playoffs but if it returns to his regular season form at all the Hawks will eat him alive which would push Mike Babcock to insert Ty Conklin who was not much better over the course of the season and hasn’t played in these playoffs at all so far.

Chicago has to keep playing with reckless abandon giving no credence to any of the factors going against them. Sure this is the first time most of them have been in this spot and yes the Red Wings greatly outmatch them at almost every position and yes Detroit is very methodical about their play from the opening face-off to the end of the game. Chicago cannot look to the other side of the ice and be blinded by the glare of Hart, Conn Smythe, and Norris Trophies and Stanley Cup rings. The young Hawks simply need to play hockey they way they have all along in these playoffs. They don’t care who they are up against they are just a bunch of young guys who love to play hockey and are going out there to beat up on whoever they’re playing. Most importantly, they will have to rely heavily on Nikolai Khabibulin’s experience in goal to possibly propel them to the next level. If the Hawks can do that they give themselves a very good chance of winning this series. In the long run however I think the Red Wings will be too much and will send the Hawks packing in a very competitive five game series.

Tune in tomorrow for the Eastern Conference Finals preview.