Regular Season Preview4:
Teams Review:
The Pacific Division:
1. Phoenix Suns (70-12): The Suns had just accomplished a tremendous season, setting up a team-record 70-12, second best in the league history. The weird thing about the Suns was that they actually started the season 0-3 and then bounced back with another second best record in the league history, 25 streak wins in a row. The team offense was running perfectly under the Run-Gun system and Steve Nash was already ready for his 1st NBA ring. The Suns were believed by the most experts to win the title this year.
2. Los Angles Lakers (51-31): KG didn't come, JO didn't come, Kidd didn't come. Kobe had to carry the team by himself still. However, the Lakers weren't in injury trouble this season and the team finished the season with 51 wins, a pretty nice record though. Kobe averaged 40+ ppg and scored over 3400 pts in the entire season, becoming the 2nd NBA player to average more than 40 ppg. The team still needed other guys to contribute in order to go further in the play-off. San Antonio would be a tough test for Kobe and the Lakers.
3. Los Angles Clippers (46-36): The Clippers enjoyed themselves so much in Los Angles. Sure they did, since they had a team record breaking 37 wins at home, while they merely managed to win 9 games in road. Elton Brand had shown people how good he could be, averaged 27.6 ppg and 11.8 rpg for the Clippers. The team used to have a chance to be the 4th seed, but the terrible road performance and the injury of Chris Kaman shot them down. The series between Mavericks and Clippers would be interesting to watch, though.
4. Golden State Warriors (41-41): The Warriors had a terrible start as they did in last season, well, it doesn't prevent them from making the play-off. They were again the 8th seed and the mission for them was simple as they did last time, to upset the 1st seed. Would they be able to do it? I can't say it's possible and the Suns were definitely not the Mavericks in last season. Still, Baron Davis was the threat to any teams, and Stephen Jackson was also ready to face the new challenge. Let's take a look at how good the Warriors would perform in the post-season games.
5. Sacramento Kings (37-45): The Kings were a play-off team for half of the season before the long road trip and Artest's injury slow them down. The team was still pretty talented, but they played the game unorganizedly and the team chemistry didn't seem to go well. Still, the Kings had a promising future and if they would improve their road performance and play teamwork, they would be a threat in the West.