Oklahoma City Thunder
All the talk before the All-Star break in Lakerland was the potential mid-season trade for Carmelo Anthony. There’s a very good chance that all that talk was just that–talk, and the Lakers weren’t ever really considering giving up their big (now) defensive-minded seven-footer for a prolific scorer in Anthony. Well, what the Lakers didn’t do, the Celtics did when they traded Kendrick Perkins for Jeff Green and Nenad Kristic.
Ainge opted for scoring potential in exchange for the only front court that was detrimental to the Lakers’ title hopes. In any case Oklahoma City, at least at the moment, stand as the big winners in that trade. It made a team that caused the Lakers first-round playoff grief last season that much better with Perkins causes havoc under the rim.
During that series against the Lakers, Thunder head coach Scott Brooks told his team that he didn’t expect them to beat the Lakers in four games, that it could take seven. Kudos to him for being so clever, but the fact still remains that he was one Gasol tip-in away from being right on the money with his prediction.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for the Spurs to take the top spot in the western conference. The Spurs will have to eliminate OKC to get to the finals. Divine intervention perhaps?
Next: The Heat vs. three-peat