For these playoff previews we are going to take a look at each team individually, and then we are going to look at the match-up.

LA Lakers

Strengths

What the Lakers do well.

• Kobe
• Length creates mismatches
• They take care of the basketball
• Very good defensively (again, length)
• Strong rebounding team

Weaknesses

Some problems the Lakers struggle with

• PG depth

Tendencies

Some things you are going to notice when watching the Lakers play.

• The Lakers are really good at using their length.  What I mean by that is the Lakers long frontcourt is what create their rebounding opportunities, and their length really helps their defense.
• If Lamar Odom gets it going, watch out.
• The ball has been known to stick in Kobe’s hands from time to time.

Key Set

• Side Out To Free Up Kobe Late

I don’t have video of this, but you can view the full breakdown here.  If the Lakers find themselves in a close game late, coming out of a timeout, you are probably going to see this set run.  The beauty of it is that with Artest being a threat when coming off a Kobe screen, you can’t double Kobe.  He then makes the catch one on one where he can work.

OKC Thunder

Strengths

What the Thunder do well

• Defense
• Quick-hitting plays
• Baseline out of bounds

Weaknesses

Some problems the Thunder struggle with

• Getting Durant the ball late
• Sideline out of bounds
• Transition Defense

Tendencies

Some things you are going to notice when watching the Thunder play.

• The Thunder are going to work, and work hard.  Scott Brooks has this young team believing in his system, and that system is defense before all.
• The Thunder do play very well off of each other, but there are stretches where the ball gets to Durant and the rest of the team stop and watch.

Key Set

• Durant As A Decoy

Kevin Durant is going to draw a lot of attention during this series.  The key is if the Thunder are going to be able to use this attention to free up other players.  In the two sets above (that happened one right after another), the Thunder use the attention Durant draws against the defense, and it leads to two Jeff Green three pointers.

Key Matchup

Jeff Green vs. Lamar Odom

Even though Odom doesn’t start, these two players are probably going to be matched up against each other most of the game.  In my opinion, both of these guys are X-factors for their teams, so whichever X-factor can win this match up will give the edge to their respective team.

My Prediction

Lakers In 6

Being a young team, I think the Thunder will really feed off of their crowd and get two of those home games.  I think their youth will keep them from winning any games in LA.  If they are able to sneak one of the first two games, things could get interesting.