Now all that stands in front of the Lakers to another NBA Finals appearance are the fiery Minnesota Timberwolves. Having survived their game 7 with the Kings ealier this week in thrilling fashion, the T'wolves would have liked more than one day of rest before game one with the Lakers. Sam Cassell is hurting a lot, and that extra day could have done Minnesota a big favor.
Minnesota has the tools and the weapons on offense to beat LA. Many analysts have been pointing to the Laker's defense as the reason why they were able to beat the Spurs. That is wrong. The Spurs simply missed countless uncontested jumpers. Hedo Turkoglu, Bruce Bowen and Tony Parker (after games 1 and 2) were invisible. And lets not forget how Horry embarrased himself with his poor shooting too. My bet is that big time players such as Cassell, Sprewell and KG will make the outside shots and keep their team in the game. Also, if Fred Hoiberg and Trenton Hassell can continue their hot shooting and all around good play, the Timberwolves will be able to score. Again, its not like LA's defense is playing all that much better.
However, it will be Minnesota's defense that will determine the winner of this series. In general, Minnesota's defense is very stingy. They use a lot of zones and Flip Saunders can sick Garnett on just about any player because of his supreme versatility. The one man he can't guard is Shaq, and you know what? No one on Minnesota has a chance of even slowing him down. Obviously you're not going to shut Shaq down, but earlier in LA's playoff run, he faced worthy competition. The double teams of Kelvin Cato and Yao, as well as Duncan and Nestorvic were tandems that could contain Shaq. Earvin Johnson and the Kandi-man? Doubt it. Shaq will just be too much inside for the T'wolves to handle and utimately that will wear Minnesota down, and create open looks for Fisher, Payton, and George.
The only chance for Minnesota to stop Shaq is to play a lot of zone defense. That might work in spurts, but over 7 games, eventually the Lakers will get too many open looks on the perimeter. The Lakers aren't the Spurs, they can hit an open jumper. Upon all this, I haven't even mentioned Kobe Bryant yet, who you know is going to get his 25+ points per game no matter what happens. Hassell and Spree will do their best, and may even contain Kobe sometimes, but again, over 7 games, I like Kobe's chances of coming out on top in this match-up.
Prediction: Lakers in 7.
I give the Timberwolves a chance to hang around in this series because they have homecourt and the Lakers defense has yet to prove anything to me. Also, a team full of high energy players, such as Minnesota, historically have given the Lakers fits. The T'wolves may suprise you with a very, very competitive series, but in the end, it will be the Lakers coming out on top,
