1. VERSATILITY and BALANCE - The Lakers' personnel, along with the diversity of the triangle offense, allow them to give the Spurs different looks. They can beat you with pick-n-roll play. They can go inside-ouside with a combination of shooters like Vladimir Radmanovic, Sasha Vujacic, and Derek Fisher. They can post up either Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and even Luke Walton. They can run-n-gun on transition with athletes like Jordan Farmar and Trevor Ariza. And above all, they've got the unstoppable Bryant doing whatever it takes to will his team to win, be it penetrate and dish, get to the foul line at will, create on the open floor for his teammates, or knock down three-point shots to deflate the Spurs at crucial moments of the game.

Meanwhile, the Lakers already know what the Spurs are going to come with - screen rolls with Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan. High post entry passes to Duncan, who will look to drop off passes to Fabricio Oberto or Kurt Thomas down low. And iso's for Ginobili at the top of the key. Bruce Bowen waiting on the wing for wide-open three-point attempts after Duncan gets doubled and defenses are scrambling to recover. The problem for San Antonio is that the Lakers are good enough that they won't have to double team Duncan, thereby nullifying his outside shooters.

2. ATTACK MODE- Because of Bryant's leadership, the Lakers will continue to attack and penetrate the Spurs' interior defense like there's no tomorrow. Even The Machine will take it to the rack when defenders run out on him at the three-point line. Odom will get to the line at will and put the Spurs' power forwards in early foul trouble just like he did to Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer. Gasol will take it to Duncan in order to get him into foul trouble. Gasol will even pull Duncan out of the lane because Pau can hit the mid range shot that the triangle offense will give him. And we can't forget about the high-flying Ariza, who just adds another dimension to the Lakers' fast break attack. Either way, whether it's a slow down tempo or in transition, the Lakers will constantly attack the Spurs from all angles. Most importantly, they have the personnel to do it.

3. DICTATING TEMPO-  The Lakers are excellent at accomplishing this because they have Bryant, who can get calls at any time. The Lakers will jump out to early leads in Games 1 & 2 and if they blow out the Spurs in both of these games, it will be very difficult for San Antonio to recover. The Lakers are more experienced than most would think. This nucleus, save for Gasol, has been together for three postseasons in a row and have tasted failure. They've grown and matured, learned how to play with toughness, and above all developed the hunger needed in order to take each and every possession like it's the last one. They learned this lesson after being up 2-0 on Utah. They woke up and finished them off. Killer instinct. And if the Lakers go up 2-0 against the Spurs and win these games easily, the defending champions won't have the firepower to overcome this Laker juggernaut.

4. THE MVP-  No team, no player, no double-team, no triple-team can contain the incomparable Bryant. He can do it all and he is the only player in this league that can singlehandedly will his team to win a series. In the modern era of the NBA, a great offensive player on a great team will always defeat a great defensive player on a great defensive team. Once Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker feel the wrath of Kobe's fire, the Spurs will be mentally defeated just like they were in '04 after Fisher hit that shot with .4 left. San Antonio never recovered. The Spurs, overall, have been the best and most consistent elite team in the NBA this decade and I have the utmost respect for their franchise. But unfortunately, they have run right smack into a well-oiled machine called the Los Angeles Lakers. And L.A. has homecourt advantage.

You give Mamba homecourt and you've just given the greatest player this generation has ever seen another piece of ammunition in his arsenal.

Guess what ladies and gentlemen? THE ASSAULT CONTINUES...

- The Boston Celtics did what they were supposed to do at home, which is dominate an eighth seeded team. The Atlanta Hawks did what they were supposed to do in Game 7 on the road, which is play like an eighth seeded team...

- How will Gang Green gang up on Lebron James? Or do they even need to? Early prediction is Celtics in six, with James averaging close to 40 in the series...

- But I won't be surprised if Boston suffers an early exit if Cleveland's role players play their role to perfection. In the Name of the King, the Knights of the Brown Table will be expected to battle for their lives. Ok, maybe it's not life and death. But it's the NBA Playoffs, where there is only one...

- Just like I thought, the Detroit Pistons' big backcourt of Chauncey Billips and Richard Hamilton manhandled tiny Jameer Nelson and inadequate but game Maurice Evans in their 91-72 blowout of the Orlando Magic. This will set the tone for the series...

- If Orlando can't pick up the pace and force a running game, Detroit will control the tempo, keep the scores low, keep it physical, and will keep on frustrating center Dwight Howard. At this point, the young and inexperienced Howard will not have the moxie to will his team to recover. Superman is looking more like Superboy and thus the Pistons should close it out in five... 

- I keep saying to the skeptics, don't sleep on the Pistons...

- Byron Scott is one hell of a coach. His team came prepared for battle and took it to future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan like no other opponent has done to him before. Props to the former L.A. Lakers shooting guard, who came up with a genius strategy to hold Duncan to five points and three boards, Brian Skinner numbers...

- Duncan looked like Shaquille O'Neal out there on Saturday night. Slow and tired with no lift and contstantly getting burned on defense. With Duncan also missing his free throws a la Shaq, the only thing missing was the Hack-a-Tim. But I'm sure Scott won't employ that tactic anytime soon...

- We did see the Hack-a-Chandler for a quick second, which came to everybody's surprise. Since Popovich loves doing it so much, I'm beginning to think we should start calling the Hack-a-Shaq, Pop's Special Recipe...

- And be sure to check out the latest hit on television. It's called...

  YOUNG GUNS: The Assault Continues

Starring Kobe Bryant as William H. Bonney aka Mamba the Kid

Pau Gasol as Doc Scurlock

Lamar Odom as Chavez

Andrew Bynum as Richard "D!CK" Brewer

Sasha "Vidal Sasoon" Vujacic as Dirty Steve Stephens

and introducing Luke Walton as Charley Bowdre

with Phil Jackson as John Tunstall, Mamba the Kid's teacher and mentor 

This is how the West will be won - the old fashioned way, with all the gunslingers taking over your town.

If Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs want to make a series out of this, he obviously has some adjustments to make.

The Spurs were slow in defensive rotations in the second half of their 101-82 loss to the Hornets, causing David West to pick them apart at the seams. The All-Star power forward scored in all ways imaginable. Mid range jump shots. Left handed hook shots. Dribble Drives. Turnaround 17-footers with a hand in his face. And-ones. West, and not Chris Paul, was the key to the whole game.

Had the Spurs doubled West early in each of the Hornets' possessions, it would have forced Paul, who had an off night shooting, to make other decisions. Decisions that may not have panned out for New Orleans. Keep in mind that San Antonio was up by 11 early on. So how come they could not maintain the lead?

Because while West was warming up, they did nothing to make sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic take tough shots. Stojakovic had open looks all night. The defending champions need to stick Bruce Bowen on Peja because it's the threat of Peja that opens up the entire game for CP3 and the rest of the team.

Popovich erred by putting Bowen on CP3. You can't treat New Orleans like the Suns. The tactic worked on Steve Nash because Nash is not as great as everyone thinks. Nash is soft and he gets rattled easily in the playoffs. So it's a tremendous advantage to put a physical player like Bowen on him. But on a player like Paul, it won't matter because Paul is too quick and too good a player to let Bowen frustrate him.

Pop should stick with the basics. Let your best counter weapon Tony Parker guard CP3. Parker is quick enough on his feet to keep up with him. Plus Parker makes CP3 work on the defensive end. He scored 23 on him so that should tell you something. You keep Bruce on Peja so he can be physical with him and wear him down. That's how the Lakers kept beating Sacramento between 2000-2003 when Peja was in his prime. L.A. used Rick Fox to outmuscle him, frustrate him, and take him out of his comfort zone. San Antonio should do the same.

Then you take the same tactic that NO is using on Tim Duncan and use it on West. Double him with Kurt Thomas/Fabricio Oberto and Manu Ginobili, who is good at stripping the ball. You can afford to use Manu to sag off of Morris Peterson or Bonzi Wells because I don't think either of those guys can be consistent enough to be a threat all series. This allows Duncan to stay on Tyson Chandler, thus preventing any CP3-to-Tyson alleyoops.

And once Duncan starts to find his groove, Chandler will be neutralized and will probably be in foul trouble. At the same time, Chandler won't be putting up numbers like he did on Saturday. Because West was basically going nuts, Tyson pulled down a quiet 15 boards.

Let Chris Paul score 35 because he won't beat you by himself unlike the great Kobe Bryant can. Paul scored 32 against the Lakers in January at New Orleans and the Lakers blew them out by 29! West shot 7-17, Peja shot 4-11 and they combined to score only 28 points. This is how you beat the Hornets. You have to wear down the Hornets physically. You have to make West and Peja work for tough shots. You have to make the Hornets defend, and you have to get them in the penalty early in the quarter. 

If the defending champions want to have the right to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, they have to take a page out of the Lakers' scouting report in order to make their series against New Orleans a competitive one.

Otherwise, Coach Byron Scott is going to make a trip back to his hometown in a couple of weeks.

- Believe it or not, the once left-for-dead Phoenix Suns have turned it around and it's all because of Mike D'Antoni and his coaching staff. He has finally found a way to incorporate and involve The Big Diesel into the system. That high double-post set on offense is being utilized to perfection by Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, and O'Neal. Kudos...

-  While STAT's stats have gone up, Nash is still pick-n-rolling opponents to death and continues to find his three-point shooters within their new offensive set that still emphasizes ball movement, fluidity, but more importantly allows O'Neal to do his thing, whether it's attacking the offensive boards, finding the open man, or simply making his presence felt. And with Boris Diaw slowly starting to find his groove, the Suns actually have a legitimate shot of reaching the NBA FINALS...

- If Shaq doesn't get hurt and continues to average 15 and 10, the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs will have to revise their game plan...

- Although he may not win MVP, Chris Paul is the best guard in the NBA pound for pound...

- A New Orleans Hornet deserves a regular season award this year. Byron Scott for Coach of the Year, because his team has maintained its position atop the West the entire season...

- Kobe Bryant deserves to be MVP while any other year Paul would win the award. Tim Duncan should win MVP every year and we all know it, but we have to make it fun for the fans so we use statistics as indicators instead. Kevin Garnett already won an MVP but this time around he has a much better supporting cast and he's missed some games so it ends there for KG. Lebron James has to wait his turn to be crowned King of the NBA, especially if the team he plays on won't even qualify for the playoffs in the West...

- Nice to see The Birdman out of his cuckoo's nest and flying again... 

- If the Dallas Mavericks wind up playing the New Orleans Hornets in the first round, I would not be shocked if the Mavs do to the Hornets what the Warriors did to them last year...

- Everybody keeps talking about how Elton Brand would fit in perfectly with Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion in Miami. No one is talking about the possibility of Brand in a Golden State Warriors uniform. Imagine a lineup of B-Diddy, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Andres Biedrins, and Brand. Scary to think of that team running up and down the court...

- The fact that Washington was minus-19 with Gilbert Arenas on the floor during the Wizards' loss in his first game back makes me realize that the uninspired, video game playing blogger known as Agent Zero would make a perfect Los Angeles Clipper. Welcome back to L.A., Gilbert. We already know you're coming...

- If the Atlanta Hawks started the season with Mike Bibby running the point, they would be ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference playoff race right now...

- Golden State will not make the playoffs this year because they play only one style of basketball. At least Denver and Dallas can go inside if they wanted to...

- The key to the recent surge by the Denver Nuggets to propel them back in the playoff hunt hasn't been Carmelo Anthony or Allen Iverson. It's been the player who's rediscovered his talents, Kenyon Martin...

- The Utah Jazz have the best home record in the NBA but is only 16-22 on the road. They will be the featured topic on the next episode of Unsolved Mysteries...

- The fact that the Los Angeles Lakers did not sign Chris Webber and chose to bring in D.J. Mbenga instead solidifies Mitch Kupchak for Executive of the Year. Many will say Danny Ainge, but the entire universe knows Kevin McHale was the one responsible for the revival in Boston. And guys like James Posey, Eddie House, and Sam Cassell decided to go green not because of Ainge but because of Garnett. Kupchak built his team from the ground up with his best player threatening to go elsewhere. Ainge used a former MVP to entice free agent veterans to come join the fray...

- For the first time since the 1980's, fans will hear "Beat L.A." chants more than ever in every city the Lakers will play in during the playoffs...

- I love how every contending playoff team's fans will chant "MVP! MVP! MVP!" for their star player even though they know he won't win the award. It goes to show how fans are once again loving this game...

- The regular season MVP Award is the most overrated award in all of professional sports. On paper, the Phoenix Suns should win it all because they have three MVP-type players in O'Neal, Stoudemire, and Nash. The Celtics have two in Paul Pierce and KG, the Rockets have Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, and the Nuggets have Melo and A.I. The funny thing is that neither of these teams will make it to the NBA Finals...

- The biggest mistake anyone can make in the postseason is to sleep on the Detroit Pistons. Like in 2004, they are at their best when flying under the radar. That was the same way in which the great Joe Dumars approached the game and it was what made him a legend in Motown...

- Fans are always looking for storylines when it comes to the NBA Finals. We all want to revive the battles between the Lakers and the Celtics. We all want to see Kobe vs. Lebron in the Finals, which would be the new version of Bird vs. Magic. We all wish that Phoenix played in the East so we'd have a chance to see Kobe vs. Shaq in the Finals. But it almost always seems to never work out as we expect it to be. Who would have thought that Cleveland would make it to the big dance last year? That's why in 2008, it will be... 

- Lakers over the Pistons in the 2008 NBA Finals. Just like Mike versus the Bad Boys in the late eighties, Kobe finally gets past Detroit when it counts most. 

- And finally: If you don't love this game, check yourself. 'Til next time...

After a long layoff from FOXBLOGCITY, and after drinking my share of PURA VIDAS and enjoying beautiful COSTA RICA with friends and my sizzling Stephanie... THE DIZZLE is BACK!

The 2007 edition of TEAM USA Basketball is about to play Venezuela tomorrow to kickstart the quest for gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

We certainly have some top talent on this summer's squad, but I am not convinced that this should be the team to represent our country next year against the likes of France, Argentina, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Spain. I do believe, however, that this team is better than the team that lost to Greece last summer in Japan because this time around KOBE replaces AI. Mr. Bryant is the real answer.

But there are still questions. Will TIM DUNCAN or THE MATRIX be in the red, white, and blue next year? What about the CELTIC TRIO? Will D-WADE be healthy enough? Does SHAQ give it one more go 'round or will GREG ODEN take his place? We can dream about the real DREAM TEAM, but we must use what we have at our disposal right now...

AIR KOBE, J-KIDD, BRON BRON, MELO MAN A,  buh buh buh BILLUPS, AMARE, LEFTY REDD, HOWARD THE DUNK, DERON WILL.I.AMs, T-CHANDLER, MILLER MIKE and FRESH PRINCE OF COMPTON.

My crunch time starters are: PG- Kidd Magik, SG- Kobester, SF- Fresh Prince, PF- Amare, C- Howard the Dunk

Melo Man A, Chauncey, The King, and Lefty will head the second unit. Tyson, Will.I.AmS, and Miller Mike are there in case of foul trouble, much like THE LAKERS used Slava Medvedenko, Sasha Vujacic, and Devean George.

So tip off is tomorrow on NBA TV. Who are your STARTERS? Feel free to speak your mind.

There are numerous debates as to who is the best player in the NBA. How about seeing who is among the best at each position, with several characteristics I have listed as  being the key determining factors?

In terms of  ball distribution, assists, setting up teammates, finding the open man, running the team as a floor general, making teammates perform better, being a good "locker room" guy, being a "coach" on the floor, team's win percentage, scoring the occasional clutch basket when your team needs it, and playing "good enough" defense (in that order)... the best point guard in the NBA is... 1) Steve Nash  2) Chauncey Billups  3) Tony Parker  4) Chris Paul and 5) Baron Davis

In terms of ability to make any shot, scoring at will, clutch play, getting to the line at anytime, team's win percentage, making teammates perform better, being a good "locker room" guy, leading by example, playing better-than-average defense, creating plays that demoralize opponents, and leading by example (in that order)... the best shooting guard in the NBA is... 1) Kobe Bryant 2) Dwyane Wade 3) Gilbert Arenas 4) Allen Iverson and 5) Richard Hamilton

In terms of controlling the lane, being an inside presence, rebounding, blocking shots, high percentage scoring, clutch play, altering shots, intimidation, team's win percentage, being a team player, leading by example, finding the right man out of a double-team, and overall basketball instincts (in that order)... the best center in the NBA is ... 1) a healthy Shaquille O'Neal 2) Yao Ming 3) Dwight Howard 4) Marcus Camby and 5) Mehmet Okur

In terms of solid post play, rebounding position, being a defensive presence, efficient scoring and clutch play, the "hustle factor", containing the opposing team's best big man, ability to get to the line, sheer toughness, and team's win percentage (in that order)... the best power forward in the NBA is... 1) Tim Duncan 2) Dirk Nowitzki 3)  Kevin Garnett 4) Jermaine O'Neal and 5) tie between Carlos Boozer and Rasheed Wallace

In terms of all-around contributions, ability to play multiple positions, the "hustle factor", scoring ability from short, mid, and long range, making other players better, being a finisher on the break, value to the team, ability to get to the line, being a defensive stalwart who can rebound, team's win percentage, and accepting multiple roles on the team (in that order)... the best small forward in the NBA is... 1) Lebron James 2) Carmelo Anthony 3) Lamar Odom 4) Shawn Marion and 5) three-way tie between Josh Howard, Tayshaun Prince, and Tracy McGrady

In terms of ability to generate offensive and defensive chemistry, motivate egos, tactical and strategic planning, x's and o's, making the most of what you have, being a player's coach, and team's win percentage (in that order)... the best head coach in the NBA is... 1) Phil Jackson 2) Greg Poppovich 3) Avery Johnson 4) Jerry Sloan 5) Jeff Van Gundy