Who's really the Best in the West?

 
  It wouldn't be fair to explore my dominant favorite to win the East without giving my take on who will meet them in the Finals in June. So as promised, I will reveal my Best in the West explaining not only who will meet in the conference finals but also who will make it out as Western Conference Champions.
  The Los Angeles Clippers have gotten a lot of the buzz out of the West this season. They are by far the top team in LA, are having a significantly improved season, and at one point were not only the top team in their conference but also the top team in the NBA. The Clippers finished 5th in the West last season and are currently standing at the 3rd seed, a spot I predict they'll stay at if they do not advance. With Lob City's dynamic duo Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, averaging 16.2 and 18.5 points per game respectively, leading the way for this tremendously deep team, they will be a viable threat to any opponent that faces them in this postseason. The question is however, are we sold on this team? After going 3-0 without Paul in a short stretch earlier in the season, The Clippers went 3-6 the second time around when Paul was again out with a knee injury. We all know that unpredictable things can happen in the playoffs including injuries. If the Clippers were to lose Paul again, or have him lacking good health, can this team make the playoff run that the hype expects them to? I myself am not definitively convinced they can do so. If they were to meet The Thunder somehow they don't have a force that can compete with Kevin Durant. They will indeed be exciting to watch and have a chance to make it to the Western Conference Finals that we all have to respect, but they aren't my pick to capture the conference title.
  The San Antonio Spurs are a very unique team. Season-in and season-out they finish with if not the league's best record, the top record in their conference. Their impeccable skill and record is somewhat ironic however because despite the respect they command and receive throughout the league, they are a "quiet" team, which is actually how they seem to like it. People know about the Spurs, but they don't really know about the Spurs as they are often called boring. Nonetheless, San Antonio is led by arguably the best coach in the NBA (Gregg Popovich) and the team nearly embodies what a solid ball club should look like. Holding the top record in the league right now, we again have to honor the fact that this team can surely win the West, and it all. The past two postseasons have ended with an abnormally bitter taste for The Spurs. During the postseason of 2011, San Antonio, the number 1 seed at the time, was upset by the then 8th seeded up-and-coming Memphis Grizzlies in the 1st round. In the 2012 postseason, the once again number 1 seeded Spurs, after going 10-0 in the postseason and up 2-0 in the Conference Finals, lost 4 straight to the reigning Western Conference Champions: The Oklahoma City Thunder. The sting of those last two not-so-storybook-endings for San Antonio might be just what they plan to use to push them to go all the way this year.
  Finally, The Oklahoma City Thunder, led by the NBA's reigning 3-time scoring champion Kevin Durant, are a still a popular vote by many to win their conference for a second year in a row. The Thunder are an amazingly fast, talented, well-rounded, and young team that will be a powerhouse in the West for many years to come. Under the direction of well-respected head coach Scott Brooks, the West's other tag team pair Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, continue to improve their games and build an intangible chemistry. Although they fell short on the NBA's biggest stage to Miami last June, this team has been tried, tested, and proven. The Thunder are currently the number 2 seed in the West and each year in the postseason they continue to make it to another level they'd fell short from the season before. If the pattern were to continue, it is OKC's turn to win it all.
   So who will it be? San Antonio's prolific point guard Tony Parker has just gone down for at least a month with a grade 2 ankle sprain. In February alone, Parker averaged 26.1 PPG and 8.3 APG shooting 54% from the field. In the last three seasons, the Spurs have been just a .500 team without Parker, going 7-7. This puts the Spurs in a little bit of a vulnerable place. When Parker comes back, assuming it will only be within a month's time, will he be at full strength? Will the Thunder losing James Harden prove to be their kyrptonite in the playoffs? I believe that we will have an OKC/Spurs Western Conference Finals once again that will be over in 6 games. Still, I believe the Spurs to be the most dominant team in the West. If Parker comes back at full strength, which knowing Popovich he will, the Spurs will finally be taking another trip to the Finals. They are just so extremely skilled that I'm not willing to count on an incident like last year to happen twice.
  A Heat/Spurs Finals wouldn't be quite as flashy in the headlines as a Heat/OKC series but matchup-wise, this would be a sight to see. 15-year Veteran Tim Duncan, averaging 16.7 PPG and 9.7 RPG, is so efficient and dominant at his position that when he is aggressive he soars the Spurs to another level. Both teams have ample experience, in postseason and finals play, on their respective teams and generally speaking, consistently excel when the clock strikes playoffs. The Heat have a speed advantage over San Antonio while the Spurs have the size-edge over Miami. However, Miami has proven that size alone can't beat them while speed alone can't defeat the Spurs. With both teams being very efficient defensively and offensively, this Finals can certainly go to 7 games and will not, by any means, be a series of landslide wins. With Miami having 3 years of chemistry now under their belt, this would be a perfectly timed and a true "grind-out" Finals duel.
  Keep a lookout for The Rundown on just what I feel will stop OKC from taking the Western Conference crown later this week. Also, check out the NBA's Sunday double-header on ABC this afternoon at 1pm Eastern to catch The Heat battle their conference rivals The New York Knicks followed by a square-off between my 2 Western Conference title runner-ups in The Clippers and Thunder at 3:30pm!

Sources: Clips Nation ESPN