Preview:

Let the second round commence!!! In this second round series out west we have the number 1 seeded Oklahoma City Thunder VS the Dallas Mavericks. In the first round, the OKC Thunder got a clean 4-0 sweep of the Denver Nuggets. Kawhi Leanord led everyone in scoring with 34ppg while King James averaged a double double of 26ppg and 11apg. The Dynamic duo was a nightmare for the denver defense to try and stop, and obviously whatever they tried, didn’t work. As for Dallas, they faced off against the 4 seeded Houston Rockets. This series was one of only two in the 1st round, and the only one out west, that went all the way to that exciting game 7. It was a pretty evenly fought matchup, but unfortunately the rockets just didn’t have enough scoring power to back up Nikola Jokic to fight against the onslaught of the Mavs. The Mavs had 5 different players average double digit scoring, with Demar Derozen averaging 34ppg and 8apg while CP3 averaged 23 and 5. This is going to be a fun matchup, as 2 of the top 10 scorers in the league will be going after each other, and long time friends LeBron James and Chris Paul will have the chance to play against each other, this is sure to be an interesting series. 

Strengths and weaknesses:

OKC: OKC has in my opinion, the most well balanced and well rounded team, while they aren’t superior at one thing, they are solid in nearly every aspect of the game. From being able to score at the rim to launching from distance, to defending the perimeter and being a nightmare in the paint, they are little to no holes. The one flaw this team has would be they rely too much on just a few people to score, cause unfortunately if one of their top guys get hurt, OKC is gonna have a hard time putting the ball in the basket. 

Dallas: Dallas’s big strength is scoring, having about 3-4 different guys that could give you 30 on any given night, along their paint play on both sides of the floor. Dallas, like OKC, is a well rounded team on both offense and defense. The big issue for Dallas is they are not a super deep or talented team. They have shooting and defense but a lot of their bench has inconsistency and can go cold at the drop of a hat. For Dallas, if they wanna have any chance in this series, their bench production is gonna have to step up, otherwise this might be another clean sweep for OKC. 

Head to Head Matchups: 

PG: LeBron James vs Chris Paul. 

This is going to be a lot, lot closer matchup that you think, while its most likely that they won’t actually be guarding each other, they are both gonna be starting at the point. But when they do, boy oh boy will it be fun. Paul’s stats don’t do him justice, despite what they say, he’s a wizard with the ball in his hand. And something that most people forget? CP3 has made multiple all Defense teams in his career, despite his size, defense is actually a strong suit. But for him, idk if he will be able to compete with the size and aggression of the king himself. 

Winner: James (by a very slight Margin)

SG: Seth Curry vs Demar Derozen. 

This matchup is honestly very one sided. Derozen is top 10 in the league in scoring, has size, strength, and athleticism advantage on Green. The big thing thats gonna come down in this matchup is defense. Both players are very good on defense, but for Demar it’s more important because green is one of the better shooters in the league. For green, his main focus should be stopping demar from going downhill and forcing him to shoot. This matchup is all about defense. 

Winner: Demar Derozen. 

SF: Kawhi Leanord vs Otto Porter. 

This matchup is also very one sided like the last, except it’s flipped. Kawhi is coming in as the MVP favorite while, imo, Porter is lucky to be starting as dallas lacks a true starting caliber wing sans Derozen. Kawhi leads the league in scoring, and is a defensive monster. The only thing Otto has on the Claw is size, but not much. This matchup is pretty one sided. 

Winner: Kawhi Leanord. 

PF: Draymond Green vs Marvin Bagley III

This matchup is a weird one. Bagley is more of a center than a PF, but with not have a decent PF on the team, and his ability to stretch the floor, he gets the start. Draymonds main concern should be to not let him stretch the floor at all. Bagley isn’t the best interior presence on either side of the floor, if green can just keep him in the paint, this shouldn;t be that bad of a matchup for him. 

Winner: Draymond Green

C: Hassan Whiteside vs Wendell Carter Jr. 

This is, in my opinion, a pretty even matchup. Both are a physical presence down low, but whiteside is the more aggressive one and the better rebounder/shot blocker. However Jr is able to the stretch the floor and shoot the ball. Each needs to force the others weakness. Whiteside will need to play the paint as much as he can while Jr needs to pull Whiteside out of the paint as much as possible. 

Winner: Wendell Carter Jr.

Bench: 

This matchup is a classic Defense vs Offense. Dallas has a heavy defensive presence with crowder, walker, bruke, holiday and McConell off their bench. WHile for OKC, with the likes of Melo, curry, caruso and Jordan can provide instant offense at any given point with no issue. The big matchup here is the bigs. Dallas has no bigs off the bench, while OKC has jordan, which means one of either Jr or Bagley will be on the floor at all times, this is something i expect OKC to exploit to let them dominate the paint. 

Winner: OKC

Conclusion: 

This should be a fairly one sided matchup. OKC rolled through the first round and i expect it to happen again in the second, getting an easy path into the Western Conference Finals where they will face the winner of Phoenix and Portland. I do expect some of these games to be close, but i don’t see OKC loosing any. 

Prediction: Clean Sweep, 4-0 OKC