Scoring spree

Mavs-Kings matchup will be playoffs' most exciting series

The upcoming semifinal matchup between Sacramento and Dallas will be the most exciting series in the entire postseason because of the styles and talent levels of the two teams. Both will play up-tempo basketball, and it'll be a lot of fun.

If the Mavericks and Kings are shooting the ball well, they could each score 120 points. It would be tough to get much higher than that, because of the double-teaming in a half-court game, but we'll see the highest-scoring games we've seen in the playoffs in quite a while.

As for the outcome, Dallas will win the series. The Mavs are a better team; in fact, they're the only ones with any chance to beat the Lakers. They're extremely deep, they can score at every position and they have a bunch of role players who accept their roles, including Nick Van Exel. Van Exel understands that his team has an opportunity to go a long way, and that has helped him adjust to coming off the bench.

That said, Sacramento can't necessarily be counted out, because of the wide-open game both teams play. People looked at how the Kings struggled in their first-round series against the Jazz and said Sacramento didn't play well. But Utah makes you play that way. If the Mavs had played the Jazz, people would be saying they're not playing well.

Just another day at the office for Horry

The Lakers have won 14 consecutive playoff games against other Western teams, so either the West isn't as powerful as we think it is or the Lakers are that good. Since everybody says the top four teams in the league are in the West, the Lakers probably are just that good.

For example, it was incredible how they won Game 3 against the Blazers in the first round. They had no right winning that game, and they pulled it out.

While Shaq and Kobe are the cornerstones of that franchise, Robert Horry is going to win a game in every series for them. He's amazing. He's so relaxed.

A lot of people say he takes off the regular season and gets ready for the playoffs, but he had a very good year for the Lakers this season. His game is doing all the dirty things that you have to do to win, all the little things that go unnoticed in the box score but are appreciated by his teammates and the coaching staff. He's the third-highest-paid player on the team for good reason. He's a big-time player.

Hoops junkie West has a challenge in Memphis

Jerry West's decision to become president of the Grizzlies was a little surprising, but only because I thought he might have taken a position with the Hawks. If Theo Ratliff comes back, the future will arrive a little quicker in Atlanta than in Memphis. Of course, that's a big "if."

The problem the Grizzlies have is that they're capped out. While Memphis' Pau Gasol and Shane Battier made the All-Rookie team, it's going to be hard for West to do a lot with that team.

But that's not the only difficult aspect of the Memphis situation. West has never had to endure much losing, and he'll definitely get his share of that with the Grizzlies. Also, it's a little easier to recruit free agents in L.A. than in Memphis. Shaq wanted to go there, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, too. They all wanted to be in Hollywood; it won't be the same in Memphis.

But the bottom line is: West is a hoops junkie. He loves the game, and he's a good basketball man. He'll eventually succeed there.

Kevin Loughery is a former NBA player and head coach. He appears each Sunday on CNN/SI's "This Week in the NBA."

 

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