San Antonio Spurs (1) – Portland Trailblazers (5)

San Antonio Spurs are the most experienced squad entering the Western Conference Semifinals in this years NBA Playoffs and the Blazers on the other hand are in the group of teams with young All Star players like Aldridge and Lillard. Those two were the main reason why Portland eliminated Houston in only five games in the first round of the Playoffs. Lillard hit a series winning three pointer in the last game and proved to be one of the best clutch players in the game.

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San Antonio won a heavy battle against Dallas in seven games. Tony Parker pushed the tempo in the last game of the series and showed how can his team play when under pressure. The Spurs are definitely old, but playing long series is nothing new to them. Coach Popovich will definitely find a way to stop LaMarcus Aldridge in the paint and the key matchup will be between Tony Parker and Damian Lillard. Another key factor that will determine these series is the bench contribution. Whereas both teams don’t have star players that come of from the bench, but they still have a quality second unit that can put on some good numbers from night to night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0ThZQ_ANWI

Oklahoma City Thunder (2) – Los Angeles Clippers (3)

The only matchup in this year NBA Playoffs that features two team that finished on the second and third position respectively in the regular season. The Clippers played interesting series against the Golden State Warriors where DeAndre Jordan really showcased his offensive skills, especially in games five and six. The only thing was that the Warriors missed their starting center Bogut due to a rib injury. Oklahoma had trouble qualifying after they needed seven games as well against the Memphis Grizzlies. Good thing for them was that Zach Randolph missed Game 7 from that series due to a suspension, so it will be interesting to see was that the main reason why they succeeded to win that matchup.

We should expect a high scoring series as the two sides split the regular season matchup and both teams managed to score over 107 points in each of those games. Key matchup will obviously be between Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul, but other important factor is Kendrick Perkins. Reason for this is that he has great positioning on defense. Ibaka will also have to put his body on Blake Griffin so that will leave everything on Chris Paul. OKC has something that the Warriors missed and that’s quality big guys in the paint on the defensive end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhu0Ag1_omk