Since last week I analyzed the Eastern Conference, ultimately choosing the Cleveland Cavaliers to win it, this week I am going to focus on the Western Conference.

The main reason why these NBA playoffs are going to be incredibly entertaining is because of the playoff matchups that will happen in the Western Conference. Assuming that the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs make the playoffs, I am really looking forward to seeing the Spurs play with a healthy Kawhi Leonard in the lineup. They’ve managed to play pretty well, despite Leonard’s absence for most of the season, and honestly, I believe that when Leonard comes back, the Spurs have a legitimate chance to upset the Warriors or the Rockets. Now, of course, I do not believe that this upset will happen, but I give the Spurs a slight chance to pull it off. As we all know, the Spurs were destroying the Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals last year, but once Leonard got hurt (because of Zaza Pachulia) the Spurs chances of beating the Warriors faded away. It would be interesting to see a rematch between these two teams with a healthy Kawhi Leonard playing the entire series.

Now I want to examine the Oklahoma City Thunder. This team has definitely been one of the streakiest teams in the league. At times, they have looked like real threats in the Western Conference, and at other times, they really struggle, which has caused me to doubt their chances of winning in the playoffs. However, I do not want to disregard the Thunder just yet, simply because of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony. I think that when it comes down to it, this team will pull it together and they will do some damage in the playoffs. It will not be easy to eliminate this team, and even though I do not see the Thunder upsetting the Warriors, I can see them possibly beating the Rockets (but again, this is highly unlikely).

And to conclude my Western Conference analysis, I want to talk about the two teams that will most likely be facing each other in the Western Conference Finals. Of course, these teams are the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors. To my surprise, the Rockets have played so well this season, that some people think that they will beat the Warriors in the playoffs. Right now, the Rockets have the best record in the entire NBA, and James Harden will most likely win his first regular season MVP award this year. Chris Paul is playing even better than I thought he would, and whenever Paul and Harden play together, this team is virtually unstoppable. I can’t wait to see the Warriors play the Rockets in the Western Conference championship. This will probably be the best series in the playoffs.

Now, you are probably wondering who I think will win this series. And even though I would like to see the Rockets dethrone the current NBA champions, I do not see the Warriors losing. The team just has too much firepower. In order for the Rockets to beat the Warriors, James Harden has to play amazing basketball every single night. However, on the Warriors, Kevin Durant doesn’t have to play well every night in order for them to win, and neither does Klay Thompson or Steph Curry. Even if one of the superstars on the Warriors plays poorly, they still have a great chance to win the game. This is not the case with the Rockets.

So basically, I do think that this will be a great series, but I believe that the Rockets are still missing one more key player in order to take down the Warriors. However, I do hope that the Rockets prove me wrong because I would love to see a different matchup than the Cavaliers versus the Warriors this year in the NBA Finals (we all know that this would not be fun to watch). But overall, this should be an amazing series.

Some of you might be wondering why I did not spend time talking about the other playoff teams in the Western Conference, like the Timberwolves, or the Pelicans, or the Trailblazers, and honestly the answer is simple. I do not think that any of the other playoff teams have a shot at winning the Western Conference. I love watching Damian Lillard play, and I am always astounded by the play from Anthony Davis, but neither of these two teams have a legitimate shot at beating the Warriors or the Rockets.

So now you know my NBA Finals prediction. Get ready for Cavaliers versus the Warriors again (I seriously hope that I am wrong about this). Hopefully this time around, the Cavaliers can somehow put up a real fight against the Warriors, and maybe just maybe, LeBron James will drink from the fountain of youth and miraculously carry the Cavaliers to a victory (if this happened James might just retire from exhaustion).