Alright, MMB faithful. You know the deal. Based on the results of Thursdays contests, the Mavericks will either be playing the Los Angeles Lakers or the Oklahoma City Thunder, with a little more likelihood that it'll be OKC.
The way I see it, it breaks down like this. The Lakers have their strongest point at the Mavericks weakest point, throwing the league's best front line against a fairly mediocre one. Brandan Wright won't see the floor much, except maybe at backup 4. On the other hand, the Lakers don't have anyone who can light it up like Durant, and I'm not sure that Kobe is going to light it up more than Westbrook at this point--at least, given the same number of shots, which, considering I'm talking about Russell "Take Every Shot" Westbrook, is saying something. Kobe's banged up, World Peace is out (as always. Get it?). Bynum is always one inch from a league suspension. On the other hand, Harden is banged up, Scotty Brooks is a terrible coach, and given the front court size of a lot of teams out there this year, the Thunder won't win by preying on the Mavericks weaknesses, at least.
Both teams have a better starting five than the Mavericks, but neither has any bench to speak of.
So who'd you rather?
P.S. Remember when the Mavericks needed only 9 playoff games to beat those two teams last year? That was pretty sweet.