Last season: Lakers won the NBA title; Thunder failed to make the playoffs
Overview: Both of these teams stumbled down the stretch. The Lakers, with the West wrapped up, coasted to the finish line with Kobe Bryant (27.0 ppg) resting his various ailments and they lost seven of their final 11 games as a result. The Thunder, meanwhile, were just 9-8 in their final 17 games.
A big key to the series will be the health of Lakers center Andrew Bynum (15.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg). He missed the final 13 games of the season and will likely be rusty. Then again, L.A. has plenty of depth and Pau Gasol (18.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg) and Lamar Odom (10.8 ppg, 9.8 rpg) can dominate inside even if Bynum is unable to play.
The lack of playoff experience for the Thunder's core players like Kevin Durant (a league-high 30.1 ppg), Russell Westbrook (16.1 ppg, 8.0 apg) and Jeff Green (15.1 ppg) is a concern. Still, the Thunder have played well against the Lakers this season, winning the final meeting of the season 91-75 on March 26 in Oklahoma City.
Yes, the Lakers are huge favorites, but look for this series to be entertaining and certainly no cakewalk for the defending champions. With 50 wins under its belt, Oklahoma City is one of the all-time best No. 8 seeds in NBA history. The Thunder are young and talented and may be too na?e to be intimidated by the big, bad Lakers.
In the end, though, Los Angeles will likely be too much for Oklahoma City to handle. Bryant is on the back half of his Hall of Fame career, but he's too proud to allow his team to be taken out in the first round of the postseason. The Thunder can do some of their fellow Western Conference opponents a favor if they can push the Lakers to a hard-fought six- or seven-game series. Then the Lakers may be tired or hurt and vulnerable in future rounds.
Player matchup to watch: Bryant vs. Durant. They won't likely guard each other too much — as Ron Artest will get the assignment to try to slow down Durant and Thabo Sefolosha will draw the assignment against Kobe. Still, all the talk of this series will be about the young star's team going up against the aging (and hurting) veteran.
Regular season series: Lakers won 3-1
Prediction: Lakers in six