West Powers

So if the Bulls can somehow shock the Eastern Conference and make it to the NBA Finals, ESPN experts think that they’ll probably either play against the Los Angeles Lakers or San Antonio Spurs.  The reigning champion Lakers received 41 of the 53 votes in a poll conducted by ESPN.com of their NBA experts.  The Spurs received 10 votes while the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets received just one apiece.  ”As powerful and competitive as the Western Conference has been for the past few years, the Los Angeles Lakers or San Antonio Spurs have almost always been the last team standing,” the article says.  ”For 10 of the past 11 seasons, the Lakers or Spurs have represented the West in the Finals, winning the whole chalupa in eight of those 10 seasons.”

I think it definitely comes down to one of these two teams in the Western Conference.  The Lakers landed Ron Artest this offseason and retained Lamar Odom, while the Spurs landed Richard Jefferson for nearly nothing, lured Antonio McDyess via free agency and stole DeJuan Blair in the draft.  The Bulls would certainly have trouble beating either of these teams, but they’d be a different team than we think of them as now if they were to reach the NBA Finals.

Get all your Chicago Bulls tickets at Stubhub.com.