supermario21
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I really think this has gone away as Z-bo continues to age. He's not going to put up 20+ on 53%+ shooting for multiple series anymore. Jeff Green will help, but how much.
I agree with Jigo that I see it as being Mavs/OKC/Spurs, though I'd put Golden State in the conversation because of how valuable it is for them to be the home team.
How is Memphis a "nightmare" for any of them? Gasol is really, really good. Does he win a series on his own? I have my doubts. Conley is really good, but would you rather have him in a best of seven than Curry, Rondo, Parker, or Westbrook? Rondo I think is open for debate, though I'd take Rajon's tenacity. The other 3 are better than Conley.
Can Randolph hang with up-tempo players like what we see in Golden State? Can he run and jump with Ibaka? Can he defend the long Tim Duncan?
I might be underestimating Randolph, but I don't think he'll ever be one of the three best players on the court again in a playoff game. That was the reason they were so tough before. Now I think you can get away with playing him straight up and living with the results.
I'd take Curry, Durant, and Dirk as guys more capable of willing their teams to wins than Gasol.
Memphis is great at controlling the tempo. They slow teams more down than they are forced to run with other teams. They just played the Warriors a couple weeks ago and absolutely controlled the tempo on them and the Warriors were all out of sorts. Randolph and Gasol are so physical AND skilled it really rattles a lot of other teams in playoff basketball when you slow them down. Plus Tony Allen might be the best defender in the Western Conference. With his improved offense the last couple years, he's been able to play heavy minutes in the playoffs. Plus, they just added Jeff Green. Memphis is really, really deep. They have Koufos as a backup center to boot. Had Randolph not been suspended for Game 7 against the Thunder last season they likely would have won that playoff series.