NBA Playoffs 2012: Why Deep Teams Still Won't Beat Superstars on Road to Finals

There's no way around it—the NBA is controlled by its superstar players, and the best ones are lining up as the last ones left to fight for this year's championship. 

The NBA proclaims itself as the place "Where Amazing Happens," and in today's league, that's exactly the platform that keeps solid top-to-bottom teams from excelling in the playoffs.

Throughout an exhausting and often redundant seven-game series in the playoffs, playing styles like isolation and transition come to the forefront in big-time games. The Indiana Pacers looked solid in their opening-round domination of Orlando, but they don't have a Kevin Durant-esque player that they can put in isolation and expect to succeed.

And try as they might, the Pacers' deep roster won't help them when the world's most graceful freight train, LeBron James, gets a lane in transition.

What sets the superstars in this year's playoffs apart from normal are the complete teams they boast. The Heat's masterful job in the last two offseasons has allowed them to build a team that's nothing short of a shoo-in to win the title.

The Oklahoma City Thunder found diamonds in the rough with Serge Ibaka and James Harden, as both players have turned into excellent complements to phenoms Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Complements can only do so much to win big NBA games. When it comes down to it, every team needs to have its player that it trusts to get his 30 to 40 points and shut down his opponent defensively. 

The durability of James and Durant is so strong that it's appalling to see either player notch a below-20-point effort in a game. But when it happens, you know that their effect on the game is always felt and their sidekicks are ready to dominate in their absence.

Don't be fooled by the seeds of this year's playoffs. No. 2 seeds Miami and Oklahoma City cruised through the latter stages of the season when they realized every team starts 0-0 in the playoffs. 

I'm a complete believer that any team can win any game, especially with the quality of teams left in these playoffs. But no star-less team can win four out of seven against teams as hungry as the Heat and Thunder.

Basketball isn't as physically draining as many sports; it's very possible for a team's star player to only sit for five minutes in an entire game.

The big difference between deep teams and the superstar-laden teams that will become evident in these playoffs is this: The star teams are deep too.