NBA Finals: Looking Forward to the Eventual Champion

After Saturday night, the NBA's own version of the Final Four will be set. The Thunder and the Spurs are already locked together in what has been hyped (and should match expectations) as one of the greatest playoff match-ups of all time, and the Miami Heat snuck away from the Indiana Pacers and are currently waiting to see if they will go against the 76ers or the Boston Celtics.

The NBA has always been about star power, that was up until last year's Mavericks-Heat championship round. The Mavericks showed that a team can beat any amount of stars if they play team basketball...the way it was supposed to be played.

The Pacers showed that this year as well. When you play the right way, you can win, and they proved that in their two wins against the Heat. Frank Vogel, coach of the Pacers, even said it in his "wired for track" video in a timeout.

"Do what the Mavericks did last year, except do it better." Unfortunately, they couldn't get the job done because they stopped playing team ball. Granger threw up too many threes and West/Hibbert didn't bang down low enough.

But with that said, whether the Celtics blow out the 76ers or Doug Collins' team sneaks by in Boston, the Heat will not glide to the finals...and it is safe to say neither the Thunder nor the Spurs will be expecting a sweep.

Winning in the NBA is all about one thing, and this one thing has been more apparent than in any years past. What is that one thing?

Match-ups. The team that has a better matchup usually wins.

Look at the Lakers/Thunder series.

The Thunder had the Lakers beat at point guard and small forward, The Lakers had the advantage at power forward and center. The way Harden played and the way Thabo Sefolosha guarded Kobe...you could almost cancel out the shooting guard position.

The Thunder won that series because Durant and Westbrook won their match-ups, Serge Ibaka made Pau Gasol a non-factor. That is three of the five positions. Kobe struggled and Bynum didn't get enough touches to dominate. The Thunder had the better match-ups and won.

In the Pacers/Heat series, the Pacers had the better match-ups down low, especially with Bosh out, the Pacers had size. When they played inside-out, they won. They won easily. They looked like the better team. They looked like winners.

When LeBron and Wade went off, and when Hibbert and West were nowhere to be found, the Heat won. They won the match-ups.

The Heat will also have some matchup problems when they meet their opponent in the Conference Finals. I'm going to go with Boston as their opponent. If the 76ers get by Boston, I think they will have too much youth and a lack of experience, and will lose in five games.

But Boston will be a tough matchup. Paul Pierce has always played LeBron game-for-game. Even at his age, Pierce is crafty and smart. And he will force LeBron to play defense more than Danny Granger and Paul George did in the Indy series.

With Avery Bradley out, Dwayne Wade gets the easy nod. Ray Allen is still a factor, but Avery's defense would have helped Boston against Wade. However, Rondo and Garnett will dominate their positions.

With or without Chris Bosh, the Celtics need to pound the ball with Garnett and Bass. Bass proved he can put up 30 points if he gets the ball in the paint.

While the Heat have the stars, and I believe they can win, I think the Celtics will pull off the upset and cool the Heat off in seven games.

The Thunder/Spurs series is too close to call. I can't even pick a winner (I can. Spurs) The match-ups are close and they can even throw curve balls with switching defensive assignments.

I won't go into detail with all the match-ups (The Spurs have 12 guys who can play, there'd be too many) So I will say who I think needs to stand out for this series to be decided.

For the Thunder, Westbrook will have to keep pace with Tony Parker. Parker makes everyone around him better, whereas Westbrook simply scores. Russell will have to do a little bit of everything, just like his French counterpart.

Durant will be Durant, so instead I will say Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins need to play outstanding defense. Tim Duncan has had one of the greatest postseason runs in his career, but he hasn't met a pair of defenders like Ibaka and Perkins. I'm sure they will take turns on him and will need to slow him down.

The Spurs will need big things out of Stephen Jackson. He hasn't been the bench backbone, so far, that they wanted him to be. He hasn't played bad by any means, but he hasn't played great. If he finds his shot, and plays great defense on Durant, the Spurs will win.

Now, why will the Spurs win? They have too many guys. The Lakers contained Harden for a game, but let Durant and Westbrook go off. If they contained Durant, Harden and Westbrook killed them and the Lakers had no answer.

The Spurs don't necessarily need to stop all three, because their offense doesn't revolve around two guys (Kobe and Bynum). Every single guy can score. Danny Green and "Y" (Kawhi Leonard) can put in 20 points apiece by standing in the corner. Parker will score, Bonner can score, Jackson can score. Everyone can score.

Match-ups are the reason teams are winning in this league. It's simple; win most of the match-ups on the floor, win the game. Barring a miracle series by one of the stars, the Spurs should win their series, and the Celtics should win theirs (unless LeBron and Wade continue to play at their insane level as of late)

A Finals matchup of the Celtics/Spurs (Where everyone playing seemed to be alive when William Shakespeare's first story was written) could be the oldest two teams playing for a title, but it would be entertaining and dramatic as hell.

I didn't think I'd say it after the way their season ended last year in a first-round defeat at the hands of Memphis, but I think the San Antonio Spurs will walk away with the 2012 NBA Championship.

Your NBA Finals MVP...Tim Duncan because...well come on, it's Timmy!