NBA Playoffs 2012: Western Conference Finals Preview and Prediction

San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

Season Series: 2-1 in favor of San Antonio

Head Prediction: Spurs in seven games

Heart Prediction: Thunder in six games

"My Final Answer" Prediction: Thunder in seven games

The San Antonio Spurs having been playing out of their minds lately, looking like one of the greatest teams in NBA history and a sure-fire bet to win their fifth franchise title. However, the key to that last sentence was "out of their minds." Simply put, I do not believe the Spurs are as good a team as the immature Jazz and injury-riddled Clippers made them look.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were the clear-cut best team in the Western Conference for a large portion of the season. While OKC experienced a late-season slide that allowed the Spurs to leapfrog them for the No. 1 seed, the Thunder have returned to their dominant ways in the playoffs, winning eight out of nine games against much stiffer competition than the Spurs had to face.

While the Spurs' home-court advantage may be all the advantage they need to slip by the Thunder into the NBA Finals, I believe the Thunder are the superior team and will win this series and possibly in six games or fewer.

I expect Russell Westbrook to have a great series and Kevin Durant to have an absolutely dominant series.

Kawhi Leonard was a great addition to the Spurs and is a testament to the genius of San Antonio's front office and their unbelievable eye for talent, but he is still a rookie, playing in his first conference finals and matched up against the three-time NBA scoring champion—a Durantula known by the name of Kevin, who many consider to be the second-best player in the league today.

Tony Parker should have a marvelous series to go along with the magnificent year he's had so far, but I personally expect Tim Duncan to struggle against the front line of Oklahoma offensively and be more of a liability on the defensive end than anyone would expect.

The Thunder rarely feed the post and don't mind at all if their starting big men score less than 10 combined points per game as they rely on their own "Big Three" of Durant, Westbrook and James "the Beard" Harden to score nearly all of their points, by design.

Duncan's defensive post prowess will therefore be extremely limited while his lack of foot speed will be severely exposed as I expect this series to be played at a frenetic pace.

All things considered, you can expect the young OKC Thunder to be hoisting their first Western Conference championship banner after this series.