NBA Playoffs 2011: Kobe Bryant vs. Manu Ginobili and the 10 Best Matchups
The final few games of the regular season are slowly being played, and as they each end we get more excited about the playoffs.
There are obvious reasons to get excited for the playoffs, whether it be good basketball, exciting games or the best players on display.
One of the things that gets overlooked a bit in the playoffs is the exciting one-on-one matchups that are in store with each series.
There are some matchups that are obvious, like Paul Pierce up against LeBron James or Kobe Bryant going up against Manu Ginobili, but others are less obvious.
There are quite a few good potential matchups on the horizon, but I've whittled it down to my top 10 here, each of them more potentially thrilling than the last.
10. Zach Randolph vs. Tim Duncan
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There is a lot more to this matchup than meets the eye, and it becomes one of the most anticipated possible battles of the first round.
Right now the Spurs are the No. 1 seed, while Memphis is a half a game ahead of New Orleans for the final playoff spot, and a ticket to San Antonio in the first round.
A Zach Randolph-Tim Duncan pairing would be interesting just for the questions that it would leave answered.
All year long the question surrounding the Spurs is whether or not this is their last shot at a title, as they are all getting older, and face losing up to a full year with the impending lockout.
The question that is still under examination is whether or not Tim Duncan can step up his production like he has in the past.
The thing the Spurs need more than anything else is for Duncan to be as dependable as he has been in the past in the playoffs.
If Duncan can step up and increase his production in the playoffs against the likes of Randolph, we would know that he would be good to go for the rest of the offseason.
This would also give us an inkling of if the Grizzlies are ready to step up in the Western Conference and show that they should be taken seriously.
9. Amar'e Stoudemire vs. Kevin Garnett
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This is another matchup that will tell us a lot about how the playoffs will turn out.
If the Celtics win and Kevin Garnett is his usual dominant self during the first round against the Knicks, you had better believe they will be sticking around for a while, as they need him to establish a physical presence for the team down low for the team to win in a later round.
If Boston comes out and beats the Knicks without Garnett playing well, it's likely they could go down early.
That's not to say New York can't beat Boston. Boston actually looks highly beatable right now, and if Stoudemire can stretch Garnett far enough away from the middle for as much of the game as possible, they would have a good shot at grabbing this series.
8. Dirk Nowitzki vs. Pau Gasol
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Both of these guys have been knocked for their defensive presence in recent years, but nobody will tell these guys that they can't score.
Dirk Nowitzki has lost a step in recent years, and with him not being the best defender in the past to start with, his defensive skills aren't great, but he still tries to be physical.
Pau, meanwhile, is still pretty quick vertically and laterally for his size, but he is an exceptionally soft defender from time-to-time.
This season Dirk has had some of his best rebounding games against the Lakers, as he is able to body up Gasol and drive his way into the paint to snag the boards away.
If the Mavericks can limit the Lakers second chance opportunities, something they are great at getting, they would have a chance to beat them.
7. LeBron James vs. Carmelo Anthony
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This is the matchup that we have heard all to much about before.
Now that Dwyane Wade is a teammate of LeBron, the biggest pairing between two players from the 2003 NBA Draft is down to LeBron-Carmelo, without a question.
These are two guys that always seem to bring their best games to each other, and when LeBron is in New York at Madison Square Garden, an absolute show is put on.
LeBron is the ultimate player at getting to the rim and doing everything that a guy could conceivably do on a basketball court.
Carmelo is a guy that is one of the best shooters in the game, and is capable of getting their own shot from nearly anywhere on the floor.
Besides that, they are both pretty good defenders and excellent fast-break players, something that is exciting when the most mediocre of opponents put it together.
6. LeBron James vs. Paul Pierce
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This is a battle that has become heated over the last year.
In a little under 365 days, LeBron James was completely distant in a playoff series against the Celtics, a series where he still filled out a stat sheet, but was otherwise shut down from doing his usual amazing playoff act by Paul Pierce.
Afterward, LeBron took his talents to South Beach, Pierce took his talents to South Beach and tweeted about it, the Celtics beat the Heat three times until LeBron and company absolutely demolished them in their final meeting.
Along the way, LeBron and the Heat have said they hate losing to the Heat, and the feud between he and Pierce has become downright rivalry-ish.
LeBron and Pierce usually get their numbers, but it is the physicality of their games that are impressive.
Pierce will continually guard LeBron a little bit too tough throughout the game, and in return, LeBron will knock him down every once in a while.
It's like watching Ali go up against Foreman, as Pierce jabs and jabs at LeBron, while LeBron lands the occasional ooh-drawing blow to even up the score.
This is slowly becoming one of my favorite battles in the Eastern Conference.
5. Kevin Durant vs. Ron Artest
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These are my favorite matchups, when the proverbial immovable object meets the unstoppable force.
Durant and Artest are completely different basketball players. One is a defensive mastermind, the other an impossibly great and consistent scorer.
Kevin Durant can score as well as, and in as many ways as any other player in the NBA. He is one of the most impressive offensive players in the past few seasons.
Ron Artest, on the other hand, is one of the best defensive players in the NBA. He has a crafty veteran mind who can defend any player the team asks him to, and seems a lot smarter than he acts.
The other interesting thing about this matchup is that Artest is mediocre enough offensively to make the defensive struggle between him and Durant look like a good fight as well.
4. Chris Paul vs. Russell Westbrook
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This presents a battle of two of the best point guards in the Western Conference, but also two very opposite point guards.
Chris Paul is the traditional point guard in the NBA who is still a good scorer. Paul seems to know where everyone on his team is at every point in the game, a bit like Steve Nash is so famous for doing.
He is a floor general in every sense of the word, and is able to make the important decisions along the way as his team's point guard.
Russell Westbrook, however, is an amazing scorer, but sometimes doesn't seem to be the confident floor general that is common among point guards.
Westbrook has the athleticism and speed that you would expect a guy of his size to possess, and he gets the assists you would expect a point guard to get, but he just seems to be missing something as a point guard.
Nonetheless, the struggle between the two to contain each other is intriguing enough to pull me in.
3. Derrick Rose vs. Rajon Rondo
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Even more exciting than the Westbrook-Paul standoff would be a Rose-Rondo competition.
Watching these two point guards is like watching a circus act that plays around 100 nights a year including playoff games. Watching them play each other is an absolute treat.
In the past few years, Rose and Rondo have been pretty intent on one-upping each other whether by Rose becoming an amazing scorer and Rondo becoming one of the most deceptive players in the league, they present a great matchup that is playoff worthy.
Rose can score in more ways than any point guard should be able to, and Rondo is a player that can complete passes that seem impossible.
It may not be the fact that they are playing each other, but they are playing each other's teams, and they both seem to step up their game when they are playing the good teams in the league.
A playoff series featuring these two guys would have me in tears of joy.
2. Kobe Bryant vs. Manu Ginobili
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This has historically been a very exciting matchup, and this season Kobe has been dominating, but San Antonio has been on the winning side of the game twice in three games.
Kobe has held Ginobili to just under 10 points per game in three contests this season, and in each game Ginobili was held to 30 percent shooting or less.
Bryant, meanwhile has also been curbed a bit and his shooting is down ten percent, as he is scoring four fewer points than his season average, putting up 21 a game against San Antonio.
These players are two of the most exciting players at their position, and both are the best players on the two best teams in the Western Conference.
What more could you ask for?
1. Kevin Garnett vs. Tim Duncan
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This is my favorite matchup of the last decade, and just getting to see them play in what would be so big a game that it would bring a whole barrel full of nostalgia.
Garnett has transformed himself into one of the league's meanest pitchers since he became a Boston Celtic.
Tim Duncan is one of the smartest, most cerebral players of the past decade, and is able to do whatever it takes for his team to win.
Meanwhile, Garnett is a big, angry man who seriously look like he might be rabid at times in the post.
These two would be battling down low for hours just to gain an inch against their opponent, and they would make it exciting.
Both have gone downhill in production a bit, but seeing them in the NBA Finals together would surely bring out the best in both players.
