Halfway there…..and a little Deja Vu.

Well, that was fun.

It’s nice to see Game 7 go your way for a change. After another desicive home victory by San Antonio, the scene shifted back to the Big Easy for the final game and, as they had earlier in the series, when the Spurs had their backs to the wall they responded as true champions do. They took control and won.

Now, if I remember correctly…and I do..we heard something along the lines of “the Spurs can’t beat New Orleans 4 games out of 5″

Oops.

Let’s be good sports though and give credit where it is due. Byron Scott’s team did a hell of a job in this series. Three years ago, this team only won 18 games, in the two seasons before this one they weren’t even in there own building. They have a dynamic, if a little whiny, point guard in Chris Paul and a budding superstar in David West. New Orleans’ best days are ahead of them.

Now the Spurs sit in the Western Conference finals where they meet an old nemesis. It’s kind of fitting that as we approach the end of the decade, we invoke the phrase that was so popular in the beginning of this decade:

Spurs-Lakers.

You remember the Lakers, right? Shaq left and it became Kobe and the Kobe-ettes? No more postseason success with the Big Krispy Kreme gone from Staples. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to LA’s demise. Someone mixed the Purple kool-aid with a little Spanish fly. Memphis gave (emphasis on gave) the Lakers Pau Gasol and they finished with the #1 seed in the West and are a legitimate title contender.

The two teams split the regular season but only played once with Gasol in the lineup and LA won handily. Then again, the same was true with Phoenix in the two games they had in the regular season with Shaq and two games with New Orleans. The Spurs have been here before. This just proves that the playoffs are a whole different animal. Further proof? Cleveland swept San Antonio last regular season, and we all know how that turned out.

So what will happen with LA? I think we are in for a hell of a series. The Lakers are for real and they are certainly more than just Kobe. I think you will see a much better series from Tim Duncan. LA doesn’t have anyone that can contain TD one on one and for some reason, Phil Jackson hates to double team. The Spurs will need to have Tony Parker get into the lane more than he did against the Hornets and Manu, who has had big games against LA, needs more of the same. If the bench can produce for a series like they did in Game 7, this series could be over quick because you know what you will get from the big 3 so when you get even more from the bench, the Spurs are just about impossible to beat. I think the X-factor for the Lakers is Lamar Odom. I think you will see a lot of the three-headed Thomas/Oberto/Horry monster on him. Duncan plays Gasol and of course the always fun to watch Kobe v. Bowen match.

As the Spurs stand halfway to a repeat title, we are reminded (constantly) that the Spurs have not won back to back titles. So far though, they have done two things that they had also not before. This series marked the first time ever that San Antonio has come back from a 3-2 deficit to win a series and it is the first time that they have been to consecutive conference finals. Hopefully this trend will continue. The Spurs exorcised those demons, now it is time to erase once and for all, the pain of the last Spurs-Lakers playoff tussle, if you don’t remember…think for a moment, .4 is all the time you need.

Spurs in 6