The more I watch these playoffs, the more I'm convinced if KG was healthy, we would've repeated as champs.
I think that's a no-brainer. All the other teams are inconsistent. And, the Lakers are not playing nearly as well as they were last year.
I don't know, I agree we would beat them this year if we had last year's team healthy, but I don't think the Lakers are playing worse than last year. They are getting solid contributions from players like Ariza and Walton and Bynum is healthy - even though his main contribution has been hanging out in the lane and putting his arms up.
As for this year's team, we would have lost to the Lakers in 7 (if not fewer) even if all our players were healthy. We just didn't have the depth this year. Not having Posey against the Lakers is big - nobody in our second unit could defend against Odom, Kobe, or even Ariza. Bynum being healthy also would have further exposed our lack of front court height / length.
I think you are vastly over-rating the Lakers, they are the same team as last year.
I think Orl matches up great with them, the Cavs would have been able to beat them easier due to the fact that they would have had the homecourt.
Lets see, but I think the West was weak this year. The Celtics (when healthy) Cavs and Magic would all have beaten the nuggets in a 7 game series
