Western Conference preview

It occurs to me that the NBA's Western Conference championship series has the potential to be one of the most cerebral of postseason matchups in recent memory, but not for the reasons you might think.

The use of the word "cerebral," in this case, has little or nothing to do with the ability of the respective coaches, Denver's George Karl, or Phil Jackson of the Lakers, to draw up X's and O's. Frankly, I've never thought of either of them as possessing particularly sharp basketball minds.

(Indeed, in the case of Jackson, the most inexplicably celebrated coach perhaps in all of sports, I defer to Boston coach Doc Rivers, who wondered aloud once just how smart Jackson would have been if he had had to coach the then Vancouver Grizzlies, rather than four likely future Hall of Famers (Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant).

But as the Nuggets and Lakers prepare to party down, the mind games that will be played during this series may be as fascinating as what gets played on the floor.

The Nuggets will almost certainly try to get into the heads of the Lakers, especially their emotionally fragile frontcourt of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Don't think for a moment that Denver's Kenyon Martin, who is as physical a big man as there is in the league, won't test Gasol and/or Bynum right off the bat with some well –placed forearms, pushes and whatever else he can get away with. And Martin will spread the gospel of physicality to his disciples, Nene and reserve Chris Andersen, and urge them to baptize Bynum and Gasol as early and as often as possible.

Look, then, for Jackson, as early as the pre-game press conference before tonight's Game 1, to try to get the message across to anyone who will listen, but mainly the game officials, that the Nuggets are bad and always foul. Then, Karl will have to take up the banner for his players and on it will go, back and forth, back and forth.

And speaking of the mental game, here's something else to watch in this series: Kobe Bryant has four technical fouls during the playoffs, the most recent picked up in Game Six of the conference semifinals against Houston. Bryant is three away from a one-game suspension, and while you shouldn't expect him to get those three, you should expect the Nuggets to try to push his buttons.

All that said, the game should be decided on the floor, and right now, Denver is playing better basketball. Chauncey Billups, who should have been second in league MVP voting behind LeBron James rather than sixth, has given the Nuggets a quarterback the likes of which the Mile High City hasn't seen since John Elway retired. He settles down a collection of knuckleheads and makes Carmelo Anthony better. Meanwhile, the Lakers have looked largely disinterested, save for Games 5 and 7 in the Houston series, and have played as if a return to the Finals is a fait accompli.

The Nuggets have the offense, and most importantly, the defense to make that a fairy tale. Look for Denver to wrap up its first NBA Championship Series appearance in six games.

We'll have Eastern Conference thoughts tomorrow.