When I look at all the west teams. Portland is probably the Lakers toughest opponent in the West.
Blazers - 2-2 vs them this season obviously we know they were all wins for the home team. Blazers have some good match ups they have some lengthy athletes that can guard Kobe. He showed he can get to the rim against them though last game however they have some shot blocking bigs when he gets there. Speaking of their bigs they might be the best bigs to go against the Lakers bigs however Lakers still have the best bigs in the league so overall they will always have the advantage. Benches are good for both teams now that Lakers have Lamar off the bench and are getting production from Brown now that hes learned some of the offense. Toughest team in the west for the Lakers in my opinion with that said Lakers still have the upper hand I think we all can admit that even just starting with Home court an experience.
Hornets - Lakers beat them 2 times in NO, Hornets beat them once in LA and almost a 2nd time in LA but Chris Paul choked the game away with bad decisions surprisingly. Hornets do have Posey who can do a good job on Kobe, but its never 1 guy on Kobe its a team. Hornets are without Chandler right now not sure what his status is.
Spurs - If healthy would have been the Lakers biggest threat in the west, but that ended when manu was done for the season on top of that Duncan is hobbling towards the playoffs.
Mavs - Lakers swept them this season and have seemingly had their number for years and years and years. They have nobody to guard Kobe. And with Dampier playing limited minutes hes the only guy that even has a shot at guarding one of the Lakers bigs. And even then he didnt do a good job guarding them this season.
Jazz - They are a talented team, but they arent playing well. Boozer looks bad. Lakers beat them both times in LA without Boozer. Jazz won at home without Boozer and I believe Bynum didnt play that game either. Deron Williams is a beast so thats always tough.
Rockets - Lakers swept them this season. Lakers have been able to shut Yao down after Yao starting games hot by denying him the ball and coming from the blind side for doubles. Kobe has owned Artest and Battier this season. All the games have been seemingly close though with Kobe just murdering them in the 4th. With Bynum back though Scola has to guard Pau which Pau has shown this season to be a very bad match up for him.
Denver - Lakers have gone 3-1 vs the Nuggets this season. In the post their bigs dont have the height to guard the Lakers bigs Nuggets don't have that one defender that can guard Kobe. They even use Carter on him which is bad for them since he can just shoot over him. Denver is a better defensive team this season so they might be the 2nd toughest team for the Lakers in the west.
And Lakers are 4-0 vs the East top teams this season thought I throw that in
0-2 against the Magic
but thats when Nelson was with them and he single handedly won one of the games for the Magic.
I feel confident in the Lakers like im sure you feel about the Cavs. Well see what happens.