5 Things to Keep an Eye on: Western Conference Finals, Game 1 - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

And then there were four. In the latest of our continuing series, we look at the Western Conference Finals, Game 1 tonight between the Spurs and Lakers. Be sure to stop by later for our LiveBlog of Game 1.

1. Seventeen Thousandth Verse, Same As The First: Yes, a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale world. Lakers versus Spurs! Who would have thunk it? Okay, that was my last complaint for this series, I swear. In all honesty, this is a pretty fantastic matchup between the two best teams in the league right now. The familiarity between the two will make for advanced strategy that will make pundits like myself polish their monacles in greedy expectation. Will the Spurs stay with the single man defense against Kobe Bryant, using Bruce Bowen like they have in years past, or has age made that too much of a mismatch, forcing the Spurs into man-help? Will the Lakers bring the curl around double team on Tim Duncan or bring Vlad Radmonovic off of Manu Ginobili? Will the Spurs be able to adjust to Pau Gasol? Will the Lakers be able to adjust to Gasol getting his milkshake drank by Tim Duncan? Questions abound! Who needs different teams?

2. Modified Triangles: Greg Popovich has seen the triangle enough to make him throw up at the site of it. He's going to have a very nauseating series. The modified triangle the Lakers have implemented with Kobe, Gasol, and Lamar Odom, with Odom as the lynch pin is absolutely devastating unless your defense is primed for it. Luckily, the Spurs have never met an offense they weren't primed for. Duncan should be able to be effective against Gasol, though Gasol has dominated regular season matches historically. The playoffs are a different level, and with Duncan coming off of working against David West, he's used to playing big guys that like to drift away from the basket. Lamar Odom poses a much more difficult matchup, as Kurt Thomas is about to find out. The Spurs power forward/centers opposite Duncan are older and considerably less talented than Duncan. Odom is a essentially a very large small forward that's found his groove. The Spurs may be able to bring pressure on Kobe to get the ball out of his hands, but that likely means Odom is open, and when the defense tries to recover, that might mean Gasol gets clear. The Spurs need to stay at home and hassle the Lakers into pushing the ball to less dangerous weapons.

3. Point Advantage Nullified: Derek Fisher has NOT played for the San Antonio Spurs, though he's seen his fair share of them and managed to defy time and space against them on at least one occasion. But this Spurs team is not the same one he last faced in the playoffs, and Fisher is no longer a spring chicken. Whereas Deron Williams is a bigger point guard concerned with taking you off the dribble, Tony Parker is content to simply blow by you like you were standing still. Jordan Farmar needs to bounce back in a huge way in this series from his postseason struggles if the the Lakers want to have any shot at containing Parker. Talented point guards that can drive are a weakness against the Lakers defense, which doesn't rotate well. Gasol also needs to keep an eye out so he can discourage Parker the same way Tyson Chandler did. Yeah, I said it. Pau Gasol needs to be more like Tyson Chandler. This is the world we've come to.

4. Let's Get Ready To Stumble!: Over/under on flops in this series per game, between the small forwards alone: 10. Manu Ginobili versus Sasha Vujacic should be an epic flop battle. While Vujacic is able to sell the flop much better given the herk-a-jerk fall and his passion for taking the hard fall over the weak "neck up back slide" of Ginobili, Ginobili has the ability to slide much further on his own power. I've heard rumors that in practice, he can flop from halfcourt to the baseline. Likewise, with Gasol's ability to crumple like a paper back stomped on by a shoe at a moment's notice, and Duncan's incredible ability to somehow be thrown to the ground by point guards a third of his size, the down low flop battle could be epic. Finally, it may not get any better than Tony Parker versus Lamar Odom for the "Oh, God, I'm in so much pain, it hurts so bad, I was hit in the face, the FACE I tell you! Wait, I have free throws? I'm cool!" crown. Expect more crocodile tears than a Steve Irwin marathon. Crikey!

5. Kobe: That's the word. Look, the Spurs can match up against anyone, anyone in this league in a team defensive effort. They can take down the most dynamic of rosters. But there are a handful of players in this league that can simply rise above and dominate. Kobe Bryant is the leader of that group. It's a gamble, game by game against the Lakers, whether he'll have "one of those games." And for the most part, you can get by if he scores 28-35 points, as long as his teammates are involved. But this is Kobe, with homecourt advantage, with a chance to get to the Finals and prove every doubter he's faced wrong. He's been a different animal, not just this season, but particularly in the last two months. He's feeding teammates, being a leader, and hasn't lost a step of aggressiveness, he's gained it. This series, these playoffs, will ultimately come down to just how good Kobe can be. Great? Or greatest?