Since the NBA All-Star break, the heaviest talk revolved around what was wrong with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Is this Phil Jackson’s last dance in L.A.? Does Kobe Bryant have dead legs? Is Kobe’s finger injury hindering his shooting? Is Derek Fisher on his last legs? Is Pau Gasol still too soft? Can Andrew Bynum return from another injury?

Though all those questions are legit and can be concerning for Laker Nation, the defending champs still finished with the best record in the Western Conference and are still the class of the Western Conference despite all their health problems.

Can the Lakers repeat? Yes, but it is not going to be easy. All eight West playoff teams won 50 games and just seven games separated No. 1 and No. 8. OneManFastBreak.net predicts the winners of each round in the Western Conference playoffs:

FIRST ROUND

(1) L.A. Lakers vs. (8) Oklahoma City Thunder: Phil Jackson recently got fined $35,000 for comments he made about how the refs give 21-year-old scoring champ Kevin Durant of the Thunder the benefit of the doubt on a lot of foul calls. Durant fired back and said he was disappointed with Jackson’s claim. Nothing like some trash talk to get the playoffs started. Score one for the Zen Master. The Thunder may have youth on their side, but the Lakers’ experience and size will prevail. Lakers in 5.

Former NBA scoring champion Kobe Bryant goes head-to-head with new scoring champ Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

(4) Denver Nuggets vs. (5) Utah Jazz: Despite not having their head coach and their starting power forward still hobbled, the Nuggets still have enough firepower to knock off the Jazz, who may or may not have a healthy Carlos Boozer, center Mehmet Okur has a strain Achilles’ injury and Andrei Kirilenko is nursing a strained calf muscle. The return of Kenyon Martin to the starting lineup allows Nene to save all his energy on offense, and K-Mart also fortifies Denver’s defense. Utah will have troubling matching up with Carmelo Anthony, who could average 30 points in this series. Nuggets in 6.

(2) Dallas Mavericks vs. (7) San Antonio Spurs: This could be the best matchup in the first round in the West. The Mavs seems to always draw the Spurs in the playoffs, but they don’t seem to mind. Gregg Popovich is running out of defensive schemes to stop Dirk Nowitzki, and this year Dirk won’t have to worry about dealing with Bruce Bowen and his dirty tactics. Dallas eliminated San Antonio last season, but the Spurs didn’t have a healthy Manu Ginobili, who has turned back the clock and is playing his best ball. Ginobili, 32,  could single-handedly make this a seven-game series, but watch for the burnout factor. The Mavs know how to attack the Spurs defense, which hasn’t been the same all season. Mavericks in 7.

(3) Phoenix Suns vs. (6) Portland Trail Blazers: I would give the Blazers the nod if Brandon Roy were healthy. But he’s not. Phoenix led the league in scoring (again!) and Amare Stoudemire seems to be in a happy place right now and should be able to counter Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge. Blazers’ defense is good enough to keep this a competitive series but not enough to advance. Suns in 7.

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(1) L.A. Lakers vs. (4) Denver Nuggets: This matchup should have been the conference finals, but the Nuggets lost their mojo down the stretch when K-Mart went down and George Karl was hospitalized. The Nuggets won the season series 3-1 from the Lakers and don’t fear the defending champs. Chauncey Billups is the key. Through four games in last year’s playoff series against the Lakers, Billups controlled the tempo and absolutely killed the Laker guards. But then his legs went dead the final two games and the Nuggets were eliminated. If he can sustain a high level of play for an entire series, the Nuggets could clip L.A. At 33 years old, with the added responsibility of being the player/coach of the Nuggets, I don’t think Billups has enough left in the tank. Lakers in 7.

(2) Dallas Mavericks vs. (3) Phoenix Suns: Steve Nash gets to play against his BFF Dirk Nowitzki, which bodes well for Phoenix because Nash loves to show Mark Cuban that he made a mistake in trading him to Phoenix. Shawn Marion should also be motivated to play against his former team, and he knows what Nash and Stoudemire love to run on offense. This is the series the Mavs get their money’s worth out of Caron Butler. He should be able to score at will against Grant Hill or Jason Richardson. Dallas could potentially have a finishing lineup of Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Caron Butler, Shawn Marion and Nowitzki late in the fourth quarter. Mavericks in 6.

CONFERENCE FINALS

(1) L.A. Lakers vs. (2) Dallas Mavericks: It’s hard to get a complete scouting report on this matchup because the Mavericks retooled their team after the All-Star break. Lamar Odom can match up with Nowitzki, but I’m not sure if the Lakers can rely on LO for an entire series. The health of Andrew Bynum becomes a big story here. If Bynum is healthy, the Lakers should be able to roll in 5 or 6 games because the Mavs can’t handle both Bynum and Pau Gasol in the paint. The Mavs don’t have an answer for Gasol if he plays power forward. However, if Bynum struggles, Gasol then moves into the center position where he, at times, gets pushed around. This is the series where we find out if Kobe still has that fifth gear. The Mavs have Butler, Marion and Jason Kidd to throw at him defensively and Bryant will have to find a way to score despite the injured finger. I think he will, but the Mavs will push the Lakers to the max. Lakers in 7.

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If the Denver Nuggets were competing in the World Series of Poker, they would probably go “all in” on every other hand. It’s the mentality of a supremely confident player with a touch of a cocksure attitude, comparable to a slugger who prefers to swing for the fences with each cut.

The Nuggets are also an eclectic group, a roster that is loaded with guys who put the “swag” in swagger and has about as many nicknames as tattoos.

Melo came into this season in the best shape of his life and was a starter in the All-Star Game; K-Mart appears to have rediscovered the spring in his legs; The Birdman is again among the league leaders in blocks; Mr. Big Shot continues to point this team in the right direction and is enjoying the best season of his 13-year career; and J.R. Swish has never seen a 3-point shot he didn’t like.

Add them all up and you have an extremely explosive and dangerous team capable of beating anyone in the Association.

Denver is 7-2 against the Lakers (2-1), Cavs (2-0), Magic (1-0), Celtics (1-0) and Mavericks (1-1). The Nuggets also own a NBA-best 12-6 mark against teams with a .600 record or better.

Based on those inspiring numbers, you can certainly make a case for Denver as the best team in the NBA. If anything, the Nuggets are clearly THE team out West who can challenge the Lakers in a seven-game series.

The Lakers were very fortunate to win on Sunday (Feb. 28) as Chauncey Billups (4 for 12) and J.R. Smith (3 for 12) went uncharacteristically cold in the second half and Ron Artest locked up Carmelo Anthony with some old-fashioned bully defense. But don’t let L.A.’s recent victory be the measuring stick for the Lakers-Nuggets simmering rivalry. The Nuggets still lead the season series 2-1 and it took a monumental defensive effort by L.A. to swing the momentum in their favor at home.

The Las Vegas Hilton currently has the Nuggets at 12-1 to win it all, which is very enticing odds considering the reward is higher than the risk.

Despite head-scratching losses to sub-.500 teams such as the Wizards, Clippers, Timberwolves, Sixers and Kings (twice), the Nuggets remain undaunted and have brushed off those minor slip-ups with some really impressive wins.

Last week the Nuggets outlasted the Cavaliers, 118-116, in overtime on Feb. 18, then got drilled by the Wizards the following night, but redeemed themselves two days later by outgunning the Celtics, 114-105.

Though the Nuggets trail the Lakers by 5 ½ games for the best record in the Western Conference, they firmly believe they can compete with the world champs and are convinced they can knock them out without the benefit of homecourt. It’s a belief the Nuggets built up from last season’s six-game war with L.A. that has carried over into this season, evidenced by their two resounding victories over Kobe and Co.

In a 126-113 win at Staples Center on Feb. 5, the Nuggets found a way to overcome the absence of Anthony thanks to Billups, who made nine of 13 3-pointers en route to a career-high 39 points.

“He runs the show, and guys who run the show are really important. Forget the scoring part. He’s got so much more going on. He makes threes and he makes free throws,” Wynn Las Vegas oddsmaker John Avello said of Billups, the Colorado native and veteran point guard who is averaging a career-best 19.8 points per game this season.

Billups’ free-throw shooting (90 percent) is the hidden gem of his all-around game, making him a tough cover late in the game because you don’t want him on the line.

The Nuggets remind me of the 2000 Portland Trail Blazers and the 2002 Sacramento Kings. The Blazers and Kings were deep and talented teams, and each endured a heated rivalry with the Lakers.

The 2000 Blazers – led by Scottie Pippen, Rasheed Wallace, Steve Smith, Bonzi Wells, Arvydas Sabonis and Damon Stoudamire – pushed the Lakers to seven games in the conference finals, but squandered a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and lost.

The 2002 Kings – led by Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Doug Christie – thought they were good enough to win the title, but Robby Horry’s buzzer-beater in Game 4 and a few bad calls allowed the Lakers to win the series.

Denver and L.A. are bound to meet in the West Finals this season, and the Nuggets (107.4 PPG) are one of the few teams in the league that can match the Lakers’ firepower (102.7 PPG) and have two guys in the lineup – Anthony and Billups – who are capable of making clutch shots.

It will take the Lakers’ “A” game to defeat the Nuggets in a playoff series. Anything less simply won’t cut it.

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