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Spurs and Thunder Will Square Off in Western Conference Finals: A Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)

After two rounds of the playoffs, only two teams are left standing in the Western Conference - the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder. So far, I have correctly predicted all of the winners out West, but picking the winner between the top two seeds will prove to be difficult. Nonetheless, here is my look at which team will advance to the Finals and why.

 

Pau Gasol wonders if he's played his last game for Lakers; trade could await (Yahoo! Sports)

After another disappointing second-round exit, the Lakers could again try to trade forward Pau Gasol.

 

Parker says Westbrook hasn't faced PG like him yet (The Associated Press)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) It's the main event of the Western Conference finals: Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook, All-Star point guards having their best seasons yet. One going for a fourth NBA championship, the other still chasing his first.

 

NBA roundup: Pacers president Larry Bird calls his team soft (The SportsXchange)

The worst playoff loss in Indiana Pacers franchise history had team president Larry Bird calling out his players, according to an Indianapolis Star report.

 

Heat's LeBron James leads NBA all-defensive team (The Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James was the leading vote-getter for the league's all-defensive squad Wednesday, while Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler didn't even crack the first team.

 

Heat's James leads all-defensive team (The SportsXchange)

NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James is the leading vote-getter for the league's all-defensive team.

 

Dexter Pittman abides by Pat Riley's Heat code by cracking Lance Stephenson (Yahoo! Sports)

Dexter Pittman's flagrant foul on Lance Stephenson shows the Heat are willing to back for LeBron James.

 

Jrue Holiday needs to shoot more for Sixers to win, according to Doug Collins (Ball Don't Lie)

The second round hasn't been especially kind to Jrue Holiday. After averaging a sterling 18.2 points per game in the Philadelphia 76ers' first-round win over the Chicago Bulls, he's had a rougher go of it in Round 2, averaging just 12.4 points a night on 43.4 percent shooting against the Boston Celtics. He's far from the only Sixer to struggle — his teammates are shooting a combined 41.7 percent from the floor in the series, which Boston leads 3-2 and can close out in Philly in a pivotal Game 6 on Wednesday night — but what's made Holiday's play particularly noteworthy of late is its passivity. After hitting three of the first four shots he took during Monday's Game 5 and helping Philadelphia jump out to a 27-23 lead after the first quarter, Holiday seemed to recede from view, attempting just two shots in the rest of the game and finishing with a quiet 10 points in Boston's 101-85 win . That Holiday, the team's leading postseason scorer at 15.5 points per game, pulled back when he seemed to have it going gave Doug Collins cause for concern; as the Sixers' head coach told John N. Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer , the team needs more offensive aggression from its lead guard and leading scorer. "He's our leading scorer," Collins said after a team film session Tuesday at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "[...] I've got to have him in the mode of looking to shoot the ball." In a perfect world for the Sixers, Holiday plays Wednesday night the way he did in Game 2 of the Chicago series, when he finished with 26 points and six assists in a 109-92 rout. "I have to be more aggressive looking for my shot," Holiday said. Perhaps too often, Holiday exhibits a reluctance to take over games. He has a pure point guard's mind-set in that he would rather set up his teammates — something Boston guard Rajon Rondo, his counterpart, could very well be the best in the league at doing. It's true that Holiday can look tentative at times, and that hesitance can spell problems for a Philadelphia team not blessed with very many players who excel at creating good looks, whether for themselves or others. But it's worth noting that it's not exactly as if the Sixers become a high-flying, explosive winning machine when Holiday starts looking for his own offense.

 

LeBron tops NBA All-Defensive squad (AFP)

NBA 2012 Most Valuable Player LeBron James, the Miami Heat playmaker still seeking his first NBA title, was the top vote-getter among those named on Wednesday to the NBA 2012 All-Defensive Team.

 

Metta World Peace calls Mike Brown fat (Ball Don't Lie)

We have had plenty of Lakers postmortems in the wake of their Game 5 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Most concern whether or not they'll try to make a big trade involving Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum or both. It's a period of great flux for the franchise, and all we can be sure of is that Kobe Bryant will continue to play a huge role in whatever happens. Whether or not Metta World Peace will be part of that future is anyone's guess. After signing with the Lakers as Ron Artest in 2009, he was an integral part of the Lakers' championship that season. Over the past two seasons, however, they've seen diminishing returns on their investment, with MWP becoming less dependable, more reckless ( the elbow to the head of James Harden will always make that point), and a little pudgier around his midsection. He has one more year on his contract, plus a player option season that he'd be a fool not to take, but the Lakers might consider using their amnesty clause on him to save some cash. [Related: Lakers' future uncertain after playoff KO by Thunder | Photos ] World Peace, to his credit, took some blame for his struggles this season while at Lakers HQ on Tuesday for his season-ending interview. However, in doing so, he also called his coach fat. From Mark Medina for the Los Angeles Times on Twitter (via PBT ):