ESPN Insider: Kryptonite for Finals contenders

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Wait there's no entry for Jason Collins being Kryptonite to the actual NBA Superman?? :negative:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=haberstroh_tom&id=6299375&addata=2009_insdr_mod_nba_xxx_xxx

Every team has weaknesses, but only certain opponents have the personnel and ability to exploit them. Last week, we took a look at the Achilles' heel of each playoff team (East | West), and this week we take it a step further. Below is a list of each title contender (with sincere apologies to the Orlando and Portland fan bases -- your teams just aren't legitimate contenders this season) and the opponent it doesn't want to see on its path to the Finals.

Of course, surging teams like the Bulls and Lakers could be kryptonite for just about any squad, but we're looking at the teams that pose the biggest threats based on matchups and personnel.

Eastern Conference

Miami Heat

Kryptonite: Boston Celtics

For the Heat, the Celtics are like that older brother who always seems to have the upper hand, no matter who holds the brighter future or the edge in talent. Sure, it's possible that Chicago Bulls wield a more potent Heat antidote (ahem, Derrick Rose), but the Heat's Big Three have maintained all season long that the Celtics are the team to beat in the East -- and with good reason. The Heat match up poorly against the Celtics because of that strongside defense, which is anchored by Kevin Garnett and walls off penetration by perimeter players. The Heat flourish when LeBron James or Dwyane Wade is able to weave into the paint, but Boston's defense is predicated on preventing just that. There's a reason that LeBron and Wade have shot 38 percent against Boston this season and 51 percent against everybody else.

Much will be made about Kendrick Perkins' departure, but Boston's defense has been just as suffocating without him. Since dealing away its longtime center, the Celtics' defense has allowed just 98.6 points per 100 possessions, good for fourth-lowest in the NBA during that time. There's also this precedence in Boston's corner: The Heat are already 0-2 this season against the sans-Perkins Celtics.

Chicago Bulls

Kryptonite: Miami Heat

If there was ever a matchup that warranted throwing the regular-season head-to-head record out the window, this is the one. Yes, the Heat have yet to beat the Bulls this season, but keep in mind that Chris Bosh dropped a historically foul stink bomb (1-for-18 shooting) in one of those losses, and LeBron James sat out in another. In the third meeting, the Bulls squeaked by the Heat as LeBron and Wade each missed winning shots on the final possession. The Heat are that trailing car in the side mirror; they're a lot closer than they appear.

The big question will be whether the Heat can sufficiently hide Mike Bibby on the court, and as long as the Bulls continue throwing Keith Bogans out there for 20 minutes a game, the answer is yes. With the stakes raised in playoff time, the Heat will have no issues having Wade and LeBron take turns guarding Rose, letting Bibby pick up the slower perimeter player on the wing.

Boston Celtics

Kryptonite: Orlando Magic

The Celtics had an answer for Dwight Howard, but now he plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Perkins was pivotal in neutralizing Howard in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, but the Celtics don't have that weapon in their arsenal anymore. In the two games the Magic played against the Celtics with Perkins in street clothes, Howard and the Magic held the Celtics to 78 points in an eight-point win on Christmas and lost by just three on Boston's home court in January.

Luckily for the Celtics, the playoff seedings likely will keep Howard far, far away from TD Bank Garden, because the earliest the two teams could possibly meet is in the Eastern Conference finals, a would-be rematch of last season's East title bout. No one wants to face the Bulls with the way they're playing, but the Magic are the only team that has a center with the power to crush the Celtics' incredibly brittle back line.

Western Conference

San Antonio Spurs

Kryptonite: Los Angeles Lakers

Andrew Bynum is a game-changer, and as fellow ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton points out, the Lakers' big man is playing some MVP-caliber ball in the past month. But against the Spurs, Bynum is a series-changer. Amid the Lakers' recent steamroll through the league, Bynum & Co. made a stop in San Antonio, promptly routing the first-place team by 16 points on its home floor -- a final deficit that was actually kind to the Spurs. In that game, Bynum pulled down 17 rebounds in 27 minutes while Tim Duncan was held to two points on 1-for-7 shooting, struggling to puncture the Lakers' formidable front line.

Making matters worse for the Spurs is that the Lakers have switched up their pick-and-roll defense with Bynum healthy, making it much harder for opposing teams to knock down 3s -- a forte of the Spurs. Since the All-Star break, the Lakers have limited opposing shooters to 31.5 percent from downtown. That doesn't bode well for the Spurs, who love wheeling it from beyond the arc. Ultimately, the Lakers and the Spurs find themselves on completely different trajectories at the moment, and if momentum continues, the Spurs might not even survive long enough to see the Lakers.

Los Angeles Lakers

Kryptonite: Denver Nuggets

Hop on the Nuggets' bandwagon now, folks, because only a couple of open seats remain. The Nuggets are legitimate contenders, and the Lakers found out the hard way on Sunday, when the new Nuggets extinguished the red-hot Lakers on national television.

Although injuries to Pau Gasol and Bynum left the Lakers battered down the stretch on Sunday, the Nuggets went toe-to-toe with the Lakers the entire game, a rare sight against the purple-and-gold lately. With their endless depth, the Nuggets can attack from a hundred different directions and match any lineup like a chameleon, leaving the Lakers unable to flex their versatility. Furthermore, the presence of two penetrating guards, Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton, means the Lakers can't mask defensive traffic cone Derek Fisher on the court anymore. The Nuggets will pose an adjustments nightmare for any opponent, and the Lakers need not take them lightly should they meet in the postseason.

Dallas Mavericks

Kryptonite: Portland Trail Blazers

You could put a number of teams in this slot, but the Mavericks' likely first-round foe could be just as dangerous, the piping-hot Blazers. No, this isn't an overreaction to Sunday's outcome, when the Blazers beat the Mavericks 104-96; the Blazers have beaten the Mavericks twice since they acquired Gerald Wallace, and that's not a coincidence.

The Blazers are deep and versatile, allowing them to match up well with any of the Mavericks' lineups. More specifically, Portland wields elite defenders at the positions where the Mavericks like to attack. Between Wallace, Nic Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby, the Blazers can throw four above-average defenders at Dirk Nowitzki, each offering a different look depending on the matchups. Furthermore, the Blazers boast another lockdown defender in Wesley Matthews, who can keep super sub Jason Terry in check alongside Nowitzki in crunch time. If it's only Dallas' two best scorers who produce, the Blazers could reach the Western Conference semifinals for the first time in more than a decade.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Kryptonite: San Antonio Spurs

If the Thunder come out of their first-round matchup alive, chances are they'll face San Antonio, the only West team to sweep the Thunder in the regular-season series. (The Lakers could sweep if they beat the Thunder in Los Angeles on Sunday.) The elder-statesman Spurs have beaten up on the baby Thunder three times by an average of 18 points. The big separator between these two teams? Execution -- especially in late-game situations. The Thunder have shown their youth when the game is on the line this season, with players and coaches each being a guilty party. With perhaps the best in-series adjuster, Gregg Popovich, pacing the opposite sideline, the Thunder probably won't outsmart the senior Spurs, so they'll have to rely on their athleticism and energy to compensate.

Fortunately for the Thunder, Jeff Green, the guy who air-balled the potential tying three pointer in the last matchup between these two teams, is now Boston's problem. In the event that these two teams meet in the playoffs, the Thunder will hope the three losses were an aberration. They may have a case, considering all three defeats were before Perkins and Nazr Mohammed entered the picture.

Denver Nuggets

Kryptonite: Oklahoma City Thunder

For all the talented bodies the Nuggets acquired in the Carmelo Anthony trade, they still don't have someone who can consistently cover Kevin Durant. And considering these two teams are all but locked into a first-round matchup, that's a problem for Denver. In Tuesday's loss in the Mile High City, Danilo Gallinari, Kenyon Martin and Wilson Chandler each tried their hand at stopping the NBA's leading scorer, but Durant penetrated easily and registered all 12 of his free throw attempts in the second half while the Thunder pulled away.

Defensively, the Thunder are extremely long and far more formidable with Perkins and Serge Ibaka manning the front line, making it difficult for Nene and the rest of the Nuggets to do damage inside. Of all the teams in the West, the young Thunder squad may be the only one that can match Denver's spark-plug energy and incredible versatility. What's also not encouraging for Denver is that Russell Westbrook played terribly, yet the Thunder beat up the Nuggets in Denver. These two teams will meet again on Friday for the last preview ahead of what should be one of the most exciting first-round matchups in recent history. Denver can't be happy about the draw.