The enemy of my enemy is my…what exactly?

Who will you root for in a Spurs-Lakers Western Conference Finals? Isn’t that a question along the lines of would you rather freeze to death or burn in a fire? In any case, here’s the head-to-head matchup:

PG – Derek Fisher vs. Tony Parker

SG – Kobe Bryant vs. Manu Ginobili

SF – Lamar Odom vs. Bruce Bowen

PF – Vladimir Radmanovic vs. Tim Duncan

C – Pau Gasol vs. Kurt Thomas

Bench:

Luke Walton vs. Michael Finley

Jordan Farmar vs Jacque Vaughn

Ronny Turiaf vs. Fabricio Oberto

Sasha Vujacic vs. Robert Horry

Coach:

Phil Jackson vs. Greg Popovich

6-4, I hate the Lakers more

7-2-1, Burnsy goes with San Antonio

Or if you’re not into the head-to-head matchup stuff, you can go with the theory one astute caller brought up with us: Who does David Stern want in the NBA Finals? Any good Suns fan should go with the opposite. The answer, then, is pretty obvious, especially if the Celtics can win four more home games. Beat LA!

Getting away from the NBA, Burnsy consults glass half empty guy to talk about baseball’s best team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Here’s what he came up with:

1. Eric Byrnes still sucks and Carlos Quentin has 11 homeruns for the White Sox.

2. They’re beating bad teams (i.e. the whole NL West) and struggling versus the good teams.

3. With the return of Doug Davis, the numbers game may cost Max Scherzer a spot in the n rotation.

4. Their lineup remains very streaky, especially “Special K” Mark Reynolds

A sign of progress, though: two questions that were listed at the beginning of the year are no longer there:

1. Brandon Lyon replacing Jose Valverde

2. Lack of a #4 hitter (Conor Jackson has filled that)

Back to the NBA, anybody remember tomorrow’s big anniversary? I didn’t think so. Yeah, it’s one year to the date the Suns didn’t get the Hawks draft pick. Very painful indeed, especially since Atlanta will not partake in this year’s lottery. Mike D’Antoni will, though. He’ll represent the Knicks. Jay Z (no joke) will represent the Nets. Beyonce will not be there, and the Nets pick may be around too much long either. A report out of Jersey has the Nets considering trading that pick along with a package of players to the Denver Nuggets, in exchange for Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby. In the post-Kidd era, it seems New Jersey may be considering building around Melo. But why? Anthony heads a list of younger superstars that we would not build a franchise around:

NBA: (wouldn’t): NBA: (would):

1. Carmelo Anthony 1. Chris Paul

2. Allen Iverson 2. Dwight Howard

3. Tracy McGrady 3. Lebron James

4. Dirk Nowitzki 4. Kobe Bryant*

5. Amare Stoudemire* 5. Tony Parker

Deron Williams

Baseball (wouldn’t): Baseball (would)

1. Alfonso Soriano 1. Brandon Webb

2. Alex Rodriguez 2. David Wright

3. Prince Fielder 3. Chase Utley

4. Carlos Beltran 4. Jake Peavy

5. Ryan Howard 5. Albert Pujols

NFL: (wouldn’t) NFL (would)

1. Matt Leinart* 1. Tom Brady

2. Tony Romo 2. Peyton Manning

3. Ben Roethlisberger 3. Larry Fitzgerald

4. Clinton Portis 4. Shawn Merriman

5. Carson Palmer 5. Eli Manning*

*Wouldn’t have made my list a year ago