Well, the best team won. There is a reason the Nuggets won the West, and the Heat “played in” to the playoffs, and even then barely made it in, losing to a mediocre Hawks team and having to come from behind to beat a mediocre Bulls team. As a result, the Nuggets won it all by beating an 8th seed in the West (the T’Wolves), a Suns team just getting to know each other, the 7th seed Lakers (maybe the second best team in the playoffs — but still got swept) and the 8th seed Heat.
But does anyone think that the Nuggets would have had any more trouble with the 2nd seed Grizzlies or the 3rd Kings to get out of the West?