Devin Booker is out for 2-3 weeks with a pulled right hamstring.

Well, the Suns are in big trouble now. Even if they get past the Pelicans, they then have to deal with Utah or Dallas - who should be getting Luka back very soon.

Even without Devin Booker the Suns still will be favorites in the series against the Mavs or the Jazz.  They just need him back by the WCF if they want to make it all the way back to the finals.  Without Booker they would be underdogs against the Warriors or the Grizzlies.

Even with him, I still think they'd be underdogs against the Warriors. 

Try again I didn't pick the Lakers and the Nets to get to the finals.

My not so bold prediction for the 2022 NBA Finals Warriors versus Nets. The Nets just need to stay healthy and tweak their bench a bit. The Warriors need Klay to come back healthy, Curry have a decent season. Draft somebody decent at the number 7 spot and use the 14th pick and someone else from their roster to trade for another top level player.

Since the Lakers got Russ they will at least go to the WCF next season. Golden State still has more pieces to eventually have a much better roster then the Lakers. Looks like Ben Simmons is staying with the 76ers since they want the moon for him from other teams. I think Pascal Siakam is available that is who the Warriors should go after.

Yeah unless he ops out of the final year of his contract and signs with another contender (Lakers) this was pretty much his last great chance of winning a title as a starter.  He could still eventually win a title riding the bench on championship team like Gary Payton did with the '06 Heat.

With Devin Booker the Suns will be favorites against the Warriors since they have home court and won the regular season matchup.  Plus, they easily won eleven more games than the Warriors during the regular season.  Not only that the Warriors will also be underdogs against the Grizzlies in the next round.

I knew the Lakers were going to disappoint from the start.
I mean, you trade away or give up most of your supporting cast for a dude who is the textbook example of what happens when you play harder instead of smarter and who needs the ball in his hands all the time to be effective... While already having LeBron James, who is also extremely ball dominant AND an injury prone Anthony Davis. Unless they found some miracle chemistry we weren't aware of (they didn't) it was going to flop.

I didn't think it would flop THAT hard. But the fact that the Lakers' experiment ended up in failure did not surprise me.

With Devin Booker the Suns will be favorites against the Warriors since they have home court and won the regular season matchup.  Plus, they easily won eleven more games than the Warriors during the regular season.  Not only that the Warriors will also be underdogs against the Grizzlies in the next round.

Look at you, trying to bullshit your way out of your horrible takes by using exact words. OK, you're right though, you didn't say the Lakers AND the Nets.

So I was wrong that you didn't pick the Lakers to make the Finals, but the WCF instead. Doesn't really make your shitty predictions any less shitty, because it's really hard to make the WCF when you can't make the play-in tournament though. But nope, LAL got Russell Westbrook, a player whose name you heard of down in whatever backwoods part of Texas you live in that doesn't have proper modern Internet, so they're going to the WCF, baby! Who cares that they gutted their roster to trade for a guy on a max contract that can't shoot, can't play off ball, isn't a plus defender, and needs an entire team designed around him to even make a lower seed playoff team?

Those poor, poor Suns, amirite?

Wait, what about your Warriors pick for the Finals?

When you don't even follow your own "analysis" and predictions, why do you think anyone else should? Every time I challenge you to put your money where your mouth is, you run and hide: you pretended not to see my messages for TWO YEARS when I challenged you to a bet on the Harden vs. Antetokounmpo for MVP race  in '20, and you wouldn't comment on Sixers vs. Raptors until AFTER Philly won Game 3 a few nights ago. And when you come back from hiding, you regurgitate the same tired old points over and over (Harden will win MVP because the WC is better, PG missed the Clppers first play-in game).

Give it a rest dude. Your grasp of the NBA is like Disney's grasp on culture in It's a Small World. There's nothing wrong with that, but you're not fooling anyone into thinking you know what you're talking about.

First off, the Suns split the regular season series with the Warriors 2-2.

That aside, regular season basketball is one thing; PLAYOFF basketball is another - The Nuggets took 3 out of 4 from the Warriors in the regular season, and yet they're in danger of being swept right out of the First Round by that very same team.

How much postseason experience do Devin Booker and the Suns have?

How much postseason experience do Ja Morant and the Grizzlies have?

Now compare their combined experience to that of Steph and the Warriors. They've won as many championships with that core as Booker's Suns and Morant's Grizzlies have won playoff series' COMBINED. 

The Suns and Grizzlies THINK they can win a championship, the Warriors KNOW they can. How many Game 7s, Elimination games, and high pressure situations have the Warriors been in since they made their first appearance with that core of Steph, Klay, Draymond, and Iguodala back in 2014? Not only have they won many of those crucial games, they've won some of them on the road. Games 4 and 6 against Cleveland in 2015, Game 6 against OKC in 2016, Games 1 and 7 against Houston in 2018 and Game 6 in 2019 (Two seasons where Houston had Golden State's number in the regular season, yet look what happened in the playoffs.) They've been in those type of situations countless times and they have won more than they have lost. This is the same core and same coaching staff that, when healthy enough to be on the court, went to 5 straight NBA Finals and won 3 of them. They know what it takes to get there and to finish the job.

Phoenix had ONE great run last year where they made it to the Finals and came up short followed by a dominant regular season this year, and Memphis also put together a very strong season and this would be the first time they've made it past the 1st round since 2015 when... they lost to the Warriors... Who went on to win their 1st of 3 championships. That's assuming the Grizzlies get past the 1st round in the first place since the Timberwolves are giving them ALL they can handle.

The Grizzlies, and to a lesser extent, the Suns, are unproven in these major, high pressure, playoff situations. The Warriors have been there and done that, many, MANY times. They were a dynasty in the mid-late '10s with that core they still have. A core that is now back in tact, back together, and getting healthy for the first time in 3 years, and has plenty of support behind them.