Last year’s NBA Cinderella story was the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors upsetting the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. However, this year’s fairytale rules have changed, and Cinderella missed the ball.

Actually, forget it.

Western Conference

Denver Nuggets (8) vs. L.A. Lakers (1)

Many experts have picked the Nuggets to upset the Lakers in the first round. These predictions are based on how good the Nuggets look on paper and their X-factor, J.R. Smith. The bottom line is, this isn’t fantasy basketball and playoff games aren’t won on stat sheets.