The Western Conference's final four cast is set, and save for the absence of the San Antonio Spurs, these are pretty much the teams you'd have expected to make it before the season began.

The Los Angeles Clippers barely edged the Spurs in a classic seven-game series, and in a Game 7 where the team who takes the last shot, it seemed, would win. Clippers point guard Chris Paul took that shot, and with his tough runner over Tim Duncan, he booked a date with James Harden and the rolling Houston Rockets.

The Rockets did short work of the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. While it's easy to discredit their performance due to the injuries to Mavs key players, and Rajon Rondo quitting on the team, you can't overlook the play of the Rockets bigs.

Everyone expected Harden to lead this team if they were going to make a deep playoff push, but no one really knew what to expect from Dwight Howard, who came back from injury shortly before the playoffs began, and his former AAU teammate Josh Smith.

They've been brilliant in the playoffs so far, and will have to maintain their good play against the even more athletic pairing of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Howard is averaging 16.6 points, a playoff-leading 13.8 rebounds per game, and three blocks per game, while Smith is norming 17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. Smith was particularly huge against the Mavs, creating plays off the bounce for lobs at Howard, and shooting a surprising 39.1 percent from deep.

Everyone knows Harden will be the center of the Rockets offense, and one would be wise to expect the ball to be mostly in Paul's hands for the Clips, but the battle of the bigs could be what swings this matchup.

In the other bracket, the Golden State Warriors face the "Grit and Grind Gang" of the Memphis Grizzlies. A few years ago, and perhaps maybe even as recent as last year, you would have pegged this matchup to be a battle of finesse versus power. But with the emergence of Draymond Green, and the relatively good health of Andrew Bogut, the Warriors appear to be, more than ever, willing and able to mix it up with the league's more physical teams.

The Warriors will swing the ball centered on the wizardry of league MVP Steph Curry, while the Grizzlies will lean on the muscle of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph's interior play, that much is known.

But this series could ultimately boil down to a couple of questions: can the Grizzlies score enough to keep pace with the Warriors spitfire offense? And will Bogut and Green prevent the Grizzlies' bigs from dominating the game?

In Game 1, Gasol and Randolph combined for 41 points, nearly matching the rest of the team's output in their 86-101 loss. Mike Conley is still out with his facial injury, and says he still has no idea if he'll be able to play in Game 2.

If the Grizz are to have any chance to beat the Bay Area juggernaut, they'll need the steady hand of Conley running the point, otherwise, Curry and crew should cruise all the way to the Conference Finals.