It was pretty much expected that Orlando would win. I mean how many times has a team been swept in the conference finals? I bet not that many.
.greg.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
Boston appeared to show weakness with great ball movement the last game. Their defense is top notch, but when Orlando (even with their shitty passing) was moving the ball well thats when they appeared to get the easy baskets.
Now there’s another team in the NBA thats currently in the West that has great ball movement and top notch passing abilities, what was their name again?? Oh man I’m really having trouble remembering who they were, can you help me out with this one Randman? =D
Nomorewar,
I understand why you would think Celtics are unbeatable this year, but you have to understand that the Laker matchups totally change the dynamics of their soon to be series with the Celtics. Comparing how a team dominates one opponent isn’t a good measure of how they will do against the next. The perfect example is the Magic. They looked like they were UNSTOPPABLE before this series, many here including myself thought they would come out of the East, but as soon as they met a team that player for player was a better matchup they were dominated. Player for Player Boston cannot dominate LA if we are playing hard and firing on all cylinders. I’m not saying we’re unbeatable, but we are a VERY different team the Orlando and Cleveland.[/quote]
boston plays better team defense and has beaten the lakers before… rematches always seem to end with the same results in every sport. Artest is the only difference from the 08 team… and he feels very uncomfortable there… they should have kept ariza and they would have had the edge.
[quote]nomorewar wrote:
boston plays better team defense and has beaten the lakers before… rematches always seem to end with the same results in every sport. Artest is the only difference from the 08 team… and he feels very uncomfortable there… they should have kept ariza and they would have had the edge. [/quote]
The Lakers team defense was one of the best in the league this year. They’re a much better team defensively than 08. Couldn’t disagree more that we would have an edge with Ariza facing the Celtics. The Lakers and Celtics defense are on par with each other because of Artest Kobe doesn’t have to waste his offensive juice on defensive end covering Pierce.
[quote]randman wrote:
[quote]nomorewar wrote:
boston plays better team defense and has beaten the lakers before… rematches always seem to end with the same results in every sport. Artest is the only difference from the 08 team… and he feels very uncomfortable there… they should have kept ariza and they would have had the edge. [/quote]
The Lakers team defense was one of the best in the league this year. They’re a much better team defensively than 08. Couldn’t disagree more that we would have an edge with Ariza facing the Celtics. The Lakers and Celtics defense are on par with each other because of Artest Kobe doesn’t have to waste his offensive juice on defensive end covering Pierce. [/quote]
ok… fair enough… but look at who’s playing better defense right now… boston has almost completely shutdown the magic. The lakers have not shutdown the suns… even in the losses, the suns have scored more than 100 points. The magic are a way better offensive team than the suns and have not scored 100 points against the c’s,not even in the overtime game. Ariza would have been just as effective and way better offensively. Artest looks very confused out there.It’s sad really.
Why play defense when you’re scoring at will?? Seriously tho, the Lakers biggest fault is that they play down to their opponents level. Thats something the Celtics do not do. The lakers will play D if they need to, if they can win in a half ass effort, they will do so.
You rarely see the Lakers blow out teams with a 30 pt lead, even if they are a much better team.
[quote]nomorewar wrote:
ok… fair enough… but look at who’s playing better defense right now… boston has almost completely shutdown the magic. The lakers have not shutdown the suns… even in the losses, the suns have scored more than 100 points. The magic are a way better offensive team than the suns and have not scored 100 points against the c’s,not even in the overtime game. Ariza would have been just as effective and way better offensively. Artest looks very confused out there.It’s sad really.[/quote]
You’re getting too caught up in this individual matchup, series, etc and taking that information and trying to judge how the next one is going to go. The Suns are a run and gun team. They average near 120 points in the regular season. In the first two games, they barely broke a 100 and that’s after the Lakers had their scrubs in and the game was decided a quarter earlier.
The only half ass effort by the Lakers was last game. The Celtics are a much different team than the Suns. The Celtics play half court a lot more like the Lakers. I doubt if the Celtics will break a 100 points in any game during that series. Again, it’s all about match ups!
Artest did look discombobulated last game as well as Odom. But overall Artest has been playing much better in the post season and I’m still not concerned about him offensively. As long as he gives us his lock down defensive presence everything will be A-OK.
Remember before these conference finals when people were legitimately thinking the Suns would run the Lakers out of the building? Oh yeah, the Lakers averaged 126 the first 2 games while holding the suns in the low 100’s [and as Rand pointed out that was after the bench was cleared and the game was well decided]. Remember when people here were saying the Magic were gonna crush the C’s, most likely in 5 games? Oh yeah, the C’s are up 3-1 and the Magic are basically dead in the water. All things being equal, a good offense will always beat a good defense. The thing is, in the posteseason a good defense is gonna take away your offenses bread and butter, so it’s either gonna show what your squad has or expose them as a one trick pony. The C’s have exposed the Magic, and the Lakers have exposed the Suns. The C’s will not have the same defensive impact on the Lakers they had in '08. Bynum’s available, Gasol’s no longer wide eyed and Kobe’s got a chip on his shoulder. As long as Bynum can bang down low, grab 8 boards, provide interior D and get a couple of garbage buckets, this one’s in the bag.
the suns only won that last game because of career nights for Amare and Lopez… Even then they barely won while the lakers missed a lot of wide open shots down the stretch. I dont think that will happen again and the lakers will close it out in 5.
This isnt the same Lakers team from 08 and they match up a lot better with the Celtics than they did back then. Like Flash said if Bynum can go for 20 minutes a game and be a little bit of a factor they’ll take care of boston. Plus they’ll have home court advantage.
.greg.
wow! wasn’t expecting this.
It was like no one could miss in that second quarter! Kobe has really turned it on! He’s gonna score 40+ and might hit a triple double.
It’s gonna be an exciting 4th quarter.
.greg.
drewh,start thinking avatar for the fellas.
Its games like this that really make people question whether teams throw games just to make the series last and extend the series for the additional revenue. Lakers were basically beat by the suns bench, not their bench outscored ours. But their bench BEAT our starters. Wow… then the suns known for their garbage defense stepped it up soo much that kobe and pau basically could not even touch the ball in the 4th?
Somebody please explain this to me before my faith in the nba completely diminishes.
im not saying the lakers are gonna lose the series but they better not lose the next game. Besides I want to see celtics vs lakers!! Lakers don’t fucking choke!!!
[quote]nomorewar wrote:
drewh,start thinking avatar for the fellas.[/quote]
Lmao don’t get ahead of yourself… u really think the suns are gunna beat the lakers at home??
This team, the LA Lakers can be analyzed on a player by player basis.
Derek Fisher - playing the ultimate professional and nice guy, the savvy vet but inside this shell lies a dirty player
Andrew Bynum - a guy who listens to too much Rihanna music. A baby in development.
Kobe Bryant - A black mamba with a keen attraction to blonde pussy (and who doesnt?!). Outside of this he is the most skilled and dominant NBA player today. Give him that.
Lamar Odom - Candy isn’t good for you. Too much candy and time spent with the Kardashian family would make any man as inconsistent and strange as he is.
Pau Gasol - In a culture of bling, private parties organized by shady women where not so strange things happen, and Jay-Z, an intellectual who listens to classical music doesnt fit the NBA mold. Playing a position where intensity and toughness are required doesn’t equivocate to turning up Bach on your i-pod. On a positive, he plays with fluency and precision, mimicking the skills needed by a medical student when cutting up cadavers.
Finally Ron Artest - the rehabbed psychotic; now transformed into one of the kindest players in the NBA. I mean the dude regularly eats dinner at the home of a Mexican lady and her kids, whom he met on the internet.
The LA Lakers are just a bunch of dudes, as weird and normal as the rest of us and certainly not the godly team some make it out to be.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
Its games like this that really make people question whether teams throw games just to make the series last and extend the series for the additional revenue. Lakers were basically beat by the suns bench, not their bench outscored ours. But their bench BEAT our starters. Wow… then the suns known for their garbage defense stepped it up soo much that kobe and pau basically could not even touch the ball in the 4th?
Somebody please explain this to me before my faith in the nba completely diminishes.[/quote]
I’ll explain it to you, The suns beat the lakers cause they are not on the lakers balls like you are.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
[quote]nomorewar wrote:
drewh,start thinking avatar for the fellas.[/quote]
Lmao don’t get ahead of yourself… u really think the suns are gunna beat the lakers at home??[/quote]
no. The only way that will happen is if the nba is fixed. Right?
Rebounds: LA 36 PHX 51, Channing Frye hitting 4/8 from 3 killed the Lakers D; what are you supposed to do when the other teams center is dropping bombs?
The +/- numbers look hilarious if you check the box score though. Every PHX starter is in the minus, and every bench player is double digits plus.
ok in game 3 Amare and Lopez have career nights to pull out the win and the suns shoot almost twice as many free throws as LA.
in game 4 the bench goes off for a rediculous 54 points and again the suns have almost double the freethrows as LA.
They won both of those games with insane performances AT HOME. They wont get that in LA and until the home team loses nothing big has happened in the series.
I still have no doubt the Lakers will win this series but I will say that I am surprised by the current state of this series. Its gonna be exciting.
.greg.
STEVE NASH IS ONE TOUGH MOTHERFUCKER.
That’s all for now.