Cleveland. Their non-Lebron cast is finally average compared to most other teams without their #1. Average, plus Lebron, equals championship.
Orlando
Shaq won’t do shit against Dwight, Jameer is going to kill it nobody in cleveland is going to be able to guard him, VC ads some consistent scoring and they still have their 3 point gunners.
[quote]Spriont wrote:
Cleveland. Their non-Lebron cast is finally average compared to most other teams without their #1. Average, plus Lebron, equals championship.[/quote]
I’d say a little above average now with Antwan Jamison. The biggest steal of the decade other than when the Lakers got Pau Gasol.
I swear if Cleveland wins the championship (my biggest nightmare: Hate Shaq and LeGay) I will forever blame Gilbert Arenas for being a freaking idiot; what’s the connection you ask?
Remember: Gilbert “fucktard” Arena was the Washington Wiz player that got in a fight with a team-mate over poker and they drew guns on each other. Gilbert was slapped with an authorized gun charge by the police and his stupid non-remorseful antics following that that caused Stern’s blood to boil and suspended him for the rest of the season.
Well then the boneheaded Wiz execs just had a fire-sale with all of his teammates and decided to start from scratch and got next to nothing in return. The most significant fire sale? That’s right Antwan Jamison to Cleveland.
I felt we could still handle Cleveland without Jamison even though we lost both regular season games against them but I feel like it tips in their favor now with Jamison. Granted the Lakers get that far and Cleveland comes out of the east. Fucking Arenas…
[quote]drewh wrote:
Orlando
Shaq won’t do shit against Dwight, Jameer is going to kill it nobody in cleveland is going to be able to guard him, VC ads some consistent scoring and they still have their 3 point gunners.[/quote]
Yeah, I think everyone is willing to crown Cleveland out of the east this year (again) and I’ve said this before I think Orlando still matches up quite well with them ESPECIALLY with a healthy Jameer Nelson.
That’s why I’d be nervous facing either of these two teams in the finals. And the thing is, if the Thuggets and the Mavs both lose, the Laker’s path back to the finals got a whole lot easier. I thought either of these two teams had enough talent and firepower this year for a possible upset but shockingly they are both down 3 to 1 against the Jazz and the Spurs respectively. If those two go down, the biggest challenge the Lakers have right now is OKC on their way back to the finals. Who woulda thunk it?
I won’t go far as to say “Kobe’s mortal”, but to suggest that the injuries he’s had this year [and last] haven’t had a negative effect on his game means you’re watching with blinders on. His legs are tired, his finger’s fucked and he just doesn’t have the bounce he did. Part of that is getting older, but a lot of that is what he’s gone through. Kevin Durant does not block that shot 2 years ago. No matter what happens this post season he needs to take a good month or two off this off-season to allow his body to rejuvinate. People forget that before he fractured that finger he was on a murderous roll. He still has MVP game and will be the best player in the league over the next few years if he can learn to rest and get the medical attention he needs.
People acts is if Kobe’s done though he just needs his rest over the offseason. Still I’m expecting at least 35-40 from him tonight and for the Lakers to dominate this game.
[quote]randman wrote:
[quote]drewh wrote:
Orlando
Shaq won’t do shit against Dwight, Jameer is going to kill it nobody in cleveland is going to be able to guard him, VC ads some consistent scoring and they still have their 3 point gunners.[/quote]
Yeah, I think everyone is willing to crown Cleveland out of the east this year (again) and I’ve said this before I think Orlando still matches up quite well with them ESPECIALLY with a healthy Jameer Nelson.
That’s why I’d be nervous facing either of these two teams in the finals. And the thing is, if the Thuggets and the Mavs both lose, the Laker’s path back to the finals got a whole lot easier. I thought either of these two teams had enough talent and firepower this year for a possible upset but shockingly they are both down 3 to 1 against the Jazz and the Spurs respectively. If those two go down, the biggest challenge the Lakers have right now is OKC on their way back to the finals. Who woulda thunk it?[/quote]
I was thinking the same thing. Mavs would have been a challenge and the Nuggets always give us a run for our money, Spurs on the other hand are not nearly as dangerous to us and the Jazz wont be able to hang. Part of me wants a competative series with the best in the west to prepare us for the championship, but at the same time it’d be nice to be able to have a fairly easy series and get ready for the tough opponent! I’m just worried that what happened 2 years ago will happen again, the Lakers cake walk thru the west and get murdered against the best in the East, we may need these tough teams to prepare us mentally for the big dog, whether it be Orlando or Cleveland.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
I was thinking the same thing. Mavs would have been a challenge and the Nuggets always give us a run for our money, Spurs on the other hand are not nearly as dangerous to us and the Jazz wont be able to hang. Part of me wants a competative series with the best in the west to prepare us for the championship, but at the same time it’d be nice to be able to have a fairly easy series and get ready for the tough opponent! I’m just worried that what happened 2 years ago will happen again, the Lakers cake walk thru the west and get murdered against the best in the East, we may need these tough teams to prepare us mentally for the big dog, whether it be Orlando or Cleveland.[/quote]
I actually thought the revamped Mavs (Caron Butler et al) were the most dangerous threat but they are sputtering once again. Playing well below their talent level. I should talk as a Lakers fan!
Geesh. I understand all the hope for OKC. They are super young, talented and energetic and I get why a lot of people are saying the Lakers aren’t that good when observing the first four games. That’s the frustrating thing. Talent-wise, pound-for-pound they are still the most talented, long team in the league (especially looking at their top 6 players). It’s just they have this extremely frustrating tendency to play down to their competition and ride on their talent.
I mean OKC is good, but the Lakers are making them look like Supermen. Gasol or Bynum were not going after rebounds agressively last game but OKC was. So far, they are acting like the hungrier team.
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but unless some proverbial fire is lit under the Laker’s asses, I think they will lose to Orlando or Cleveland in the finals. Their talent alone will get them through the western conference (unless the Thuggets or Mavs somehow take their respective series then their is a chance for an upset).
I just don’t see them repeating unfortunately UNLESS freaking Lamar Odom and Ron Artest get their shit together and start playing they way they can play and the rest of the team (Gasol, Bynum, bench mob) starts getting an attitude and a swagger again. The problem is the Lakers are suffering the disease of more. Once you win a championship, everyone wants more money, more playing time, etc and they don’t want to work as hard.
It seems like the Lakers are starting to tune out Jackson and Bryant for that matter. I think you actually keep coach Jackson at all costs and jettison some of the players.
I’ll tell you, this offseason if we don’t jettison some of the bench mob I’m going to pull my hair out. Get rid of freaking Vujacic once and for all since his contract is up. Send another one or two along with him (i.e. Farmar) and get a tall, quick point guard that can hang with the other top point guards in the league. I’m not dissing Fisher. I would actually still like him to come back next year but have a more limited role. I still think his leadership presence is critical to the team but he can’t hang with any guard now. And Farmar shows signs of brilliance but it is frustratingly inconsistent and makes too many bad decisions at bad times still.
When I heard we were in the running trying to make a trade for Kurt Hinrich before the trade deadline I was very excited about this but we couldn’t pull it off. This would have been a significant acquisition for us heading into the post season.
Can the Lakers still repeat this year? Yes. Will they? I’m not too confident about that this year.
[quote]randman wrote:
The biggest steal of the decade other than when the Lakers got Pau Gasol.
[/quote]
This still amazes me as LAL got Gasol for virtually nothing. Maybe that’s why MEM felt the need to draft Marc Gasol.
I’m not discrediting LAL in any way, I feel OKC is peaking at the right time and LAL doesn’t have their best stuff. Both teams did struggle at the end of the regular season though. Tonight’s game will be interesting to see if OKC can pull out a win on the road, make it a series, and wrap it up in game 6 back in OKC, but tonight’s game will be tough, no question. It’s a true speed vs. size matchup, and whoever wins their respective battle wins the game.
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
I feel OKC is peaking at the right time and LAL doesn’t have their best stuff. Both teams did struggle at the end of the regular season though. Tonight’s game will be interesting to see if OKC can pull out a win on the road, make it a series, and wrap it up in game 6 back in OKC, but tonight’s game will be tough, no question. It’s a true speed vs. size matchup, and whoever wins their respective battle wins the game.[/quote]
If LAL doesn’t get it together tonight, then its possible for OKC to take a road win! If this happens, an upset is a good chance. Lets go OKC!
thunder better match the lakers intensity early on or they will get blown out. If its a close game going into the 4th, the thunder have a great chance of winning.
[quote]drewh wrote:
People acts is if Kobe’s done though he just needs his rest over the offseason. Still I’m expecting at least 35-40 from him tonight and for the Lakers to dominate this game.[/quote]
Not 10 minutes after my above post Barkley was on PTI talking about how Kobe’s getting old and is on the down side of his career, and several other sportscasters were quoted, one of which who said that Kobe’s now where Jordan was when he played with the Wizards!?!? Yes he’s getting old but it’s his injuries and fatigue, not age, that hampered him the last couple of games. It’s like they completely forgot about the 39 he dropped in game 2, or that he averaged damn near 28 a game for the season with a bad shooting hand and drained legs. I fully expect him to have a statement game tonight. And once again, no matter what happens during these playoffs I hope he rests up this off-season. He’s still got a couple of MVP caliber seasons left in him, and I’d like to see him win at least one more to avenge the snubs during any of Dirk’s/Nash’s/ MVP seasons.
Bulls kept it close, solid young team will definitely be around in future years. Cavs/Celtics matchup in round 2 now =]
Oh shit the Cavs are playing the Celtics? I didn’t know that. Can someone explain to me how the playoffs work? This is my first year Actually watching them.
[quote]Stength4life wrote:
Oh shit the Cavs are playing the Celtics? I didn’t know that. Can someone explain to me how the playoffs work? This is my first year Actually watching them.[/quote]
You got jokes, how creative.
I was being serious actually
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
[quote]drewh wrote:
People acts is if Kobe’s done though he just needs his rest over the offseason. Still I’m expecting at least 35-40 from him tonight and for the Lakers to dominate this game.[/quote]
Not 10 minutes after my above post Barkley was on PTI talking about how Kobe’s getting old and is on the down side of his career, and several other sportscasters were quoted, one of which who said that Kobe’s now where Jordan was when he played with the Wizards!?!? Yes he’s getting old but it’s his injuries and fatigue, not age, that hampered him the last couple of games. It’s like they completely forgot about the 39 he dropped in game 2, or that he averaged damn near 28 a game for the season with a bad shooting hand and drained legs. I fully expect him to have a statement game tonight. And once again, no matter what happens during these playoffs I hope he rests up this off-season. He’s still got a couple of MVP caliber seasons left in him, and I’d like to see him win at least one more to avenge the snubs during any of Dirk’s/Nash’s/ MVP seasons.[/quote]
Dude, thet’s Charles Barkley for you. He’s entertaining as hell to watch but I disagree with about half of what he says. I typically almost always agree with his cohost, Kenny Smith, however.
Alright gettnitdone, tmoney1…anyone out there??? Do my eyes deceive me or the Lakers up 21 points at the half? Are we done with the OKC can upset the Lakers nonsense? I would imagine not if OKC happens to win game 6 you guys will still be sqwaking about this until the Lakers put em out of their misery for good. The sleeping giant has awoken…
Who gives a shit about the Lakers, you yourself even proclaimed that they aren’t going to win the championship this year. 21 at half time is NOTHING. I expect the Thunder to dominate the 3rd, call me out on it.
I’m more surprised we saw a Caron Butler sighting, although this is actually going to make the Spurs dominate Game 6.
Lol the lakers shot 65% and the Thunder shot 26% in the first half.
Fuck I hate the LA Lakers