^I guess we agree to disagree. Yes, OKC came out and punched them in the mouth. All I’m saying is that the Lakers stuck their collective mouths out there to get punched! They didn’t come to play and win which is so often what they do through the playoffs. They did this same exact thing last year, Houston being the most notable. It wasn’t until game 5 of the Western Conference Finals that the Lakers finally flipped the switch and blew out Denver in the last 2 games and then walked all over the Magic. Again, I’m not taking anything away from OKC’s effort in games 3 and 4; I’m more implicating the Lakers of their laziness and lack of execution (especially on the road in early playoff rounds). It’s infuriating to watch. To be honest with you, I don’t know which Laker team will show up on Friday. It’s a 50-50 coin flip for me. They easily could go in there and shut OKC down but I don’t know if they’ll actually show up and do so. Just like Houston last year. Game 5 we blow em out 5 30 points and then go back to Houston in game 6 and lose by 20 points or something crazy like that before coming back in game 7 and blowing out Houston once again by like 20 points. The Lakers are a schizophrenic team, I’m telling ya.
I love all sports, and want to love watching the NBA playoffs, but outside of the fourth quarter I can’t build up enough interest to stick with the game. It seems like all of the action is in the fourth, and the players just cruise through the other three quarters (obviously not unanimously true), and flick the switch when the final period comes around.
[quote]randman wrote:
^I guess we agree to disagree. Yes, OKC came out and punched them in the mouth. All I’m saying is that the Lakers stuck their collective mouths out there to get punched! They didn’t come to play and win which is so often what they do through the playoffs. They did this same exact thing last year, Houston being the most notable. It wasn’t until game 5 of the Western Conference Finals that the Lakers finally flipped the switch and blew out Denver in the last 2 games and then walked all over the Magic. Again, I’m not taking anything away from OKC’s effort in games 3 and 4; I’m more implicating the Lakers of their laziness and lack of execution (especially on the road in early playoff rounds). It’s infuriating to watch. To be honest with you, I don’t know which Laker team will show up on Friday. It’s a 50-50 coin flip for me. They easily could go in there and shut OKC down but I don’t know if they’ll actually show up and do so. Just like Houston last year. Game 5 we blow em out 5 30 points and then go back to Houston in game 6 and lose by 20 points or something crazy like that before coming back in game 7 and blowing out Houston once again by like 20 points. The Lakers are a schizophrenic team, I’m telling ya.[/quote]
We’ve successfully turned this from a playoffs thread to a Lakers thread! Damn Laker fans do it again!! 
Hey atleast I tried mentioning cleveland and celtics… lol
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
I love all sports, and want to love watching the NBA playoffs, but outside of the fourth quarter I can’t build up enough interest to stick with the game. It seems like all of the action is in the fourth, and the players just cruise through the other three quarters (obviously not unanimously true), and flick the switch when the final period comes around.[/quote]
I think with all sports, the better the understanding of the game the more interest you will show. I remember watching the Lakers back when Cambell and Van Exel were my favorite players. I was like 9 or 10 at the time and didn’t really understand the game, so i often was bored during the first 3 quarters and usually didn’t even watch unless they made the playoffs. But now that I see all the idiosyncrasies of the plays being run and understand what the offense is doing and can appreciate a perfectly executed play I can’t help but be glued to the TV for every play. The same goes for boxing and MMA for me, but baseball on the other hand just cannot keep my attention. All I see is a guy trying to hit a ball and everyone else standing around in a coma. Very boring for me, but I’m sure if I studies the game and knew what was going on I’d be more interested. Just my 2 cents on sports.
^This. This is very true. The more you understand about the game the more exciting it is. To switch the subject off the Lakers, I can’t wait for the Celts-Cavs. That’s going to be a good one. Hell the series after will be awesome as well. Whoever the winner of the Celts-Cavs is will most likely face the Magic. To me, most of the really exciting playoff matchups are in the east; it’s the Celts-Cavs-Magic where I still think anyone of them could win and come out of the east.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Told ya’ll Kobe would have an impact game. T, I hate to say it man but your Thunder are done. The Lakers will close it out on Thursday and Bryant will have a big game.
T can verify that I’ve been saying the Thunder have a bright future for a long time, and barring injuries, trades or some internal meltdown they’re the future of the league. This isn’t like last year when the Lakers slept on the Rockets and Houston stole 3 games. The Thunder earned every win in this series.[/quote]
Flash, you’re killin me bro! But I have to face the truth, you may be right. The Lakers turned it on at the right time and will look to finish on Friday. I verify you’ve gone to bat for my boys for a while, and I appreciate it.
As others have said, LAL doesn’t show a sense of urgency until it’s necessary, then turns up the heat and gets the job done. Regardless though, I’m hoping OKC can come out strong and force a game 7. LAL completely shut down our transition game last night, which is our bread and butter, so we have to do a better job of getting fastbreak points and playing our game.
In other news, how bout the Bucks pullin off three straight W’s. Legit. You called Brandon Jennings the real deal when he got drafted, nice job.
How do you do that? Do you have some insight you can bestow upon the rest of us?
Yeah me and Flash have been baptizing Jennings as the next big Rook.
I can’t wait until LAL loses a series these playoffs (because they WILL NOT WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP) so I can rub it in rand’s and others’ faces. No disrespect rand but its gonna be fun watching the moaning by the Laker fans on this forum. Its going to be sweet and you’re going to have a hard time getting me to stop the chaos that will ensue.
Beat LA. Beat LA. Beat LA.
Why do you hate L.A. all the way out in New Zealand?
[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
Yeah me and Flash have been baptizing Jennings as the next big Rook.
I can’t wait until LAL loses a series these playoffs (because they WILL NOT WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP) so I can rub it in rand’s and others’ faces. No disrespect rand but its gonna be fun watching the moaning by the Laker fans on this forum. Its going to be sweet and you’re going to have a hard time getting me to stop the chaos that will ensue.
Beat LA. Beat LA. Beat LA.[/quote]
I guess I know what it feels like to be a Yankees fan, everyone outside your area is rooting for your team to lose! BTW, I hate the Yankees. Just remember, I wasn’t guaranteeing a championship this year. I’m practically guaranteeing where going to get to the finals again.
Here’s where it gets weird for me. I’m a huge Red Sox and Patriots fan. Yes, I’m from New Hampshire. I actually hated the Lakers in the 80s and was a rabid Celtics fan. So I committed one of the biggest sins in sports, I went from a Celtics fan to a Lakers fan. Trust me, it wasn’t an easy process. It took a better part of 20 years. I moved out to Cali, the Celtics sucked balls practically all of those 20 years; and I started following this high school phenom out of high school named Kobe Bryant from the beginning of his career…and then I kinda got hooked.
I actually don’t hate the Celtics now so I’m a rare hybrid that roots for the Lakers but also likes the Celtics. What can I say…
^ Next you’re going to say your a bisexual cross-dresser!
I was asking for this. I know. I can’t explain what happened with any rhyme or reason. It just happened. It all started with that Kobe character. I’ve seen this guy do stuff over a 14 year career that I’ve never seen anyone else do. 81 points in a game? 81 points. I still can’t fathom what my eyes saw that night. Or the time he scored 61 points in quarters and the whole Dallas Mavericks team scored 60 points by the end of the 3rd. I was pissed that Phil Jackson sat Kobe the entire 4th quarter. He probably could have beat 81 points that night.
Oh you don’t have to defend why you became a Lakers fan, I mean that parts obvious. The fact that you’re still a celtics fan is the part that needs explaining.
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Told ya’ll Kobe would have an impact game. T, I hate to say it man but your Thunder are done. The Lakers will close it out on Thursday and Bryant will have a big game.
T can verify that I’ve been saying the Thunder have a bright future for a long time, and barring injuries, trades or some internal meltdown they’re the future of the league. This isn’t like last year when the Lakers slept on the Rockets and Houston stole 3 games. The Thunder earned every win in this series.[/quote]
Flash, you’re killin me bro! But I have to face the truth, you may be right. The Lakers turned it on at the right time and will look to finish on Friday. I verify you’ve gone to bat for my boys for a while, and I appreciate it.
As others have said, LAL doesn’t show a sense of urgency until it’s necessary, then turns up the heat and gets the job done. Regardless though, I’m hoping OKC can come out strong and force a game 7. LAL completely shut down our transition game last night, which is our bread and butter, so we have to do a better job of getting fastbreak points and playing our game.
In other news, how bout the Bucks pullin off three straight W’s. Legit. You called Brandon Jennings the real deal when he got drafted, nice job.
How do you do that? Do you have some insight you can bestow upon the rest of us?[/quote]
Ha, man I’ve been pretty wrong before cough Time Duncan cough too. Seriously, there’s just something about the kid that screams “superstar” to me. His speed, athleticism, handle, confidence and feel for the game are at a truly elite level, and that’s at 19. He just has several qualities that cannot be taught, and are possessed by all of the all-time greats. Said it before and I’ll say it again: When it’s all said and done he will be far and away the best player from this draft.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
Oh you don’t have to defend why you became a Lakers fan, I mean that parts obvious. The fact that you’re still a celtics fan is the part that needs explaining.[/quote]
Well let’s just say during the 2008 finals I was rooting for the Purple and Gold and was bitterly disappointed by the result so I guess my heart lies here now.
[quote]randman wrote:
I was asking for this. I know. I can’t explain what happened with any rhyme or reason. It just happened. It all started with that Kobe character. I’ve seen this guy do stuff over a 14 year career that I’ve never seen anyone else do. 81 points in a game? 81 points. I still can’t fathom what my eyes saw that night. Or the time he scored 61 points in quarters and the whole Dallas Mavericks team scored 60 points by the end of the 3rd. I was pissed that Phil Jackson sat Kobe the entire 4th quarter. He probably could have beat 81 points that night.[/quote]
You know man, I still have the McD’s All-American game he was in on tape. He only had like 13 in the game but you could see he was just so far ahead of everyone else, and this is when Tim Thomas was still thought of as the better long term prospect. My Aunt lives just outside of San Diego, and I was visiting her during the preseason of his rookie year. They were playing the Sixers and I watched the game live on tv. He played sparingly if I remember right, but he had this move. He was isolated on the wing with his defender, he jabbed right, crossed back left, went middle and crushed it. The play is on almost every Kobe career highlight vid, and there’s maybe 10 people in the world that know that was during the preseason of his rookie year. It’s just one play during an inconsequential game, but it showed so much.
To be that young with those kind of ball skills on top of being that athletic. Even when he was raw he was light years ahead of his peers in terms of basketball skill and feel for the game. With that, one of the things that really impressed me about Bryant is his willingness to get better. By his 4th year he was SIGNIFICANTLY more athletic than when he came in. Yeah a lot of that is body maturity, but he took training seriously and turned himself into what he was. Obviously, he took the basketball side of things ridiculously serious as well. He gets hated on by a lot of people, but when he’s gone I think people will realize what they had. He is far and away the best player of our generation, and there may never be anyone again who can do the things on the offensive end that he’s done.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Told ya’ll Kobe would have an impact game. T, I hate to say it man but your Thunder are done. The Lakers will close it out on Thursday and Bryant will have a big game.
T can verify that I’ve been saying the Thunder have a bright future for a long time, and barring injuries, trades or some internal meltdown they’re the future of the league. This isn’t like last year when the Lakers slept on the Rockets and Houston stole 3 games. The Thunder earned every win in this series.[/quote]
Flash, you’re killin me bro! But I have to face the truth, you may be right. The Lakers turned it on at the right time and will look to finish on Friday. I verify you’ve gone to bat for my boys for a while, and I appreciate it.
As others have said, LAL doesn’t show a sense of urgency until it’s necessary, then turns up the heat and gets the job done. Regardless though, I’m hoping OKC can come out strong and force a game 7. LAL completely shut down our transition game last night, which is our bread and butter, so we have to do a better job of getting fastbreak points and playing our game.
In other news, how bout the Bucks pullin off three straight W’s. Legit. You called Brandon Jennings the real deal when he got drafted, nice job.
How do you do that? Do you have some insight you can bestow upon the rest of us?[/quote]
Ha, man I’ve been pretty wrong before cough Time Duncan cough too. Seriously, there’s just something about the kid that screams “superstar” to me. His speed, athleticism, handle, confidence and feel for the game are at a truly elite level, and that’s at 19. He just has several qualities that cannot be taught, and are possessed by all of the all-time greats. Said it before and I’ll say it again: When it’s all said and done he will be far and away the best player from this draft.
[/quote]
You know the crazy part. His overseas experiment was an abject failure. The Italian coach didn’t start him; in fact he didn’t play much at all and his points, assists, etc per game were nothing to write home about. So looking at his huge success in the playoffs as a rookie, what does this say about American high schoolers going overseas instead of spending a year in the NCAA? Does this reflect poorly on the foreign pro coaches that don’t know how to utilize American talent or is the culture, style of play and system so different it’s hard for them to acclimate in such a short period of time. Interesting trend to say the least.
Actually I think they should just get rid of the age limit in the NBA all together. I think it was a bad move by Stern to institute this. It’s not getting the desired result he was looking for. Regardless of Brandon’s experience, I’m willing to bet more and more players will go overseas for a year contract with the chance to make some money without having to worry about the stats they put up considering the experience of Brandon Jennings.
[quote]randman wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Told ya’ll Kobe would have an impact game. T, I hate to say it man but your Thunder are done. The Lakers will close it out on Thursday and Bryant will have a big game.
T can verify that I’ve been saying the Thunder have a bright future for a long time, and barring injuries, trades or some internal meltdown they’re the future of the league. This isn’t like last year when the Lakers slept on the Rockets and Houston stole 3 games. The Thunder earned every win in this series.[/quote]
Flash, you’re killin me bro! But I have to face the truth, you may be right. The Lakers turned it on at the right time and will look to finish on Friday. I verify you’ve gone to bat for my boys for a while, and I appreciate it.
As others have said, LAL doesn’t show a sense of urgency until it’s necessary, then turns up the heat and gets the job done. Regardless though, I’m hoping OKC can come out strong and force a game 7. LAL completely shut down our transition game last night, which is our bread and butter, so we have to do a better job of getting fastbreak points and playing our game.
In other news, how bout the Bucks pullin off three straight W’s. Legit. You called Brandon Jennings the real deal when he got drafted, nice job.
How do you do that? Do you have some insight you can bestow upon the rest of us?[/quote]
Ha, man I’ve been pretty wrong before cough Time Duncan cough too. Seriously, there’s just something about the kid that screams “superstar” to me. His speed, athleticism, handle, confidence and feel for the game are at a truly elite level, and that’s at 19. He just has several qualities that cannot be taught, and are possessed by all of the all-time greats. Said it before and I’ll say it again: When it’s all said and done he will be far and away the best player from this draft.
[/quote]
You know the crazy part. His overseas experiment was an abject failure. The Italian coach didn’t start him; in fact he didn’t play much at all and his points, assists, etc per game were nothing to write home about. So looking at his huge success in the playoffs as a rookie, what does this say about American high schoolers going overseas instead of spending a year in the NCAA? Does this reflect poorly on the foreign pro coaches that don’t know how to utilize American talent or is the culture, style of play and system so different it’s hard for them to acclimate in such a short period of time. Interesting trend to say the least.
Actually I think they should just get rid of the age limit in the NBA all together. I think it was a bad move by Stern to institute this. It’s not getting the desired result he was looking for. Regardless of Brandon’s experience, I’m willing to bet more and more players will go overseas for a year contract with the chance to make some money without having to worry about the stats they put up considering the experience of Brandon Jennings.[/quote]
I wouldn’t call his European move a failure at all. He learned the pro game, learned how to take the game and himself more seriously, got out of his comfort zone, grew as a man, etc… Very few Euro prospects have eye opening stats, and several come over and do quite well. The Euro game doesn’t generally lend itself to gaudy stats. I promise you that Jennings will prove to be the exception to the rule in going overseas. The maturity and mental toughness it takes to do what he did is off the charts. One kid has tried since and was sent packing within a month and change. This is a business, and these are grown men who take the game very seriously. Your highschool press clippings don’t mean shit to these dudes, and if you come in thinking you’re bigger than the game they’ll be real quick to show you that you’re not. Not many pampered US highschool starts will be successful in trying to make that jump. And, that makes what Jennings did that much more impressive. He wasn’t one of the best, he was THE best. The #1 rated player in the nation who’d been having his ego stroked since middle school went to a foreign land, shut the fuck up, put his time in and learned the game. How many kids, regardless of ranking, can do that?
I think they should increase the age limit. Charles Barkley brought up a good point, big men can’t play anymore and he attributes it to lack of college experience. It’s hard to argue with him the big man obviously lack the skill the players in the past had.
[quote]drewh wrote:
I think they should increase the age limit. Charles Barkley brought up a good point, big men can’t play anymore and he attributes it to lack of college experience. It’s hard to argue with him the big man obviously lack the skill the players in the past had.[/quote]
The problem with increasing just the age limit is you have several kids who have no desire to be in school, and European teams are only going to look at the best of the best, and point blank 95+% of the HS kids who would try to go over would fail miserably. That leaves the D-League as basically their only option. They need to figure out how to increase the age limit while not using these kids solely for financial gain for the University.
Well its worked in the past. Maybe changing rookie contracts would solve this. And somehow thinking of a way to keep kids from going over seas. I’ve read that it sucks over seas and the coaches really run their players hard. That’s why Earl Boykins came back.