Who scares you in the postseason???

[87BlazerMan]

I'm taking an unscientific poll of all possible WC playoff teams. Who would you hate to see your team draw in the first round (if you make it) and why? Are some teams just too good? Do you match up bad with some teams? Who scares you . . .

As a Blazer fan these are teams I'd love to avoid (top being the most scary). *Note - I'm copying this word for word on all 9 teams forums. I'm not trying to flame anyone!

1. Spurs - too good for us, too experienced, and we've yet to play them when they're at full strength.
2. Lakers - they'd probably win - especially with home court - but I'd rather watch the LA/PDX rivalry get reborn than a slow, boring, sobering series with SA.
3. Rockets - just a bad match-up for us and I really don't want to watch Artest going at Roy for a whole series.
4. Mavs - Same as Rockets, bad match-up. Kidd would abuse Blake and Sergio.
5. Hornets - I'd love to beat these guys, but they have us in the experience category, they have an MVP caliber PG, and David West plays great against us. This is probably the team I would hate to lose to the most and we are definitely capable of losing to them.
6. Jazz - I think we could beat Utah, especially if we had homecourt. And if we do play them it will have that rivalry feel, Roy could end all that "better/worse than Deron" talk once and for all, and if we did knock them out of the playoffs it would be extreeeeemely satisfying.
7. Suns - No Amare, no problem. Shaq is playing out of his mind right now, but with a healthy Oden this would be a very fun series!
8. Nuggets - The only thing that worries me about this matchup is Chauncey's playoff experience. Luckily I think we are a much better team and we can make Chauncey a non-factor. Mostly I just think we are better than them, period.

Pick your poison, LA . . . Who scares you?

[Luxury]

Utah Jazz. No one's talking about them, but go check up their last few games. They're our toughest competition imo.

[TonyMontana]

WOW........... Where are all these threads coming from??
Listen brah, nobody scares me or even attempts to scare me.
My only fear is God ALL MGIHT, after that, its all good, but to have fun and run with this thread I would have to say the only thing that scares me in the post season is that I might not be able to watch EVERY ASS WOOPING THE LAKERS ARE GOING TO HAND OUT TO THE TEAM MENTIONED ABOVE.

Oh and while Im at it since I couldnt make it to the GOODEN4Life troll and Im sure he may pop out on this thread with his pleep pleep baby post, all I can say is, I have never ever ever ever heard of anyone saying that Gooden is better than Duncan.
WTH are you smoking or taking? Cause what ever it is it has jacked up your head pretty badly....
LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOO Gooden is better than Duncan, BOY dont you know if you say that around a Spurs fan they'll Pole Bend you and then rope you down there in San Antone.......

[Danny Darko]

I guess I'm pretty confident, but no one in the west worries me. Utah would if they had home court because the fans create an environment where they get rediculous calls from the Refs.

Other than that I think another year or two of seasoning would make you guys a hearty opponent, but not yet.

I'm not worried until the finals really. Even then, I think we got it.

[DEEP3CL]

I'm old school nobody scares me in the west, but if I had to pick a diffcult match up it's probably Utah. Simply because they can attack from all styles, and the fact that D-Will is an elite point. Last playoffs he had his way with Jordan but struggled with Fish checking him.

[fareweatherfan]

Here's my list in no particular order:

[semi-sentient]

I think Houston is our biggest threat, primarily because they will do a better job on Kobe than any other WC team.

Battier and Artest are going to make it difficult for Kobe to score efficiently, particularly since they don't need much help, and that will have its effects on everyone else.

Yao has had great success against Bynum and he's done pretty good against Gasol as well, so you can expect him to have a nice series.

I think they're a tough match up if healthy (and without McGrady) and clicking on cylinders.

[aussie_laker]

the thought of DJ MBENGA in the playoffs scares me

[AceFresh]

Not scared but a team that concerns me is
San Antonio


that's it

[Kobe_for_3]

Here's my list in no particular order:

I feel the same way but reverse the order.

The only real team that could give us trouble is the Lakers because if we play how we should no one in the west can beat us!

[BigAaron909]

Utah Jazz, especially since they're now healthy for the 1st time this season.

[Anklebreaker702]

Honestly, nobody. When we are on our game I feel we can beat anyone. If someone can take us down then they are the better team but I fear none of them.

[Mamba Venom]

If the Lakers picked up Smith or Gooden I would feel better about going into these battles.

Its these extra players that change the landscape. Rare chance that Marbs is a great player, Gooden gets back to Cavs form or Smith can do the same it makes it harder.

Now if BYNUM never went down forget about it. He would be more popular than most players now if he played Feb + March like he did in JAN. My hope is that BYNUM comes back and isnt rusty and that KOBE delivers the play-offs like he did in 2000.

[TylersLakers]

I'm going to play along. This is all assuming that Andrew's back.

Teams That Scare Me The Most:

- Utah: When they're healthy, they're good and certainly capable of pulling out a road win. They are great on their home court and that's another serious factor. The crowd and their style of play really plays with the officials and let's face it, they play really good at home. With home court advantage however, I think we win the series in 6 games.

- New Orleans: New Orleans could definitely beat us. They run the pick and roll to perfection, and they have a quick point guard. Both are our major weaknesses. They have shooters. They have a good wing defender in James Posey. However, we're just a little bit better. Unless they get crazy momentum, I don't think they can beat us. We've hammered them twice in New Orleans, and won and lost two tight games in LA. Lakers in 6.

- Houston: They would probably be number 1 if McGrady wasn't hurt. Yes, they're playing better right now but in the playoffs you need a big time player to occasionally take over in spurts. Post players are hard to be that because they need teammates to get them the ball. Yao can have a good series against any team. Could he have an absolutely dominating couple games where he takes over? I don't think so. Although, their wing defenders in Artest and Battier could severely make things interesting. Lakers win in 5-6 games.

- Spurs: I think the series would go a lot like last year. Especially with the minor injuries that just keep on happening to them. Now, they're a good team and certainly capable of winning.. but I just don't see it. Bruce Bowen has lost a couple steps and that is the one equalizer they've had in past years. On the offensive end, Kobe is going up against Roger Mason and Manu Ginobili now.

Teams Not Scared Of:

- Nuggets: Chauncey's a proven playoff performer, but the simple fact is that Carmelo Anthony has never dominated us. For all the problems we have defending forwards.. He doesn't. It has to be the biggest mystery in the world. Luke actually bodies him up and plays really well. It's bizarre. Andersen and JR Smith off the bench though would give us some trouble and possibly win a few games for them. Lakers in 5-6.

- Portland: They could make it interesting.. but the Lakers have a playoff advantage in just about every match-up. Lakers bench is better, Fish (in the playoffs) more lethal than Blake when it comes to big time shots. Kobe's better than Roy (Although, in 2-4 years, ask me that again), Gasol has an advantage over Aldridge, and Bynum is more experienced than Oden. They're going to have their time in a couple years, but for the time being, the Lakers are going to beat them. If they have one advantage, however, we play like crap in Portland. That could give them a couple wins. Lakers in 4-6 games.

- Mavericks: If your owner is criticizing you over lack of effort, I don't think they stand much chance against the Lakers. Also, ever since we got Gasol, we've probably won every time. Am I wrong? I do think most of the games would be be 5-10 point Laker wins. We wouldn't convincingly beat them or something. Lakers in 5 (Jason Terry and Devean George - okay, maybe not George - would abuse us in one game).

- Phoenix: It's going to take Amare 8 weeks to come back, with a miracle. He could most likely have extra stuff going on with his eye afterward. However, I don't think things change much with Amare. In their new system, having two big guys clog the paint makes things tough. But, ever since Fish has come back to the Lakers and we've made the PG match-up at least a little bit better, we've beaten them. Fisher can attack Nash on the offensive end and Nash's lack of athleticism doesn't get by Fish as easily.. where Smush or Chucky Atkins were Nash's jock strap begging for mercy. Bynum will be back and all of a sudden Shaq doesn't get 30 points. He gets 15-20. Big difference. Lakers in 5.

[dockingsched]

number one team that comes to mind is the utah jazz. first and foremost is deron williams. everyone always talks about chris paul being the elite pg in the league, but if you only saw lakers game you'd think deron is far and away the best pg in the nba. he just kills the lakers. fisher is a step slower than last yr, and farmar stands no chance at all. what i also don't like is their ability to spread the floor with okur, which is something that has proven to be a big achilles heel for the gasol/bynum frontcourt.

2nd i'd put the houston rockets, because of the elite wing defenders they can throw at kobe, and because yao ming can force the lakers to double down low regardless of bynum's presence.

last team i'll list are the san antonio spurs. a healthy duncan/parker/manu is never something to take for granted and if gooden's jumper is on, it can cause the lakers trouble like it did this yr when they played the bulls.

any other team, i'd be shocked if the lakers lost more than 2 games in any series, and would expect no more than 1 loss.

[lakersfanatic]

Here's my list in no particular order:

LOL!

Mines would be whoever that makes it to the western conference and then ultimately the Championship hehehe But on a serious note, it's still kinda early to predict the teams going to the playoffs other than the top 4-5 teams... a lot of position changes will be taking place between now and the post season. When the post season is about to start.. that's when this question should be asked and anaylzed

[Erik Eleven]

The Lakers is the only team that scares me.

This team is good enough to win it all, but they need to put it together mentally for 48 minute stretches. If they play focused, nobody can beat the Lakers this season.

OK then, Cleveland is the team I fear the most. After that, I'd put Spurs and Celtics in shared second place. Then Detroit, Utah, Orlando, in that order.

[snaquille oatmeal]

the Kings wooped our butts

[Dexmor]

Stephon Marbury
Rockets with the defenders and the advantage at C if Bynum no show.

[semi-sentient]

Utah is a good team, but I'm surprised that so many people see them as our biggest threat.

They were healthy last season in the playoffs and we took them in 6 games (winning on their floor, I might add), and that was without Ariza or Bynum. We'll have both of those guys this post-season off the bench, and that makes a big difference. Sure, Deron Williams does give us fits, but if you recall Kobe pretty much always goes nuts against them as well (Kobe killed them last year in the post-season). Odom had a field day against Boozer, and this year Odom is playing even better and with more attitude so I expect more of the same. Same with Pau and Okur. This year we are even better, and the Jazz have struggled all year with injury. Their chemistry is simply not going to be as good as ours and I don't believe for one second that they can win on our floor in the playoffs -- not with the way we are playing this season.

The only advantage I see for the Jazz (as far as starters go) is at PG. Their bench is pretty solid as well (AK17, Millsap), but since we'll have Ariza and hopefully Bynum to counter, we win that match up quite handily.

Anyway, IMO the only teams that stand a chance against us are the ones that can contain Kobe. You take him out of the game by making him take difficult shots and clogging the passing lanes (much like the Pistons did in 04) and you give yourself a great shot at beating the Lakers. The only 2 teams capable of doing that are the Rockets and Celtics -- both of which can also contain Gasol/Bynum on the inside. The Jazz and Spurs simply don't have the personnel to stop Kobe, so that means constant double teams which works to our benefit big time.