To have a clear advantage over these teams, first of all you have to have HCA, I call it a single chance to make a mistake in a playoff series, because even if you lose one at home, you go on the road and can even it back, just like we did twice last year against Houston and Denver. All you need to do is to win one out of three games on the road, it's difficult, but if you're a top team like the Lakers, you can do it.
What about playing against these teams, the Lakers just need to dictate their game and execute.
Denver, when you play good transition defense against them you transform them into a clean jump-shooting team. Melo, Billups and J.R. Smith can go lights out, but so they can miss a lot too. Usually they go lights out when you give them space and start struggling if you're getting in their heads play-by-play. The only weakness against Denver is Fisher in defense and rotating on the high pick'n roll, that's how Denver will try to get an advantage against us. On the glass everything seems fine for us. Against Denver, we do really need Ron playing quality defense against Melo to gain an advantage. Kobe will have his. Yep, we need our bench, at least Shannon, Farmar and Odom playing consistently every game.
P.S. I'm not afraid of Denver as long as we have HCA
Dallas - their defense gets sloppy very often, even when they're playing at home. We just need to exploit all this by making them double Kobe to get as much easy baskets as possible. Butler is new over there. He's a great offensive player, bad in defense. They seem stronger with Caron, but only on paper. Don't let Terry wide-open if you want an easier life against the Mavs. We've got the advantage here too, considering we're healthy. Let Dirk have his 25 points and shut down the others.
HCA here too is an advantage for us.
Cavs - as I've said many times, just get Shaq out of the paint, make him move, tire him out, open the lane ! You won't score many points in the paint with him just standing there, and you won't shoot too many jump-shots, cause we're not a jump-shooting team. Don't let them outhustle us and get momentum and confidence. Shut down Varejao, I mean, don't let this guy get into your head, just knock him a couple of times and get the ball. Mo Williams is a clear advantage over Fish, then there's LeBron. Last year we did a decent job on him, this year not even close. They seem to be deeper this year with some added role players in Parker, Moon, then there's West, Ilgkauskas etc. Make LeBron shoot and keep an eye on Mo Williams. It all depends on who will have HCA, I suppose. One last thing, if Lakers want to beat the Cavs, they need Lamar playing every damn game just like he did recently and last year in Cleveland, maybe start him ? He's creating match-up problems for everyone, and especially for the Cavs.
Overall, I'm confident as long as everyone's healthy and executing the offense and playing tough defense. You need luck too against such teams. I hope luck is on our side.
Yes, and try to outscore them !
