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Both teams have benefited from terrible trades of great players allowing them to be powerhouses this year. It seems that they might be playing for the championship at the end of the season. Who do you think would win a 7 game series.

To be fair, the Celtic's trade was still better than the Gasol trade.

At least they got Jefferson and Gomes- but, then again Garnett is far superior to Gasol.

People don't understand how much it sucks to have to pay 40 million for 2 years. Lakers were the only team with that expiring and willing ot also pay for Gasol.

Lakers lost Kwam-ay Brown for Gasol....KWAM-AY BROWN!~

They didn't lose Lamar, Bynum, Farmar....KWAM-AY BROWN.

Day in the Life wrote:Lakers lost Kwam-ay Brown for Gasol....KWAM-AY BROWN!~

They didn't lose Lamar, Bynum, Farmar....KWAM-AY BROWN.

Name me all the 9 million expirings in the leauge. Every team that has one won't be willing to pay the tax on Gasol.

I think the Lakers experience, depth and superior coaching would ultimately push them over the top against the Celtics. The 'big 3' are pretty close for both teams (Kobe, Gasol, Odom vs KG, Pierce, Allen), but the Lakers supporting case is far superior. They have better PG's, better C's, a much better bench and a HOF coach. I would take the Lakers in 6, regardless of who has home court advantage.

I must not have been clear

I think that the Lakers height on the front line would end up dominating the Celtics.

Bynum, Gasol and Odom. Man that's alot of length.

I think the Lakers still have to worry about San Antonio.

Lakers got better with Gasol, but they also lost Kwame who played Duncan as well as you could play him. I think Gasol would be ineffective with Duncan on him. So if they play the Lakers IMO the Spurs would still win because I can easily see Duncan going off like he does against the Mavs.

JordansBulls wrote:I think the Lakers still have to worry about San Antonio.

Lakers got better with Gasol, but they also lost Kwame who played Duncan as well as you could play him. I think Gasol would be ineffective with Duncan on him. So if they play the Lakers IMO the Spurs would still win because I can easily see Duncan going off like he does against the Mavs.

This thread is a hypothetical situation were the Lakers and Celtics make it to the finals and play each other. Clearly, there are a lot of variables effecting that (less for Boston) but no one is claiming that both teams are going to meet in the finals; so lets discuss who wins the championship. Obviously the Spurs could easily be in the finals. Nice insight tho.

RoyceDa59 wrote:I think the Lakers experience, depth and superior coaching would ultimately push them over the top against the Celtics. The 'big 3' are pretty close for both teams (Kobe, Gasol, Odom vs KG, Pierce, Allen), but the Lakers supporting case is far superior. They have better PG's, better C's, a much better bench and a HOF coach. I would take the Lakers in 6, regardless of who has home court advantage.

I agree with the superior coaching, but I don't agree with the other two. In regards to depth, Rondo/Perkins have already proven to be capable starters. Then you have coming off the bench: Sam Cassel(pretty safe to assume he's going to be signed), James Posey, Tony Allen, PJ Brown, Eddie House, Big Baby and Leon Powe. That's one of the deepest teams IMO. The experience factor, Posey + Cassel have been to the finals and KG/Allen/Pierce/Brown/Pollard/Scalabrine/House have a lot of playoff games under their belt as well.

JordansBulls wrote:I think the Lakers still have to worry about San Antonio.

Lakers got better with Gasol, but they also lost Kwame who played Duncan as well as you could play him. I think Gasol would be ineffective with Duncan on him. So if they play the Lakers IMO the Spurs would still win because I can easily see Duncan going off like he does against the Mavs.

Bynum plays Duncan pretty well, he has the strength, length and athleticism to match up with him... We can put Bynum on Duncan and Pau on Kurt Thomas/Oberto... On the other end, I dont think Thomas/Oberto can handle either one of Bynum/Gasol so one of them is going to be able to get theirs

That said, the only two teams that scare me are the Spurs, and Celtics... But I think the Lakers would be able to pull both series' out if Bynum comes back and fits right in

I think it'd be close but in the end go with the Lakers in 6 or 7.

They have a little bit better depth with the freak of nature that is Bynum making the diffrence among role players, the best player in the NBA in Kobe, and I'm sure Doc will do some minor things that will cost the celts 3 ppg either with poor defensive matchups or bad offensive calls.

The only thing that can break it up for the celts is if there roleplayers get hot from 3 and Kobe's shots don't make up the diffrence. That's two events happening at the same time and I don't very much think Kobe would be outdone offensively.. he's not afraid to pass to an open 3 pointer for Sasha or Fisher.

At least we'd have more opportunity with the Lakers then the Spurs and who knowes this is just me taken a guess at rosters as a whole. No one knowes how the matchups will truely play out.

It's nice to get some love from the other team. But I still see flaws in the Lakers team. They are too young, too inexperienced. If you saw today's game you would find out that their late game execution was bad.
They didn't foul Kidd when they got a chance, they left Dirk had an open 3 to tie the game, they couldn't give Kobe the ball and caused a turnover, missed like 4 or 5 freethrows that can put the mavs away.....

We didn't play great defense either. Most of the time we just blew the other teams out by scoring, but you can't do that in playoff. Sure we will improve when Bynum comes back, but it has to take time to adjust here and there. Therefore, I think our true legit chance to win a championship is next year, not this year.

RoyceDa59 wrote:I think the Lakers experience, depth and superior coaching would ultimately push them over the top against the Celtics. The 'big 3' are pretty close for both teams (Kobe, Gasol, Odom vs KG, Pierce, Allen), but the Lakers supporting case is far superior. They have better PG's, better C's, a much better bench and a HOF coach. I would take the Lakers in 6, regardless of who has home court advantage.

Experience?
Boston signs PJ Brown and is set to sign Sam Cassell. Those two alone have more playoff experience than anyone currently on the Lakers team other than Kobe and Fisher. What kind of experience are you talking about?
Big 3 are pretty close?
The 'big three' from the Celtics has all carried their perspective teams to the Conference Finals. Gasol has never even won a playoff game! Gasol was the 'star' for that team but wasn't able to carry the team past one playoff win. Odom is better as the third option when defenses focus on the other two 'star' players. He has glimpses of being a great player but not often.
Better PG?
After they sign Cassell, that mitigates that argument. It's pretty even with Fisher and Cassell both having years of playoff experience and both known as "clutch" players.

I have to give you the better coach, better C, and a deeper bench. Come playoff time normally the top 8 to 9 player would be rotated in so the bench won't be a factor.

i'll take the lakers

TheOUTLAW wrote:I must not have been clear

I think that the Lakers height on the front line would end up dominating the Celtics.

Bynum, Gasol and Odom. Man that's alot of length.

good point, but i still think the Celtics will win the series, because they got the mental edge of 3 future hall famers.

I think the Lakers are a better team than the Celtics.

While KG is more than the Laker bigs can handle, these series often come down to the will of the best player on the court. I really can't see Kobe not destroying Boston's guards. Tony and Ray and Paul can't defend Kobe well enough to make this interesting, while Bynum/Odom/Gasol should be able to slow down KG somewhat.

It would sure be a great series but I think I'll go with the best defensive team in the NBA right now. What people forget sometimes is that defense wins playoff games and the Lakers' defense is no more than mediocre. they do have enough offensive firepower to take them a long way in the playoffs, but I don't think it would be enough to win it all.

The C's have great tools to handle the Lakers in my opinion, they have 3 great defensive bigs to match-up with Bynum, Gasol and odom while the Lakers don't have anyone to match-up with KG. Kobe obviously would be very tough for the C's to deal with, but if they can force him to do everything by himself on offense while he'll also have to deal with either Pierce or Allen on defense, they're in good shape.

rony zeira wrote:It would sure be a great series but I think I'll go with the best defensive team in the NBA right now. What people forget sometimes is that defense wins playoff games and the Lakers' defense is no more than mediocre. they do have enough offensive firepower to take them a long way in the playoffs, but I don't think it would be enough to win it all.

The C's have great tools to handle the Lakers in my opinion, they have 3 great defensive bigs to match-up with Bynum, Gasol and odom while the Lakers don't have anyone to match-up with KG. Kobe obviously would be very tough for the C's to deal with, but if they can force him to do everything by himself on offense while he'll also have to deal with either Pierce or Allen on defense, they're in good shape.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinge ... ague%3dnba
I think the Lakers defense is a little better than mediocre, they have the 6th ranked defensive efficiency and when Bynum comes back there defense will only get better, with Bynum, Gasol, and Odom protecting the paint. Including Kobe and Fischer perimeter defending the defensive potential there is extremely high(Not as good as Boston, of course).

hermes wrote:i'll take the lakers

One line? Check
No argument for or against? Check
Siding with the Lakers? Check

Classic Hermes? Check