Do teams have to play a Godly performance to beat LA?

ChickenPox · Post #1 » by **ChickenPox** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:42 am

I don't think its fair for the NBA... I also think David Stern is gonna make sure Laker games don't become boring.. thus he will have refs favor the opponent at 1 point :lol:

this Laker team is making the 03-04 Laker team look like the brady bunch in a bad kind of way.

Ming Kong! · Post #2 » by **Ming Kong!** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:52 am

Nah the 03-04 Lakers were rediculously good, but Kobe fell apart in the playoffs that year, and Malone was injured for half of the season, and came back at the end, and he was never the same in the playoffs, and got injured again in game 4. Kobe was a joke in the finals, shooting under .400. Remember the Colorado incident was a HUGE distraction that year. If not for all the crap, they could of been remember as one of the best teams of all time.

BullSoxChicago'sFinest · Post #3 » by **BullSoxChicago'sFinest** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:56 am

Eh, Roy was terrible in the Portland game (but the LA defense helped in making their team look bad) and I haven't bought the Clippers love, I'm still not sure LA is a sure thing for the Finals, ton of games left my friend

HarlemHeat37 · Post #4 » by **HarlemHeat37** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:58 am

we'll have AN IDEA of how dominant this Lakers team is from November 9th until the 14th..in that stretch, they play Houston, @ Dallas, @ New Orleans on a back-to-back, and the Pistons..

ronnymac2 · Post #5 » by **ronnymac2** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:02 am

^^^Very true...that's stretch will show, at least a lil something, about the metal of the lakers.

But damn, did we look good tonight lol

ChickenPox · Post #6 » by **ChickenPox** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:02 am

Harlem good assessment and I agree. but you also have to point out those teams probably have to play one of there best basketballs this season to have a chance.

HarlemHeat37 · Post #7 » by **HarlemHeat37** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:04 am

definitely..but you always have to play your best basketball to beat the best teams..the Lakers are the best team in the West, regardless of how they've looked these first 2 games, any team that goes up against them has to play their best basketball..

NO-KG-AI · Post #8 » by **NO-KG-AI** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:06 am

I dunno, Portland pulled back in a few times, and they played like trash. LA looks great, lets not overdo it though.

ClubLakers KB8 · Post #9 » by **ClubLakers KB8** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:10 am

NO-KG-AI wrote:I dunno, Portland pulled back in a few times, and they played like trash. LA looks great, lets not overdo it though.

LA played pretty sloppy against the Blazers too though. The first 18 minutes of tonight's game wasn't anything special either.

Bgil · Post #10 » by **Bgil** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:16 am

HarlemHeat37 wrote:we'll have AN IDEA of how dominant this Lakers team is from November 9th until the 14th..in that stretch, they play Houston, @ Dallas, @ New Orleans on a back-to-back, and the Pistons..

I don't think that's a good test. First it's really early in the season and Houston and LA have a lot of meshing to do (Battier is still hurt, right?). Second, the Lakers are playing an entirely new style of defense. We won't know how good they really are until someone finds the crack in it. That may not come until mid-season or, in the case of the Celtics, the first round of the playoffs.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Lakers beat all 4 of those teams simply by having a new defense those teams haven't seen before.

Patterns · Post #11 » by **Patterns** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:19 am

Their intensity is high right now. They won't be able to sustain it.

Look for them to calm down by December and start playing closer games.

LLcoleJ · Post #12 » by **LLcoleJ** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:22 am

Ming Kong! wrote:Nah the 03-04 Lakers were rediculously good, but Kobe fell apart in the playoffs that year, and Malone was injured for half of the season, and came back at the end, and he was never the same in the playoffs, and got injured again in game 4. Kobe was a joke in the finals, shooting under .400. Remember the Colorado incident was a HUGE distraction that year. If not for all the crap, they could of been remember as one of the best teams of all time.

Malone was great in the playoffs. Had he been able to play in the finals the Lakers could have done something in that series.

carrottop12 · Post #13 » by **carrottop12** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:29 am

Yeah, I'm not buying into the Lakers hype yet. The Blazers looked completely lost and then they played a "road game" against the Clippers minus their third best player.

They are good, and probably the best team in the West, but not by a lot.

SiCk-R-tHaNeVeR · Post #14 » by **SiCk-R-tHaNeVeR** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:38 am

Bgil wrote:
HarlemHeat37 wrote:we'll have AN IDEA of how dominant this Lakers team is from November 9th until the 14th..in that stretch, they play Houston, @ Dallas, @ New Orleans on a back-to-back, and the Pistons..

I don't think that's a good test. First it's really early in the season and Houston and LA have a lot of meshing to do (Battier is still hurt, right?). Second, the Lakers are playing an entirely new style of defense. We won't know how good they really are until someone finds the crack in it. That may not come until mid-season or, in the case of the Celtics, the first round of the playoffs.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Lakers beat all 4 of those teams simply by having a new defense those teams haven't seen before.

I'm a big Laker fan, but I don't see how having a new defense helps us "confuse" other teams offense truthfully. Having Bynum and Gasol obviously improves are defense, but they don't scheme away to throw off other teams or anything.

That being said I'm going total Laker homer and asking on the upper.....sane, realistic, side how many games could a completely healthy for the full year Lakers tram win this year?

64 <-- That's my realistic high end number

Rasheeed!!! · Post #15 » by **Rasheeed!!!** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:45 am

Boston doesn't think so

Bgil · Post #16 » by **Bgil** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:47 am

Batronuj wrote:Yeah, I'm not buying into the Lakers hype yet. The Blazers looked completely lost and then they played a "road game" against the Clippers minus their third best player.

They are good, and probably the best team in the West, but not by a lot.

We were the best team in the West last year... by a lot. This year, no one but Houston and the Lakers made any significant improvements. Arguably, PHX, SAS, and DEN got worse. Posey over Pargo may or may not be a net gain. Utah and Dallas did nothing.

Besides, the Blazers always gave us trouble in the past for various reasons and each one of those reasons was dismantled yesterday. The Clips may have been missing a player but they got blown out like an expansion team. Camby sure as hell wasn't going to make them put up more than their 17 points or whatever they were managing in the third.

Utah fans are just sour because everyone thinks Houston is going to kick your ass this year. lol

ChickenPox · Post #17 » by **ChickenPox** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:49 am

This has nothing to do with hype. I just think any team has to play there absolute best basketball to win against the Lakers.. that means 100% focused/determined..

lalalisa · Post #18 » by **lalalisa** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:59 am

The Lakers are good, but not as ~Godly~ as you guys are making them out to be. Just look at their first two opponents...Portland and the Clips.

ChickenPox · Post #19 » by **ChickenPox** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:11 am

^ No excuses dude; Portland was proclaimed as a dark-horse contender in the WC coming into the Season.. In fact they are more hyped up then the Utah Jazz and thats disrespectful. so in the NBA's eyes the Lakers beat a good portland team.

Tesla · Post #20 » by **Tesla** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:15 am

Ming Kong! wrote:Nah the 03-04 Lakers were rediculously good, but Kobe fell apart in the playoffs that year, and Malone was injured for half of the season, and came back at the end, and he was never the same in the playoffs, and got injured again in game 4. Kobe was a joke in the finals, shooting under .400. Remember the Colorado incident was a HUGE distraction that year. If not for all the crap, they could of been remember as one of the best teams of all time.

Malone played great in the playoffs up until he re-injured his knee in game 6 in the WCF. He was never himself in the finals, not even for a minute. The what if, Phil Jackson says was if the Lakers closed out the Wolves in Game 5 as he stressed. He made the injury even worse in game 4, where he just couldn't play at all anymore; however, he shouldn't have been on the floor in the first place even before he reaggrevated it.

Anyways... I hate this revisonist history,not to single you out because I think most people feel this way. Kobe played like crap, but that was (IMO) the last problem that just added to the dissarry that the Lakers were in the finals as a team.

Gary Payton: 34minutes, 4points on 33%+ bad defense, and bad attitude, added nearly nothing positive throughout the series.
Derek Fisher : 20minutes, 6points on 30%

So basically Smush Parker would have been a better player than Gary Payton, thats 34minutes of nothing from your point guard, another 14minutes of nothing shooting wise from point guard again with Fisher not being in any rhythm.
So Point Guard': Grade F

For power foward, you have a hobled Karl Malone putting up 6points on 33% shooting, playing bad defense because of his injury- basically a non factor on both ends. You have Slava Medvedenko, and Brian Cook backing you up- possibly the softest two guys in the league, they put up a combined 6points on 35%shooting - basically nothing.
So Power Foward: Grade F

Small Foward? Devean George, Old about to be cut/traded/retired injured Rick Fox, and rookie Luke Walton (Although Walton did play one great game). They provided nothing.
So Small Foward: Grade D- (only due to Waltons great game 2).

Now to everyones favorite: Kobe Bryant. This is why the Lakers lost the series.... or is it the only reason why they won a single game? Kobe played poorly, bad reading the defense,bad shot selection, bad chemestry... but other than Shaq, hes the only guy getting anything done for the Lakers in the finals. He played good on ball defense for the most part, played hard, but he just did play bad for his standards. He scored what 22 on 39% ... combine the rest of the HoF supporting cast (or those replacing them) and they don't even add up to that. Doesn't look that bad now does it?
Grade: D

Shaq: Got his baskets, but was shut down in game 3 which was a pivotal game. He played well, but wasn't dominant enough obviously, he was played mostly one on one, averaged like 27/11 on good percentages. Was the only guy that was able to play well, of course that was sort of the Pistons game plan. His defense and rebounds was still slow, and the communication of the entire team wasn't good on that end, with him being the anchor he gets some blame.
Grade: B

So what do we have? One good performances, and terrible performances accross the board. Still the other three positions combined for the Lakers didn't produce/help the game as much as Kobe did alone, and thats Kobe playing his notorious terrible crap series. The Lakers were BAD, really bad as a team, they were hanging by a thread toghether throughout the playoffs - and that thread was Karl Malone. Detroit deserves credit for playing out of their minds, and exposing/unraveling the Lakers in those finals, but its like giving Gavirllo Princep all the credit for WWI happening, the motions were already set for the Lakers to completley fall apart internally.

Sorry, about the long post. I just watched the series a week or two ago, and I just don't think popular opinion on that series is very close to the reality.

Anyways that 03-04 Laker team only played 21games or so together in the regular season, and they played 17 games in the playoffs. They were 30-8 in that span together (80%win). They were certainly much better than they are historically given credit for when fully healthy; however, they had their problems, chemistry/distractions with Kobe, but more so Gary Payton refusing to play the triangle and becoming a shadow of his former self, a shadow of even a scrub for christ sakes, Malones injury, Shaq's physical decline (although that was evident in the year before), and a very weak bench. Its actually pretty suprising they did what they did.

These Lakers? Too early too tell, but give me them any day of the week over those 03-04 Lakers, at least in terms of growth/potential. These Lakers have already proven to get you to the Finals without a key player, and now they could win it all. They don't have the internal issues, and at least your going to get what your going to get. It is only 2 games into the season, but based off last season they certainly should be considered the 2nd best team in the league this year (behind Celtics) and best in the West, (unless proven otherwise in the playoffs).

To beat the Lakers in the regular seaosn or playoffs it is how you beat any good team: play defense, and play smart basketball (little mistakes). The Lakers have plenty of weaknesses, they don't guard the 3 well, and I still feel like they are poor against dribble attack if they are attackted by a very aggressive player through the middle. (Pierce, Lebron)... but these are usually weaknesses to any team. The Lakers do look like they are going to be in the 55+ wins range again this season, possibly 60+.