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

[eatyourchildren]

How are you calling LA "thin" off the bench? Mihm and Mbenga are two legit 7-footers, and Mbenga is a physical specimen (and Mihm isn't soft). LA has 4 legit 7+ footers (Mihm, Mbenga, Gasol, Bynum) and another two at 6'10"-6'11". They have extreme size at every position except PG and are easily the tallest (and more importantly, the longest) team in the league. How many other teams even have two legit 7-footers on their team, much less four?

They are a long and skinny team, for the most part. That's why Jackson is using such an extreme defense (comparable to the Karl Sonics' SOS defense)--because the Lakers can't bang like the Celtics can but still need to apply suffocating pressure. And it's also why Jackson has sped up the offensive pace so much--the alternative to tiring out players, other than leaning and bumping them all the time, as we learned from the Suns, is to outrun them.

I can't shake the feeling that you're overcharacterizing the team a bit. They are long yes, and tall yes (hallmarks of Jackson team, surely), but 'extreme size' would imply that they're big, too, which they're not. I still think the Celtics have the best mix of horizontal and vertical size.

[KF10]

The Lakers IMO are on another level right now with Bynum. But you don't need a "Godly" performance to win against the Lakers. The opponents need to attack the Lakers in PnR scenarios (iirc that was the Lakers weakness last year) and basically have a "A" game as well.

Even though, the final scores weren't close, the Kings were virtually close with the Lakers in all of their 4 games together..in several quarters last year but we decided not to play defense for several possessions and we made Kobe angry thus we ended up losing...But we won a game against the Lakers in Staples though due to PnR offense and etc...

PNR doesn't work as well with two 7 footers in the game. One will always be back guarding the rim.

Yeah, true. But the Kings have the luxury having bigs operating well in the high post thus bring your big to the high post as well...That creates more spacing and offensive opportunities for the Kings. But then again, the Lakers can always counter that move by having Bynum/Gasol posting the **** out of us.

[pacers33granger]

powell is a great 10th-11th man. i loved him when he was here in indy and he always produced when called upon.

[Sedale Threatt]

Odom playing PF, that worked out well in the finals didnt it?

No, but it wasn't much of an issue while the Lakers were knocking Utah's ass out of the playoffs.

[Sedale Threatt]

powell is a great 10th-11th man. i loved him when he was here in indy and he always produced when called upon.

On point. He came in against Denver with everybody else in foul trouble and did a very nice job for about five minutes. Barring a string of injuries, that's about all he's ever going to have to do with the Lakers. Coming at less than a fourth of the price as Turiaf, he was a great pickup.

[Killua]

powell is a great 10th-11th man. i loved him when he was here in indy and he always produced when called upon.

On point. He came in against Denver with everybody else in foul trouble and did a very nice job for about five minutes. Barring a string of injuries, that's about all he's ever going to have to do with the Lakers. Coming at less than a fourth of the price as Turiaf, he was a great pickup.

it was a Horrid pick up they should of kept CJ GILES atleast him comming in during trash time he could develope and become a good player off the bench for the Lakers

[Sedale Threatt]

Please. Giles is a top-of-the-trash-heap D Leaguer who had a few decent quarters in the preseason. Big deal. Why waste time developing some journey man to fill such minor role when you've got somebody who can already fill it? That was a no-brainer.

[NO-KG-AI]

Odom playing PF, that worked out well in the finals didnt it?

No, but it wasn't much of an issue while the Lakers were knocking Utah's ass out of the playoffs.

To add to the point, Odom at PF wasn't the problem, Odom not playing well was a bigger problem...

[Chris435]

This team will end up with at least 2 championship. I don't think a 3-peat is out of the question.

[USA]

Let them win one first before you go saying they will win two. Forget about a three-peat.

[Kobay]

Team has long ways to go. We're still dependent on Kobe and bench+starter, still got ways to go.

[SDChargers#1]

Team has long ways to go. We're still dependent on Kobe and bench+starter, still got ways to go.

Isn't every team dependent on their bench + starter?

[Kobay]

^too much. Kobe shouldnt be averaging this many points in 30 something minutes, Bynum needs to take more shots. We wont be able to beat boston if others cant take on the load and challenge.

[Chris435]

Let them win one first before you go saying they will win two. Forget about a three-peat.

Perhaps I should have said that they have SERIOUS potential to get a 3-peat. Their performance so far isn't a fluke... There's not a doubt in my mind that this team will win at least 2 titles and compete for the next 5 to 6 years.

[SDChargers#1]

^too much. Kobe shouldnt be averaging this many points in 30 something minutes, Bynum needs to take more shots. We wont be able to beat boston if others cant take on the load and challenge.

Kobe has only had to score 30 once this season. I would say that is a pretty good start for not depending on him. Kobe is going to get his, whether we need it or not.

[DEEP3CL]

^too much. Kobe shouldnt be averaging this many points in 30 something minutes, Bynum needs to take more shots. We wont be able to beat boston if others cant take on the load and challenge.

What the hell are you smoking or sniffing ? The man is only averaging 24.4 a game, we all know he could go off for way more then that. We have Four people averaging double figures, while L.O. Trevor and Drew are averaging 9.8, 9.4, and 9.2 respectively..............that's almost SEVEN guys averaging double figs. Nice try dawg but you swung and missed big time in that analogy.

[dockingsched]

look at you and those facts, get out of here with that stuff!

[Bgil]

How are you calling LA "thin" off the bench? Mihm and Mbenga are two legit 7-footers, and Mbenga is a physical specimen (and Mihm isn't soft). LA has 4 legit 7+ footers (Mihm, Mbenga, Gasol, Bynum) and another two at 6'10"-6'11". They have extreme size at every position except PG and are easily the tallest (and more importantly, the longest) team in the league. How many other teams even have two legit 7-footers on their team, much less four?

LOL. When J23F comes to the defense of the Lakers you just know someone was spouting some unbelievable b.s.

What the hell are you smoking or sniffing ? The man is only averaging 24.4 a game, we all know he could go off for way more then that. We have Four people averaging double figures, while L.O. Trevor and Drew are averaging 9.8, 9.4, and 9.2 respectively..............that's almost SEVEN guys averaging double figs. Nice try dawg but you swung and missed big time in that analogy.

What's nice about Kobe's scoring is that it's all within the rhythm of the game and there's only been 9 three-point attempts in 5 games.

[DEEP3CL]

look at you and those facts, get out of here with that stuff!

Hey when guys are wrong they gettin chin checked...........period end of discussion.