24 > 23

[tmac4real]

As in 23 is Lebron James.

As much as i hate to say it, Bryant showed by polished offensive game and experience reigns supreme over brute force and athleticsm.

[Boognish]

I dunno, Lebron pretty much played as well as humanly possible. I see his failing more as a team failing.

[Desiderium]

kobe was great...but the cavs didnt give lebron 60 pts of help unlike the lakers did.

[tmac4real]

kobe was great...but the cavs didnt give lebron 60 pts of help unlike the lakers did.

I guess part of why LBJ couldn't fire in some spots wsa because he was fatigued and lack of support, good point.

[Sever82]

I dunno, Lebron pretty much played as well as humanly possible. I see his failing more as a team failing.

Have to agree with that. Lebron is a better player today than Kobe is. Kobe has Gasol and Odom to work with plus he has Phil as is coach. Lebron pretty much had nothing and averaged over 40ppg against the Magic, if he were on the Lakers, they wouldn't have lost a game to the Nuggets because Lebron would be able to match up with Melo defensively which is something Kobe wasn't able to do.

[Desiderium]

its stupid to have a race of stats with lebron, nobody can beat him, kobe comes close but not enough. lebron was fatigued cuz he had to score 50 pts a night for the team to have a chance. Mo williams failed him big time.

when orlando played the cavs, the order of points was like this:
1. Lebron (obviously)
2. dwight
3. rashard
4. hedo

mo williams would be lucky if he even made the 5th slot

last night:
1. kobe
2. PAU

not one player in magic roster scored above 14 pts (not dwight, rashard or hedo) but pietrus.

point is, lakers came out with DEFENSIVE intensity, and magic couldnt match it, thus they lost big. obviously they wont play this bad again..and i dont think kobe will put up 40 next game either...so its going to be a closer matchup, and the laker bigs (pau, bynum, odom) have to keep playin with intensity for 48 mins, not just 1 quarter.

next game is very important, we dont want to give them any confidence going into game 3 back in orlando for 3 straight games. worst case scenario if lakers win game 2 is that they lose the next 3 games in orlando, come back to LA trailing 3-2.

[tmac4real]

its stupid to have a race of stats with lebron, nobody can beat him, kobe comes close but not enough. lebron was fatigued cuz he had to score 50 pts a night for the team to have a chance. Mo williams failed him big time.

when orlando played the cavs, the order of points was like this:
1. Lebron (obviously)
2. dwight
3. rashard
4. hedo

mo williams would be lucky if he even made the 5th slot

last night:
1. kobe
2. PAU

not one player in magic roster scored above 14 pts (not dwight, rashard or hedo) but pietrus.

point is, lakers came out with DEFENSIVE intensity, and magic couldnt match it, thus they lost big. obviously they wont play this bad again..and i dont think kobe will put up 40 next game either...so its going to be a closer matchup, and the laker bigs (pau, bynum, odom) have to keep playin with intensity for 48 mins, not just 1 quarter.

next game is very important, we dont want to give them any confidence going into game 3 back in orlando for 3 straight games. worst case scenario if lakers win game 2 is that they lose the next 3 games in orlando, come back to LA trailing 3-2.

Magic will win game 2. All 3 pointers are not going to falter like they did last game.

On a more troubling note, I hope Dwight doesn't suck as hard as he did last game.

And as much as Lakers defensive intensity was there (which it was) Magic were still missing ALOT of open shots.

So while the Lakers may have still won, the blowout they had IMO is misleading.

They would have lost by 7-8 points instead of what they did had Magic been playing normally.

[Verbal]

As in 23 is Lebron James.

As much as i hate to say it, Bryant showed by polished offensive game and experience reigns supreme over brute force and athleticsm.

I'm glad you said who you said instead of you shouldn't of said.

[Verbal]

its stupid to have a race of stats with lebron, nobody can beat him, kobe comes close but not enough. lebron was fatigued cuz he had to score 50 pts a night for the team to have a chance. Mo williams failed him big time.

when orlando played the cavs, the order of points was like this:
1. Lebron (obviously)
2. dwight
3. rashard
4. hedo

mo williams would be lucky if he even made the 5th slot

last night:
1. kobe
2. PAU

not one player in magic roster scored above 14 pts (not dwight, rashard or hedo) but pietrus.

point is, lakers came out with DEFENSIVE intensity, and magic couldnt match it, thus they lost big. obviously they wont play this bad again..and i dont think kobe will put up 40 next game either...so its going to be a closer matchup, and the laker bigs (pau, bynum, odom) have to keep playin with intensity for 48 mins, not just 1 quarter.

next game is very important, we dont want to give them any confidence going into game 3 back in orlando for 3 straight games. worst case scenario if lakers win game 2 is that they lose the next 3 games in orlando, come back to LA trailing 3-2.

Magic will win game 2. All 3 pointers are not going to falter like they did last game.

On a more troubling note, I hope Dwight doesn't suck as hard as he did last game.

And as much as Lakers defensive intensity was there (which it was) Magic were still missing ALOT of open shots.

So while the Lakers may have still won, the blowout they had IMO is misleading.

They would have lost by 7-8 points instead of what they did had Magic been playing normally.

Would you like to make a friendly wager regarding the outcome of the game/series?

[tmac4real]

As in 23 is Lebron James.

As much as i hate to say it, Bryant showed by polished offensive game and experience reigns supreme over brute force and athleticsm.

I'm glad you said who you said instead of you shouldn't of said.

come again? Kobe will never touch the other 23.

[Verbal]

[Desiderium]

kobe is gonna get his, nobody can stop him on their roster. however lamar is going to score more than 9 pts, we played a good defensive game but our offensive game was nowhere close to normal except for kobe. our length really bothers dwight, makes it hard for him to find the open man. there were many opportunities where i thought dwight should have passed it to the open man...but didnt see him..and when he did see him, they would miss. i understand if ur having an offnight shooting the 3...but dwights game should be there every night! 12 pts..10 from the free throw line aint gonna cut it magic

[LA Warrior]

i'm still not sold that either one of these guys are "clearly" better then the other. Like the ESPN guys said last week my opinion changes all the time. Their both freakin amazing. Yeah Kobe has a much better team but I know he can put up the same Lebron stats that people drool over. Just wouldn't pull out the W, i mean it is a team sport. Wilt averaged 50ppg and didnt bring home the chip.

So basically i can see how people can think Kobes still better because IMO its still very close. There is no "clearly" best player in the NBA.

[TonyMontana]

Funny you come on here giving us and Kobe props and then you claim we are going to lose game 2.......... Thanks.

[hermes]

what are we even talking about, i'm lost

[tmac4real]

Funny you come on here giving us and Kobe props and then you claim we are going to lose game 2.......... Thanks.

So what? I'm supposed to jock Kobe like you do till where it doesn't make sense?

Magic have proven to be a dangerous team. I'm stating what I think will happen as a neutral fan.

I don't like the Magic and I don't like the Lakers.

You guys beating Magic didn't hurt my feelings, and if they beat you I'm not going to cry about it either.

It seems though that if Magic 3pointers get going they can hurt you, and is that saying too much considering Lakers have lost 2 games to Magic before?

[Blackfyre]

Two best player in the league but LeBron has surpassed Kobe individually. I still take Kobe over LeBron is fourth quarters and probably in playoffs because Kobe has tons of experience in every level of basketball and I am not convinced that LeBron is better leader than Kobe. LeBron has proven that he can be clutch but he is still missing many important FT's down the stretch (see Orlando series). Everyone is talking about LeBrons crazy numbers but at the same time Kobe has having amazing PO's too and he is doing it against better competition plus he has plaid +5 games compared to James. So yeah LeBron is better player but he still doesn't have some important qualities that Kobe has.

[tmac4real]

Two best player in the league but LeBron has surpassed Kobe individually. I still take Kobe over LeBron is fourth quarters and probably in playoffs because Kobe has tons of experience in every level of basketball and I am not convinced that LeBron is better leader than Kobe. LeBron has proven that he can be clutch but he is still missing many important FT's down the stretch (see Orlando series). Everyone is talking about LeBrons crazy numbers but at the same time Kobe has having amazing PO's too and he is doing it against better competition plus he has plaid +5 games compared to James. So yeah LeBron is better player but he still doesn't have some important qualities that Kobe has.

I've said all year. The way Kobe drops his 29/5/5 is like he doesn't even try. It's like he's been doing it so long it's on cruise control until playoffs.

That's the scary part, how easily Kobe would play and how easily the Lakers would win. It's showing now here late in playoffs.

[Blackfyre]

This years Kobe kind of reminded me of Tim Duncan who has been cruising for years now in regular season. Kobe has lots of mileage already and I don't feel it's necessary to waste his energy every night. He is always there when he is needed and makes good performances against top teams. In playoffs he has been our best player in almost in every night and all the things he does comes with flow of the game. He doesn't force it anymore (in early years of his career it wasn't rare to see him try to do too much).

[AmusingFiddle]

Let's wait Lebron to play for 13 years in the legaue and THEN we can form an opinion as to who is better. Kobe is WAAAAAAAAAAY more polished player than Lebron. Lebron has yet to work on his game a lot compared to Kobe. Lebron does not have a post up game like Kobe and does not shoot as well as Kobe. I read somewhere that when Kobe is shooting within 15 ft his shooting % is something like 70% (can someone confirm).

The same people that are claiming Cavs were the best team that WOULD (not could) take out the Magic and the Lakers are now claiming Lebron did not have the supporting cast. Please give the Magic some credit for their defense.

The Lakers have too many weapons. People fail to realize that part of the reason the Magic will not succeed is because their effort on the defensive end will impact their offensive game and vice-a-versa. With that said LAKERS WILL TAKE GAME TWO.