If Lakers made the finals

[TruSkool]

how do you see the lakers matching up and playing against the way the heat are playing currently? I personally think the heat would have handed it to us. the mavs seem to be giving a better series to the heat than the lakers would.
although, i'd like to think the lakers would demolish any team in the east, but this finals series is kinda showing us how much considerably better other teams have become, and how much more the lakers need to improve.
LA's defense seems nowhere close to the defense miami is playing, and it seems like kobe doesnst have it in him anymore to take over late games like dirk has in this series.
dirk seems to be the best player in the finals, hands down. if lebron and wade cant outperform dirk, i really doubt kobe or gasol can.

[Imadogg]

Well if we made the Finals, we'd have been a much better team, played much better on offense and defense, so we can't really judge what would happen.

If the Lakers from this year though somehow skipped the 2nd round and went straight to the Finals... we'd obviously get our asses pounded.

[Gek]

I feel like if our team played to the best of their ability, we'd win. It would end up being a contest between seeing how well the Laker bigs can stay out of foul trouble and how many jump shots Wade, James and Bosh could hit.

[hermes]

we would have won

[BEazy]

ugh don't remind me...we'd win tho.

[H00PDREAMS]

I almost got kicked off the board for bringing this idea that NBA teams would eventually rely on the Zone Defense to slow down Miami. Some laughed some scoffed. In fact everyone said that if a coach use Zone D on the Miami they would get canned. Well that being said Dallas Zone'd Miami in 2 to perfection to bad it didn't have the same effect in game 3. Soo... Where was I...


We would have played less Zone. Lakers in 6.

[The-Joker]

depends on how the lakers bench peforms and how the bigs play on both sides of the floor

[real2wheel]

In watching the Mavs/Heat series thusfar, I think that other then the 7-minute collapse of game 2 in Miami (most likely due to Lebron's & Wade's lapse of consciousness overlapping), the Heat pretty much are having their ways with the Mavs. Heat dominating on offense and defense. Wade is a monster on defense, chocking the Mavs. I guess those roid injections are paying off (and don't tell me Wade is not juiced up; look at his bloated face). Terry, Barea both shot all their wads out against the Lakers and OKC, they now drip blanks.

But the real sad story here is that the Lakers themselves got swept by the Mavs. Hmmm, so does this mean the Lakers would be pwned by the Heat too? Yes, match up would be different, but in general, I have to say yes. Wade at this point pretty much negate Kobe both on offense and defense. In fact, I would say Kobe would have more problem guarding Wade then the other around. Then you have Lebron. Who on the Lakers can guard him? Artest ain't gonna. Then what about Bosh? Bynum does't have the speed to guard Bosh if Bosh decides to play away from the basket. And then you will have Gasol fouling out in 2 quarters if Bron and Wade wanna take it to the hole more (Gasol will be in their way, and in hte process get Espana posterized on the map).

I just don't see how the Lakers will match up. The way I see it, the Lakers will need a mininum of 2 big defenders agains the Heat, like Bynum and Howard. Gasol is slow and soft, he's gonna get owned by teams with many athletic players, and they don't get more athletic than Wade & Bron!

Heat will have a dynasty coming soon. They'll attract quality ring chasers to fill their roster/bench for the next 5 years. Kobe at this point can't contend with neither Bron nor Wade, let alone 2 of them. So what is the Lakers gonna do? With Jimmy Buss at the helm, watch out!

[wallsfamily]

Let me bust a laker bubble!!!! You cannot play defense laterally! Wade and Lebron would take turns penetrating! Kobe would have to guard Wade and Artest would feel it against Lebron! Heat would have used Z and Damp for minutes and allow Haslem to pick and pop. Lakers have never been able to guard pick and roll and james and wade would have punished them. Lakers need to reconfigure the team because the heat will own the next five years!

[semi-sentient]

I've been suspecting that Wade has been juicing for years now. His jawline/cheekbones say it all.

Anyway, I think we would have gotten our asses kicked based on how poorly we played against the Hornets and Mavs. We just didn't want it this year and guys were worn down.

Also, don't count on the Heat being a dynasty just yet. Other teams can and will counter what they've done, and all it takes is an injury to one of their big 3 and their chances decrease considerably. The dynasty talk shouldn't even start until they manage to repeat, let alone win a single championship. A few seasons ago everyone thought we'd be winning the next 5 championships, and look at how that turned out.

Don't forget mileage either. LeBron james is currently sitting on 29,000 minutes played and players typically start breaking down at around 40,000. After 2 more full seasons (including deep playoff runs) he will be well past 36,000 and knocking on that door as well. While he is one of the most physically gifted players ever, he still has to take care of himself. I wouldn't count on him getting as much mileage out of his body as Kobe has, that's for sure.

Wade, given his injury history and the fact that he isn't nearly as durable, will probably begin breaking down around the same time if not sooner, so I'd give the Heat another 2-3 years after this one -- and that's assuming that complacency doesn't set in sooner. They will still be very potent for a solid 4-5 years, but it's going to take a lot for them to reach dynasty status.

[Sedale Threatt]

If we couldn't guard JJ Barea and Jason Terry, how would we guard LeBron James and Dwyane Wade?

[LApwnd]

If we couldn't guard JJ Barea and Jason Terry, how would we guard LeBron James and Dwyane Wade?

think the hypothetical scenario would've suggested we either found a way to guard them and beat Dall or we overcame this deficiency by doing something else. However even if we had beaten Dall then OKC, I dont think we could beat Mia. They're D is elite something our team hasn't been majority of the season, it wasn't elite agaisnt NOH and it was borderline Dleague lvl against Dall. With that said, Wade/James would dominate right now on O, they would just run PnR w/ Wade/James/Bosh every possesion.

[Slava]

We couldn't sniff them when we were at our best in the regular season (17 game streak). No way a flawed team that looked tired by the day have a chance against athletes like those guys.

[The Laker Kid]

I won't kid myself.. but IMO this Heat team is probably one of the best teams the NBA has ever seen. I'm inclined to say that this Heat team can probably give the Jordan/Pippen and Kobe/Shaq teams a good run for the money.

If we've gone to the Finals, we'll probably get swept with this current roster.

[The Laker Kid]

[....]
But the real sad story here is that the Lakers themselves got swept by the Mavs. Hmmm, so does this mean the Lakers would be pwned by the Heat too?

With this current roster? I'd say yes.. we're too old, too tired, and not motivated. But with a prime Kobe? #8 Kobe with a fro would make every Heat cry in Spoelstra's arms.

[LApwnd]

I won't kid myself.. but IMO this Heat team is probably one of the best teams the NBA has ever seen. I'm inclined to say that this Heat team can probably give the Jordan/Pippen and Kobe/Shaq teams a good run for the money.

If we've gone to the Finals, we'll probably get swept with this current roster.

no way man, Jordan/Pippen/Rodman would eat this Mia team alive, we seen all 3 get shut down at one point or another against Chi, its just Chi didn't have the 2nd ASG guy show up in Boozer. As for the Kobe/Shaq team in their prime, Shaq would KILL every one of Mia big and Bosh would look everybit the Rupaul of big man shaq claims him to be , as for a Prime Kobe he would've easiy checked this current version Wade and Pretty Ricky would make life hell for Lebron.

[Shamizy]

I won't kid myself.. but IMO this Heat team is probably one of the best teams the NBA has ever seen. I'm inclined to say that this Heat team can probably give the Jordan/Pippen and Kobe/Shaq teams a good run for the money.

No way. Shaq would outright dominate anyone the Heat threw at him on the defensive end, Kobe/Fox would make life difficult for Wade/Bron, and our supporting cast was much more than capable back then. Seriously, Jordan/Pippen Bulls teams as well? I'm going to assume you haven't seen much of the Jordan/Pippen Bulls if you're throwing that out there. Pippen would lock down LeBron, MJ would absolutely dominate Wade on both ends of the floor, and the Bulls with their assortment of roleplayers (Rodman, Kukoc, Kerr, etc.) would make life hell for the Heat.

[Leor_77]

The honest truth is that we would have gotten beat handily by the Heat if we played like we did against the Hornets and Mav's. If we actually played to our abilities though (i.e. during our 17-1 run), I think we would have had a great chance to beat Miami, simply because we would be working them on the boards and completely controlling the paint.

[TruSkool]

I won't kid myself.. but IMO this Heat team is probably one of the best teams the NBA has ever seen. I'm inclined to say that this Heat team can probably give the Jordan/Pippen and Kobe/Shaq teams a good run for the money.

If we've gone to the Finals, we'll probably get swept with this current roster.

00-02 lakers
08 celtics

the only 2 teams in the last decade that would probably beat this heat team...otherwise i dont see it happening. they're that good right now

[Jajwanda]

I don't see why that should be the case. If this team finds a way to acquire a PG that can take advantage of Bibby-Chalmers they can beat the Heat. They're better inside, they have good wing defenders and there's an opportunity to be had at PG.