No team can stop a healthy Dwight in the post season

[GeneralNash]

Please read and look at the evidence before making judgement. Even with Kobe out, I always knew that this team had enough talent for a title run if one of the major talents got injured.

Now before the trash talk comes recognize the evidence:

1) Lakers have the 3rd best record since the All Star Break with Kobe.
2) And while losing Kobe to injury the team just beat two big western conference playoff teams to close out the season. That is what we call, peaking.
3) Spurs could not stop Dwight even with the hack-a-dwight desperation move by Pop.
4) Dwight has the rebound title
5) Dwight is healthy and right now, is the best center in the nba, playing with Pau, the 2nd best center in the NBA
6) Pau and Dwight combined for 38 rebounds in their last meet
7) What wins championships? A good half court game, elite big men, and teams that can rebound. (history evidence: Duncan and David Robinson, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Shaquille Oneal, Wilt Chamberlin, Bill Russell, etc.)

Dwight Howard is serious and is eyeing the championship. He is very serious and his demeanor has absolutely changed. He's not smiling as much and has that killer instinct that Kobe has. For one the team dynamic and cohesion has changed for the better, and Dwight has bought in to the Lakers, even becoming good teammates with Kobe Bryant. Going from this:



To this:

Kobe Bryant ✔ @kobebryant

D12 was a beast. He stopped by the hospital twice yesterday to check on big bro that's luv #countond12

To add to this development there are also the hints that Dwight will resign with the Lakers next season:

Arash Markazi ✔ @ArashMarkazi

I asked Dwight if he agreed with Mitch and saw himself as the future of the Lakers: "Yeah, I do. We talked about it plenty of times."

Dwight has definitely got it going on the defensive end for quite some time now. But the effort is also going beyond the norm, and his offense is finally taking flight...against the 2nd seed Spurs at that scoring 26 points and 17 rebounds:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyxfiggBFEc&feature=youtube_gdata&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=feed[/youtube]

So you can see Dwight Howard has evolved. He is hungry, and that Spurs game really is a glimpse of how hungry and dominating he can and will be for the Lakers. The Lakers are almost unstoppable with a healthy Dwight, even Popovich's hack-a-Dwight by the 2nd seeded spurs just didn't work. Dwight is serious about a title run. And if the Lakers make it to the Finals, the Heat and the Knicks don't have the interior defense to handle Dwight, let alone a Dwight / Pau combination.

[83SixersRocked]

Nobody has to stop Dwight. Stop everybody else, let DH get his. Game over.

[Buju]

Dont see them past the first round

[Goldtop]

Is Dwight holding a racoon? lol

[sfernald]

That is Kobe's very vicious dog. That thing will eat your arm off!

[BattleTested]

Dwight's offense is mostly dependent on other players creating for him. With no Kobe or Nash, Gasol is our best play maker. Scratch that, he's our only play maker. We don't have the shooters to space the floor like Orlando did, and even at their peak they were only a contender the one year KG got hurt.

Dwight's not the kind of guy you need to "stop." He's the kind of guy who does the stopping on the other end. Honestly Asik alone pretty much shut him down for much of the night yesterday.

[SichtingLives]

Nothing drives home a point like a bunch of pictures to beef up a post

[OneWhoKnocks]

Is Dwight holding a racoon? lol

That's...a dog.

[Volcano]

Gasol and Bynum can stop him

[ReturnofMVP3]

So who is going to bookmark this for the obvious I told you so once the lakers get knocked out

[GreenBloodedC]

If Knicks and Lakers meet in the finals, realGM is going to explode

[DV1990]

I think stopping everyone else would be more of a priority, like someone said, let DH get his against a healthy amount of tough defense. Keep Gasol and Dwight off the class, keep them out of rhythm, and let Dwight survive at the line.

Side note, I wonder why nobody's mentioned that Howard's actually still injured. His labrum is still torn--it doesn't heal without surgical intervention, meaning that he can injure it further...I'm sure his shoulder must be sore the day after every game, especially when he's got a ton of dunks, gets blocked/has a lot of outstretched arm movement. I had some excessively detailed thread about the injury, and what is important I'd suppose is that he CAN continue playing, almost normally in fact, but when using a little too much effort with that arm extended, it takes its toll.

I guess there is no choice but to have him play through it though. Stop the rest of the team and you stop LA. I can't see them beating the Grizzlies if they end up against them. The Clippers, Thunder, and Rockets all pose a legitimate threat against the lakers, although I doubt some of those teams will even get that far.

[NickAnderson]

I am more interested in finding out if that is really MASE in that pic.

[whocurrz]

Except for all those teams that have stopped Dwight every time he's been in the post season. And that was when he was healthier than now. Not to mention he played on better teams than this current one without Kobe. And the Spurs team they face in the first round is no joke.

Honestly, the Lakers did a good job the 2nd half of the season and Dwight has been playing better but Kobe carried that squad. They won a few games without him riding emotion from kobe going down, a win or die home attitude and a home crowd to some scrappy come from behind wins. But they shot like 35% and that's the type of performance that is going to lead to getting blown out in an opponents houses with real playoff intensity. Hoping for a good series but honestly think spurs win in 5

[King d]

Gasol 2nd best center in the league?

SMH and I'm spanish..

I hope you are just trolling OP

[GeneralNash]

Gasol 2nd best center in the league?

SMH and I'm spanish..

I hope you are just trolling OP

Name a better center than gasol not named dwight.

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[Carmelofan]

They are going to lose in the first round.

LA is going to get swept. 5 at the most.

[King d]

Gasol 2nd best center in the league?

SMH and I'm spanish..

I hope you are just trolling OP

Name a better center than gasol not named dwight.

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I'll name 4 instead

Marc, Noah, Hibbert, Duncan

Enough?

And Pau isn't a center by the way, that's like calling LaMarcus Aldridge a center

[OneWhoKnocks]

^While I think OP is a delusional homer. Pau is definitely meant to be a 5.

[King d]

^While I think OP is a delusional homer. Pau is definitely meant to be a 5.

He was a SF back then in spain, his ideal position is the 4, and that's why he has played there every year since he came to the nba

That may change for the last years of his career though as he is getting slower.

Anyway, calling him the 2nd best center in the league is pretty ignorant,