How good are We?

[shobe_81]

I was looking at the stats compared to the 8 years, granted we've only played a small sample size, it is still worth a look:


Team History
YEAR ------W--L---PF---PA
2007-2008 57 25 108.6 101.3
2006-2007 42 40 103.3 103.4
2005-2006 45 37 99.4 96.9
2004-2005 34 48 98.7 101.7
2003-2004 56 26 98.2 94.3
2002-2003 50 32 100.4 98.0
2001-2002 58 24 101.3 94.1

Currently:
2008-2009 W L --- PF ---- PA
--------------14-1 - 107.8 -- 94.1

Currently we're playing as good of a defense statistically as the 01-02 and 03-04 team while at the same time scoring 7+ more point then those same teams.

[SALMIEN]

Good enough to beat the celtics in 5 or the cavs in 6 in the finals

[Erik Eleven]

Not good enough defensively yet to beat the celtics in 5 or the cavs in 6 in the finals

^ Fixed it for you.

[TonyMontana]

O

[fareweatherfan]

EE- agreed.

Right now, I'm not sure we beat the Celtics in a 7 game series, regardless of home court.

I like our chances against the Cavs in a 7 game series, though.

At the risk of giving too much weight to one regular season game, the Christmas day game will be telling of our progess.

[hermes]

its a tough question, good is too relative a term

also i found it interesting that you are determining how good the lakers are now, compared to lakers teams of the past 8 seasons

this years team could probably beat the teams from 2004-2007 pretty handily, if thats what you wanted to know

[JimMurray]

Ask me again after Christmas.

[shobe_81]

It was more of a rhetorical question, I was just showing some stats to compare this team to the past. Basically, I think we're headed in the right path.

To EE, well we'll find out on Christmas, I feel we're the better team if we Win on the 25th, they've lost Posey and possibly PJ Brown and we've gotten back a healthy Bynum and a healthy Ariza. But then again they're a great defensive team and while we're better than last season defensively, we don't have "Individual" defenders like Boston: Rondo>Fisher, KG>Gasol, Perkins>=Bynum

The only match-up I'm worried about come 25th Pierce vs Radman...

In other positions:

PG: Rondo play well but doesn't shoot well from outside, Fisher isn't playing well
SG: ...
SF: Clear advantage to Celtics
PF: KG pussies away with his outside jumper so netural
C: Perkins a beast defensively but offensive? I think Bynum will hold ground

Bench: I think our Ariza is their Tony Allen, and Our Lamar is their Powe, and our Farmar... well he's better than House.

[Sedale Threatt]

Win or lose, a regular-season game in December doesn't prove anything. The only real proving ground is the playoffs, and the only measure of success for this team is a title. Christmas is just another step along the way.

[lakersfanatic]

We're doing quite well right now.. We're locking it down during the 3rd and 4th quarter.

Compared to the other years, we didn't really had a major competitor like the celtics other than close games against spurs.. trailblazers... kings.. etc... Major difference was that the celtics totally killed us during the finals.

This xmas game can really be a big test for us... or turning point..

[Chubby Chaser]

If we're healthy come playoff time then we would be the team to beat. We're way too stacked up front, and with Ariza and Lamar coming off the bench it's like we have 7 starters on our team. Our biggest strength is our versatility. We can run and gun, and we can slow it down and play half court sets. Not that many teams can make that assertion. The celts HAVE to slow it down and play half court offense. That's how they're built. The Cavs' game plan is to muck up the game and make it ugly and have Bron drive to the basket and get fouled. We on the other hand can slow it down and go through our half court sets with Bynum and Pau. Or, we can run and gun on teams by putting Lamar at 4 and sliding Pau to 5. As long as if we're healthy, we're definitely the team to beat. We took the Celts to 6 games without Bynum and a still injured Ariza. They're our two best defenders. We're a completely different team this time around and our point differentials are showing it.

[shobe_81]

CChaser, I know the Celtics have to play half-court but they killed us on Fast-Breaks in the FInals it was crazy

I think one of our key weaknesses is the Transition Fast-break defense

[Chubby Chaser]

What killed us last year was our weak interior defense. They had no respect for our bigs and just attacked the rim at will. I guarantee that Ray Allen won't get those cute layups after he blows by Sasha now that Bynum is protecting the rim. Now that we have BOTH drew and pau in the lane. I'm glad that Pau is being more aggressive this year. You can already see that he's head and shoulders more comfortable in the triangle than last year. He's shooting a lot more and his face up game is lethal. It's a whole different story now that Garnett is going to have to guard Pau away from the basket. Remember these?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIl22jC- ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6bx9YxA ... re=related

Last year Pau was playing center and KG was always under the basket to guard him. They put Kendrick on Lamar, and Lamar wasn't able to exploit that because when he drove KG was there. Now that Pau is at 4, KG is not going to get to be as effective help defender as he normally is because he has to guard Pau out of the key. Also, Pau operates better when he's away from the basket and has space to use his quickness. I think our BIGGEST mistake in the series last year was that we didn't go into Pau more against Garnett. This is a matchup that we can exploit and go after and get KG into foul trouble. Give Pau the ball away from the basket and give him space to go at KG. Good things will happen.

[iamworthy]

Not good enough defensively yet to beat the celtics in 5 or the cavs in 6 in the finals

^ Fixed it for you.

While I agree with your assesment about the Celtics I think we could take out the Cavs with no problem.

[Chubby Chaser]

.

[Chubby Chaser]

Not good enough defensively yet to beat the celtics in 5 or the cavs in 6 in the finals

^ Fixed it for you.

Sorry but you fail. Just like your assertion that Coby Karl can be our Older hurt Ron Harper.
I might give you the Celts since they give us problems, but we won't need 7 games to beat the Cavs. There are a lot of other teams that worry me before the freaking Cavs. I don't get why people feel a need to get on their knees and service Lebron. All you have to do is foul the kid at the end of the game and he'll choke from the line like he always does.

[hermes]

didn't we struggle against the Cavs last year?

[Sedale Threatt]

Sorry but you fail. Just like your assertion that Coby Karl can be our Older hurt Ron Harper.
I might give you the Celts since they give us problems, but we won't need 7 games to beat the Cavs. There are a lot of other teams that worry me before the freaking Cavs. I don't get why people feel a need to get on their knees and service Lebron. All you have to do is foul the kid at the end of the game and he'll choke from the line like he always does.

Because he's freaking awesome.

[Chubby Chaser]

Lebron is good but he always chokes down the stretch. His jump shot is suspect, and he's best when he is driving to the basket. I'll have more respect for Lebron when he starts hitting his free throws at the end of games to close teams out. How many times has he choked on the line in his career? A lot.

[Sedale Threatt]

"Always" chokes. Ask Detroit if he chokes. Ask the Celtics if he chokes. Please.