After an injury riddled season, and a disappointing finish, no one is giving the Lakers a chance against Phoenix. The Lakers are a heavy underdog in the series, and most people are predicting Phoenix to sweep us. How do Laker fans feel about our chances? Do you have the same lowered expectations in the post season? What will it take to consider the Lakers having success in the post season? Winning 1 game? Winning 2 games? Winning 3 games? Advancing to Round 2? I know a lot of us wanted to see this team get to at least the second round this year, but I don't think any of us expected to finish as the 7th seed. Do the Lakers still have to advance to meet your expectations or will competing with Phoenix in a 7 game series be enough at this point?
I'm not sure if we'll beat Phoenix, honestly, I doubt it. But what I do know is that we will put up a great fight. We always seem to play our best basketball against Phoenix, and I expect the same to happen in the playoffs. Personally, I feel we will win at least 1 game, 2 games max. But we will keep Phoenix fighting to the end. There won't be any blowout victories, and every game Phoenix wins will be hard fought. Although I don't believe the Lakers will win the series, if we do somehow upset Phoenix and advance, I honestly wouldn't be too surprised either, seeing how this team took Phoenix to 7 games last season. The biggest difference though, will be the return of Amare Stoudimire. Kwame Brown played great defense against Amare in our earlier matchups, so as long as Kwame stays healthy, he'll give us a chance. I'm not expecting much from this team. All I expect is for them to play a full 48 minutes of basketball with heart and energy
I doubt that we will beat Phoenix, but I like the underdog position for the team. If those guys can get mad about finishing the season bad, and stop clowning around on defense, maybe our chanses will be bigger.
Yea I donno about beating Phoenix but I think they will do better then people expect, they are build for the playoffs!
I personally like the underdog position. I think with everyone doubting us, it give us that me against the world feeling, and I think the Lakers can thrive off that, especially Kobe. I think he's going to look to be very aggressive this year as opposed to last year, seeing as how we're a little banged up still. Do I think we can win though? Hell yea I do. I think we do have the ability to beat the Suns. We've got the ability to dominate the inside and it's just a matter of playing our matchups well. If we can get Odom going and utilize his length against Marion, that's one we could easily take advantage of. So, yea, I think we do have a chance and I think we can make this a long series with the Suns. We just have to make sure we're not completely relying on Kobe.
I would consider success in the post season beating Phoenix, if they go to the WCF I would consider that amazing. I consider it successful for the Lakers to even make it to the playoffs with the injuries they had, sometimes that can disrupt chemistry. Although they came together and made it.
If you look at the Suns' shooting percentage in their last two games against us, our strategy of slowing down their offense has worked (they've shot 45 and 38 percent respectively). The problem with that is that we've expended so much energy on containing them ourselves that our shooting percentage has been just as bad, and they're a vastly superior free throw shooting team. That said, I think this puts us in a favorable position, as slowing the Suns' down offensively is the key to beating them for any team. In the playoffs, if Lamar can come out with a vengeance and with Smush now benched (resulting in a more fluid offense), I'm cautiously optimistic about our chances. Kobe will need to be big in this series, but I think it would be unwise for him to even try to take over, as that plays in to Phoenix's gameplan (because it slows down the rest of our team defensively). If I were to make a prediction, I think the series will go 6 or 7 games with the Suns winning. I'd love to be proven wrong though.
I personally pick the Lakers to either take it to 7 games and lose, or by a miracle win in 6.. I don't think they can win a game 7 in Phoenix, just like last year. I really hope I'm proven wrong though.
I just wanted to post Kobes 2006 Workout Routine that put him in Great Physical Shape and Condition, not the 666 this one got kobe more speed and great stamina along with a defined body. It is quite different then the 2002 routine. Check it out it worked 1000x better for me and made more sense 6 days a week 4 hours a day 6 months straight 1 hour of air alert 15 week program then air alert adv a month later....1 hour of lifting mon-fri.... and 2 hours of practice mon-sat SUN REST 4 HRS TOTAL 646 WITH 1000x BETTER RESULTS REPOST!!!!!!!!!!! Monday-Lift First Before bball or running! Chest Work outs for 1 hour Workouts Were AirAlert And AirAlert Advanced for jumping and Stamina running basketball along with strength training best of both worlds strength quickness and flexiblitly along with practicing. Monday- Chest sets are all 10,8,6,4 increasing 10 pounds everytime Bench Press Barbell Incline Press Barbell Decline Press Barbell ButterFlies Freeweight or Machine Tues-Back sets 10,8,6,4 increasing 10 each time Latpull downs- Cable row- Pull ups- Machine Pull downs- Deadlift- Wed-Shoulders sets 10, 10, 8, 6 Shoulder Press- Lateral Raises- Dumbbell Raises- Shrugs free weights- Shrugs barbell- Thurs- Legs- 10, 8, 6, 4 Leg Press- Leg Curls- Squat Barbell or Smith Squat- Calf Raise Machine- Fri- Arms sets 10, 10, 8, 6 Bicep barbell curl- hands in for the inside biceps 4sets, 4 sets of hands outside for outside biceps Incline Bicep Curl- Hammer Curl- Tricep Pulldown- SkullCrushers- Pushups- Dips with weight or without at first- each day you focus on a different muscle work it out hard fast should not be in the gym for more then 1 hour! Make sure to take 1 protein shake a day along with the eating right carbs proteins calcium water fruits vegtebles thats all you should be eating the right stuff
KOBE ROUTINE For BBALL AND CONDTIONING REPOST!!!! For the Basketball Part Mon-Sat BY THE WAY AB WORKOUTS SHOULD BE DONE EVERY OTHER DAY! 1000 Made jumpers 1 hour Dribbling Drills for 1 hour 10 Suicides and 40 yard sprints 5 reps Start Slow then increase Air Alert Should be done 2-3 hours before lifting! Its AirAlert Kobe Bryants workout routine For Strength And THE DEFINED BODY MORE CONCEREND ABOUT STRONG AND QUICK NOT BULK AND STRONG Then 2hrs of basketball practicing those things I stated AirAlert will increase your Vertical 9-14 inches guaranteed along with stamina working out will give you great condition to be stronger and play harder and more confident as you get stronger... and those 1000 shots for 1 hour dribbling drills for 1 hour and 10 suicides with sprints should give you great skill and condition... UNDERSTAND ITS: 1HR AIRALERT the chart will tell you on what days 1HR LIFTING 5 days a week 1 body part a day 2HRS BBALL 6 days a week 1000 Made jumpers, 1 hour of hardcore dribbling drills, then put in the suicides and sprints at the end and call it a day. i did this for 6 months straight i play at michigan state uni i run a 40 in 4.5 i have a 38 inch vertical not bad for a 6"4 white dude and my shot and handles and stamina are great...
<div class="quote_poster">dachoszenone Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">KOBE ROUTINE For BBALL AND CONDTIONING REPOST!!!! For the Basketball Part Mon-Sat BY THE WAY AB WORKOUTS SHOULD BE DONE EVERY OTHER DAY! 1000 Made jumpers 1 hour Dribbling Drills for 1 hour 10 Suicides and 40 yard sprints 5 reps Start Slow then increase Air Alert Should be done 2-3 hours before lifting! Its AirAlert Kobe Bryants workout routine For Strength And THE DEFINED BODY MORE CONCEREND ABOUT STRONG AND QUICK NOT BULK AND STRONG Then 2hrs of basketball practicing those things I stated AirAlert will increase your Vertical 9-14 inches guaranteed along with stamina working out will give you great condition to be stronger and play harder and more confident as you get stronger... and those 1000 shots for 1 hour dribbling drills for 1 hour and 10 suicides with sprints should give you great skill and condition... UNDERSTAND ITS: 1HR AIRALERT the chart will tell you on what days 1HR LIFTING 5 days a week 1 body part a day 2HRS BBALL 6 days a week 1000 Made jumpers, 1 hour of hardcore dribbling drills, then put in the suicides and sprints at the end and call it a day. i did this for 6 months straight i play at michigan state uni i run a 40 in 4.5 i have a 38 inch vertical not bad for a 6"4 white dude and my shot and handles and stamina are great...</div> Oh men you are crazy, your game gotta crazy good!!!
I don't think the Lakers will beat the Suns. We simply can't muster a descent defense against their style of play. Last year we had success because Amare was out with an injury, Bell was suspended, and Barbosa was not a huge factor for Phoenix. Now all these players are active and we can't match their speed. I honestly believe we had a better chance playing the Spurs..
<div class="quote_poster">Brok3n Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think the Lakers will beat the Suns. We simply can't muster a descent defense against their style of play. Last year we had success because Amare was out with an injury, Bell was suspended, and Barbosa was not a huge factor for Phoenix. Now all these players are active and we can't match their speed. I honestly believe we had a better chance playing the Spurs..</div> I don't think we hada chance against any of the top 3 seeds. I thought that the onlt way we can advance to the 2nd round would be if we faced Utah, and that was pretty much hopeless when the injuries started piling up. Barbosa and Amare are really hutrting us now, we just don't have the spped to guard Barbosa and the post defence to guard Amare.
I said the Spurs only because we don't have to worry so much about the up-tempo style that the Suns are using. I believe we could have contained Duncan with Kwame/Bynum, Parker with a mix of our guards (including Smush), and our role players can handle their role players..
This season for me has been a disapointment.. Another year of Kobe's prime wasted. The guy turns 29 next year, Mitch better get some help this offseason, even if it means trading Bynum, if some how they can avoid trading Bynum and still be able to get a player, that would be one of the best thing the Lakers have ever done.
The season has been so dissapointing. But, in this playoffs, I would only consider it success if the Lakers could win at most 2-3 games.
