The Lakers are one of the best teams in the league - and one bad game is not going to change it. But, there is a little bit of truth to the claim that their schedule was somewhat favorable. I think what it tells us is that while they are a great team - they are not so far ahead of the rest of the league that they are invincible - as some pundits were trying to claim them. I still think that this is the year the Cavaliers are going all the way and LeBron is getting his first ring. This is a league of superstars and at this point LeBron clearly separated himself from Kobe and Wade who are fighting for 2nd place on the superstar scale. Lakers are still the favorites to come out of the west. Just my opinion.
Yeah i didn't think the Lakers would be this good as a team... but wow. In my mind they look like the best team in the NBA. Enjoy it Laker fans!
He hasn't separated himself nearly enough to make up for the vastly inferior team around him compared to the Celtics and Lakers. Compared to the Lakers, for example, James and Kobe are close in ability, and Bynum, Gasol and Odom are far, far better than Ilgauskas, Williams and Sczerbiak. The thing that leads me to believe the Lakers really are head-and-shoulders above everyone else is the defense that they're playing. It was clear that they had a lot of offensive talent, but Phil Jackson has got them playing a defensive scheme (a strong side trapping system) that the team has been executing to the tune of a lock-down defense. That's scary.
I kind of disagree. The Cavs were a better team than LAL last year - they gave the Celtics a much harder time than LAL did and they kicked LAL's rear in their head to head meetings - but the Cavaliers were a better team than LAL despite the fact that if you took Bron away from the Cavs they would not have made the playoffs in the east, and if you took Kobe away from LAL - they would at least contend in the tough west - Pau, for all of his softness, when surrounded by a good team and a coach that knows what to do with him - can take a team to the playoffs (he did it with Memphis under Hubie Brown). This tells me right there that Bron is a better player than Kobe - and it seems even more so this year. Now - while the LAL defense is much improved this year - I am still not sure that it is as good as the Celtics D was last year - and it still took an entire team effort to slow LeBron from them last year. Last year, if you could slow LeBron - you were basically going to win the game unless Boobie got crazy hot from the 3 (which he does every once in a while). This year - it is going to be a lot harder to stop the Cav from scoring even if you commit the entire team to stopping LeBron and manage to do it - because Mo Williams is going to score. The Cavs are now going to be able to score consistently beyond LeBron. If there are no injuries - the Cavs seem like the championship favorites to me.
Pau Gasol did not play against the Cavs last year, Bynum was present for one game, and the Cavs won the first few games against the Celtics while LeBron was in a slump. LeBron is a great player, but his team also put up a great effort that series. In a seven game sample size right now, I wouldn't take any team over LA.
I don't think this is a good way to measure team ability. The Cavaliers beating the Lakers head-to-head is an artifact of a 2 game sample. A 2 game sample really doesn't communicate any information. And as far as the playoffs go...the Hawks also gave the Celtics a closer series than the Lakers did, but I don't think it means much. The Celtics, for whatever reason, sleepwalked through the Eastern Conference playoff rounds, but woke up in the Finals. They looked like a very different team in the Finals....many fewer unforced errors, much more active defense. The last point is that the Lakers in the Finals aren't the same team as these Lakers. They didn't have Bynum. Bynum isn't a star yet, but he's an important player. Prior to his injury last season, he was giving the Lakers what Gasol gave them later, in terms of production. And Bynum provides a better defensive presence. Now they have both Bynum and Gasol. I think the Lakers are significantly better than the Celtics, this season, and the Celtics are significantly better than the Cavaliers. I would say the Lakers are the heavy favourites to win the title, the Celtics are the team that has a reasonable chance to beat them if they play a great series and the Cavaliers, Hornets and Rockets are second-tier contenders who would need lots and lots of luck to beat the Lakers in a series.
