http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...spurslakers012509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns&print=1 Lakers strike newfound fear in West By Johnny Ludden, Yahoo! Sports Jan 25, 11:16 pm EST LOS ANGELES – Pau Gasol’s shot caromed off the rim, and, suddenly, Andrew Bynum was pushing past Tim Duncan, snatching the ball out of the air and forcibly flushing it back for an emphatic dunk, a show of aggression in the third quarter that brought a smile to the face of every member of the Los Angeles Lakers. “When he plays that way,” Lakers guard Derek Fisher said, “it makes us almost impossible to beat.” The San Antonio Spurs have reason to wonder the same, as does the rest of the Western Conference. The Lakers took the court Sunday afternoon with a healthy roster for the first time in a month, with their young franchise center playing better than he has all season, and, well, isn’t this exactly what everyone feared? The Lakers beat the Spurs 99-85, dismissing their closest challenger in the West so thoroughly that San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich didn’t even bother to summon either Duncan or Tony Parker from the bench in the fourth quarter. Kobe Bryant and Bynum also spent the game’s final 12 minutes relaxing on the sideline, the former having gone for 22 points, the latter totaling 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks in an efficient 24 minutes of work. Afterward, Popovich stood outside the Spurs’ locker room, preparing to field questions when Gasol cut through the scrum of reporters and photographers on his way to an interview. “The guy is going to kick our ass,” Popovich deadpanned, “and then come in the middle of my news conference?” If their latest outing was any indication, the Lakers figure to turn the West race into their own joke. Bynum has now strung together three impressive performances, putting up 42 points and 15 boards against the Los Angeles Clippers, and 23 and 14 against the Washington Wizards in his previous two games. Taking advantage of DeAndre Jordan is one thing; holding his own against Duncan is another. Bynum made the future Hall of Famer work for his points, even throwing back one of his shots, and when Bynum sealed him off late in the third quarter to intercept a deflected pass, Duncan grabbed the Lakers center in frustration for his fourth foul. Duncan went to the bench, where he stayed for the rest of the game. “He’s got a big body and defensively I thought he was effective,” Duncan said, “but I don’t know that he was much better than he ever was before.” That’s not entirely true. By this time a year ago, Bynum was already on the Lakers’ inactive list, shelved because of an injury to his left knee that would ultimately cost him the remainder of the season. The Lakers compensated for Bynum’s absence by plucking Gasol off the Memphis Grizzlies’ roster, a giveaway deal that prompted Popovich to jokingly implore the NBA to form a “trade committee that can scratch all trades that make no sense.” Memphis’ decision to send Gasol to the Lakers rankled more than a few other West general managers. When the trade was mentioned on Sunday’s TV broadcast, ABC analyst and former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy used it as an opportunity to call the Grizzlies the worst organization in professional sports. Van Gundy sees what Popovich and his peers saw a year ago: As good as Gasol made the Lakers last season, wouldn’t they be that more dominant once he lined up next to Bynum? The rest of the league only hoped that somehow Gasol and Bynum wouldn’t find a way to work together. After all, hadn’t it taken Duncan and David Robinson more than a full season to learn how to play off each other? Lakers fans wondered, too, if Bynum would ever tap into his potential. In a recent three-game stretch against the Rockets, Spurs and Orlando Magic, he totaled seven rebounds. Asked after the Rockets game about Bynum’s sporadic rebounding, Lakers coach Phil Jackson cracked on his young center. “Well,” Jackson said, “he got one.” Jackson hasn’t hesitated to tweak Bynum publicly, and even he admits his center has handled the occasional criticism well. For all of Bynum’s growing pains, he doesn’t make many excuses. “Andrew’s an enigmatic person,” Jackson said. “He doesn’t show a lot of emotion. But he does get to work.” The Lakers think that Bynum has finally begun to get his legs back under him, which has improved his confidence. He’s also seeing the game better. When the Spurs double-teamed him on the opening possession of the second, he found Bryant for an open 3-pointer. “That’s just the next stage of development,” Bryant said. Added Bynum: “I still think I can play better.” He can, and that should give the rest of the league pause. But what makes these Lakers so dominant isn’t what Bynum or Gasol or even Bryant do individually. It’s their collective strength. Jordan Farmar missed a month with a knee injury then scored 14 points in his first game back on Sunday. Trevor Ariza added 17 more off the bench. As the Spurs learned, the Lakers come at you in waves. They aren’t as battle-tested as the three-peat Lakers of Fisher, Robert Horry and Rick Fox were, but they do have something else. “I don’t know if we were versatile as we are now,” Fisher said. “We can play a lot of different lineups, a lot of different guys in a lot of different spots. … It makes us a difficult team to try and figure out how to slow down on a consistent basis.” That’s why neither Fisher nor Jackson nor Bryant saw the team’s one-point loss in San Antonio 11 days earlier as much reason to worry. Then, the Lakers were missing three of their rotation players. Now? With his roster back at full strength, Jackson was asked if he had any specific concerns heading into the season’s second half. “I really don’t,” he said. The Spurs can’t say the same. If Bynum continues to play big, if he and his teammates stay healthy and hungry, then the entire Western Conference has reason to wonder. Aren’t these Lakers what everyone feared?
I am being 100% honest when I say I don't feel threatened by anybody in the Western Conference and almost by anybody in the league.
I have absolutely no fear of anyone in the West right now. We are head and shoulders above every other Western conference team, and I wouldn't be shocked if we won the West by 10+ games. I won't be AS confident as Mamba in regards to the East, because the Magic still scare the shit out of me. However, the Cavs, at least to me, aren't much of a threat, and the Celtics, while still good, aren't as good as they were last year. They're going to miss that added depth later in the season and KG, Pierce and Ray are going to have some pretty tired legs come playoff time if they don't add some people to help spell them.
LMAO the Celtics are worse than last year? Why because they had one bad week? The loss of Posey is so overblown its incredible.
Well, you guys did lose PJ Brown. Your bench hasn't been as good as last season's either, and you guys don't really have much size.
How many games have you watched, one? Our bench is actually better this year, everybody has a defined role unlike last year and Davis has played very well for us in PJ Brown's role. But most importantly, Rondo is a million times better this year. Last year in the playoffs, he was a liability at times because he was so tentative and it even forced Doc to play Cassell a lot. This year he's a totally different player. And Ray Allen is fitting in much better this year, too.
We made it to the title game didn't we? I believe there is little to fear. The only thing that will stop these Lakers are themselves. Thats it. Otherwise, Im confident they can win this whole thing. Possibly for more than just one year too.
So was basically everyone else. Not a lot of people were giving the Celtics a chance against the Lakers, at least not media-wise.
What lesson? I don't think the Celtics dominated the Finals last year. The final score of the game clincher didn't mean much and the Lakers caved after blowing that 20 point lead at home. They never recovered from it mentally and the Celtics closed it out. A lot of people felt the Lakers would win the Finals. Look at the events leading up to it. The Lakers steam rolled through the West and knocked off the Spurs, who were favored to come out of the West, in dominating fashion. Meanwhile the Celtics hadn't won a road game in the post season and barely got past the Cavs. I think all those games the Celtics played to get to the Finals actually helped them win it all. It allowed their starters to gel and the bench came into the series with a lot of playoff minutes and confidence. Lakers were never challenged enroute to the Finals and they didn't know how to react when they faced their first obstacle.
i think that the celtics are a little better with rondo's game improving immensly and people like davis having solid performances, but they havent added a double-double guy like the lakers have (bynum) and they havent added an energy guy with great D and unbeleivable athletisism (ariza), see with these two added to last years finals roster, we add exactly what we needed to beat you guys, plus you lost posey and pj, who were pretty active in the finals, one of the reasons that you won.
Not only did they beat them by 40, but they came back from like 23 down at the Staples Center. And the Celtics had finally won a road game in Detroit before making it into the Finals. Our team was pretty shaky last year compared to right now, Rondo had no idea what to do when teams didn't defend him. House was exposed as a weak ball handler, forcing Cassell to get his minutes despite not knowing the offense at all. PJ Brown was a late season addition who barely played in the regular season and was put into the rotation in the postseason after it was evident Powe and Davis weren't groomed enough for playoff basketball. Ray Allen was dealing with issues off the court and also struggling to fit in to the offense all season. All these issues have been solved this year. Rondo has become much more aggressive and rips teams to shreds that try to drop off him and double KG and Pierce. Pruitt has emerged as a legit 3rd option at point guard if teams try to press House. Powe and Davis have had a steady stream of minutes and have progressed well enough to fill PJ Brown's role. Davis even outplayed Dwight Howard the other night without the help of a double team. And Ray Allen has been a million times better this year, as well. He's getting shots out of set plays without forcing anything. He's about as efficient as it gets so far. But most importantly, when it comes down to must win games, no other team in the league can play defense like the Celtics. People mistakenly credit a lot of our great playoff defense to Posey, but I challenge anybody to go back and watch how the Celtics defended LeBron and Kobe. It was mostly the result of a great defensive scheme. And if you break it down even more, LeBron and Kobe were actually more successful with Posey on them than they were with Pierce on them. I don't see how the fans of other teams could ever write us off. Cleveland and LA are great teams, but neither have proven they can beat the Celtics in a series yet. You guys are way too confident considering the circumstances. I don't hate you for it, though, I just like having fun with it.
