Lakers Starting Line-up:Smush ParkerKobe BryantLamar OdomRonny TuriafChris Mihmkey rotation guysevean GeorgeSasha VujacicBrian CookKwame BrownScouting report:-They of course feed off of Kobe Bryant, but lately, Lamar Odom has been completely tearing it up, with Lebron-esque numbers (21.8 ppg, 9.8 rpg, and 7.5 apg in last four). He is really emerging now. And the amazing part is, Kobe isn't really declining. This is a very dangerous duo now. If this Laker team can get deep, they can make a huge jump in the west. I don't want to repeat alot from the last thread, so this won't be as long. It''ll be more of how the players are doing lately. Really, Lamar and Kobe are the only one's doing anything out of the ordinary, but they are for the most part doing their jobs. The bigs are rebounding and defending, the guards are shooting well. Delonte will have to take care of the ball better than he did last time. Smush has very long arms, so he needs to stay strong with the ball. Ronny Turiaf has recently been moved to the starting line-up, but he doesn't play much after that. He is an energy guy, but he does tend to get over aggressive and foul alot. I would say this team is better now than they were when we last played we played the (largely due to Lamar Odom). It's always a great game between these two teams, so if you have NBA TV, tune in for this one.How to play them:-Move the ball. The Lakers have alot of very talented one-on-one defenders, and if Kobe is on, we'll never win a one-on-one battle with them. Their big men are not very quick to react (ahem, Chris Mihm), so quick passes should allow open shots and/or offensive rebounds.-Attack their bigs. It worked last time. They can get in foul trouble or we can get easy baskets. win/win situation for us.Key Match-up:Once again, I'm going to avoid Kobe vs. Paul..Delonte West vs. Smush ParkerWe know Delonte will probably get more points than Smush, but it goes much farther than that. Delonte really needs to protect the ball. If he can do that, and play like he normally does on both ends, i'm picking the Cs for sure.Break out players:BOS- Tony Allen. He's really been coming on lately, and his aggressiveness will be key. He'll take it to the basket and get their bigs infoul trouble. he'll also play tough D on Kobe and maybe get him frustrated. The only way i can see him not scoring in double figures is if he gets slapped with foul trouble guarding Kobe. My predictions are 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals.LAL- Lamar Odom. He's been on a mad streak lately. And no matter who we throw at him, he'll have an advantage. If ryan guards him (which i expect he will), he will have a big size advantage. If Wally guards him (knock on wood), he'll have a size and speed advantage. If only we had Danny Granger...Final prediction:BOS-107 LAL-105
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JustBlaze @ Mar 20 2006, 04:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Should be a good game, usually is against them. We have a good chance though, I think it's a good match-up. I just said good too many times also.</div>that's what JustBlaze said. I deleted his post earlier.
I have a feeling the game will be close and it'll come down to Paul pierce and Kobe bryant. I predict the Celtics winning by 1 simply because this is a back to back game for the lakers and we suck at it.Prediction.102-97.edit: Chris Mihm is injured so Now Bynum and turiaf is in our rotation.
WHAT IS THIS?KOBE GETTING MUGGED AND NOTHING IS CALLED.<Censored> THESE REFS.edit: Kobe's getting to the hole alot and is not getting the calls.And kobe's jacking up <Censored>. ARGGGGGGHHHH
^It's bc he is initiating all the contact. Our players are staying straight up and he's running into them.now about the game.. The offense is horrible, the defense is horrible, somebody kill me now.
He's iniating the contact to make sure the refs call fouls seeing as how last night and a few games before that nothing was called.It's digusting, lakers have 1 freethrow attempt. What;s more sickening is that we lead them 26-16 with points in the paint. Phil tried to tell the ref to wake up and gets T'ed up.
And the laaaaaaaaakers wiiiiiiiiiiiiiinThese refs need to get their head checks in, at half time we attempted only 1 freethrow.
yeah, and kobe got every call in the second half. Kobe is the biggest complainer in the nba. I can't believe him. Okay, he's driving to the hoop and just loses the ball, nothing was called, but then he yelled and gets the call. Then he complains that it was on the floor when he clearly wasn't going up for the shot. I saw the replay and there was NO contact at all. He was complaing BIG time all night.
Yes he complains alot but when you constantly get no calls for the last 3 weeks, it's something. Gosh, everyone has picked it up that these refs are just not calling anything. Today wasn't as bad as yesterday though.edit: LOL, on espn they just showed gomes tried to fould kobe intentionally and no foul. was calledThis is disgusting, there are all POS.edit: After the half he was getting calls yes, but at halftime we attempted 1 freethrow as a team.. Explain to me how that happened? We were definently getting fouled.
i agree, the refs seem pretty bad these days, but you have to realize that they're calling it bad for both teams. Every team is going through the same thing.
True, however this is happened 3 games in a row and the refs are blatently ignoring fouls. Yesterday lebron drives gets touched, And 1. Kobe drives goes for the lay up heavily fouled no call. Odom drives gets hammered no call.All of this happened in the clutch. It's disgusting, these refs have been horrible this season.edit: Today kobe drive gets hammered scores no foul called. Kobe gets pushed and gets called for the travel. Turiaf got fouled too and nothing was called.
The kobe play you were referring to, he ran straight into Raef LaFrentz who was completely straight up. He initiated all the contact, and they're just not going to bail him out. As for his travel, he just lost his footing, no one was even behind him to push him. I don't remember the Turiaf play. But seriously, i could name a few plays just like you did where the Cs didn't get a call. Just GIVE IT UP!
Hey explain to me how the lakers attempted 1 freethrow at halftime? Do not tell me the cetlics weren't fouling us because they were.I've never seen a superstar in this league disrespected in the last few games like kobe has. You can call us whiny people but this is what i see.
I admit, the lakers should've shot more FTs in the first half, but they were all pretty much borderline calls, none of them were really obvious calls.When you are used to Kobe getting every single call, you may think it's all disrespect, and that he's getting completely screwed by the officials, but it's really not as bad as you are making it up to be. Stop being such a baby about it.
I agree, the refs are so inconsistent on kobe's part. Before his defender got within 2 inches of him and a foul was called. Now he gets hammered in mid air and no foul called.Both of them are to the extreme.
