First let me say I think the Lakers will make it out of the west no matter who they face on their quest for the 'ship...that said how these playoff seeding are panning out couldnt be any worse for the Lakers IMO. Barring some crazy shit going on our first round matchup is Utah. I dont know what the hell has happened to them but they are nosediving right when I thought they would be getting their act together since everyone is virtually 100% healthy. Well now here they are in 8th place....a team with an awesome winning percentage at home and forget how to play bball on the road. Before this little collapse of theirs I wanted to face them the least out of any playoff team in the west. They play hard "physical" (aka: fouling but not called) basketball. They have a top PG in the league and a 2 time all star rounding into shape...along with a HOF coach. Im hoping for a 5 game series but wouldnt be surprised if it went to 6. If we had Dallas in the first round anything besides a sweep would have been a disappointment. 1-8 Winner faces 4-5 winner... Its a logjam but as I type this HOU(4) is gonna face POR(5) in the first round...Once again, I have faith the Lakers would prevail but not the most desirable matchups. We are 3-0 against Hou and 2-2 against POR. Houston has two top notch Kobe defenders in Battier and Artest and Ming to go up against Bynum. Battier played the best single game defense on Kobe last year that I have ever seen in my life. If I had a choice I hope HOU wins this series because... ...the Blazers. Fuckin-A...wtf...this is the team I fear worst in the west more than any other. Sometimes matchups are just weird. Lakers are 4-0 against the Mavs this year, POR is 0-4 against them....go figure. Most if not all of the other playoff teams have a better record against them than the Lakers so lets just hope they have a quick first round exit. All their main players have played great at some point in the year, lets hope they dont all put it together at the same time. WCF probably Nuggets or Spurs... Dare I say a series against either of these opponents would be easier than any of the other playoff matches up to this point??? I do...I do... The Spurs are just done...too old, too injured, no HCA. The Nuggets...cmon, no way. Coby Karls dad gonna knock the Lakers off??? No way. Melo who still hasnt made it out of a playoff series going to the finals? No way. The Birdman and Nene> Pau and Bynum?!?? No way SA, Hou, and NO was what I was hoping for in whatever round Thoughts?
We'll take out Utah in no more than 5, IMO. Boozer and Deron are knocked up aren't they (not pregnant, hurt ;])? They may take one up in Utah, but I don't think they'll do any more than that. I'm not going to lie, Portland scares me. I'm thinking we could beat them at least once up in Portland if we have to (which we won't have to, but we will do it if we face them). THey can't win down here in LA, if anything, it'll be 7 games and we'll win. I don't want to see that. Houston doesn't scare me at all. Kobe and the Lakers have torched them all year and Mbenga plays Yao pretty well. Denver? Doesn't scare me. San Antonio? No Way. Portland is the scariest team for us, IMO. I was convinced it was Utah, but not anymore.
We haven't won in Portland in the regular season in 8 years right? I'm not exactly sure about the numbers, but I think it's right. I believe in the postseason though, we are 6-3. You guys should check these numbers because I picked them out from my head, although I'm sure they're pretty accurate. 1st round should be a breeze. I wanted Dallas but they are playing better basketball than Utah. Utah was over rated coming into the season, many "experts" thought they would challenge the Lakers for the west. I never believed it. Laker fans probably just feel anxious because they only remember the last time we faced Utah, which we lost. Does that matter? No. Dallas is going to be hot coming into the playoffs. Utah? Not really. Their star Deron Williams is banged up heading into the playoffs, and the rest of their roster doesn't scare me. They play piss poor on the road, and at home, it doesn't really matter. We beat them in Utah last year, and this year, they've regressed. Nothing to be scared of. They can't beat us at home, all we have to do is steal one on the road. Being the best road team in the NBA, I don't see why we shouldn't. As for the second round, haven't really thought of it. Matching up against Portland will be a tough battle. We struggle in the Rose Garden, but from the numbers I've already pointed out, not so much in the playoffs. The last three times we faced Portland in the postseason, we won three rings. So yeah. Playoffs are different than regular season anyways. No way they beat us. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. None of the teams in the west will beat the Lakers in a 7 game series. They can give us a push, but they won't win. Not with our HCA. Rest, or whatever is overrated. I thought it would help us after all those games Boston played last year in the postseason, obviously not. We cakewalked through the west and never faced a challenged. Thus we were unprepared when it mattered most. I want us to be challenged this year in the postseason. I want us to be battle tested going to the Finals (if we make it that far).
Devils advocate says we had Shaq back then and ZERO of the current Blazers were on any of those teams
Devils advocate says Kobe-Pau-Drew-Lamar etc, our current team, has only lost ONE game to the Blazers on the road then. And the 8 years thing was bullshit. It's only 7 games that we lost there. I don't know what the hell I was thinking.
I agree with everything DaRizzle said in the first post. I too am scared of Portland. The optimal path would be Dallas, Houston, Spurs (I pick the Spurs because Manu is out, and we beat them last year). The Nuggets have changed a lot, and even though I think we would beat them, they are unpredictable.
I think losing in Portland wasn't much of an issue, it gave Phil a chance to look at the game from a different perspective and allowed us to grow closer with Drew and get him experience. I think Seeds 2-6 are rather comparable, so to me I really don't care what we face it will all end up the same. It is good we're staying sharp in these last meaningless regular season games too.
The Blazers aren't a concern as currently constructed. Oden would really have to improve a ton, and he has shown to be no more capable of improvement than Bynum frankly. Bottom line is that, above perhaps all else, they're too young to knock out a veteran team like the Lakers. They might give the Lakers a scare just because they're so deep, but honestly with the way Bynum is getting back into shape and, hell, with the way the freaking surprise of the year, Shannon Brown, has played I really don't see how they stand a chance unless they win every single one of their games at home. Which, of course, probably isn't going to happen in the postseason and wouldn't matter anyway since the Lakers have homecourt.
Agreed, and I freaking love the kind of heart Shannon shows us on D, he has a chance to contribute as much or more than Fish per minute.
Now, I love the Blazers and think they're a great up-and-coming team but....ah, you guys have said it already. Beating a dead horse, quite frankly. The Lakers (esp. with home court) would take them out in 6.
where have you been? the blazers just beat us in a really tight game... im sure they'd give us a run for our money but the lakers SHOULD be a lock for the finals!
Now that the Spurs are incredibly banged up, I'm really not too worried. I think Portland could be a challenge, but they're so young and the only player I can think of off the top of my head on that roster that has any playoff experience is Steve Blake. They're youth will catch up to them if they have to play a veteran-laden team like us. I like their talent, but I don't think they're ready to make too much noise in the playoffs.
Thought I might plop a Blazers fans perspective on you guys, and where our teams at. Our teams been growing about as fast as the most optimistic fans had hoped it would this season. We're a much better team than we were when we started the season by getting stomped by the Lakers in the first game. It's gotten to the point where we're starting to think we've got a dark horse shot at making a deep run this year. Emphasis on dark horse, but looking around the west if anyone's going to take L.A. out this year I think we've got the best shot. As far as home court goes I don't think L.A.'s home court is as impenetrable as many seem to think, but I don't think Portland's is either. Check out the Hollinger rankings and that's pretty much the odd's I'd put on anyone stopping you guys getting to the finals again this year. Honestly I'm just hoping that Cleveland stops you, or Boston gets Garnet back and can repeat. I've got nothing against Bynum and Gasol, but I just enjoy Kobe losing. DaRizzle - Dallas only played Portland 3 times this year. Minor gripe.
If Houston beats Dallas tomorrow night, they'll be Southwest Division champs, meaning the Spurs/Blazers would face off at the 4/5 spots. I think it's worse if you face either of them in the 2nd round. One way the Lakers can manipulate the standings is if they lose to Utah tonight. That, coupled with Houston beating Dallas tomorrow, will bump Utah up to 7th and Dallas down to 8th.
Then I hope they tank it, and I hope Houston wins. I don't think the Blazers can win against the Spurs in a playoff series.
