Kobe is Rose's equal, debatable. Gasol is certainly Boozer's equal, if not better. Artest and Deng should play each other to a draw. Fisher and Bogans are a draw, only because Fisher is so old. Bynum is the worst possible kind of player match up for Noah. All told, if Rose is better than Kobe, then Gasol is better than Boozer by about the same. Looks like one hell of a match up between the two teams. Odom, Blake, and Walton are quite good off the bench, and Odom is quite a bitter better than our 6th man. On paper, I don't see the Bulls as favorites. However, I do see there are intangibles, but even there it's hard to see Thibs somehow being a better coach or doing a better job than the greatest coach in the history of the game.
If we have the home court on the Lakers, we have a chance. A slight chance, but a chance. Lakers experience will also be a plus for them.
It would be an amazing series! Maybe the Lakers can get some redemption for 1991! haha! Yes, that year still hold true to me. The beginning of the Bulls era and the end of SHOWTIME.
Playoff series never seem to shake out as one-on-one matchups indicate they should. Some teams and combinations play better than others. I think the question that will decide the Bull's fate in a series against the Lakers, and the prior series for that matter, is whether Noah and Boozer can develop better chemistry. Gasol and Bynum form a hell of a duo, talent aside. I don't think we can say the same for Noah or Boozer who both seem at times to play better with Kurt Thomas than their regular partners. We also don't know if the Bull's relative lack of experience will play a role. My least favorite meme among journalists is that the Bulls will not beat the Heat or the Celtics because its players don't have enough experience. It's a benign statement on its face that might be true. My issue is that no one ever says who will struggle. Noah, Boozer, Rose and Deng have all played better in the playoffs than they do in the regular season, with the exception of only two seasons. Deng played poorly his rookie year and Boozer played bad in '07-'08. It seems to me that the Bulls have a track record of success individually in the playoffs that you would expect to carry over to the team. Noah's was sensational in both the series against the Celtics and Cavs. The Bull's bench is more mixed. Korver struggled during his first two trips to the playoffs but he killed it last year. Kurt Thomas has been a gangsta' at times in his EIGHTY-NINE playoff appearances. He killed it last year with Milwaukee. CJ Watson and Omer Asik have never appeared in a playoff game; and Ronnie Brewer's numbers have dipped.
On paper, it's not really much of a series...Lakers easily. Truth is, the Bulls haven't looked all that good on paper all season.
Player by player comparisons are not useful IMO. I think our frontcourt is the best suited to deal with the Lakers of any team in the playoffs, with a possible exception of Boston. Boozer will have a tough series due to the length of the LA frontcourt. Deng and Brewer are about as well suited to contain Kobe as any other wing defenders in the league. Deng is better than Artest by a fair margin IMO. Artest still hasnt figured out the triangle offense. Hes a complete non-factor out there....on offense at least. I get lambasted for saying this, but Kobe doesnt scare me too much. Hes very good but I actually think he benefits from playing with the Lakers as much as the Lakers benefit from playing with him. In one playoff series it is a wash though it is a wash between him and Rose. Id much rather have Deng and Brewer guarding Kobe than the ghost of Derek Fisher and Steve Black guarding Derrick Rose. That sounds like a nightmare for LA. I dont know who would win but itd be damn close. I think the X factor for us is Omer Asik. His length and size will give us a lot of flexibility to defend against the LA frontcourt. Defensively, I think he would be a nightmare for Gasol and he can capably defend Bynum as well. Kurt Thomas will see some quality minutes too. Ill go out on a limb and say this......If we play the Lakers in the playoffs Asik will become the darling of the series. The Turkish Hammer will have his day. Also, I know this team has yet to go into the playoffs in its current form so its an unknown quantity in that regard, but Ive come to view clutch performance like chemistry and other "intangibles"....that is, their presence does not follow a set pattern and happen on a case by case basis. In our case, we have it. I have not seen anything from this team to think that well lay an egg in the playoffs. Nothing. We might lose due to lack of talent, but not because of our inexperience. This team is one of the most focused in the league. We have the best defense and the best point differential of any team in the NBA. Thats not a fluke. No one gives you a chance to go out and win it all until youve already gone out and won it all.....but thats a backwards indicator. I expect us to do very well in the playoffs.
In every way. There's nothing right about how D. Rose has been playing lately. He hasn't stopped getting better -- it's not supposed to happen like this. He's playing the best ball of his career, over the last twenty or so. I think you have to go back to Jordan or prime Kobe to find a comparable performer. I don't think Lebron has every contributed as much, although he's probably a "better" player than Kobe, Michael and Rose. There's some sick shit happening in Chicago. I'd advise anybody to watch all of the games because it's so rare that you get to see consistently transcendent performances like we've seen over the past couple of months.
New and closely related topic: Are any of you willing to bet against Rose in a seven game series? I'm not with the way he's playing now.
I love Derrick...but he's not Kobe's equal. Kobe is still the better overall player, and he's still the player that I want having the ball with the game on the line. While Rose is the MVP (by a lot, too), I'm still taking Kobe if it comes down to it. You can't discount experience in the Finals, and it's hard to bet against the man who's won the last two years and has a pair of Finals MVPs to boot. Oh, and I need to see Rose win a series before I put him the same category as Kobe.
Yeah, Kobe & the Lakers finally woke up since the all star break. Kobe's been playing some MVP ball, and while I think he's still the better player, there's no one on the Lakers that can slow down Rose while you can argue the three-headed monster of Deng-Brewer-Bogans could give Kobe some fits. Either way, the Lakers are flat-out better than us at this point. It would be one hell of a matchup though.
The great thing about basketball is that public opinion doesn't matter: the players compete and there is a winner and a loser. I can only hope that we're both so lucky that there will be a Lakers-Finals. That would be amazing; especially since it's the twentieth anniversary of the last time the two teams squared off in the finals. I was really looking forward to a potential Celtics-Bulls series a couple of months ago. That's fallen off a bit because of the poor play of the Celtics. Now, I'd love to see a Lakers-Bulls series above any other. Kobe verses Rose has the makings of a legendary battle.
Since the ASB, the Lakers have been head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Their 17-1 record since the break is 3 better in the loss column than the second best team since the break, and that once insurmountable SA lead in the West is suddenly within striking distance. And at this point, I'm actually thinking a Bulls vs. Lakers Finals could happen. Both teams have been the best in their respective conference for the last month plus. And man, if that happened, that could have the makings of an incredible Finals.
I don't know why, but I can't help but fear a Heat vs. Lakers finals. I'm definitely on board for a Bulls vs. Lakers finals though.
I think the Heat are a couple years away from even making the Finals, no less winning it. They rely too much on their big three and don't have the depth. Plus, right now, I think the Bulls and Celtics are both better teams than them, and the Magic have the ability to be the better team.
I think PER is a bullshit measure designed by someone who hasn't watched enough games. But if I were to accept it as a realistic measure, the difference betweeen Kobe (7th in the league) and Rose (8th in the league) is marginal.
No offense, here, but I think you're being a slight bit of a homer. I love Rose and all, and I think he's 110% the MVP, but he is not "in every way" better than Kobe or LeBron (whom I hate). Kobe's the better shooter, better defender, better in the clutch...yea. Rose is certainly a better passer, I'll give him that much, but he's not better than Kobe in much any other facet of the game. I suppose if you want to think that, you're more than welcome to, but that's up to you.
That's fair. As I mentioned above: basketball is great because the players play games. We're going to have more information, if not a complete answer, by the time the playoffs are done. I think Rose is a better shooter and clutch scorer than Kobe. I think Kobe still is a more consistent defender. I've seen about fifteen to twenty Lakers games this season, and Kobe looks like he's still hampered by his off season surgeries. I think Kobe took a big step back this year, and at the same time, Rose took a big step forward.
