This would be one hell of a game to watch. Magic, Worthy, Kareem, Scott, Cooper vs. Payton, George, Malone, and Shaw Daddy......Well, the present lakes are better physically,more body and muscle..(88 team, smaller frame, more proned to get pounded on) but the 88 team were fast and full of action (SHOWTIME) GP is a fine player filled with experience Magic is a winner, MVP, bigger, but not as fast, Dont have that many offensive moves. (leadership) Byron Great leaper and shot Kobe great leaper, shot, defense and leader ship skills Devean has no chance Worthy will school this foo Shaq is powerful, big, and dominant. Kareem has smaller frame, graceful, and great sky-hook. It would be close with like 10 overtimes and the final score would be up to the 200s. I play these two teams alot on my x-box.
I think 88 would outdo them. They have the better offensive ability, they'd just have to contest for boards and defense. Maybe I'm just Bias, I do love Magic Johnson after all.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Magic Johnson:</div><div class="quote_post">I think 88 would outdo them. They have the better offensive ability, they'd just have to contest for boards and defense. Maybe I'm just Bias, I do love Magic Johnson after all.</div> Yea, 88 Lakers are better.
I'd go with '88 too, but if you really wanted the peak of the Showtime Lakers, you'd have picked the '85 Lakers, who were better, or even the '87 Lakers. '88 was perhaps the weakest of the five Magic-Kareem title teams, pushed to seven games by the Pistons. One reason they won was because Isiah twisted his ankle in the 6th game which would have clinched it for Detroit. But despite being weaker than the other title teams, they were still better than any of these Lakers teams of the past few years. the 2000 team would have come close though, IMO closer than this current team would come. Of course, no matter which teams were playing, the 80's teams would have had lots of trouble with Shaq. Kareem really didn't like physical play, so AC Green or Jamaal Wilkes probably would have helped a lot, though I'm not sure how much that wouldh have helped.
I agree with you on the '85 team being better. Shaq and Kareem will pretty much cancel each other out. Kareem never liked to bang (and he was 38), but Shaq wouldn't be able to defend him at skyhook range. He had like 30 ppg on the finals against the Celtics. I think they'll both score more or less at will.
With all the players in their prime it would be an awesome game to watch, but if not, the 88 Lakers would murder the Lakers today.
