@ Day/Date: Friday, 2/20/04 At: Staples Center, Los Angeles Time: 7:30 pm(PT) TV: ESPN Los Angeles Lakers: 33-19 Quick fact: Lakers have won their last 2 games since the All-Star break, and look like the team they were at the begenning of the season. LA will host Philly on Friday at home, where they are 21-4 this season. Philadelphia: 22-32 Quick fact: They have looked like a whole new team as of late, in a negative way. 76ers have struggled lately, only winning 3 out of their last 10, and have a road record at 9-18. Coaches: Chris Ford / Phil Jackson Probable Starters Frontcourt Samuel Dalembert/Shaquille O'Neal Kenny Thomas/Slava Medevedenko Glenn Robinson/Devean George Backcourt Allen Iverson/Kobe Bryant Eric Snow/Gary Payton Keys to the game <u>Sixers</u> <ul>[*] Sixers will need a lot of things to go right for them to win this game, one is rebounding. They lack toughness inside but they have to find ways to grab rebounds over the Laker frontcourt.[/list] <ul>[*]Do everything you can to prevent Shaq from getting the ball inside the key, use double teams, push him out, or even foul if you have to. Once he's deep in the key it's either a dunk or a soft hook.[/list] <ul>[*]Give the ball to Allen Iverson, he's the obvious reason why the Sixers are even a decent team, should be no different tonight, if he does his job and the other Sixers contribute, they could make a game out of this.[/list] <u>Lakers</u> <ul>[*]Feed the ball to Shaq, Philly lacks strengh inside, The Big Fella should be able to eat at the Sixers defenders.[/list] <ul>[*]Bench play has been key for the Lakers to some extent this season, they need production out of Fisher, Fox, and Rush. Lately, being out scored by the opposing teams bench has been the main reason leads slip in the 2nd half.[/list] <ul>[*]Double Iverson, make the other Sixers shoot the ball. Let them prove something before you give AI a chance to take over the game.[/list] Key Players Kobe Bryant --- Allen Iverson The 'X' factor Do the Sixers have enough firepower to take on the Big 3? My predictions I'm going to take the Lakers in this one. They have played well at home this season, and with Shaq/Kobe/Payton finally in the lineup together again playing well, and they look like their ready to go on the roll that they did on the begenning of the season. Sixers are a horrible road team, and have struggled a lot lately. With that being said, their is no reason for me to think LA won't beat Philly by at least 10+. BTW, LA and Philly both will be rockin the throwbacks in this game.
The Lakers want revenge for their blowout loss at Philadelphia in their last meeting. Look for Shaq to dominate the low post. Philadelphia is soft inside. Look for him to get touches early, and for him to just completely destroy the Sixer 4th and 5th men. Also, I'm expecting Kobe to have another great performance. He already has games of 31 and 35 points so far in the second half, and he's looking like the Kobe we're all used to seeing. If he gets going, it'll be a terrible night for the Sixers. And, I feel with Gary's ejection two nights ago, he may want to take out all his frustrations on Philly too. So I'll go with this prediction. Lakers by 18.
I think Lakers will take this one, Kobe, Shaq and Iverson will all have a big game, but Philadelphia will end up just abit to short, Lakers by 2 with a buzzerbeater!
The last thing the Sixers want to see today is Kobe get going. Shaq is gonna get his against a bad interior team like this, but when Kobe heats up? There's no way they can win when they got both big guns firing.
Gut check time for the 76ers. They are slipping out of the playoff seedings and they will be facing a tough challenge on the road against the Lakers. The Lakers haven't been blowing out teams, but they are winning games and the dynamic duo is getting more and more fluid each game. Allen Iverson was amazing the other night, but I don't think he will be enough for the 76ers to keep up tonight. Kobe will basically neutralize Iverson's scoring, but the 76ers don't have an answer for Shaq, so I'll take the Lakers by 5.
Love the Laker throwbacks, hate the Philly throw backs. Looking forward to this game since I've heard Cook will be back. The Sixers have never had an answer for Shaq, and with an even thinner front court I don't think they have a chance. I'll take the Lakers by 10 on this one.
Can The Sixers get a rebound? This is disgusting. Get a freaking board and they would be in a very close game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Blinger0723:</div><div class="quote_post">Can The Sixers get a rebound? This is disgusting. Get a freaking board and they would be in a very close game.</div> Well the big 3 is clicking tonight, Lakers are dominating at it's best. No one is stopping Shaq inside, and Kobe is playing great ball as well. No reason to think this won't continue. If LA keeps this up we should win big tonight, Philly won't hang for long.
Lakers steamrolled tonight against a struggling Sixer team. Not much to say tonight, everything went right for LA. This was probably Shaq's best game of the season, It's been a while since I have seen him really dominate a game like this. The Big Fella made it look easy tonight, also had some nice dishes too. Kobe played great ball as well, he could not be stopped when he was in the game. Got in foul trouble at the start of the 3rd, so Philly fans lucked out that he was subbed in and didn't come back until the 4th. Glad our stars could get some rest, the young guys looked good in there. Kareem Rush even caught fire, and it was good to see Cook back out on the court. As for Philly, it looks like Kenny Thomas is the only one that wanted to play tonight. Iverson had a horrible game, shooting 3-18? Nice effort, but the Lakers dominance is starting now. Be Scared.
Tonight was a little paybck for the blowout they gave the Lakers in Philly. The Lakers were clicking on all cylinders!
I just want to put my two cents on this big win. This is perhaps the biggest win of the season. A 27 point massacre of Philadephia. Revenge is definitely sweet!! I gotta give my props to Derek Fisher and Gary Payton. They contained Iverson all night. If my stats are correct, Iverson shot 3/18 13 pts? Very impressive. If you stop Iverson, you have a huge chance of winning. Shaquille O'Neal was the typical Shaq we're all used to seeing. Just dominated the Sixer inexperienced frountcourt. NO MATCH!! And as for Kobe? Well, he's just been doing what he's done for the last 3 games now. An absolute playmaker. Lakers are right now 3-0 after the break, and with us now heading to the Valley of the Sun, we're going in with a ton of confidence. GO LAKERS!!
