<div align="center"> <font size="6"><font color="Purple">Game 1</font></font> <font color="Purple">The Los Angeles Lakers</font>@<font color="Gray">The Minnesota Timberwolves</font> Time: 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Western TV: TNT Place: The Target Center</div> Coaches Phil Jackson/Flip Saunders Starters and Matchup Breakdowns PG: Sam Cassell/Gary Payton This match up should be a good one. Both were teammates for about half the year last year in Milwaukee. Cassell has more skills left in his tank than GP does, Cassell can still score at will and still has some sense of quickness in his step left. But he does have some very antagonizing back spasms that slowed him down tremendously in the 2nd half of Game 7 against the Kings. If The Glove wants to take advantage of that, he needs post him up, try to use some pick and rolls with Malone (Lord knows Cassell doesn't want to run into Him), and just overall be aggressive with him. Advantage: Timberwolves (For game 1 atleast, I want to see how GP handles Cassell, and if he can take advantage of his back) SG: Trenton Hassell/Kobe Bryant Kobe is the far superior player in this matchup in terms of offensive skill, but Hassell plays top notch D. If he can slow down Kobe at all, he will greatly increase the Timberwolves chances of winning. If Kobe can choose smart shots, look for open teammates, and drive the lane to get to the Charity Stripe...He will be fine. When he has a great defender on him, he tends to rush his shots, take too many shots, and do too much. I like him to be far better in this matchup and to make Hassell look silly. Advantage: Lakers SF: Latrell Sprewell/Devean George Spree is the much better offensive player, he can slash and hit the open J, while George has struggle since mid December to stay consistent. If Spree can just continue what he does, he will be fine in this matchup, there is no way George will be able to stop him, even though George does have a lengthy frame. George needs to be aware of one thing, Sprewell can knock down that 3 pointer, and that is what kills the Lakers. He needs to stop him from hitting that. Advantage: Timberwolves PF: Kevin Garnett/Karl Malone The league MVP should look to take the outside Jumper in this matchup, I think Malone will play physical D like he did with Duncan, on Garnett. Garnett can hit that 15-20 Ft. Jumper, while Malone can guard it fairly well. On offense, Malone needs to hit his shots, he will get plenty of them, and he cant be afraid to take them. This should be the Key Matchup of the series, can Malone control Garnett? I believe he can do a nice job on him, Malone looks like he finally got his spring back in his legs after the knee injury, or alteast what was left in his legs. Garnett is young and athletic, calls for an exciting matchup. Advantage: Timberwolves C: Ervin Johnson/Shaquille O'neal The Most Dominant Player in the Game should have his way in this series. There is no one on the Timberwolves who can stop him, he is just too big and too strong. He needs to take advantage of that and get great position so the guards can feed him the ball. The 'Wolves have a lot of depth at the Big man spot...Madsen, Johnson, and Olowakandi to name a few...who can be physical with Shaq, but cant stop him. I dont think we will see much of a Hack-a-Shaq because Saunders doesnt like it. Shaq needs to convert his FTs if he does get to the lane because they will be scared to foul him too. Advantage: Lakers Bench Minnesota clearly has the advantage depth wise here with Madsen, Hoiberg, Olowakandi, and others. Los Angeles has two players on their bench that can give them consistent play...Fisher, and Rush. If Rush can have a big series, the Lakers will win. He is my sleeper for this series, I think he will have a couple of nice games off of the bench. Fisher will be Fisher, he will come in with energy and go for every loose ball, draw some charges, and hit shots. Minny still has the advantage though because they have more than two players on their bench that can produce for them. Advantage: Minnesota <div align="center">Key Players 2004 Playoff Statistics Garnett: 24.7 points per game, 15.2 rebounds per game, and 5.4 assists per game Bryant: 25.5 points per game, 6 assists per game, and 6 rebounds per game</div> Keys to the Game Minnesota- They must get their production from Sam Cassell early in the game, his back will stiffen up as the game progresses and he will become less effective. Kevin Garnett needs to demand the ball when the team is behind, too many times he is out on the high post and not in the low post waving for the ball. Sprewell needs to be big, he normally chokes in big games, or when the game is on the line, he should be able to easily take advantage of the Lakers deficieny at the SF position. On the defensive side of the ball they need to run some kind of Zone D, force the Lakers to make outside shots. Don't let Shaq get the ball deep in the paint, which is easier said than done. Hassell needs to tamper with Kobe Bryant on Defense, make him expand all of his energy when he is on offense so he doesnt have much left on D. Los Angeles- It is simple, if they want to win they need to give the ball to the Big Aristotle, The Diesel, The Most Dominant Player in teh game, Shaq. No one on Minnesota can contain him, he is far bigger than every big man they have. He needs to take that to his advantage without drawing offensive fouls because they will be attacking him on D. Kobe needs to look to pass first if Shaq is having a good game, Hassell is a great defender and this isnt the series for Kobe to show who the real leader of the team is. Payton needs to be more productive, Cassell is injured, he needs to post up to take advantage of that, he needs to run the pick and roll with Malone, same with Fisher when he is in the game. Bench players such as Fisher and Rush need to come through in this series because Minny has the better bench and L.A. doesnt have the most consistent players on their bench. Kobe 8 Ball's Prediciton I think L.A. will make their win streak 5 in a row in teh first game of this series, they will set the tone early and keep playing at that level. L.A. by 7
For the Wolves to win this game, they will need to find a answer to stop Shaq or atleast slow him down. The team will need to make him work on defense, don't let him dunk, don't let him get into post position, don't let him get the ball, etc. The whole post is were Shaq will dominate. It's going to be a hard matchup for the Wolves. I hope Olowokandi can play better because this is where we need him the most. Another matchup is Sam and Gary. Even if Sam is injured with back and hip problems, he still has a big heart and will play the best that he can. This will be a good match-up. Trenton will need to play very good defense on Kobe to slow him down. He dominated last year scoring 30+ points on us. But last year, we weren't as good defensively. It is very important to not let Kobe have big games. A very important matchup is KG and Malone. KG has to play very well to lead his team to victory. Even if Malone makes KG work for everything and play very good defense, KG will always be able to help by getting rebounds, block shots, force turnovers, play great defense... He just has to play like a MVP for the team to win. He has to lead the way. Just a key factor for the Wolves is turnovers. When they turn the ball alot, it hurts them alot. They have to take care of the ball in order for us to win. It will be a very difficult series but I believe the Wolves can win it. I predict the Wolves win by 7 in game 1.
Excellent analysis QRich. To me, in order for the Lakers to win this game, it'll be on the offensive numbers of Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq has a huge advantage over Ervin Johnson tonight. He's very lean and doesn't have the defensive capabilities to slow down Shaq one on one. I see Johnson and the other trio of centers consisting of Oliver Miller, Michael Olowokandi, and Mark Madsen to constantly be physical with Shaq and foul him hard as he goes up for a basket. They won't allow Shaq to score an easy two points on them, so they'll make him earn it from the line. Big question is, can Shaq consistently shoot free throws at an excellent pace? Bringing flashbacks to his free throw performance in Game 6 that helped knockout the defending champion Spurs? I see Shaq dominating in the low post, absolutely toying with the Minnesota centers, and just being the old vintage Shaq he's capable of being. Another area to look at for the Lakers is Kevin Garnett. This guy is a beast, a warrior at heart, and he really doesn't know the definition of the word fatigue. he put up MVP type numbers in the playoff clinching win over the Sacramento Queens, and with all the energy he brings not only to himself, the fans, and teammates, I'd expect him to have another monster game. But Karl Malone, the wiley 19 year veteran definitely has tricks in his back pocket, and he clearly contained the former MVP Tim Duncan in the conference semis. Can Malone continue to be aggressive with Garnett? Frustrate, disrput, get under his skin, and make him work for every FG opportunity? Garnett is a power forward that has game from the inside and outside, so adjustments should be prepared whenever neccessary. For our backcourt, Gary Payton must make something of himself in this series. With all the criticism he's received from us fans and the media, he now gets the opportunity to take on Sam Cassell. Cassell isn't at 100% with the back spasms he's suffering, and with the way Sam has been sputtering offensively, Gary must use that to his advantage. As for Kobe Bryant, I just expect him to improve on what he's been accomplishing in this 2004 playoffs. Providing a spark for his team, getting his jumpshot on cue, penetrating to the basket and drawing contact, and creating field goal opportunities for his teammates. With the Lakers having five days off to rest themselves, and the TWolves fighting a grueling seven game series with the Queens, the Lakers can't settle for less, and they have to win this game in order to drain Minnesota's confidence, and stealing homecourt advantage. I'm going with the Lakers by 13 in this one.
I just smell a win for the Timberwolves tonight. Nevertheless, the Lakers will win the series and the championship.
The Lakers still give up alot of good looks from the perimeter that means guys like Hoiberg & Wally must make those shots from the perimeter(Cassell & Sprewell as well, but they probably wont get as many good looks) KG needs to take Karl Malone away from the basket, he cant just try to post him up. He has to keep switching up his attack against Karl Malone's pyshical D. timberwolves must Limit Turnovers- They can not turn the ball over at a high rate & give the Lakers alot of easy baskets in the open court especially since they are already going to have a hard time stopping the Lakers in the half-court. Trenton Hassell must make Kobe take alot shots to get his points. I dont think you can look at how many points kobe scores in these games because he will probably get 20(+) every night, so Hassell is going to justy have to make him take alot of shots to get those 20(+) points. It will take away from the Lakers' effeiency on offense. A huge series from Sprewell, I think Sprewell is going to have to get 20 to 25pts every night. And he is the best Timberwolf at getting to the basket in the open court & off the dribble, so he needs to be in attack mode, & not settle for the jump shot so much in this series. And I think the wolves need productive minutes from Kandiman. Kandi needs to find away to give them 20 minutes a game imo. Even if he isnt scoring, even if he is just using his size to make things a little more difficult for Shaq then he is being productive imo. He should feel comfortable when the Wolves go to LA being that he played his entire career at the Staples center before this year. Iam taking the timberwolves in 6 or 7 games.
Lets get ready to rumble! The Lakers should be well rested and the Wolves should still be banged up. Technically for now the TimberWolves have an advantage in positions played between the starting 5. But Shaq and Kobe should make up for the difference alone as far as that's concerned. Lakers by 4, and 3:00 P.M. Hawaiian time. Neil Everett representing for the (808):thumbsup:
Jimmy Buffet . This is the worst audio problem I've ever seen for any game in awhile. Just missed out on what Shaq and KG said, and it sounds like they got their audio back thank goodness.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting spawn:</div><div class="quote_post">minny by 5</div> say WHAT? Aren't you a Laker fan? I think this series depends on Sam Cassell whether or not he will make the Wolves competitive. As we know, Garnett's other man Sprewell is inconsistent and he will have at least one 8-12 point game in this series (and at least a 23+ point game too ), and this is the game where Cassell needs to pick up the slack for them. Even another MVP Game7King performance by Garnett probably wouldn't save the Wolves against the far more defensive Lakers in this series. If Cassell can play the way he plays in the postseason, the Wolves are a tough matchup... but in the end the Lakers take Game 1 by 10. :thumbsup:
I think Hassell can keep Kobe in check. He has great footwork and can force a lot of tough shots. Hassell is an all-defensive team selection next year, mark my words.
I guess spawn is just trying to keep real and not be biased. Anyways, WT$, Olowakandi. He's played a great 1st quarter after not playing 4 games in a row.
Wow, the Lakers slipped at times but overall had complete control of the game. I expect about 5 Shaq posters being created from this game. As they say at Staples, those were some "Monster Dunks."
It was a great game, if twolvs wanne come back again they gotta work on their turnovers, SHaq was hilarious with his freethrows lol. Fisher has to get more chances to hit threes the next game not just the three consecutive ones he made in the 3rd quarter. When his hands are hot u gotta let him play more. And we have to find a way to guard those 3point shooters that let twolves get back into the game the 4th quarter. D was just horrible. Shaq still had a great game with his blocks and all that. Otherwise ... just happy
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting PupMelo:</div><div class="quote_post">say WHAT? Aren't you a Laker fan? </div>lol...so if you are a Lakers fan you can never predict them to lose? Way to put your bias aside.
Latrell Sprewell seemed like he was hallucinating the whole game. He made mental mistakes that amateur basketball players wouldn't make.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">lol...so if you are a Lakers fan you can never predict them to lose? Way to put your bias aside. </div> Yeah lol for some reason my teams (except Cavs and Nuggets) lose when I sense they're going to lose and win when I think they're going to win. So I'd rather be "too supportive" for my teams to win
