Lakers: Bryant "Beat Us While You Can!" <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe Bryant has a message for the Mavericks and the rest of the NBA: Get your licks in now. Bryant's Lakers, two seasons removed from winning three consecutive NBA championships, are struggling just to make the playoffs this year. The post-Shaquille O'Neal Era has not been kind. It already has chewed up one coach (Rudy Tomjanovich), and with 14 of their last 22 games on the road, the Lakers face long odds in the battle with Denver and Minnesota for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. "I wouldn't classify it as being hard," Bryant said Thursday. "I'd call it a challenge for all of us. And it's one that we enjoy. We'd much rather be fighting for the first or second seed, but that day will come. "Anybody who sits back and says the Lakers are going to be awful for the rest of my career, for the rest of all eternity ? that's ridiculous. People thinking we're not going to bounce back and be a contender, they're wrong." The Lakers of 2005 have been tough on Bryant. His legal problems in Colorado are behind him. And he continues to accommodate people from coast to coast in an effort to rehabilitate his image. But the losing ? the Lakers were 30-29 going into Thursday ? has not been easy. It was the worst 59-game record for the Lakers since 1994, which also is the last time they missed the playoffs. And then there's the ankle injury that knocked Bryant out for a month. It has made the Lakers mortal, which is just fine for the rest of the league, which has put up with LA supremacy for too long. Bryant equates it to a time earlier in his life. He hasn't seen this, he said, since his freshman season of high school. "We went, like, 4-20," Bryant said. "I was playing. We were 4-20 and I was this little skinny 13-year-old kid. Then we bounced back and won a state title. "We [the Lakers and Mavericks] are fighting for two different things, obviously. For us, it's battling back. We went through a lot this season." </div> Source
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Lakers: Bryant "Beat Us While You Can!"</div> BLAH BLAH BLAH.Desperation is a stinky cologne.
Why do I need to worry about the Kings?Theyre going to the playoffs.Kobe is already playing at his peak.Its not like LA needs more from Kobe.LA needs players that play well together.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">BLAH BLAH BLAH.Desperation is a stinky cologne.</div> Hate . I love it <div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">Why do I need to worry about the Kings?Theyre going to the playoffs.Kobe is already playing at his peak.Its not like LA needs more from Kobe.LA needs players that play well together.</div> Why? Because...they never could beat the Lakers when it counted and they can't stay healthy. The Kings are going to the playoffs, but trust me..they will get just as far as the Lakers..no where. How do you figure Kobe is at his peak? He hasn't even hit his prime yet..most people don't hit it until they are about 27-30. He has a lot to learn still..just wait, the hate is going to continue as we get better.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">Why do I need to worry about the Kings?Theyre going to the playoffs.Kobe is already playing at his peak.Its not like LA needs more from Kobe.LA needs players that play well together.</div> Why do you need to worry about the Kings? Cause they're slowly falling apart at the seams. They traded away the player that brought them to where they are. Now, they're in an even worse position than they were. They haven't been playing especially well as of late and the only reason they've been winning is because of Mike Bibby. I don't see your team going very far in the playoffs. They have struggled since the loss of Webber and if they make it out of the first round, I'd be surprised beyond any belief.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">They traded away the player that brought them to where they are. Now, they're in an even worse position than they were.</div> Im not sure how you figure they're in a worse position now than they were before the Webber trade.Post Webber the Kings no longer have the flimsiest interior D in the league.Ive said it while Webber was a King.All Webber is these days is an offensive weapon and I think Sacramento has plenty of them.The Kings also made this trade at the beginning of a long road trip in which they were hit badly by injuries.Im not worried because the Kings wont miss the playoffs and the season is already a wash anyway because nobody will come out of the west over the Spurs. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Lakers: Bryant "Beat Us While You Can!" </div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">BLAH BLAH BLAH.Desperation is a stinky cologne.</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Hate . I love it</div>No hate here.More like satisfaction."No.The lakers are a LOCK for the 3rd spot in the playoffs." Thats what someone said before this season.Its that type of ignorance thats the reason for my disliking of LA.Maybe some of the Kobe/Laker fans can come back down to earth and into reality after this season.<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Why? Because...they never could beat the Lakers when it counted</div> Ok but how does that give me reason to worry about the Kings today?It doesnt.
I would be worried If I was a King's Fan, injury bug has hit Big bad Brad Miller, I just read on hoopshype.com Peja is def not returning to Sacramento next year. Future doesn't look bright for the Kings. Sorry As for Bryant comment, I read this a while ago but again I think it is like good he has this mindset because a positive attitude is better than a bad one.
GiantMidget, let me tell you something about most Lakers fans. They simply cannot deal with any sort of criticism whatsoever. They can't even deal with something that looks like it. I knew right away that you were going to get bombarded when I read your reply. I know you, and I know that you weren't trying to take a shot at the Lakers with that post, but these Laker fans are ruthless. The first thing they did was look at your sig, and instead of attempting to comment on the article, or even on what you actually said, they decided to attack the Kings. It's something that I've dealt with a number of times, and it's something that almost makes the Lakers forum impossible to post in unless you have something nice to say about the Lakers. As for the article (you know, the thing that this thread is actually about), Kobe is right on the money. The Lakers will get better, but only when they improve their roster. I don't think the one that's currently constructed is anything more than a 5th seed in the West. IMO, another key for them improving would be to say goodbye to Mitch Kupchack.
^lmfao @ the laker fans And yes, imo, in a few years the lakers will be back to a serious threat in the playoffs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 44Thrilla:</div><div class="quote_post">GiantMidget, let me tell you something about most Lakers fans. They simply cannot deal with any sort of criticism whatsoever. They can't even deal with something that looks like it. I knew right away that you were going to get bombarded when I read your reply. I know you, and I know that you weren't trying to take a shot at the Lakers with that post, but these Laker fans are ruthless. The first thing they did was look at your sig, and instead of attempting to comment on the article, or even on what you actually said, they decided to attack the Kings. It's something that I've dealt with a number of times, and it's something that almost makes the Lakers forum impossible to post in unless you have something nice to say about the Lakers. As for the article (you know, the thing that this thread is actually about), Kobe is right on the money. The Lakers will get better, but only when they improve their roster. I don't think the one that's currently constructed is anything more than a 5th seed in the West. IMO, another key for them improving would be to say goodbye to Mitch Kupchack.</div> Yah, I just noticed you were the complaining when another member said that the Sonics don't have what it take to win in the playoffs, you kind of went off as i remember. Everybody reacts negatively to critism about their team, the majority of the non laker fans on this site dislike the lakers and for some reason find it fun to pick and nick the lakers everytime we make a post, therefore you see a more angry laker fans positng with negative responses to critism, because the lakers and kobe is flamed and extremely posted in a negative aspect on this site. than you people act like we are "the horrible" posters because we react to the critism we read in every other post.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Billa_Bong:</div><div class="quote_post">Yah, I just noticed you were the complaining when another member said that the Sonics don't have what it take to win in the playoffs, you kind of went off as i remember. </div> Uhh...I'm not even a Sonics fan. Very nice attempt to discredit what I said, though.
my bad i am tired havnt been here for a while and thought i recognized you from the sig, all green, eh but whatever, wasnt trying to discredit, just trying to show that laker fans arnt the only ones who react negatively to critism.
hahahahaha,WOW, confusing the Celtics with the Sonics lol. This article just shows how amazingly arrogant Kobe Bryant is. I mean.....he doesn't have exactly the best reputation in the NBA.....he's just digging himself into a deeper hole. Do you think you would ever hear KG, Duncan, AI,....etc say that? I mean Shaq willl probably say something like that, but he's the most DOMINANT player on earth! And he's making the Heat a serious contender his first year while Kobe is strugglilng with his team. I find it funny how Laker fans still defend him and start right away bashing the Kings fan here.
Kobe 8 Ball- its gonna be hard for any team to beat the lakers when one of the most atrocious officiating performances of the generation is going in game 6 of the series, the refs dont tank that one, the kings win, and they win a title And kobe is INCREDIBLY arrogant. He destroyed a dynasty because he couldn't stand not being the absolute man. There was areason the Lakers won titles, and it was Shaq, and Kobe decided he could win one on his own, good luck Kobe.
