NBA FINALS THREAD: Lakers vs. Celtics

1). Phil Jackson is 50% the reason why we lost. I don't know if it's old age or what but the guy has made dumb decisions throughout the series. He likes giving the players books to read, well someone needs to give him a ****ing book to read. Maybe Rambis or Shaw should take up the head coach position.

2). Why didn't DJ get any minutes? Clearly Gasols longness was a problem for Garnett, so wouldn't it make sense to put on a 7'2 player to guard him? Also, Mbenga is alot strong than Garnett so wouldn't have got in the post easily. Mbenga would clean up on the boards and would also enable Gasol to go back to his natural position at the PF position. Phil fucked up in so many ways.

2). Radman needs to go. Along with maybe Sasha and Odom.

3). I don't understand why Kobe was so content, he didn't even TRY to take over the game.

4). Odom must be smoking some pot if he thinks he's going to get $15m a year.

5). The asshole announcer who keeps on shouting "BANG!" needs to be shot.

6). I hope Bynum comes back strong, otherwise there's no championship for us.

 

Well congrats to the Celtics and Lakers to their great series. And to the posters for keeping up and maintaining a great thread, attitude and posting style towards each other. I'd keep this thread around as a reminder of a great series.

 

7). Why do the Lakers players help the Celtics players when the Celtics are knocked down to the ground? WTF is all that about? This is the NBA Finals, the Celtics showed no remorse for hard fouls but the pussy Lakers players always gave a hand to the Celtics after a hard foul.

8). Pierce is a faker.

9). I actually missed Kwame Brown and Smush Parker.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 18 2008, 12:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (#1_Yinka_Dare_Fan @ Jun 17 2008, 11:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>

Cry your eyes out.</div>
Actually I don't feel bad at all. With the way KG has played this series, I'm not sure a Kobe/Garnett duo would have won anything. As a matter of fact, we probably wouldn't have even made it to the Finals since Garnett required like half our roster
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You're kidding, right? He would have brought Posey, House, ect. He would have made your defense so much better. He pretty much got the Celtics through the regular season. Your team seemed disinterested today. That would never have happened with KG. But you might have had to traded Bynum for him.

At the Radman bitching: Send him to a skiing slope?

 

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE!!!!!

Everyone wearing the purple and gold simply opened a "can of quit" last night. Kobe hit less than a 1/3 of his shots, didn't take it to the basket, and turned it over repeatedly. That's now 2 straight finals where dude has looked flat out pathetic. KG finally realized that he's "KG" and Gasoft (word is there are jerseys out there with this name floating around on them) can't guard him. Odom needs to be traded ASAP. **** it was so bad that Doc Rivers got a gatorade shower..............a ****ing gatorade shower in basketball????!!!!!???????????. Congrats to the Celts, I doubted them a lot all through the playoffs, but they impressed me in the detroit series and that's why I thought they'd take care of the lakers.........................

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticKing @ Jun 18 2008, 12:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Thanks a lot guys for the great times we had during the series.

I'm damn sure you'll be here next year as well, and I just hope we'll be too, and it'll be a rematch.

Again thanks everyone, and and I know its hard to see your team lose but they were in the finals, so you gotta be proud about that, no matter what.

I'll stick to my position, that Kobe is the best player in the universe and 2nd best on the list after MJ.

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Contradicting statements haha The Universe still includes MJ since he is still alive haha

Anyway, Congratulations!!! Celebrate for both our sides!

 

^ lol, no I meant best on the universe at the moment since MJ doesn't play anymore, Kobe is the best. But when looking at past players, and history, MJ is always one, Kobe 2.

Its up to LeBron to pass Kobe. (he's young enough to do it)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The Dream @ Jun 18 2008, 09:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE!!!!!

Everyone wearing the purple and gold simply opened a "can of quit" last night. Kobe hit less than a 1/3 of his shots, didn't take it to the basket, and turned it over repeatedly. That's now 2 straight finals where dude has looked flat out pathetic. KG finally realized that he's "KG" and Gasoft (word is there are jerseys out there with this name floating around on them) can't guard him. Odom needs to be traded ASAP. **** it was so bad that Doc Rivers got a gatorade shower..............a ****ing gatorade shower in basketball????!!!!!???????????. Congrats to the Celts, I doubted them a lot all through the playoffs, but they impressed me in the detroit series and that's why I thought they'd take care of the lakers.........................</div>

Kobe wasn't the player he is now in 04. This will be tough to handle of course.

 

Plaschke is right, from MVP to MIA.

And don't even ****ing start on me motherfuckers calling me a hater or anything. If Pau and Lamar are going to get blame for disappearing in the finals, you better bet your ****ing ass Kobe is going to also.

 

I do hate, I hate the Celtics with all my heart screw them, but congrants to them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Black Mamba @ Jun 18 2008, 03:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (illmatic @ Jun 18 2008, 03:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Plaschke is right, from MVP to MIA.

And don't even ****ing start on me motherfuckers calling me a hater or anything. If Pau and Lamar are going to get blame for disappearing in the finals, you better bet your ****ing ass Kobe is going to also.</div>

PP 22, 5, 6 43%
KB 26, 5, 5 40%

Fact: Kobe came to play unlike the rest of our team. He may have struggled from the field, but that's going to happen when you got 3 guys covering you and your lame ass teammates not moving.
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You better read my whole entire post before you reply and try and attack me, I'm not going to repeat myself

Oh, you're one of "those." What, you think stats tell the whole story? I know you, you saw every minute of every game this series, how could you look me in the eye (not literally of course) and tell me Paul Pierce did not outplay Kobe this series, HOW?!

Do you want me to say Paul Pierce was going against a much easier defense? Then I will, because you are absolutely right. The Lakers defense was laughable, but Pierce exploited our team and realized what was working, and even when his shot wasn't working, he was making the pass to his teammates.

You know what man, after this series, Kobe will never DARE say "I can score at will" or "I can score anytime I want" cuz that just ain't ****ing TRUE. Truth is he can't, and in big game situations, he ****ing disappears as of late. Yesterday's game look anything like Game 7 of Phoenix/LA? Yeah it should have, cuz it was the same ****ing embarassment.

ANd I told myself before Game 6 yesterday before I put $200 on Lakers Moneyline, that Kobe would not let down our team again like he did last time, and whatever it takes to get us the Win, he would do it, but he didn't.

Do Pau and Lamar deserve blame? **** YES! They all ****ing do, that's the god damn point. The homers just want to blame Pau and Lamar, and give Kobe the free ride. Well not me home boy, **** no, he deserves just as much blame.

They should chant M-I-A, M-I-A for his ass.

He ****ing bitched and bitched to Mitch Kupchak to get a him a team that was a contender, that could get him to the finals. Well, Mitch followed through with his promise, but Kobe did not. I swear to god, if Kobe Bryant bitches about his teammates in the offseason, he will no longer be my favorite player. He has no ****ing right to call anyone else out after his pitiful performance this whole series.

Why do I put so much pressure on him? Because he can handle it, you don't get ****ing labeled the best player in the ****ing WORLD and play like how he played in his series.

 

Illmatic said it like it was.

Kobe did not attack the rim enough the entire series. 40% FG%.

Odom was too passive and did not call for the ball enough, although he was decent with it when he had it. He shot 52% for the series, just needed to demand the ball more, and then attack the rim.

Gasol, I don't know how he shot 53.2%, his stats don't imply his weak fading shot attempts. Did a good job defensively on KG, and decent at times on the boards. But for the most part he didn't post up strong against KG often enough.

Lamar actually looked half decent in the blowout game when they were running the offense through him. He was getting to the rim at will, and got the ball to some open players, although I think he got blocked by KG once or twice.

 

You people are forgetting how Phil sucked throughout the series. He coached like he was saying a big **** You to Dr. Buss for not choosing him over Kobe all those years ago. He didn't deserve that 10th ring. I still don't understand why he didn't have Gasol playing at the PF. Mbenga shows good hustle when he plays and we needed that. If Leon Powe can have an impact on the game, so can DJ.

Also, is it me or does it seem like Kobe has lost his desire? The Kobe of last year would have taken 15 shots in a row REGARDLESS of how he was being defended when we were down by 20. It seems to me like he just doesn't care anymore and has lost that "instinct" that he once had.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Shapecity @ Jun 18 2008, 08:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Kobe is an easy target for Laker fans because we hold him to a higher standard, but the fact is Boston was determined not to let Kobe beat them. The Celtics basically took the blueprint the Spurs provided for them and improved on it. In the San Antonio series their goal was to keep Kobe on the perimeter and not foul him. Boston was better at it than San Antonio because of their athleticism on the court and team quickness.

Kobe did his job of reading the defense and facilitating the offense through his teammates. The only way for him to get the freedom to drive to the rim was for his teammates to step up and hit open shots.

To use a football analogy, if you have a stud RB and the defense puts 8 or 9 guys in the box he isn't going to produce crap. It's up to the QB and WRs to make plays and take the pressure off the front line.

I keep hearing these analysts say Kobe deferred too, much and settled for jumpers, but they don't get any deeper into the breakdown of the game. I don't care how good a player is, if a team has three guys on you every time you start driving to the paint you aren't going to come out on top.

Kobe's teammates weren't moving without the basketball and were not decisive or confident with their offense.

In the pick and roll situation Gasol and Odom dogged it and didn't make aggressive cuts to the rim for Kobe to set them up for easy dunks and possible And1 plays. They either drifted to no man's land halfway between the basket and 3 point line, or made a half-assed attempt to get to the rim which allowed Boston's weakside help to recover and be in position to defend.

The bottom line, the Lakers Big 3 weren't in the same class as Boston's Big 3 and our bench was completely outplayed the entire series. We only had one good performance by Sasha in just one game the entire series. The rest of the time the bench didn't do squat for us and coming into this series the Lakers bench was supposed to be an advantage for us.

Lakers had no one to match up with James Posey and he killed us every time he stepped on the court. He was the difference maker the entire series for Boston and his teammates fed off him.</div>
Great post Shape