<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">If the Lakers faced the Clippers, I think you'd see Kobe Bryant on Sam Cassell down the stretch of the game. You could have Smush guarding Ross or Livingston instead and gamble on them beating you instead of Cassell. Kwame Brown would probably matchup with Brand on defense. Kwame is quick enough to stay in front of Brand and also strong enough to pound with him down low. Kwame does a good job of pushing players out 1 or 2 feet further than they're used to. I think another key would have been who Brand guards? The Clippers would have to play him on Lamar Odom. So now you have Brand using up energy to defend Odom out on the perimeter and also using energy to score against Kwame. Dallas would be tough, I still think the Spurs were the best team in the West. In the Mavs series I was surprised at the strategy they tried. The Spurs went away from being a halfcourt basketball team and tried to play small ball. I guess Pop felt he was forced into it because neither Rasho or Nazr were giving him anything. Odom would have to guard Nowitzki in the series. I don't think Odom could stop Dirk, but he would have to make it tough for him to score and not give up the penetration Dirk was getting in the first three playoff rounds. Turiaf would also give Dirk a different look on defense and knock him around a little. I really believe with Kobe you always have a chance to win a series. I thought last year was a golden opportunity for a team to win the title. The Pistons and Spurs both lost, and Phoenix was without Amare. This year will be tougher in the West.</div> shape, i like your "think big" mentality but i think the purple and gold is starting to blind you a little. in the post-shaq era, the lakers didn't make the playoffs in year 1 and got 1st round KO in year 2. usually when a team does that, the realistic fans of that team are HOPEFUL that the following year they can ADVANCE further. they usually don't say 'we blew an opportunity to go all the way'. matchups on paper don't say very much at all. you have to look at an overall team and how they play as a cohesive unit, wouldn't you agree? in that respect, clippers and mavs were clearly better teams than the lakers. implying that Kobe's "aura" of amazingness or the dazzle of Phil's pinkie rings would be enough to compensate for this disparity in team chemistry is pretty out there. The Lakers did not have a sense of identity or communication really. And one man can only do so much whether it's Kobe or even MJ. As amazing as MJ was without a truly dominant big man, the Bulls were a flat-out great TEAM. If they didn't play well together they wouldn't have won crap, even with MJ's God-like status. No man is awesome enough to will a flawed team to the finals. That's my take on it at least. Anyway, Phil kobe and the Lakers will get another chance to be amazing next year. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting phunDamentalz:</div><div class="quote_post">shape, i like your "think big" mentality but i think the purple and gold is starting to blind you a little. in the post-shaq era, the lakers didn't make the playoffs in year 1 and got 1st round KO in year 2. usually when a team does that, the realistic fans of that team are HOPEFUL that the following year they can ADVANCE further. they usually don't say 'we blew an opportunity to go all the way'. matchups on paper don't say very much at all. you have to look at an overall team and how they play as a cohesive unit, wouldn't you agree? in that respect, clippers and mavs were clearly better teams than the lakers. implying that Kobe's "aura" of amazingness or the dazzle of Phil's pinkie rings would be enough to compensate for this disparity in team chemistry is pretty out there. The Lakers did not have a sense of identity or communication really. And one man can only do so much whether it's Kobe or even MJ. As amazing as MJ was without a truly dominant big man, the Bulls were a flat-out great TEAM. If they didn't play well together they wouldn't have won crap, even with MJ's God-like status. No man is awesome enough to will a flawed team to the finals. That's my take on it at least. Anyway, Phil kobe and the Lakers will get another chance to be amazing next year. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.</div> You mention team chemistry, I thought the team chemistry was flowing for the last two months of the season. What killed this team was lack of experience and once again inconsistency. Also Phoenix figured out the Lakers defensive scheme and caught on fire from the outside. The Lakers still have some missing pieces to balance out their roster, but last year's playoffs seemed wide open IMO. I don't think the two best teams made it to the Finals. Last year's playoffs seemed more of a product of the Heat peaking at the right time, while the better team in the East, Detroit had chemistry issues.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">You mention team chemistry, I thought the team chemistry was flowing for the last two months of the season. What killed this team was lack of experience and once again inconsistency. Also Phoenix figured out the Lakers defensive scheme and caught on fire from the outside. The Lakers still have some missing pieces to balance out their roster, but last year's playoffs seemed wide open IMO. I don't think the two best teams made it to the Finals. Last year's playoffs seemed more of a product of the Heat peaking at the right time, while the better team in the East, Detroit had chemistry issues.</div> I definitely agree that the finals didn't necessarily have the two best teams - it could have easily been Detroit and San antonio in the finals. Anyway, I'm moving to L.A. at the end of the month to pursue acting - looking forward to following the Lakers more closely. The Lakers have very passionate fans. It beats following the Knicks here in NYC which everyone just rolls their eyes when you bring them up.
honestly... i'm as diehard a laker fan as you'll get but comparing these lakers to the bulls is just... CRAZY barely scraping into the playoffs = going 72-10 regular season and dominating the playoffs. honestly the ONLY comparison that can be made is kobe=mj. you could make a slight case for odom=pippen. <font color="blue">Watch the language. -TBM</font>
