2008 Lakers = Fluke

[spurscenter]

What did the Lakers really accomplish?


Vs. NUGGETS
George Karl 4-24 since 2000 in the playoffs, always yields a team that can be beat no matter the amount of talent. In other words, The Grizzlies could of advanced the first round vs the Nuggets.


Vs. Utah
Utah is good but Utah is not New Orleans , Utah is not Phoenix, while the spurs took care of the two giant monsters in the West. Utah was a layup for the Lakers into the WCF.


vs. SPURS
Never in NBA history has the Western Conference Finals been scheduled as 7 games in 14 days. Never. Let alone the bogus non call on Barry at the end or the inability to call Kobe for fouls, but what was done is done.

vs. Celtics
Exposed as just a regular season team. No team defense, overrated, over achieving bench of sasha, jordan farmer and walton. Please. The Lakers were an embarrassment to the Western Conference.


If the lakers had to play new orleans OR even phoenix in the first round, they be out in the first round. PERIOD.


Yes, They won 1st seed in the west and then got lucky with the balance of the bracket --- pitting the JV on one side and the varsity on the other.

But with the league scheduling 7 games in 14 days, an injured Manu and of course throw in the non foul call on Brent Barry, all leads to one thing: 2008 LAKERS = FLUKE.

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/ee/fullj.9a8943391739ab9be57bb99a968b835a/9a8943391739ab9be57bb99a968b835a-getty-80391826eg002_spurs_lakers.jpg

[Spur-Addict]

Those are the perks of having the number one seed, we would take it as well.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Those are the perks of having the number one seed.

And Crawford

[ktmrider]

As a Lakers fan, I have to admit that the Lakers had no buisness playing in the finals. I think the Spurs could have given the Celtics more competition.
The 2008 Lakers are a joke. Heck, now i'm thinking the nba wanted the lakers-celtics series....

[intlspurshk]

Alright, no need to take away what Lakers accomplished
They beat the SPURS

SPURS were tired, injured, played PHX and NOH...., suffered from poor ref. Yes. This is the outcome of being 3rd seed in WCF

1st seed is supposed to enjoy weaker opponent in the playoff, HCA, etc. That's why Manu needed to play so hard in regular season.

FO is to be blamed for failure to retool with younger player and spend 3m in a player which never been used in the playoff.

We, as a SPURS fan, don't whine like Lakers fans. Let's move forward and sweep the Lakers next year for revenge

[DazedAndConfused]

Why bash the Lakers for taking advantage of their #1 seed? This is why you play hard in the regular season, so you can have an easy path to the Finals. You think the Celtics would be NBA champs if they didn't have HCA all the way through?

The Lakers were the victim of serious over-hyping by the media. They were good, but definitely not a complete team by any means. Weak perimeter defense, weak interior defense, and poor rebounding. I can't tell you the last time I saw a team this weak defensively make it all the way to the NBA Finals. If anything we should give credit to Phil and Kobe for patching up the holes and keeping the ship afloat all the way to the Finals. They got as much out of THIS squad as you could reasonably expect.

If they flame out like this next season with a healthy Bynum manning the paint and hopefully an additional wing defender alongside Kobe then you can trash them all you want. But this season they definitely exceeded any reasonable expectations you could have had for a team that wasn't even projected to make the playoffs.

[m33p0]

Why bash the Lakers for taking advantage of their #1 seed? This is why you play hard in the regular season, so you can have an easy path to the Finals. You think the Celtics would be NBA champs if they didn't have HCA all the way through?

The Lakers were the victim of serious over-hyping by the media. They were good, but definitely not a complete team by any means. Weak perimeter defense, weak interior defense, and poor rebounding. I can't tell you the last time I saw a team this weak defensively make it all the way to the NBA Finals. If anything we should give credit to Phil and Kobe for patching up the holes and keeping the ship afloat all the way to the Finals. They got as much out of THIS squad as you could reasonably expect.

If they flame out like this next season with a healthy Bynum manning the paint and hopefully an additional wing defender alongside Kobe then you can trash them all you want. But this season they definitely exceeded any reasonable expectations you could have had for a team that wasn't even projected to make the playoffs.
mitch cupcake deserves credit for getting them gasol. like him or not, lakers wouldn't have made the playoffs without him.

[DazedAndConfused]

mitch cupcake deserves credit for getting them gasol. like him or not, lakers wouldn't have made the playoffs without him.

No doubt. Without Bynum or Gasol the Lakers would not have made the playoffs.

[spurscenter]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/7d/fullj.360e9725075a8b28f62ac80573fce979/360e9725075a8b28f62ac80573fce979-getty-80398146jm172_nba_finals_ga.jpg

[spurscenter]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/d7/fullj.a2e7979ff2bc6a6baa016e546e1b4098/a2e7979ff2bc6a6baa016e546e1b4098-getty-80398145mw006_nba_finals_ga.jpg

[DEVILS SON IN LAW]

As a Lakers fan, I have to admit that the Lakers had no buisness playing in the finals. I think the Spurs could have given the Celtics more competition.
The 2008 Lakers are a joke. Heck, now i'm thinking the nba wanted the lakers-celtics series....

:rollin You're no Laker fan..That's a stoopid bandwagon comment. The Lakers won the right to be in the finals. The Spurs would have gotten their asses rolled up too. We came up against THE BETTER TEAM THIS YEAR, PERIOD. They've been the best team all year long. The whole world thought the Lakers would win the series because they beat the defending champs, and Boston having to go thru those 7 game series.
The Lakers have alot of young guys on that team that had to go thru that experience to learn what it takes to be champions. It was a good for them to get their asses crushed liked that. I hope this stays with them for the rest of the summer. THEY BETTER NOT EVER FORGET THIS ASS WHOOPIN'...THE LAKERS WILL BE BACK...IT'LL BE EVEN SWEETER THAN HAD THEY WON THIS YEAR!!!

[kobyz]

And Crawford

and in game 1 the offensive foul of Bryant on Bowen in the last play

[Spur-Addict]

W/O Bynum they were the favs. Now that reality smacked them in the face, it's not the same story anymore. Sounds odd to me.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

W/O Bynum they were the favs. Now that reality smacked them in the face, it's not the same story anymore. Sounds odd to me.

:lol damn revisionists

[spurscenter]

Congrats Antonie Walker!

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/98/fullj.527bf6f012a0b7da5049d7a2d7ee5f82/527bf6f012a0b7da5049d7a2d7ee5f82-getty-80398142ds016_nba_finals_g2.jpg

[Ghazi]

Utah is not New Orleans, Utah is better than New Orleans.

Yes the Spurs had an injured Manu, and the Lakers had an injured Bynum. The problems the Spurs had in that series were nothing new, they've had offensive droughts all year and games in the regular season that come to mind are the Dallas game where Dirk went down (Spurs won, but shot 19% for a half), the Utah/Portland/Phoenix games late in the season, the Boston game where they blew a huge early lead... and just the statistic that they were the 15th most efficient offense in the NBA.

And people make too much of the officiating in game 4.

as for the Nuggets, yeah, an easy first round opponent.. #1 seeds tend to get easy first round opponents (no Mavs jokes please :()

The Lakers weren't a fluke, they just lost to the better team.

[PM5K]

Those are the perks of having the number one seed, we would take it as well.

Exactly

[ancestron]

It was so great to see Kobe all pissed off during post game. I get the feeling there are so many things that stand between him and his teammates from having a real championship connection.

[m33p0]

Utah is not New Orleans, Utah is better than New Orleans.

Yes the Spurs had an injured Manu, and the Lakers had an injured Bynum. The problems the Spurs had in that series were nothing new, they've had offensive droughts all year and games in the regular season that come to mind are the Dallas game where Dirk went down (Spurs won, but shot 19% for a half), the Utah/Portland/Phoenix games late in the season, the Boston game where they blew a huge early lead... and just the statistic that they were the 15th most efficient offense in the NBA.

And people make too much of the officiating in game 4.

as for the Nuggets, yeah, an easy first round opponent.. #1 seeds tend to get easy first round opponents (no Mavs jokes please :()

The Lakers weren't a fluke, they just lost to the better team.
oh, man. :depressed

[Deuces88]

Ghazi: Utah is NOT better than New Orleans. Chris Paul and any 4 people (even women) can beat Utah

[Ghazi]

Deron Williams has historically always gotten the better of Chris Paul. Utah went 3-1 against NO in the regular season and had a higher margin of victory. The point guards are basically a wash but the Jazz are way more talented 2-10 although their interior defense is weak as hell.

[jag]

The "fluke" lakers took the Spurs in 5 games.

Not to mention,the "fluke" Lakers bench absolutely rapes our bench....and it's not even close.

[TampaDude]

Fakers = FLUKE team

No more rings for Kobe...

[TampaDude]

Ghazi: Utah is NOT better than New Orleans. Chris Paul and any 4 people (even women) can beat Utah

+1 CP3, West, and Chandler would have destroyed the Jazz. It took the Spurs 7 games to beat the Hornets, and we all know the Spurs own the Jazz.

[mrspurs]

well if pop and his bonehead staff wouldnt have let go of beno, replaced him with mighty mouse, made such a stupid late trade in elson for kurt. we wouldnt have wasted games teaching these clowns, mostly damon a system they wouldnt have learned anyways....we would have had won HCA....we woulda cruised thru denver,utah and imo the lakers woulda never made it thru the suns or NO....pop and or his staff blew a few games that cost us a ring....i knew it when these players started moving to other teams the moment it happened....you just dont grab old has been players towards the end of a season on a championship team, throw them in the mix and expect guys like our big 3 to be able to overcome it.......pop and his staff im sure know just how bad they let their players down this season....just 2 or 3 more wins and its us winning the rings....IMO the suns with the shaq a snaq trade killed us more then anything else....that trade made teams run to try and find a way to beat the suns...when it was the lakers and HCA we shoulda kept in mind...next time pop says "the west is so good this year it wont matter who has HCA" yall go ahead and believe him....not me, thou ill never be a headcoach, ive been around the nba long enough to know, pop was full of something when he made that comment....maybe next yr....hopefully our staff wont let our players down like they did this season...hopefully they wont bring back some of the same old players who did nothing for us during the season and mostly during the playoffs....i can live with being beat by better players....i have a hard time not winning because our staff is losing games....this season kinda took me back to the days of bob bass and his crew...i thought those days were done, this season felt like bob was making the calls again...oh well....go spurs go

[Oh, Gee!!]

lots of "ifs" and "buts" in this thread. Lakers beat us plain and simple; they deserved to rep the West in the Finals. Get over it already, and look forward to next season.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

lots of "ifs" and "buts" in this thread. Lakers beat us plain and simple; they deserved to rep the West in the Finals. Get over it already, and look forward to next season.

I'm all for "getting over it" and I've done it weeks ago but you have to think at least about the horrible schedule from the NBA. That has to change not only for the Spurs but for everyone else. The league is not in a position right now to behave like thugs - they have people on court right now testifying against lots of things and cutting deals with prosecutors.

Yes, last night was a wet dream come true but they need to handle business better.

You could see the bad sings when they decided to strip Bowen of his record.

[Kori Ellis]

lots of "ifs" and "buts" in this thread. Lakers beat us plain and simple; they deserved to rep the West in the Finals. Get over it already, and look forward to next season.

:tu

I don't get Spurs fans bashing the Lakers. If the Lakers suck so badly, that means the Spurs suck even worse. And the "WAA WAA, but Manu was hurt excuse" is old.

[bresilhac]

Why bash the Lakers for taking advantage of their #1 seed? This is why you play hard in the regular season, so you can have an easy path to the Finals. You think the Celtics would be NBA champs if they didn't have HCA all the way through?

The Lakers were the victim of serious over-hyping by the media. They were good, but definitely not a complete team by any means. Weak perimeter defense, weak interior defense, and poor rebounding. I can't tell you the last time I saw a team this weak defensively make it all the way to the NBA Finals. If anything we should give credit to Phil and Kobe for patching up the holes and keeping the ship afloat all the way to the Finals. They got as much out of THIS squad as you could reasonably expect.

If they flame out like this next season with a healthy Bynum manning the paint and hopefully an additional wing defender alongside Kobe then you can trash them all you want. But this season they definitely exceeded any reasonable expectations you could have had for a team that wasn't even projected to make the playoffs.

Sounds like one big, sorry excuse for not showing up to me. I thought the Gasol collusion was supposed to put the Lakers over top. I guess not. I suppose if you'd have had a healthy Bynum for the Celtic series you'd be making other excuses for getting manhandled. As a matter of fact I know you would be. That's what Laker apologists do.

[小小轩]

now i do think it is a plot of David Stern..heck, now,the only thing i want is manu rewins the Olympics champion..I'll go to Beijing to hail manu

[hater]

Congrats to Lakers. Played an injured Spurs team and injured Celtics team and all they got to show is WC Championship :lol

[Supergirl]

I agree...

and you know, it happens, in professional sports. As bitter as I was about the Spurs loss, the Lakers being exposed as the frauds they are restores my faith in the NBA just a little bit.

It happened in 2006, too. Spurs were one suspect foul call on Manu away from returning to the NBA Finals, yet the Mavs got there instead...and were exposed as the frauds they were. I remain convinced that the Spurs would have handled the Heat and the Celtics a lot better had a few small things gone differently - we have won 4 NBA championships but could easily have won 6. Ah well. 4 is pretty darn good.

I'm hoping for the KG vs. Duncan matchup in next year's Finals...that would be an epic showdown.

[bresilhac]

:tu

I don't get Spurs fans bashing the Lakers. If the Lakers suck so badly, that means the Spurs suck even worse. And the "WAA WAA, but Manu was hurt excuse" is old.

The Spurs didn't "suck". They got jobbed by tough scheduling and a having to play with a hobbled Manu and role players who wouldn't produce. That's why they have to upgrade the lineup this offseason. And you may be tired of hearing about a Manu that wasn't 100% but that was the case. And it probably cost us a trip to the Finals.

[Kori Ellis]

Sounds like one big, sorry excuse for not showing up to me. I thought the Gasol collusion was supposed to put the Lakers over top. I guess not. I suppose if you'd have had a healthy Bynum for the Celtic series you'd be making other excuses for getting manhandled. As a matter of fact I know you would be. That's what Laker apologists do.


The Spurs didn't "suck". They got jobbed by tough scheduling and a having to play with a hobbled Manu and role players who wouldn't produce. That's why they have to upgrade the lineup this offseason. And you may be tired of hearing about a Manu that wasn't 100% but that was the case. And it probably cost us a trip to the Finals.

:lol

[degenerate_gambler]

Sorry people...in a 7 game series there are no excuses. The better team wins.

[PHXSpursFan]

Sorry people...in a 7 game series there are no excuses. The better team wins.

That and the fact that they got the benefit of playing us in an even numbered year. :flag:

[jaysmooth422]

:rollin You're no Laker fan..That's a stoopid bandwagon comment. The Lakers won the right to be in the finals. The Spurs would have gotten their asses rolled up too. We came up against THE BETTER TEAM THIS YEAR, PERIOD. They've been the best team all year long. The whole world thought the Lakers would win the series because they beat the defending champs, and Boston having to go thru those 7 game series.
The Lakers have alot of young guys on that team that had to go thru that experience to learn what it takes to be champions. It was a good for them to get their asses crushed liked that. I hope this stays with them for the rest of the summer. THEY BETTER NOT EVER FORGET THIS ASS WHOOPIN'...THE LAKERS WILL BE BACK...IT'LL BE EVEN SWEETER THAN HAD THEY WON THIS YEAR!!!


Just pray that Kobe doesnt demand another trade :rollin:flag:

[spurscenter]

8UUBC8NoQgA

[703 Spurz]

Why bash the Lakers for taking advantage of their #1 seed? This is why you play hard in the regular season, so you can have an easy path to the Finals. You think the Celtics would be NBA champs if they didn't have HCA all the way through?

The Lakers were the victim of serious over-hyping by the media. They were good, but definitely not a complete team by any means. Weak perimeter defense, weak interior defense, and poor rebounding. I can't tell you the last time I saw a team this weak defensively make it all the way to the NBA Finals. If anything we should give credit to Phil and Kobe for patching up the holes and keeping the ship afloat all the way to the Finals. They got as much out of THIS squad as you could reasonably expect.

If they flame out like this next season with a healthy Bynum manning the paint and hopefully an additional wing defender alongside Kobe then you can trash them all you want. But this season they definitely exceeded any reasonable expectations you could have had for a team that wasn't even projected to make the playoffs.

You have a comment for everything don't you? The Lakers weren't projected to make the playoffs? Since when? And why are they suddenly called one of the best young teams in the league and should be in the hunt for the next few years if they weren't projected to make the playoffs?

[dbestpro]

Spurs lost to the Lakers. Manu was hurt, Pop did one of his worse jobs coaching and the bench was exposed. PJ was also missed though every one seems to forget. It happens. In fact it seems to happen every other year.

The Lakers got another notch against us and set records for futility that matches the Mavs. The teams we truly hate the most are hurting more as the Suns always finds a way to lose to us the Mav's are first round losers and the Lakers will go down with the Cav's as the two teams who should have nver been in a final in the modern era.

It's still a great day to be a Spurs fan. Now, if the would just get rid of about 4-5 refs.

[DazedAndConfused]

:tu

I don't get Spurs fans bashing the Lakers. If the Lakers suck so badly, that means the Spurs suck even worse. And the "WAA WAA, but Manu was hurt excuse" is old.

[DazedAndConfused]

Last I checked the Lakers lost 4-2. Not 4-0 like the Cavs. Game 6 was a shellacking but this could have very well been a 7 game series had the Lakers not imploded in Game 4 and blown that 24 pt lead.

[hater]

the Hawks had more chance to beat the Celtics than the Lakers :lmao

[dippidy-do]

Sounds like one big, sorry excuse for not showing up to me. I thought the Gasol collusion was supposed to put the Lakers over top. I guess not. I suppose if you'd have had a healthy Bynum for the Celtic series you'd be making other excuses for getting manhandled. As a matter of fact I know you would be. That's what Laker apologists do.


The Spurs didn't "suck". They got jobbed by tough scheduling and a having to play with a hobbled Manu and role players who wouldn't produce. That's why they have to upgrade the lineup this offseason. And you may be tired of hearing about a Manu that wasn't 100% but that was the case. And it probably cost us a trip to the Finals.


http://www.popartuk.com/g/l/lgMP0163.jpg





I had to come out of lukerdum for this one! I've never seen someone own themselves so hard, so quickly. Great job buffoon!




http://www.smooth3d.com/xterra/assclown.jpg

[DazedAndConfused]

http://www.popartuk.com/g/l/lgMP0163.jpg





I had to come out of lukerdum for this one! I've never seen someone own themselves so hard, so quickly. Great job buffoon!




http://www.smooth3d.com/xterra/assclown.jpg

:lmao

[J.T.]

No, what's old is the five Spurs fans on this site that turned out to be closet Laker fans during the Finals. I won't name names, but it's a perfectly natural emotion to wish the team that beat you to fail. If anyone feels differently, I seriously question their fanhood.

They Lakers got a cosmic beatdown from the Celtics last night that was straight out of a sports movie. And they deserved all 48 minutes of it.

[spurster]

lots of "ifs" and "buts" in this thread. Lakers beat us plain and simple; they deserved to rep the West in the Finals. Get over it already, and look forward to next season.

:tu

[td4mvp21]

They weren't that good. But what's that saying about the rest of the West? (including the Spurs)

[Say-Townbball]

The Lakers are not FLUKES...they just lost focus in the Finals...

Like everyone else has mentioned...#1 seed does have it's perks. We got stuck with #3 and that was the luck of the draw.

I'm sure Hornets fans are PISSED because I think if LA played the Hornets 2nd round of the playoffs...NO woulda taken LA for sure.

It is what it is...Western Conference this year was tight and the seeding happened to the very last game of the regular season.

If the Spurs were #1 seed, you know there would be haters sayin they were flukes too.

Keep it real.

[michaelwcho]

Kobe is a spectacular player. But he shot 41% for the finals. Chuckers like Iverson or Kobe who need to throw up lots of shots to get theirs do not make their team much better. He is overrated. He did play very well against us, but he doesn't seem to have the mental equipment to be a Jordan.

[Say-Townbball]

Kobe is a spectacular player. But he shot 41% for the finals. Chuckers like Iverson or Kobe who need to throw up lots of shots to get theirs do not make their team much better. He is overrated. He did play very well against us, but he doesn't seem to have the mental equipment to be a Jordan.

Straight up Kobe is nowhere near Jordan. Jordan would have NEVER dropped 20pt+ leads and/or lost damn near 40 points in a closeout game in the finals.

I used to think the Lakers were guaranteed a win if Kobe passed the ball out and created shots for his supporting cast. It's just too bad the other part of that equation is for them to actual MAKE the shots that were created.

[spurscenter]

If the Spurs were #1 seed, you know there would be haters sayin they were flukes too.

Keep it real.

no, spurs beat suns and NO, 2 tough teams and 1st in a top WC season