Attention league: The Lakers aren't that good

[TheMadHatter]

The Lakers need Bynum to play much better than he is right now before we can take BOS in a 7 gamer. IMHO if Bynum can play like he did right before he went down last season we should be able to beat BOS in a 7 game series.

[JamStone]

Boston doesn't have Posey anymore. That makes a big difference.

Not to mention they only have ONE star that consistently makes plays during the final 5 minutes of a game.

Did Cleveland pick up James Posey?

Cleveland does not have a premier perimeter defender either.

Your point was that Cleveland would force Kobe and Gasol to become jump shooters and would close out on their other shooters. With or without Posey, Boston does that better than any team in the league.

And, while Boston only has one superstar that consistently makes plays during the final 5 minutes of the game, they have two others that can carry the team offensively during the first 43 for long stretches. Cleveland relies on one superstar to carry the team offensively for the entire time he's on the court. Pierce had actually been playing pretty poorly the first 5 or so games in the season and the Celtics were still winning. Three is still better than one.

[Allanon]

The Lakers need Bynum to play much better than he is right now before we can take BOS in a 7 gamer. IMHO if Bynum can play like he did right before he went down last season we should be able to beat BOS in a 7 game series.

Sorry, I have to disagree bro...Bynum doesn't even have to be great, he just needs to be big.

I think all Bynum has to do is stay out of foul trouble and shoot some shots and block some shots.

The Celtics beat the Lakers last year because of 3 things:
1) Pau & Odom - KG & Perkins are WAAY too big for Pau & Odom. Then off the bench they had the tough PJ Brown who gave Pau problems. Bynum & Pau take away the KG/Perk advantage. And off the bench, there's the rugged Josh Powell and Chris Mihm to deal with Powe and Big Baby.

2) Kobe vs Posey - Posey manhandled Kobe, he's gone now replaced by a much softer and smaller Tony Allen.

3) Paul Pierce - Lakers had nobody to guard Paul Pierce except Radmanovic whom Pierce torched. Kobe's way too small to guard Pierce and create offense for himself. With Ariza / Odom, Paul Pierce is no longer and issue.

Truthfully speaking, I think the Lakers are going to walk all over the Celtics. Only teams that will give the Lakers a hard time this year are the Cavs (LeBron), Pistons (AI).

[mavsfan1000]

The lakers aren't that great. Take away their superstar shooting guard and their big frontline, they are nothing.

[stretch]

Did Cleveland pick up James Posey?

Cleveland does not have a premier perimeter defender either.

That wasn't the point. The point was, that Posey was the heart of their perimeter defense. Their perimeter defense won't be near as good come playoff time as it was last year.

Your point was that Cleveland would force Kobe and Gasol to become jump shooters and would close out on their other shooters. With or without Posey, Boston does that better than any team in the league.

We will see when the playoffs roll around. I personally don't think it will be as good. Especially because I feel their defensive stats look better because of their incredible offensive efficiency. The same way I feel the Lakers defense is overrated, and the Suns defensive stats in past years as well.

And, while Boston only has one superstar that consistently makes plays during the final 5 minutes of the game, they have two others that can carry the team offensively during the first 43 for long stretches. Cleveland relies on one superstar to carry the team offensively for the entire time he's on the court. Pierce had actually been playing pretty poorly the first 5 or so games in the season and the Celtics were still winning. Three is still better than one.

That's all great. I still say Cleveland is as tough, if not a tougher matchup for the Lakers than Boston.

[Pistonfan1]

Sorry, I have to disagree bro...Bynum doesn't even have to be great, he just needs to be big.

I think all Bynum has to do is stay out of foul trouble and shoot some shots and block some shots.

The Celtics beat the Lakers last year because of 3 things:
1) Pau & Odom - KG & Perkins are WAAY too big for Pau & Odom. Then off the bench they had the tough PJ Brown who gave Pau problems. Bynum & Pau take away the KG/Perk advantage. And off the bench, there's the rugged Josh Powell and Chris Mihm to deal with Powe and Big Baby.

2) Kobe vs Posey - Posey manhandled Kobe, he's gone now replaced by a much softer and smaller Tony Allen.

3) Paul Pierce - Lakers had nobody to guard Paul Pierce except Radmanovic whom Pierce torched. Kobe's way too small to guard Pierce and create offense for himself. With Ariza / Odom, Paul Pierce is no longer and issue.

Truthfully speaking, I think the Lakers are going to walk all over the Celtics. Only teams that will give the Lakers a hard time this year are the Cavs (LeBron), Pistons (AI).

The lakers will have to play 2 on 5 against the Celtics or Pistons. Gasol is soft and he gets his points off ball movment plays while either being under the basket or by having a clear path to the basket. He wont post up against physical bigman because he is soft and weak. Odom is too inconsistent. Bynum must be a consistent #2 guy against either of those 2 teams because Gasol/Odom will be mostly MIA. The rest of your role players are either soft or are scrubs or will be easy to shut down. Not to mention the bigman depth for the Lakers just isnt all that good. Mihm sucks and Powell is worthless.

Odom/Ariza are going to make Pierce a non-factor? That is a joke right? Pierce is going to have his way with the Lakers. He is too strong and too good and the Lakers overall D isnt great or clutch when it truly matters. If you had Ron Artest, you could make that argument.

The Celtics/Pistons will make Kobe and Bynum do it by themselves which wont cut it. Lakers best shot against the east is if they do face the Cavs. Pistons/Celtics are too physical and too good defensivley where the Lakers would just be unable to hack. That and the Pistons/Celtics offense will be aggressive knowing that the Lakers D isnt truly that great.

[Allanon]

The lakers will have to play 2 on 5 against the Celtics or Pistons. Gasol is soft and he gets his points off ball movment plays while either being under the basket or by having a clear path to the basket. He wont post up against physical bigman because he is soft and weak. Odom is too inconsistent. Bynum must be a consistent #2 guy against either of those 2 teams because Gasol/Odom will be mostly MIA. The rest of your role players are either soft or are scrubs or will be easy to shut down. Not to mention the bigman depth for the Lakers just isnt all that good. Mihm sucks and Powell is worthless.

Odom/Ariza are going to make Pierce a non-factor? That is a joke right? Pierce is going to have his way with the Lakers. He is too strong and too good and the Lakers overall D isnt great or clutch when it truly matters. If you had Ron Artest, you could make that argument.

The Celtics/Pistons will make Kobe and Bynum do it by themselves which wont cut it. Lakers best shot against the east is if they do face the Cavs. Pistons/Celtics are too physical and too good defensivley where the Lakers would just be unable to hack. That and the Pistons/Celtics offense will be aggressive knowing that the Lakers D isnt truly that great.

Pistons look to be a good matchup against the Lakers but my gut feeling is that the Celtics won't be. Fisher has struggled against AI for a decade now.

This year's Celtic team is nowhere as good as last year's Celtics. Lakers will pack the paint and let Rajon Rondo shoot Jumpers all night long.

For the Cavs, the Lakers have no way of stopping LeBron that I've seen so far.

[Ghazi]

Call me a hater, but while I think the Lakers are the best in the west, I don't trust players like Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Sasha Vujacic, and Vlad Rad, and Odom to perform at a level capable of winning a championship.

[Ghazi]

The Pistons are far inferior to the Celtics. I doubt they're a more difficult matchup for the Lakers than the Celtics.

Celtics went 6-2 against the Lakers last year, that's not a fluke. and TWO of those games were when bynum played.

[21_Blessings]

What would a Dallas Mavericks fan know about winning championships?

[Allanon]

The Pistons are far inferior to the Celtics. I doubt they're a more difficult matchup for the Lakers than the Celtics.

Celtics went 6-2 against the Lakers last year, that's not a fluke. and TWO of those games were when bynum played.

There was Bynum in two games but no Gasol.

There were 4 games with Gasol but no Bynum.

The key is Odom's too small to play the 4 against KG/Perk.

[21_Blessings]

What would a Dallas Mavericks fan know about winning championships?

[Pistonfan1]

We will see when the playoffs roll around. I personally don't think it will be as good. Especially because I feel their defensive stats look better because of their incredible offensive efficiency. The same way I feel the Lakers defense is overrated, and the Suns defensive stats in past years as well.

As much as I hate the ing celtics, that comment is out of hate and denial on how great their D is. Celts O can be and downright atrocious in a game but their D will keep them in the game and give them a chance to come back and win. With or without Posey, that team is a GREAT suffocating defensive team. To call it inflated etc is just absurd.

[Pistonfan1]

Pistons look to be a good matchup against the Lakers but my gut feeling is that the Celtics won't be. Fisher has struggled against AI for a decade now.

This year's Celtic team is nowhere as good as last year's Celtics. Lakers will pack the paint and let Rajon Rondo shoot Jumpers all night long.

For the Cavs, the Lakers have no way of stopping LeBron that I've seen so far.

Packing the paint with Bynum and who else? Gasol? Odom? Powell? Please. The Lakers d wont be able to keep the celts out of the paint. Lakers arent a very good defensive team to have great success with that against a team like Boston. They have more soft minded players than they do tough minded ones. Thats going to really hurt them in a series like that.

This years Celtic team looks as good as last year if you ask me. Yeah it's early but they are well coached and they look determined to repeat. Their D is doing what it did last year and they have that swagger of a defending championship team. They can play rough and rugged basketball, they can blow you out, they can play close and exciting type of games etc etc.

If the Celtics can attack the Pistons D...it sure as can attack the Lakers D. Pistons would have much better success at packing the paint than LA would.

[Pistonfan1]

God damn it, I hate defending the ing Celtics cuz I cant stand that team. This is one of the times I will ever like/root for the Celtics is when they are involved with the Lakers.

[Allanon]

Packing the paint with Bynum and who else? Gasol? Odom? Powell? Please. The Lakers d wont be able to keep the celts out of the paint. Lakers arent a very good defensive team to have great success with that against a team like Boston. They have more soft minded players than they do tough minded ones. Thats going to really hurt them in a series like that.

The Lakers don't have to be that tough, they just have to be Big.

7'2 Bynum vs 6'10 280 pound Perkins
7'0 Pau vs 6'11 KG

Size kills, Odom couldn't handle either one of those guys last year. Lakers will win the paint instead of Celtics this year.

This years Celtic team looks as good as last year if you ask me. Yeah it's early but they are well coached and they look determined to repeat. Their D is doing what it did last year and they have that swagger of a defending championship team. They can play rough and rugged basketball, they can blow you out, they can play close and exciting type of games etc etc.

The biggest difference is in the win margin. They had a fluke game against the Pistons which bumped up their win margin but it's sitting at only 6 points and they've had a home heavy schedule. Last year they were stomping all over teams.

If the Celtics can attack the Pistons D...it sure as can attack the Lakers D. Pistons would have much better success at packing the paint than LA would.

Oddly enough, AI is the Piston's Answer for the Lakers but the Piston's weakness against the Celtics.

[Bandwagon Fan]

It would be a different story when facing someone like Garnett, Ben Wallace, or even Dirk.

Yeah, because when Pau owned Dirk in their last matchup Dirk really shows what a 'different story' it would be. You've pretty much shown you have no clue what your talking about but putting the Cavs above the Celtics as a Laker matchup. We proved last year that the only chance any team has against us is to shut down our offense, and the only Celtic defense was capable of that.

Packing the paint with Bynum and who else? Gasol? Odom? Powell? Please. The Lakers d wont be able to keep the celts out of the paint. Lakers arent a very good defensive team to have great success with that against a team like Boston. They have more soft minded players than they do tough minded ones. Thats going to really hurt them in a series like that.

This years Celtic team looks as good as last year if you ask me. Yeah it's early but they are well coached and they look determined to repeat. Their D is doing what it did last year and they have that swagger of a defending championship team. They can play rough and rugged basketball, they can blow you out, they can play close and exciting type of games etc etc.

If the Celtics can attack the Pistons D...it sure as can attack the Lakers D. Pistons would have much better success at packing the paint than LA would.

Just because the Pistons get forcibly penetrated in their hole by the Celtics doesnt mean the Lakers will. The Pistons defense is atrocious this year, I think they barely make the top half of the league. To top it off, the Celtics offense is horrible. We've already seen it several times this season, just put some pressure on Rondo, Perk, and the bench and the Celtics fall apart, the Pistons are pretty terrible for not exploiting that. The Hawks, Nuggets, Toronto, even Milwaukee showed that, only some of them werent able to take advantage offensively and put them away. The Lakers wont have a problem doing that.

[JamStone]

Andrew Bynum helps with size, but his easy leap to supers om has been greatly exaggerated. He got owned by Shaq last night, forcing him to commit foul after foul. He was getting owned by Nene. He couldn't even really hold his own with Joel Przybilla on opening night. And, the most telling match-up, Kwame Brown outplayed Andrew Bynum.

Size does kill. But, let's not overstate it, otherwise Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, and Jerome James would have been putting some damage on the league the last few years.

I would not be ready to give the front court advantage to the Lakers in a match-up with the Celtics just yet.

[JamStone]

Just because the Pistons get forcibly penetrated in their hole by the Celtics doesnt mean the Lakers will. The Pistons defense is atrocious this year, I think they barely make the top half of the league. To top it off, the Celtics offense is horrible. We've already seen it several times this season, just put some pressure on Rondo, Perk, and the bench and the Celtics fall apart, the Pistons are pretty terrible for not exploiting that. The Hawks, Nuggets, Toronto, even Milwaukee showed that, only some of them werent able to take advantage offensively and put them away. The Lakers wont have a problem doing that.

The Celtics manhandled the Pistons easily. That should make the Lakers very wary considering how the Pistons completely manhandled the Lakers' big men.

[Allanon]

Andrew Bynum helps with size, but his easy leap to supers om has been greatly exaggerated. He got owned by Shaq last night, forcing him to commit foul after foul. He was getting owned by Nene. He couldn't even really hold his own with Joel Przybilla on opening night. And, the most telling match-up, Kwame Brown outplayed Andrew Bynum.

Size does kill. But, let's not overstate it, otherwise Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, and Jerome James would have been putting some damage on the league the last few years.

I would not be ready to give the front court advantage to the Lakers in a match-up with the Celtics just yet.

Shaq owned Bynum for sure...way too much for Bynum to handle.

Against Denver, it wasn't Nene, rather it was Birdman that screwed Bynum. I'll chalk that one up as a fluke.

Bynum was weak on opening night against Pryz.

Kwame had a great night. I don't expect him to be that solid next time. I think the Piston game was pretty much all about AI, he made things much easier on the Piston bigs with his penetration. And AI will continue being a problem for the Lakers. I seriously would rather see the Celtics this year in the Finals than the AI led Pistons.

I'll call it now, Lakers are too much for the Celtics. The Lakers will beat the Celtics handily on Christmas day, y'all can laugh at me if it doesn't happen.

[InRareForm]

Do people soon forget how Pau plays like a pussy in the playoffs/finals?

*waits for someone to insert: "But Bynum blah blah" excuse*

[Bandwagon Fan]

Andrew Bynum helps with size, but his easy leap to supers om has been greatly exaggerated. He got owned by Shaq last night, forcing him to commit foul after foul. He was getting owned by Nene. He couldn't even really hold his own with Joel Przybilla on opening night. And, the most telling match-up, Kwame Brown outplayed Andrew Bynum.

Size does kill. But, let's not overstate it, otherwise Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, and Jerome James would have been putting some damage on the league the last few years.

I would not be ready to give the front court advantage to the Lakers in a match-up with the Celtics just yet.

The Celtics have Perkins and Garnett has fallen off massively since last year.

Im not sure wha you mean about getting owned, you mean hes not making as many shots Phil said from the beginning his role would be to play defensively and offense wasnt as important, and look at how low he's held other players well below their norms. My favorite was when he stuffed that basket into CP3's face twice in the same possesion

The Celtics manhandled the Pistons easily. That should make the Lakers very wary considering how the Pistons completely manhandled the Lakers' big men.

That game can be summed up to you guys making your threes and us not. And if anything, it has more to do with Iverson and lazy defense on him.

[Bandwagon Fan]

Do people soon forget how Pau plays like a pussy in the playoffs/finals?

*waits for someone to insert: "But Bynum blah blah" excuse*

Yeah, the same guy who owned the west + the Spurs in the playoffs. Timmy D sure couldnt save em'

[InRareForm]

Yeah, the same guy who owned the west + the Spurs in the playoffs. Timmy D sure couldnt save em'

2008 Boston NBA Champions

[turiaf for president]

The lakers aren't that great. Take away their superstar shooting guard and their big frontline, they are nothing.

uh thats teh team bro. take away dirk and their back court and mavs suck

take away garnett and their wing guys, boston sucks

take away lebron and they suck.......

no sherlock. u take away kobe and the front line lakers have no one just like every other team would if u took away their 4 best players.....