Who is the favorite in the West now?

[mytespurs]

Still the Lakers?

The Spurs?

How about the Nuggets?

Could it be the Hornets?

Or is it now the Blazers?

Until and unless one of the WC teams can overtake them, it's the Lakers in my book.

[z0sa]

Last season moron. No Bynum. No Ariza.

We beat the Celtics this season with both of them in the lineup.

Lakerfan reveling in that regular season win at home you're in pathetic, twofaced and a hypocrite. Bynum is young and dumb, this injury is going to turn him into a relative non factor, especially when the PO progress and PJ refuses to play him. Ariza? Don't make me ing laugh. First and foremost, he can't be on both Manu and Tony at once - as if he could hold either one out of the paint besides this, he's inexperienced and really just isn't that impressive.

Manu >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ariza's traveling ass

keep them blinders on though, we'll gladly torch your team on the way to Number 5 out of 5.

[z0sa]

Yup. Anyone who says otherwise is a pure homer. Plain and simple.

says the biggest dumbass homer on this site

[DrHouse]

Lakerfan reveling in that regular season win at home you're in pathetic, twofaced and a hypocrite. Bynum is young and dumb, this injury is going to turn him into a relative non factor, especially when the PO progress and PJ refuses to play him. Ariza? Don't make me ing laugh. First and foremost, he can't be on both Manu and Tony at once - as if he could hold either one out of the paint besides this, he's inexperienced and really just isn't that impressive.

Manu >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ariza's traveling ass

keep them blinders on though, we'll gladly torch your team on the way to Number 5 out of 5.

Ariza didn't guard Manu much in that last game.

It was primarily Kobe. And I thought Kobe did an amazing job on him, holding him to a mere 9 pts on sub 40% shooting. More importantly Manu could not get to the rim at all. He was relegated to being a jumpshooter and making careless turnovers with the ball.

The Lakers don't need to prove they can beat the Spurs. They whooped their ass last year 4-1 and if Bynum can make it back in 8 weeks they will certainly do it again. A healthy Manu is not a game changer if Kobe is guarding him and Bynum is protecting the rim.

The Spurs need a front court to be elite. Right now it's Tim Duncan, Bonner, and Kurt Thomas. That's not going to get it done against LAL at full strength.

[Flo-Rida]

Spurs

[Ghazi]

Spurs are 2-6 v Lakers since Gasol trade, and 1-7 if we consider that the Mason shot/Fisher foul were fluke occurences.

Spurs have no reason to be confident, that's 8 games of evidence that the Lakers are a better team.

The Spurs chance is some sort of Lakers implosion/underachievement or the Spurs playing a FLAWLESS game of basketball

Lakers best basketball > Spurs best basketball

[PDXSpursFan]

Suns are more fun to watch

[DrHouse]

Spurs are 2-6 v Lakers since Gasol trade, and 1-7 if we consider that the Mason shot/Fisher foul were fluke occurences.

Spurs have no reason to be confident, that's 8 games of evidence that the Lakers are a better team.

The Spurs chance is some sort of Lakers implosion/underachievement or the Spurs playing a FLAWLESS game of basketball

Lakers best basketball > Spurs best basketball

This is simply a reality Spur fan refuses to accept.

[Xylus]

Jason Richardson is clearly the favorite to win the West right now.

[21_Blessings]

Last I checked we have Bowen, AKA Kobe stopper, and Pop wants you to think he's lost a step ... because he clearly has not, not even one little bit.

The 'kobe stopper'? Haha. Bowen has never stopped Kobe. And in the last 3 seasons Kobe has lit Bowen up. You do realize Kobe averaged close to 30 on the Spurs in the WCF on 50% shooting, right? Kobe stopper, that's rich.

Second, Manu was our leading scorer last season IE he was good for a lot more than "1-2", but expecting you to know the facts is a lesson in pointlessness. Manu's already stated he feels 100% and the last three games (30+ in two of them) just show without a strong, physical team D, no one will be stopping him this season. But continue on thinking anyone -- ANYONE -- on the Lakers ballclub has a chance of even containing him. You had a better argument saying Bynum could contain Tim, but even that's out the door now

Where was Manu on the 25th? Oh that's right, he was contained.

Last I checked, Ariza ing traveled in the biggest play of the game against the Spurs on Jan. 14th, while Mason hit the gamewinner and got fouled

Except Ariza didn't travel and he was fouled. Good job pointing out the refs gift wrapped that victory for the Spurs at HOME.

what a ing . Mason/Hill/Bonner bring much more to the table than one man, who didn't annoy Parker at all - Parker just made a couple careless plays. Three-time All-star Tony Parker never got annoyed by players like Marion or Joe Johnson, who are better defenders than Ariza and get more ref respect. Don't take it you've watched the Spurs play much outside of the tired ones last WCF.

Ariza did annoy and bother Parker. He was doing nothing against Ariza. Don't confused Parker's production with Fisher guarding him to Ariza.

Team D takes whole seasons to perfect.. Bynum out during this key stretch run dooms LA's le chances,

The Lakers only played about 30 games with Pau last season and theys tilled played better team defense than SA in the WCF. Now they have an entire season with Pau AND ARIZA so their team defense will be even tougher come playoff time.

which IMO were slim even if they did make it to the Finals. Their biggest problem was interior D. Whether you like it or not, Parker and Manu will be getting to the paint, and thats when you're going to wish PJ had a run a few more defensive drills earlier in the season, or at least found some way to keep Kobe from injuring Bynum

Is Duncan going to shoot 43% again with Gasol guarding him? Whatever offense Parker and Manu can give the Spurs it will matched and trumped by Kobe and the rest of the Laker roleplayers.

The Spurs are done. Time to accept that reality.

[mytespurs]

The 'kobe stopper'? Haha. Bowen has never stopped Kobe. And in the last 3 seasons Kobe has lit Bowen up. You do realize Kobe averaged close to 30 on the Spurs in the WCF on 50% shooting, right? Kobe stopper, that's rich.



Where was Manu on the 25th? Oh that's right, he was contained.




Except Ariza didn't travel and he was fouled. Good job pointing out the refs gift wrapped that victory for the Spurs at HOME.



Ariza did annoy and bother Parker. He was doing nothing against Ariza. Don't confused Parker's production with Fisher guarding him to Ariza.



The Lakers only played about 30 games with Pau last season and theys tilled played better team defense than SA in the WCF. Now they have an entire season with Pau AND ARIZA so their team defense will be even tougher come playoff time.



Is Duncan going to shoot 43% again with Gasol guarding him? Whatever offense Parker and Manu can give the Spurs it will matched and trumped by Kobe and the rest of the Laker roleplayers.

The Spurs are done. Time to accept that reality.

The Spurs may not have the youth, depth, offensive scoring power that the lakers have and they are an older team with not as much depth but I hardly consider them "done" just yet. They probably won't win the West but this is veteran championship group so never discount them and I wouldn't underestimate them....

[hater]

and 1-7 if we consider that the Mason shot/Fisher foul were fluke occurences.

talk about denying reality...

truth is, Spurs are a better team this year than last year. Mason, Hill, Manu healthy. truth is, Lakers are a worse team than last year defensivewise. 2 realities Laker fan refuses to see

[DrHouse]

talk about denying reality...

truth is, Spurs are a better team this year than last year. Mason, Hill, Manu healthy. truth is, Lakers are a worse team than last year defensivewise. 2 realities Laker fan refuses to see

They are so much worse that they have a better record.

[hater]

youre giving up 100ppg

[Ghazi]

^ they play a fast pace

[21_Blessings]

youre giving up 100ppg

San Antonio is letting other teams shoot .457 which 19th in the NBA

[IronMexican]

How are the Lakers worse that last season? lol.

[hater]

how many they give up last year?

[DrHouse]

how many they give up last year?

How are the Lakers worse than last season?

[21_Blessings]

Meanwhile the Spurs defense is worse than last season by a good amount.

[Banzai]

The Spurs may be older but they are full of experience..I'm not counting them out...2003 comes to mind.

[Ghazi]

Our Mavs would've won it ALL in 2003 if our beloved Dirk didn't get slain in battle.

Just kidding, but ya never know

[TwinTowers]

While we are all pretending nothing happened last night as a message was sent to the leaugue(celtics),the lakers for sure. MVP!

yeah, as long as the supporting cast step up to the challenge...

[TwinTowers]

Let's say the Spurs do make it to the Finals.

Does anyone think they can realistically beat BOS or CLE in a 7 game series without HCA?

Give me a break. They will get slaughtered by both teams. The only team in the WC that stands a chance against the EC is the Lakers w/ Bynum.

I think the Spurs would match up better with the Cs than the Lakers did last year. San Antonio has the edge at PG, and PF; Boston has the advantage at SF, and SG. As far as roll role players, they're evenly matched. Against Cleveland it all depends on whether LJ can shot from the outside consistently, and the cavs lack a third scorer...

[TwinTowers]

Lakerfan reveling in that regular season win at home you're in pathetic, twofaced and a hypocrite. Bynum is young and dumb, this injury is going to turn him into a relative non factor, especially when the PO progress and PJ refuses to play him. Ariza? Don't make me ing laugh. First and foremost, he can't be on both Manu and Tony at once - as if he could hold either one out of the paint besides this, he's inexperienced and really just isn't that impressive.

Manu >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ariza's traveling ass

keep them blinders on though, we'll gladly torch your team on the way to Number 5 out of 5.

Ariza doesn't have to guard both Parker and Manu, don't forget that kobe can guard either one of them, and he's a good defender too.