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Lets make it fair and break the lakers up into two teams, starters +6th man and bench. I bet they would meet in the WCF and teh starters would then go on to win the le. Yup, it's inevitable...
Why wait for June? Lakers will win NBA le
No need to wait for the games to be played with a conclusion this forgone.
Jeff Miller
Columnist
The Orange County Register
The NBA's Web site is reporting that the playoffs will begin Saturday.
The Lakers' flagship radio station is reporting the team likely will begin the playoffs Sunday.
ABC is reporting it will open its coverage of the playoffs as soon as possible.
The Orange County Register already has lost its patience. The Orange County Register doesn't have time for this, given the very real possibility the newspaper industry will be out of business by the end of this sentence.
Therefore, The Orange County Register is reporting the Lakers will win the NBA championship.
Reporting it right now, right here, this instant, written while the Lakers are finishing their regular season and nearly two months before the start of the NBA Finals.
The Lakers will win it all, according to sources close to the team, very close. Why, we were standing right next to Sasha Vujacic just the other day.
"Anything short of a championship will be a disappointment," Vujacic said. "We haven't been saying that quietly this season; we've been saying it out loud. But there's no fun if there's no pressure, right? You gotta have pressure."
So the Lakers have pressure, the sort of knee-quivering, mouth-drying, underpants-wetting stress that comes from being projected as champions by a big-time sportswriter.
Or, in this case, a sportswriter usually preoccupied big-time with finding ways to get the word "booger" in the paper.
We just can't see the Lakers falling short this time. A year ago, they were one of those feel-good stories. This year, they're one of those real-good stories.
Remember the Lakers last spring? Pau Gasol was still the surprise gift they kept finding under the tree each morning. Even with one Andrew Bynum tied behind their backs, they conquered a Western Conference reported to be historically ish.
They were warm, endearing, like the smile reborn on the face of Kobe Bryant, who months earlier had demanded everything from Jerry Buss but his mustache.
They were more underdog than this franchise ever has been, using the momentum of stunning regular-season success to advance all the way to Boston and Game 6 of the Finals, where they were more dog than this franchise ever has been.
Vujacic called the past couple seasons "rebuilding ones," and if that's true the Lakers reached the 2008 Finals while in a mode similar to the one the Grizzlies are in at the moment.
"We were in the Finals and that was all exciting and everything," Gasol said. "But I'm not sure if we went into the playoffs with a sense we were going to win. The feeling around here is different now."
This spring, the Lakers enter having nearly lapped the West and with Bynum untied and roaming freely again, although his knee is still confined to a brace menacing enough that it might start growling.
The past six months haven't really been a regular season or regular at all. Each game, practice and shootaround had little to do with the present and everything to do with attempting to secure home court way, way down the road.
"Last year, we were the hunters," Vujacic said. "This year, we're the hunted. That's a big difference."
Literally, this season has been about Game 7 from Day 1. The Lakers have participated in 82 contests so far only because the NBA established that as a prerequisite.
They have been granted a monopoly in the West and, to fittingly complete their domination, given a go directly to the Finals card, too.
"It was more like we were on a good run last year," Gasol said. "This time, we've been getting ready all year for where we are now. Now we have to make our statement and make a stand."
And they are going to do just that, guaranteed, thanks to the addition of Bynum and the health of Trevor Ariza and the amount of talent flowing off the bench so incessantly it could warp hardwood.
Here's something to consider when pondering the Lakers' depth:
In that Game 6 against the Celtics last June, their starting small forward was Vladimir Radmanovic, who was good enough to start only three games this season for 11-games-below-.500 Charlotte.
"Everybody deserves a championship — all the players, the city of Los Angeles, everyone across Laker universe," Vujacic said. "We want to be working until the middle of June. There has been a lot of talking, but we'd rather do it with facts now."
The Red Sox have a nation. So do the Raiders and Yankees and 7-Eleven.
The Lakers have a universe. Yes, they got Milky Way.
And like any decent, self-respecting universe, the Lakers have a black hole, into which they're about to stuff the rest of the league.
They will win the 2008-09 NBA championship. Let everyone else dawdle and predict the first round, Lakers in four games or five games or whatever.
We're not waiting around for that. Our projection cuts right to what matters:
Lakers in two months.
Lets make it fair and break the lakers up into two teams, starters +6th man and bench. I bet they would meet in the WCF and teh starters would then go on to win the le. Yup, it's inevitable...
Its the Lakers Championship to lose.....all the pressure is not on them to come thru
How can people be more annoying than Celtic fans?
What kind of infested back trodden newspaper refers to themselves in third person?
DrHouse is that you?
I think it requires genetic engineering.
I think LA fans are much more annoying by far, it's not even close. Granted both have bandwagoners recovering from teh Bird/Magic days.
HAHA, hey Lakers don't be too confident, what happened to your 4 great all stars in 2004? Did you guys win it all?
Pretty sure this is the same that said this last year...
Lol, 2004 smack talk. That's sooo awesome!
Stern will make sure that his favoured team wins the le.
The writer is just writing what nobody else dares to say.
Things have gotten so bad in betting that BODOG is refunding money to people who lose betting against the Lakers.
The Spurs were the only thing stopping the Lakers this year and then they got the bad news. Lakers will only have to play 1 of Celtics/Cavs/Magic after they've beaten the out of each other.
With Bynum scoring 22 points in his 4th game back, it's going to be very hard to upset the Lakers. It's possible, just not likely.
You guys were talked up and hyped up soo much in 2004, lets just give Karl and GP their first ring. Too bad that didn't happen after Pistons whip you're ass in the Finals. So sad that after that Karl retired and GP went to Miami to get his ring.
LA was not an underdog last year lol
75 win ecstasy!!
And what exactly does 2004 have to do with this team? About the only thing the same is Fisher and Kobe.
I'll give Lakers this, if they face Cavs in the finals if they can get that far, they will win the championship.
It's just about the article, he's so confident that they will win the championship this year, just like in 2004, they were so confident as well.
it's cool its the writers opinion, but don't let it jinx you guys.
I don't think an article from an OC writer is going to jinx the Lakers. They are going to go as far as Kobe takes them. If Kobe turns into Finals Kobe, Lakers aren't winning , especially if he takes the majority of the shots and doesn't realize that Pau has been the MVP all season.
We're here to play the game, playoffs are totally different, plus their have been some ed up things happening in the last year, Cardinals to the Super Bowl??? Devil Rays to the World Series??? none of you can predict that, i know it's different, but anything can happen, that's why you play the games. I just hope that the Mavs don't make the NBA finals.
This is a future bump thread if I have ever seen one.
Lakers will win it this year. Bank on it
Yeah, and if Gasol goes down with a torn MCL like Malone did we will probably have the same fate as then. Why does it matter? That was then, this is now.
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