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They should be worried about beating the Nuggets
What the Happened ?
This was a poor, lame performance by a potentially great Lakers team !
best of 7 series. No Yao ming. Lakers up 2-1. Series is over right, Lakers in five ? That's what I thought. I underestimated the Rockets and overestimated the passion of the Lakers to get this series over with . This is living dangerously folks. And you can't just turn your A game on and off whenever you want.
For me, this is a red flag (even if Coach doesn't consider it a red flag).
Now, series tied 2-2. Rockets have nothing to lose. No pressure. All the pressure is completely on the Lakers at this point.
best of 7 series.
3 games left.
Whoever wins 2 of the next 3 wins the series.
Eight permutations (if you were committed to playing the full complement of games (7)).
RRR - done in 6 - so, reduces to RR - Rockets win series
RRL - done in 6 so, reduces to RR {ie this is a duplication of # 1}- Rockets
RLR - done in 7, so remains RLR - Rockets win series
RLL - done in 7, so remains RLL - Lakers win series
LRR - done in 7, so remains LRR - Rockets win series
LRL - done in 7, so remains LRL- Lakers win series
LLR - done in 6, so becomes LL - Lakers win series
LLL - done in 6, so becomes LL {duplicates #7)- Lakers take series.
Only 6 permutations (since it is a best of 7 series) and each team has 3 scenarios under which they win.
Can the Lakers stop Brooks and his penetration ?
I fully expect the Lakers to stomp the Rockets in game 5. But I also fully expected the Lakers to easily win this game in Houston.
The Lakers still are favorites to win the series.
Nevertheless, this should be a major cause for concern.
Cleveland is not taking games off like this. They are not underestimating the opposition. And their defense is a lot better and no nights off.
This makes LA look like a major underdog to Cleveland in the NBA Finals, should LA get that far.
Laker Fans, honestly, you should be worried (not about winning this series- although your team certainly proved that they could lose the series). You should be worried about beating Cleveland after tonight's performance.
They should be worried about beating the Nuggets
First, major props to your team for beating a Lakers team without 2 of your best 3 players ! Great game from the Rockets ! esp, Brooks.
First, they should be worried about beating the Rockets.
Second, I think that they may only have a 50-50 chance at beating the Nuggets. That's a really good team. I would have serious reservations about betting on the Lakers to win that series.
Third, beating Cleveland in a best of 7 series when they have hca and haven't lost a game yet in the playoffs is a mighty mountain to climb. And I don't think they can do it at all (John Thompson quote - from Spurs-Sonics 2005 series).
Who cares about the Finals is all I have to say.
The Lakers will have their hands full with the teams they are playing against right now.
And you guys are missing the big picture about playoff basketball. It's the matchups that matter the most. Regardless of how good CLE is playing right now, they don't matchup well with the Lakers. So them blowing ATL out by 30pts isn't indicative of how they would play against LAL.
Maybe if Zydrunas Ilgauskas and LeBron James get injured in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers will match up better against the Lakers.
Well, if history tells us anything, the Lakers, more than likely, will bounce back with a better performance & win the next two games...at least the next one for sure.....What the Happened ?
This was a poor, lame performance by a potentially great Lakers team !
best of 7 series. No Yao ming. Lakers up 2-1. Series is over right, Lakers in five ? That's what I thought. I underestimated the Rockets and overestimated the passion of the Lakers to get this series over with . This is living dangerously folks. And you can't just turn your A game on and off whenever you want.
For me, this is a red flag (even if Coach doesn't consider it a red flag).
Now, series tied 2-2. Rockets have nothing to lose. No pressure. All the pressure is completely on the Lakers at this point.
best of 7 series.
3 games left.
Whoever wins 2 of the next 3 wins the series.
Eight permutations (if you were committed to playing the full complement of games (7)).
RRR - done in 6 - so, reduces to RR - Rockets win series
RRL - done in 6 so, reduces to RR {ie this is a duplication of # 1}- Rockets
RLR - done in 7, so remains RLR - Rockets win series
RLL - done in 7, so remains RLL - Lakers win series
LRR - done in 7, so remains LRR - Rockets win series
LRL - done in 7, so remains LRL- Lakers win series
LLR - done in 6, so becomes LL - Lakers win series
LLL - done in 6, so becomes LL {duplicates #7)- Lakers take series.
Only 6 permutations (since it is a best of 7 series) and each team has 3 scenarios under which they win.
Can the Lakers stop Brooks and his penetration ?
I fully expect the Lakers to stomp the Rockets in game 5. But I also fully expected the Lakers to easily win this game in Houston.
The Lakers still are favorites to win the series.
Nevertheless, this should be a major cause for concern.
Cleveland is not taking games off like this. They are not underestimating the opposition. And their defense is a lot better and no nights off.
This makes LA look like a major underdog to Cleveland in the NBA Finals, should LA get that far.
Laker Fans, honestly, you should be worried (not about winning this series- although your team certainly proved that they could lose the series). You should be worried about beating Cleveland after tonight's performance.
People are overrating Denver! They do not matchup well at all with the Lakers.
The maths pretty simple here:
The Nuggets foul a lot, the Lakers are good at drawing fouls.
Battier/Artest can make Kobe work, can Dahntay ing JOnes though? Didn't they have Kenyon ing Martin guarding Kobe at times last year?
If Bynum finds his pulse he would have a field day against the Nuggets, who lack a true center (for all intents and purposes, Nene and Birdman are 4's, not true 5's).
Then there's Gasol
And the Nuggets lack a quick PG like Brooks who truly flusters the Lakers.
But let's not jump to conclusions, Mavs/Rockets all Texas WCF
The Fakeshow is finished. Tonight they not only blow a chance to take a commanding lead in the series against a badly outmanned team they get blown the out. Houston won the series in their collective minds tonight. They will proceed to beat the Fakeshow again on Tuesday night in Los Angeles and will finish them off in a game 6.
The Fakers will be under so much pressure in game 5 that they will complode like a sunken freighter. Except for Bryant who will get his usual 30 points on 32 shots. But Gasol, Odom, Bynum etc. will fold like so many cards in the wind. Gasol has had nearly no success in his time in the league and is a career loser and Bynum has turned out to be a huge overrated fluke. A joke really. The rest of the lineup is crap.
So get ready to bow out of these playoffs LA. Because you just don't have what it takes.
Then explain to me why a Yao-less, Mutombo-less (you know, those two guys on the Rockets taller than Gasol and Bynum) absolutely slaughtered LA today. Chuck Hayes is what, 6'6'', and Gasol and Bynum couldn't do anything against him. And so much for Brown being a better defender on Brooks....he got completely torched today.
Matchups might get you the advantage on paper, but if you play a game with absolutely no intensity like LA did today, matchups don't mean .
+1
This Rockets team is so completely in the Lakers' heads it's not even funny. Kupchak is going to regret that $58 million contract he gave to Bynum.
It's 2-2, how the are the Rockets in the Lakers' heads?
Lets not knee jerk here, Rockets played a great game today, that's all. No carry over effect.
Van gundy had it right today....the Lakers are lacking in front court toughness. Sure Gasol can shoot over anyone Houston has right now, but if they can keep him from getting good position down low, he loses the advantage.
Bynum is totally out of sync. I don't know if its lack of PT from the injury or what, but he has been pretty useless.
Look at the bigger picture man. It took the Lakers resorting to cheap shots to win game 2, and shooting uncharacteristically well from 3 pt land in game 3 to win that game. Besides that, they can't match Houston's physicality. Thus, the pressure is all on LA now.
People need to realize that there is no carry over from game to game in the playoffs. Case in point, the 2000 NBA Finals. The Lakers lost Game 5 by 33 points to the Pacers. They went on to win the next game and the NBA Championship.
HOU threw a curveball with their small ball lineup that the Lakers simply weren't prepared for. The Rockets without Yao Ming are a different team, I'm not surprised Phil was unable to adjust. He's one of the worst in-game adjustment coaches I've seen.
I expect a better performance in Game 5 from the Lakers. Phil will find a way to exploit the massive size advantage the Lakers have over the Rockets.
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