Lakers had undeniably easy path to the finals. They are ripe for a downfall. OKC, Spurs, mavs could each topple them. Denver and Utah and phx bring up the rear.
It depends who you ask. Phil Jackson won 25 playoff series in a row; that's nearly impossible, even if you had the Dream Team.
I think that Jackson is light-years better than Pop as a coach, and if the Jackson had never gone to the Lakers, we'd be talking about Shaq and Kobe as two of the greatest players to never win a ring.
In 08 and 09 the Spurs weren't healthy and in 10 they ran to the wrong team the wrong time in the Phoenix Suns. If Duncan is the best bigman in the series vs LA and they play the same D they did against Dallas, they have a shot. The Spurs' core still has championship experience, Splitter gives the Spurs frountcourt length that they haven't had since the days of Nesterovic and Mohammed, and Hill and Blair will take steps foward.
Agreed athleticism isn't everything. Its just one of LA's weaknesses, although it hasn't beaten them in a series. Physical play has - that's why Boston has hung with them. But that's not SA's style anymore.
Agreed but it helps LA to get there. Kobe and Gasol won't have to log heavy minutes and LA still will have the top seed.Depth is overrated in the playoffs, obviously, at least from the 9th man down. It's important for a high playoff seed, true, but I wouldn't call it a deciding factor in a playoff series.
Add Splitter to the mix and SA now has 2 real inside players to combat the 3 from LA. And yes, normally Duncan is better than Bynum, although Bynum has played him well at times. But Gasol would be the best big man in that series and barring Splitter coming in like an All-Star, LA will have 3 of the top 4 big men in a halfcourt series. That's huge.Splitter is the wildcard; the Spurs can match the Lakers at PF/C if Splitter is performing at a Euroleague MVP level by the playoffs.
Bryant > Ginobili, yes. Gasol > Duncan? Maybe on offense, and IMO, Duncan > Bynum hands down.
Agreed on neither team can claim youth - that was a remark to someone acting as if SA had an edge.The common knowledge used to be that a player's prime was age 28 or 29, but statistical analysis has shown that to be more like 25.
Either way, I wouldn't consider the Lakers or the Spurs young at this point. Sure, Bynum and Brown are young; so are Blair and Hill. If you're counting Caracter and Ebanks as youth, then we get to count Anderson and one of our D-Leaguers.
Yes, Phil has won on a whole other level than Pop. 11 to 4. Three three-peats and going for his fourth compared to a coach who never has won back-to-back. Pop is one of the greatest coaches in NBA history and he can't hold Phil's jock strap. No one but Red can and even Phil has topped him.Do they really have a edge in coaching? Just because Phil has more rings doesn't mean he is a better coach than Pop. You are acting as if Phil is on a whole other level than Pop. To be quite honest, I thought Doc Rivers out coached Phil Jackson in the finals. He definitely gave better speeches to his team. I guess Phil X's and O's are just far superior.
I am definitely not afraid of the Lakers championship experience. We have enough that on the spurs by the way. Tim,Manu,Parker,Rj,Dice all have championship experience. The way I look at it is any team that takes multiple series lightly isn't experienced enough. The Lakers are very talented but I give the spurs the edge on anything mental.
Bynum better than Duncan.If the Lakers had Duncan they would break the all-time winning record for sure.
As for championship experience - its one thing for leaders of a team to have done it, its another when almost the entire team has been through the wars together.
I addressed Duncan vs Bynum above.
Highly unlikely that Duncan is the best big in a LA series because come playoff time he won't have it in the tank. The past 3 years he hasn't had it more than early in the Dallas series.
If we're to assume SA will be healthy in the series, we all have to assume LA will be - something they were not in the playoffs last year. Kobe, Bynum, Artest, LO - all were battling injuries.
Phil has won on a whole other level than pop. Yes. I was talking about coaching ability and I refuse to believe that Jackson is that much better than Pop if any. To me it feels like the lakers have won because of overwhelming talent and not because of the coaching. Like I said I thought Doc Rivers out coached Phil Jackson.
That really isn't a problem because we didn't win a championship last year.
I guess Phil is going to embarrass pop. If Doc Rivers can out coach Phil, then so can Pop.
Honestly, I think that Phil is overrated as a coach. Don't get me wrong, I think that he is one of the greatest of all time, but how hard is it to win when you coach two of the greatest one-two punches of all time in MJ-Pippen and Shaq-Kobe? I will always think of Phil Jackson as an opportunistic, coattail-riding coach who abandoned any team that didn't have an opportunity to win a le. In short, Pop and Phil are essentially dead even in coaching ability
Phil and Pop are both overrated, but Phil is at a level beyond Pop. Pop is at the level of Jerry Sloan. He just happened to have TD and never was in the finals against the likes of Michael Jordan.
-Blair and Hill are two guys we can see huge improvements from.
-Splitter -- no one knows how good he'll be, but he's been a Spurs' prospect for a long time. the Spurs have had a lot of success in the draft, esp. w/ "Europeans," so we have to wait and see.
-Anderson and Neal - Anderson is the highest Spurs' pick since Duncan at 16 and Neal was a star in Europe.
anyone who says "the Spurs don't have the guns to do it" doesn't know what they're talking about because no one knows what we're going to get this year from these guys. that uncertainty is obviously a concern for Lakers fans, as it should be.
Anderson was pick 20.
my bad thought he was 16. people were saying that had he tried out he wouldve gone 16th or possibly higher; maybe that's where i got it from.
Happens to me all the time. Age.
If it makes you guys feel any better the guy picking the Mavs are idiotic. Not while Carlisle is coaching and has Terry and especially Barea on the roster who he'll probably play over Beaubois and Jones.
But Pop was up against the likes of the Pistons. That Pistons team that beat the Lakers(4-1) ended up losing to the well coached Spurs(4-3) one year later. I don't know if you would agree but many people would say that that 04 lakers team had more talent than the 05 spurs team. The 04 pistons team just acquired Rasheed Wallace before the trade deadline, so this team was less experienced than the one the spurs faced.
well i don't have that as an excuse. lmao.
Like any Spurs fan gives a rats ass...the only thing that matters is when each team laces them up and gets the rumble going. The only sure thing is the queens down there in South Beach ain't going to be raising the trophy. Carry on.......!
Those who don't believe the Spurs will make the playoffs in the West are in for a huge surprise, they still have next year a core of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, and have Jefferson, McDyess, Blair and Splitter. That is good enough in the West to be in the final top 8 and make the playoffs, if they can stay healthy.
You guys are still being homers after 3 years of grim reality? You all just don't get it...think about it it logically: are the Mavs, Spurs, Thunder, etc all good and strong teams? Yes. There's a difference between "challenging" the Lakers and "beating" the Lakers. OKC challenged us, Houston in '09 challenged us. But to BEAT THE LAKERS 4 OUT OF 7 TIMES? GTFO, it's just not happening unless Kobe and/or Pau goes down w/ an injury. They are too stacked, too physical, too deep, and too talented to be beaten 4/7 times by a WC opponent. It's reality, people. Wake up.
Jim Rome?
2stupid - You act as if this is a revelation, and that somehow Spurs fans would throw themselves off of buildings like Laker fans would if their team weren't the favorite.
Troll harder.. The spurs are not scared of the fakers.
Just don't be surprised when the lakers fall flat on their faces.
Imagine if we got Gasol for Matty Bonner then Artest as a FA.
Meanwhile the Kobmes acquired Kurt Thomas, Mike Finley and then Jefferson.
Yeah I'm sure that *top player* Kobme would make that work into championships.
Here is how many votes the Lakers got the year they reemerged and won the West:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/previe...erts-NBAChamps
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