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lol mavs
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...urs-mavericks/Should the Lakers be worried about the Spurs, Mavericks?
Kurt Helin
The NBA championship is not decided in December. The NBA season is a long slog where contending teams want to develop good habits, win games and stay healthy for the second season.
We get that. But we can’t help but wonder…
When you look at the West right now what do you see? Dallas just had a 12-game win streak and behind its 2-3 match-up zone is playing its best defense in years. The Spurs are 20-3 and have been the best team in the league over the course of the young season — good defense and an elite offense (even if they have slowed the pace lately). They are getting to rest Tim Duncan so much he is putting himself in games to play.
Then there is the consensus preseason pick to come out of the West, the Lakers — who have looked good but not dominant against a pretty soft schedule. Their defense has been pedestrian. Pau Gasol has looked tired and Ron Artest is not fitting in as smoothly. They have losses to good teams like the Jazz and Bulls, they had to squeak out wins against the Nets and Clippers. It has not been a tour-de-force.
It’s time to ask — should the Lakers be worried? Could the Spurs or Mavericks (or Thunder or Jazz) knock them off come the playoffs?
I put that question to a variety of scouts and player personnel (and development) people around the league in the last week and they said:
Yes. Sort of. But it’s still about the Lakers and not their opponents.
Keep Reading...
lol mavs
It's hard to say right now. You can't make that judgment until we see how the Lakers look with Bynum fully integrated.
I'll say this, if the playoffs started today, the Lakers don't come out of the West, and the fact that the Lakers need 3 great-to-good big men in Gasol, Odom, and Bynum, illustrates just how big man dependent Kobe Bryant is.
Phil never got the tactical knowledge of small ball, so he always needs 2 bigs in his lineup. he used to have 3 bigs to rotate over the 2 positions and it functioned pretty well however he only has two legit bigs now that bynum is injured and isn't likely to come back soon. lakers have a bag of guard reserves which only contrasts the severe lack of depth at PF and C.
Now yes. Later in the season....let's see
Spurs: yes
Mavs: no
Nothing's changed
The Mavs, not at this present time. I say this because I don't think this current team is the team that will be going into the playoffs this year. Roddy will be back and there is always chance for a trade, which I do believe will happen.
The Spurs, yes the Lakers should be concerned with them at this time. The Spurs backcourt has 2 guards who can penetrate the lane at anytime. They have an aging but solid threat at PF. While the Lakers backcourt has only 1 gaurd who can penetrate consistently, but has the edge in the front court for obvious reasons, but if there is any team RIGHT NOW that can threaten the Lakers chance of a repeat in the West its the Spurs RIGHT NOW.
of course. the author had nothing to write so he just questioned the obvious
If the Spurs are healthy come April/May then they could push LAL to 7. Not really worried about Dallas though, cause I don't trust anybody outside of Dirk to show up in a long series.
That could change by season's end, though.
they should worry about health. they can compete against anybody in the NBA. I look forward to seeing a healthy Lakers vs. Spurs WCF
Right Now
Seems ever since the Spurs won that half a season le Spur fan been increasingly delusional while calling for earlier and earlier playoff start times...Were less than 2 full months into the season and Spur fan already ing their pants over a wet dream...
Shannon Brown has been really good for them this season, while other new signings like Barnes etc... are also contributing a lot. there are still weaknesses with their squad but their backcourt is just fine as it gets. coming to their bigs rotation whereas they only have two legit players to use with bynum out injured.
when fully healthy the lakers will continue to dominate the west without no possible threat, but at this point of time it seems they can lose a game to any team not just the spurs and mavs but the mid-tables as well.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....1ecf65f4.htmlDon't worry Mavericks fans, Spurs can't keep up their current pace
by Eddie Sefko / The Dallas Morning News
The Mavericks don't owe apologies to anybody after the first 25 games of the season. They've done nothing but overachieved when the bottom line is the gauge.
What's amazing is that they rattled off 12 consecutive wins, had 19 wins in the first 23 games and still weren't in first place in their division, much less the Western Conference.
Looking around, it's hard to believe San Antonio is this good. And we can point out some reasons to doubt them.
Reasons like they haven't played the Lakers, Celtics or Heat yet. Reasons like they have only played nine winning teams and are 7-2 against those.
The Mavericks have played 13 teams over .500 and are 10-3. Like the Spurs, they haven't played the Lakers. But they have beaten the Celtics and Heat already.
The point is that the Spurs aren't going to keep up their jackrabbit pace. It's not going to require another 12-game winning streak for the Mavericks to pass them. Just keep winning the games you are supposed to and a few here and there that you're not.
And if that's not enough to get them past the Spurs by 2011, then we'll all have to re-evaluate things.
The spurs need to get better play from their front court if they seriously want to challenge LA. The spurs have the clear advantage in the backcourt with more depth although the Lakers have the best back court player in Kobe.
The lakers are a bad matchup for the spurs. They can wear the spurs down with high percentage shots on the inside with their superior front line. And Kobe can match head to head any backcourt player on the spurs in crunch time.
no one should be worried about the mavs. except mark cuban.
The Mavs aren't , they depend way too much on the refs to ever win a ship. Just go ahead and watch just about ANY comeback they've ever made, I guarantee you they came back thanks to FT's.
This Spurs team is FAR from playing it's best b-ball, that won't happen until the 2nd half of the season as it's happened for like the past 10 years.
Lakers should worry about every team they play but they should worry about themselves more than anything because when they come to play, it's usually lights out.
The thing with the Lakers are they respect the Sp*rs and the Mavs so they will not overlook either of those teams. If I had to bet money on WCF matchup, I'd say Lakers/Mavs due to what Chandler is doing and the fact that they can bring Haywood off the bench. The Sp*rs don't have enough size to deal with the Lakers.
You just started a thread asking why Haywood wasn't starting over Chandler and now is a Mavs/Lakers because what Chandler is doing? What happened did you finally what a Mavs game?
lol this not wanting to face either of those teams
This is an inaccurate statement. Of course you need quality bigs to get it done. People say, "but MJ did it without a dominant big" and I say whatever man. Why? Because during his first 3 peat, he had a young horse named Horace Grant that was a good (he later became a great defender), old man Cartwright was a good defender who would foul the out of Ewing in a heartbeat, and the greatest SF defender of all time: Scottie MF'n Pippen. During the 2nd 3 peat, he had the probably the greatest PF defender of all time: Rodman. During both runs, MJ had a collection of bigs that had size and at least 18 fouls that could be strategically used to slow down Shaq, Ewing, Smits, or Daughtery. These centers were 1st or 2nd options of their teams. You slow them down, then lock down the perimeter - you win. They played good or great defense.
Kobe is no different. You don't get past _irk, TD, Amare, or any other elite big without a good big man on your team. When Kobe had Shaq he won. When he had Pau he won. During all 5 of his championship runs he was a major reason why the Lakers won. To dismiss these facts is being disingenuous on your part. But hey, whatever floats your boat. , sub Kobe for MJ on the Lakers' 2005-2007 teams and I guarantee you he wouldn't win a ring with the likes of Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Brian Cook, (inconsistent) Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, or Tierre Brown. If you say he still would have won, your trolling.
Look dumbass, stop following me around from thread to thread. I'm not giving out autographs to transves e gots.
If you must know, I was deployed (meaning I'm in the military) and couldn't watch games. I even stated in the thread that I based the thread off of their history when they played the Lakers. I'm no longer deployed, and I now can watch games.
Regardless, looking at how much bigger Bynum is now (look at the guns he added to his 7'6" wingspan) the Mavs would be wise to start Haywood because Chandler's light ass won't cut it:
No need to be ass hurt because you made yourself look like a fool. It was a simple question.Look dumbass, stop following me around from thread to thread. I'm not giving out autographs to transves e gots.
If you must know, I was deployed. That means I'm in the military. I'm no longer deployed, and I now can watch games.
Regardless, looking at how much bigger Bynum is now (look at the guns he added to his 7'6" wingspan, the Mavs would be wise to start Haywood because Chandler's light ass won't cut it:
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