Reply With Quote
Ya thats why they lost both games to the spurs...
Duncan is a much better post defender than Noah..Howard looks better than he did earlier in the season, but he's still physically limited, he doesn't have a notable advantage over Duncan in the post..
Pop is going to run hack-Dwight during key stretches, tbh, he doesn't give a , unlike other coaches..
The most glaring concern for LA is their horrible defense..
Ya thats why they lost both games to the spurs...
You can put the Bulls in an empty gym and they would have trouble scoring 100.What you call choking, I call good Laker defense.
And speaking of defense, we played it today. Bulls shot 37.1% today. Lakers outrebounded them and outswatted them 9-4. They also locked into Luol Deng (All-star) as he shot a putrid 31.3%. Boozer shot 25%.
Again, what you call choking, I call good Laker defense.
7-10 since February 1st. Only managed to score 100 once, against the Bobcats. OKC held them to 72. Boston held them to 69. Miami held them to 67. San Antonio, who are in the middle of defensive funk, held them to 83.
But when the Lakers do it, it's "great defense."
No, the Bulls are that incompetent offensively. But you are indeed re ed enough to believe the Lakers, who just gave up near 70 point halves to the tanking Pelicans and ty Raptors, have emerged into a defensive force over night.
I can't wait to bump all your edness when the Lakers once again lose in the playoffs.
I said good Laker defense. Nice try.You can put the Bulls in an empty gym and they would have trouble scoring 100.
7-10 since February 1st. Only managed to score 100 once, against the Bobcats. OKC held them to 72. Boston held them to 69. Miami held them to 67. San Antonio, who are in the middle of defensive funk, held them to 83.
But when the Lakers do it, it's "great defense."
No, the Bulls are that incompetent offensively. But you are indeed re ed enough to believe the Lakers, who just gave up near 70 point halves to the tanking Pelicans and ty Raptors, have emerged into a defensive force over night.
I can't wait to bump all your edness when the Lakers once again lose in the playoffs.
In your eyes, the Lakers are incapable of playing defense. Today, they saw an opp to formally enter the playoff race and they put the clamps on the EC 5th seed.
Your schtick is funny. If the Lakers lost you would have been clowning. Since they won (convincingly I might add - up by as much as 18), you areit. All I know is that you maaaaaad the Lakers won...again!
You can't run the PnR if Dwight is clanking freebies... Hacking is also a momentum killer, which is something D'Antoni phony 3 point shooting teams feast on...
Agree with Harlem too, the worst part is the defense. You can't run into the playoffs with that kind of D if you don't have a blazing hot offense, and the Lakers don't have that either.
If the playoffs started today, DeadlyDynasty and I have $500 on the winner of the Spurs/Lakers matchup.
They pretty much are. It's just that the Bulls are even more incapable offensively than the Lakers are defensively.I said good Laker defense. Nice try.
In your eyes, the Lakers are incapable of playing defense. Today, they saw an opp to formally enter the playoff race and they put the clamps on the EC 5th seed.
Your schtick is funny. If the Lakers lost you would have been clowning. Since they won (convincingly I might add - up by as much as 18), you are
What shtick? I call it as I see it. I called the Lakers a legit contender last year, and was proven right when they battled the Thunder in a tough 5 game series (two Kobe chokejobs away from pushing that series to 7). You think my opinions are nothing but baseless hate. Not true. I see a A TON of flaws with the Lakers, and squeaking out wins against bad teams and "locking down" low-scoring teams that are missing their starting PG doesn't go a very long way in convincing me otherwise.
Try being objective sometime and not a homer. It's not as bad as you might think.
Howard has stepped it up these last 10 games. He's been averaging 15.7ppg on 56.5%, 13.5rpg, 2.3bpg. The best part is Kobe and Nash are finding him and he's converting at a high clip - even in the 4th. Good luck with Jim guarding him without a double. On a separate note, I expect Clark's foot speed/versatility to bother Splitter. The icing on the cake is when Pau comes in to sub either one. Who you got that can matchup with him?
And we are missing Pau, who regardless of what you say, is a big key to the Lakers and what we are trying to do.
I see flaws in this Lakers team as well. I also see them making adjustments to those flaws and winning games. Today was a team effort - and we didn't need Kobe to bail us out. We've won 17 of our last 22 and now we are in the big dance. Don't act is if we haven't begun to play better because we have.
Has anyone else noticed BR Hornet trying to ease his way back onto the board after Kobe forced the anium drill bit with diamond es in his ass!!!
Pau can no longer create his own offense on a consistent basis, he's not a concern, especially coming off an injury..
Pop is the best coach in the NBA, he isn't a Black coach that won't expose LA's flaws..expect him to attack Nash, Meeks and Jamison on the defensive end, along with Kobe's roaming, and expect hack-a-Dwight..
Playing better, yes. Darkhorse/Contender level basketball? Not even close.
Bolded line tells me you're still being results oriented. The ball bounces a different way against Detroit, Charlotte, Phoenix, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Toronto, and that shiny 17-5 run glimmers a whole less at 11-11. I know you're an old-school "a win is a win" guy, but point differential is a valid predictor of how well a team is actually playing, and over the last 25% of their games, the Lakers have a -0.44 margin of victory.
The Lakers have looked very underwhelming in the majority of their victories in this 17-5 run. Sure, they have enough starting lineup talent to look impressive now and then, as they did against OKC and Boston, but they're still overall an inconsistent team. And the upcoming Orlando game won't do much to give us an accurate reading on whether or not the Lakers have "figured it out" or have just been getting lucky.
I do think they're playing better, but only marginally so.
You're debating with Lkrfan here. He doesn't examine the game much beyond the Win/Loss column and box-scores.
Pau can no longer create his own offense on a consistent basis, he's not a concern, especially coming off an injury..
Pop is the best coach in the NBA, he isn't a Black coach that won't expose LA's flaws..expect him to attack Nash, Meeks and Jamison on the defensive end, along with Kobe's roaming, and expect hack-a-Dwight..
Didn't say we are playing like contenders, I said we are playing better. Once we get to the playoffs, all bets are off. Teams that are supposed to win don't always win as we saw with 8.
Nah, I wouldn't say that. The Lakers fooled me in 2008 when they blowing teams out left and right only to get smacked upside the head by the blasted Celtic s in the Finals. All that other jibber jabber you talking is BS. There were several games this year that were lost in the last minute or two - otherwise our record is much better than it is. Point differential didn't matter during your 8 season, now did it? What matters is how you are playing going into the playoffs. BTW, Boston's point differential in the playoffs wasn't nothing to brag about in 2008. I'm just saying.
Now you are sounding result oriented. Who cares if we win by 40 or win in a 4 point squeaker? A W is a W. It's well do ented that the Lakers have had key players miss a ton of games this year otherwise how we are beginning to play right now would have manifested itself months ago (if we were healthy). Agreed on the inconsistent point though.
Agreed. But I see room for improvement.
We'll see how elite he is when he has to guard PNR. Earlier in the year when we played you guys, Howard was still on the amends. He's still not there - I'm guesstimating that he is about 80% truth be told. But if he continues to play the way he played today, I like his chances v. Jim. Like I said, Noah is a better defender and Howard damn-near dropped 20/20 on him. Be careful of what you wish for...
Pau was hurt most of the year and missed a ton of games. If he is not scoring, I'm not worried because he'll still drop dimes, rebound, and block shots. Especially against your back up bigs like The Red R
Pop has learned his trade well and has earned his stripes as a result of PJ kicking his ass. N
Lakers and Stern a deadly combo.... close games lakers will be getting OKC calls of last year.
scary series imo.
Point differential actually did matter. It was only half-a-point better than the previous years team that got swept. During the '11 season, the Spurs had countless single digit victories they were fortunate to win.
And I agree what most importantly matters is how you're playing going into the post-season. I simply think a team that is priming itself for a run, as most Lakerfans are now believing, shouldn't be getting destroyed by the contenders and finding themselves in shootouts with bottom feeders. If they sweep this upcoming road trip, or even go 2-1 with a blowout win against Orlando and a close loss against Indiana/Atlanta, then I'll reevaluate my thoughts on them.
The Lakers get swept, but who knows. Stern will want to milk the Lakers TV ratings, maybe all the way to the finals. With Parker out, OKC will get the first seed in the west.
Agreed. I'll defend my boys until the end, but the jury is still out on them. I just don't know what Laker team will show up. Just when I think they are turning a corner, they end up in a dog fight with a team that can't beat Duke University. s been like this all year. Believe it or not, I'm in "show me" mode right now with them. I'm not as big a homer as you think.
Injuries aside, the reason it's so difficult for the Lakers to turn that corner and blast full speed ahead is because they're an older team with a thin bench. Spurs had a similar MO in '09 and '10 before their youth injection.
The only hope the Lakers have of making serious noise in the playoffs (like a 1st round upset) is for Kobe to play 35ppg basketball, for Dwight to find 80% of his DPOY form, and for Gasol to be seamlessly integrated back into the lineup.
Could happen. The Laker role players could also get scorching hot. But the chances are remote.
Honestly, the best first round matchup for the Lakers would be Memphis. I know Lakerfans want the Spurs because "hurrdurr, Kobe owns the Spurs," but Memphis will play a half-court style that the Lakers are better equipped to handle and they also lack the perimeter athletes to get out and run. Chicago is basically the poor man's Memphis, and the Lakers had one of their more impressive wins this year against them.
Spurs would be clear favorites, but I think this is actually the best first round series LA can get. The Lakers can not contend with the athleticism of the Clippers or Thunder. They would be run right out of the gym. The Spurs are capable of that as well, but our best athletes are unproven (Leonard) or have a history of disappearing at times (Parker). We also don't know what the Spurs older players (Duncan and Ginobili) will have left in the tank, even if healthy. I can see the Lakers upsetting the Spurs, but it would still be an upset.
don't think pau would've helped the team more than earl clark does tbh. dude ain't a good fit for _'antoni's system and he was basically used nothing more than a role player under _'antoni even when he was healthy as . with pau back you will have one more rotational player and probably a leader of the bench, but i don't see how that would make the team much better than what they currently are tbh
Pau has been absolute in the playoffs the last two years and I don't see how in a season where he's been really bad, that will change suddenly.
The Spurs are a match up nightmare for the Lakers. Parker who can break their defense down combined with great ball movement and shooters spacing the floor, spell disaster. The Lakers poor defensive principles will be exposed and that's not even taking into consideration the Spurs' improved defense. Lakers are better off taking their chances at the iso heavy offense Thunder.
Lakers in 6
The Lakers were scary for the Spurs in years past for these reasons:
1. Size advantage
2. Kobe
3. Pop being scared of Phil Jackson
4. Parker's penchant for choking against the Lakers
#1 has disappeared
#3 has done a 180..the Lakers coach has nightmares about the Spurs
#4 has also done a 180..while Parker has a tendency to choke against LA, he would now be matched up with Steve Nash, a guy that Parker has treated like Koolaidman is treated by his large, Black boy toys, tbh..
Last edited by HarlemHeat37; 03-10-2013 at 10:22 PM.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
