Are Lakers the team to beat?

[2Cleva]

One - Houston was a great defensive team, not just good. They were the best defensive team in the West, and come playoff time they were the best in the league. No other playoff team came close.

Two - What great defensive teams are contenders this year? SA lost their defensive iden y. Cleveland couldn't bring it come playoff time and have two of the worse big defenders against mobile players. Orlando has their anchor but that's it.

Boston obviously is the team with the defense having the best chance. They played LA tough but that's when they were doubling off Odom or Walton (Ariza didn't start against Boston (18 min in the Christmas game, 11 in Feb).

Can Boston really dare to zone up Kobe and LA now?

[Gant]

One - Houston was a great defensive team, not just good. They were the best defensive team in the West, and come playoff time they were the best in the league. No other playoff team came close.

Two - What great defensive teams are contenders this year? SA lost their defensive iden y. Cleveland couldn't bring it come playoff time and have two of the worse big defenders against mobile players. Orlando has their anchor but that's it.

Boston obviously is the team with the defense having the best chance. They played LA tough but that's when they were doubling off Odom or Walton (Ariza didn't start against Boston (18 min in the Christmas game, 11 in Feb).

Can Boston really dare to zone up Kobe and LA now?

If Garnett is healthy this Celtics team will have a fulltime big man rotation of Perkins, Garnett, and Rasheed. They will have two of those guys on the floor whenever they want. With Rondo on the perimeter and Thibodeau on the sidelines this should be one of the best defensive teams in memory.

This is a better defensive team than the recent Celtics championship squad.

They are very capable of frustrating the Lakers offense and repeating what happened two years ago. They have the size to match LA in the frontcourt and a much superior defense.

Houston was merely good. Boston will be suffocating on D.

But that's all just hypothetical because the Spurs are taking LA out and it's going to be a Boston/San Antonio Finals...


...and may the best team win.

[kwamay_brown54]

Note to the celtic troll, your teams entire defensive scheme is predicated entirely on the presence of Kevin Garnett. Let's see how relaible Garnett is gonna be on the downside of his career now, oh and the league adjusted to all your bushleague tactics from 2008, so you can't play nearly as physical on defense anymore(see Perkins), and you got whistled for the most technicals in the nba, and you got whistled for hte most 3 second violations of any team in the nba. So yeah, stop living in the past.

[cornbread]

blah blah blah Kevin Garnett blah blah blah So yeah, stop living in the past.

They added Rasheed. That's some serious relief on defense for KG. Take your own advice and stop living in the past.

Celtics are the team to beat.

[lennyalderette]

i have to disagree with everyone, if kg gets hurt then i think the lakers or the spurs are the team to beat, but L.a does not match up well with boston however we do!but with the team we have now, you guys know timmy isnt scared of kobe, ginobili at full strength with tp and butt loads of experience against l.a. i've never been so confident as i am now. but we are going to beat them. timmy just lost 15 i say they are all very determined this year. we have the heart and the strength this year

[lennyalderette]

why else would the laker fans be keeping tabs on our threads?

[DrHouse]

When you look at the relative health, age, and talent amongst the contenders it's quite clear that LAL has the best of all worlds.

All stars in their primes. Plenty of young guns ready to step it up next season. Championship mettle. Phil Jackson at the helm.

My money's on LA and would be even if I weren't a Laker fan.

[sabar]

How about whatever team we meet in the first round? Who cares who the champs are. They could get knocked out or we could get knocked out long before we actually have a chance to play them.

[lennyalderette]

When you look at the relative health, age, and talent amongst the contenders it's quite clear that LAL has the best of all worlds.

All stars in their primes. Plenty of young guns ready to step it up next season. Championship mettle. Phil Jackson at the helm.

My money's on LA and would be even if I weren't a Laker fan.

ok so im not a laker fan and im not picking l.a

[Spursox]

Well, lets see...??? Umm, yeah..Defending Champs and adding Artest and losing no one...

[bostonguy]

I dont see why not. They upgraded by adding in Artest and have everyone else returning.

[Showtime24 LAKERS]

Of course we are the team to beat!! Even with or without Odom the Lakers are still the team to beat because we are the reigning CHAMPIONS. And with the re-signing of Odom the Lakers got better from Last year because they replaced Ariza (solid role player at best ) with a much better player in Artest (an All-star caliber player) for the same amount of money!!

If we can get a young decent Point Guard like a Ramon Sessions, Kurt Hinrich or a Raymond Felton via trades next season then we'd be set for a very long time.

However, the spurs and celtics both have very old players and I don't think Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan can compete at a high level the older they get. If the Celtics or Spurs are going to win there going to have to win now or neva!

[Spursone]

Absolutely, the Champs are always the team to beat. Stay healthy San Antonio and we will topple them!

GO SPURS GO!

[eisfeld]

Defending champs - Kobe on their team - no significant losses - yeah, they are the team to beat.

[The_Game]

Cavs? lol

[spursballer21]

they are our enemy lets beat them!!

[Riverwalkman]

Are they the team to beat? Yes. They won the championship against diluted compe ion last year. Are they the best team? No.

1) Cavs
2) Spurs (assuming everyone is healthy)
3) Lakers/Magic

Boston is too old and has no depth. Their only hope is Orlando taking the Cavs out.

Can't agree on your ranking. My point is:
1. Lakers.They are champ, they are the team to beat.
2. Spurs. We had a best off-season, and the determination to get another one.
3. Magic. They made finals. Their defense has a lot of room to improve. They will be better.

[lennyalderette]

here we go with the old spurs talk, well sorry to break it to you but kobe is just shy of ginobilis age, and if i have never seen kobe play so slow in my life as he did this year, yeah he is the best player in the leauge right now, but i honestly think he'll be even slower next year. as for bynum he might as well be 35 cause he plays like it. and if you still think we have oberto and and kurt thomas go ahead and check out the talent we just picked up on youtube. marcus haislip, ian mahinmi, so you can stop acting like we still have kurt, and oberto now

[Strike]

Yes the Lakers are definitely the team to beat. But they are not unbeatable. As long as the Spurs' new additions fit in to the system and play well, and as long as the big 3 can stay healthy and fresh for the playoffs, the Spurs can knock the Lakers off their pedestal.

I wouldn't put money on the Spurs since there are a few factors that could quickly take them out of contention but I wouldn't put money on the Lakers, either. In part because of homerism and because I'm not convinced that Phil can keep Artest under control if dude blows a gasket or pulls his typical Artest .

As far as I'm concerned, It's the Lakers' le to lose, and it's the Spurs le to take if the team stays healthy. I'm looking forward to this season more than the last 2.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Spurs v. Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals. Book it.

[StoneBuddha]

The Lakers are still the team to beat because they have a ton of talent and a great coach.

However, I don't buy this belief that the team to beat is always the defending champions. Too rigid IMO. For example, in 2007, the Miami Heat were clearly not the team to beat that year. They might not have even been in the top 5.

[guzmangm]

Agreed about just being the champion makes you the team to beat. Who won the last back to back championship? The lakers back in 2000-2002... They lost an important role player and now have to prove they can fit Artest into their system. Something tells me this Lakers team is going to have the flip the switch mentality... Plus their bench is kind of weak since they lost Ronny Turiaf.

[guzmangm]

What I mean is Lakers bench can't get it done on the road. Spurs just need to fix their 3 quarter scoring droughts and I think I like our chances with the new additions.

[Budkin]

Without a doubt.

[mingus]

of course. they're one of the best teams i've ever seen on paper. if the Spurs meet them, the Spurs will be the underdogs. championship last year or not, they still have the best team on paper. the Spurs can still win though. even though they won't have the greatest chance (i give them a 15 % chance), it's the mere chance that makes us keep watching, hoping for something epic.