Arthur is a key for the Grizzlies. I like his game!
The Grizzlies got Marc Gasol and a draft pick that turned into Darrell Arthur in that Lakers trade.
Arthur is a key for the Grizzlies. I like his game!
Thank god Jerry West is longer running that franchise. Mf@cker gifted the Lakers 2 championships.
I'm not convinced. I think their ceiling is second round in the playoffs. They're still a good team, but I don't think they're a legitimate le contender or a legit contender to take the WC.
Pretty obvious because they don't have a superstar to take them all the way. The 2005 Pistons are the only team that won it all without a superstar. They were very well coached, cold blooded and played exceptional Defense. I always wonder how the Spurs could've fared against the Pistons in 2004? Weren't they the top two defensive teams that year?
The Spurs would have beaten the Pistons in 2004. The Pistons won the finals that year because of Karl Malone's injury and Kobe deciding it would be better to lose than watch Shaq win another finals MVP.
I think the Grizz are hugely underrated. They have all the pieces to win a championship IMO, especially with a lot of teams playing small at the 4.
They need to keep everyone healthy and get some chemistry. They may not have a superstar but with such a huge front court and good defenders like Allen they can match up well with a lot of teams.
Health has been in issue in previous years for Randolph and Gay. If they are 100% going in to the playoffs they will cause some upsets.
Truth bomb.
I disagree; the 04 Pistons were a lot deeper than the 05 Pistons that took the Spurs to 7 games, and the 04 Spurs didn't have Barry. Their backup PG situation was a mess with Jason Hart also, and Nesterovic was their center (they didn't get the Rose for Mohammed gift from Isiah until the next season). Duncan was healthier in 04, but I'm not sure that cancels everything else out. I think the 04 Pistons would have probably won the series in 6 against the 04 Spurs.
For instance, their shallow bench in 05 was a huge problem in game 7 when Duncan got the Wallaces and McDyess in foul trouble in the third quarter, and they got stuck putting Prince on him (of course Duncan went off). In 04 they had not only the Wallaces, but Mehmet Okur, Elden Campbell, and Corliss Williamson to throw on Duncan. I think they were much better equipped for guarding Duncan that year,
Crap, I see that Campbell was on their 05 roster too. Not sure why Brown didn't go to him instead of Prince to guard Duncan in game 7, as Cambell gave them good minutes against Shaq in the 04 Finals.
grizz gota good shot if west keep in up, they floor is the 2nd round prolly
I don't see why everyone says their ceiling is the second round. They gave OKC a of a series in 2011 and weren't far from making the WCF then. With a healthy Gay they're now significantly better than that team while the Thunder have seriously regressed after the re ed Harden trade. With no 2011 Mavs in the conference it's hard to see how the Grizz don't have a great shot.
said floor
Rudy has yet to show he can handle pressure situations... last season coach put the series against the Clips in his hands, and he blew it.
I like the Bayless pickup. I didn't even know he was backing up Conley. And I totally forgot about Arthur not playing yet. They have playoff experience, their core has been together a few years now, and they have internally improved (through jettison OJ and Rudy/Zach's consistent play). They have size, rebounding, athleticism, speed, and toughness. Things are looking good for dem Grizzlies tbh.
The series could have gone either way. The Laker series pretty much exposed the PG weakness the Spurs had, but i still think we could've taken it. Duncan was much healthier in 2004 and he had two bum knees in 2005. The Lakers losing in 5 is still a mystery to me. Shaq was putting up 2001 like numbers and they (Kobe) still found a way to f@ck it up. Looking back at the finals numbers, Shaq shot 60% from the field, took 28 fewer FG's than Kobe and yet he still outscored him in the finals.![]()
Huh? The Lakers played a gimmick defense where they just packed the lane and dared Turkoglu, Horry, and Bowen to shoot threes all day, and none of them could buy a basket. Turkoglu was especially bad, since half his shots were taken with no one within 10 feet of him. Parker was shredding the Lakers until they brought out that defense in game 3. There was nothing he was going to do when wide open outside shots weren't falling; LA was practically playing a zone.
Too early to tell. They could potentially go far. They are a very good team. However, until you go far in the playoffs, you're unproven. Playing great early is nice, but it's not necessarily an indicator of how far a team will go in the playoffs. People tend to draw conclusions too early. THis isn't a 10 game season. Drawing conclusions on a short sample size is a dangerous thing.
My nig, Deandre, with the goods.
Come on now... Lost in the tears overKarl Malone's injury
is that the Lakers still had Shaq, as well as familiar roleplayers such as Fisher, Horace Grant, Rick Fox, and Rapist Snitch Ballhog, and yet they still got whooped and exposed by Detroit... nobody was beating the Pistons that year, tbh....
I like the Grizz this season. They're scary good. They do need to upgrade their bench, which is only so-so beyond Bayless and Pondexter, but apart from that they're playin' some mean ball.
Their bench is actually very good. Ellington, Speights, Arthur.
1) Horance Grant didn't play a single minute of the 2004 finals or playoffs for that matter due to an injury. That's why Medvedenko was their only option once Malone went down. Nice try on the revisionist history.
2) Rick Fox played 30 minutes total during the finals, so 6 minutes per game. He also missed most of their regular season games and was banged up all year iirc. Mentioning him as an asset to them is pretty dumb.
3) They didn't get whooped as much as people like to remember. Detroit had absolutely no answer to Shaq in game 1 and only won because Kobe shot the Lakers out of it and deliberately denied Shaq the ball. If Kobe actually got the ball to Shaq, LA wins game 1 and never gives up home court. The 2-3-2 format made that series look more one sided than it was.
4) The Pistons were taken to 7 games by the Nets and almost to 7 by the Pacers. They got through a horrible conference in semi-convincing fashion and got to play a team that was imploding and in the finals because of a fluky shot. Every championship team had some amount of luck going for them, but the 2004 Pistons lucked out due to a ty Eastern Conference and Kobe's ego finally exploding.
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