I would seriously double Shaq and Kobe frequently and give some Lakers shooters open looks. I don’t think Devean George or even Payton can deliver consistently.
I’ll be happily surprised if if goes 6, since this is basically The Los Angeles Lakers Traveling All Stars Unless They Don’t Try. Detroit will probably win game 3 when the Lakers rest up for 4 and 5. Game 5 will be tight, but the Lakers pull it out and stampede an exhausted Pistons team in LA for a secure game 6 win.
Assuming it goes 6 and the team doesn’t decide “We want to rest for the off-season” and actually plays championship-caliber basketball for four consecutive games. I’m not sure they’ve shown they can do that yet this playoff run.
Oh please.
Look, I’m glad Detroit’s in the Finals and if a team besides LA is going to win a championship, San Antonio and Detroit are my two picks. Both teams have classy, hardworking guys who come to play.
Detroit’s a good defensive team, but they aren’t as good as San Antonio. Especially against the Lakers. The Spurs had a lockdown defender in Bowen who could make Kobe work like hell for his points. Who do the Pistons have that can do that? Hamilton? Give me a break. Kobe will eat his lunch.
And neither of the Wallaces are as good defensively as Duncan. And certainly neither is as good as Duncan offensively. If the Lakers can shut down Duncan, they can shut down either of the Wallaces even easier.
Basically, Detroit can manhandle pathetic East teams over the course of a series, but they’re in for a rude awakening when they come to play with the big boys out west.
Lakers in six, max.
Incidentally, my favorite thing about the NBA these days is watching players who couldn’t get their team out of the first round in the West moving out East and bringing their teams to the Finals. I’m looking at you Jason Kidd and Rasheed Wallace. These guys couldn’t cut it in the varsity league, so they go and dominate the JV and suddenly they’re supposed to be difference makers in the NBA Finals? Give me a break. If they couldn’t get their teams to the Finals in the West, why would anyone expect anything other than them getting their butts whipped when they play the West again in the Finals? It’s a mystery.
Both Wallace and Kidd’s current teams are much better than their former teams.
The West is too crowded for all the great, difference-making players to get to the Finals. In addition, the top three teams in the East (though Indy and Detroit are a cut above New Jersey now) have a lot of talent supporting their top players. Kidd has Jefferson and Martin as his main options, Indiana has Jermaine O’Neal complemented by Artest, Bender, Harrington, and what’s left of Reggie Miller. Rasheed isn’t the main option on Detroit, that’s Hamilton. The other Wallace is the leader of the team; Rasheed was the final piece who is supposed to help them compete against the West.
And the varsity/JV team thing you mention is coming to an end. This year, the difference was less than last year. Wade and Lebron James will help close the star gap between the leagues, the Lakers will probably break up, the Kings are up in the air, and we’ll see what happens to Dallas after they fell off a bit this year.
Maybe Kidd’s, but for most of his tenure in Portland, the Blazers were much better than this Pistons team.
Of course, but you’d at least expect them to make it past the first round, right? Kidd’s teams squeaked into the playoffs and then made a first round exit. Then he comes over to the East and utterly dominates. Kind of illuminating.
And? All of those options are inferior to Western Conference talent, with the exceptions of O’Neal and Artest.
[/quote]
And the varsity/JV team thing you mention is coming to an end. This year, the difference was less than last year. Wade and Lebron James will help close the star gap between the leagues, the Lakers will probably break up, the Kings are up in the air, and we’ll see what happens to Dallas after they fell off a bit this year.
[/QUOTE]
Well, eventually it has to change. But it won’t be this year and it won’t be next year. I guarantee that.
I think the Lakers and Spurs are the two best teams in the NBA.
And that the top teams in the East (Indy, Detroit and a healthy New Jersey) will be very competitive with Sac, Minny and Dallas. In fact, I am not sure if Minny or Dallas can win a 7-game series against Indy or Detroit.
That’s what the separation between the conferences are. West has the best two teams and 3-4 really good teams as opposed to the East where the standard slips dramatically after the top 3-4.
And, what a bone-headed idea to move New Orleans to the West :smack:
Since I just bought game 6 tickets I want it to go that far. But I have my doubts. The Lakers should sweep. But thay will not care about game 3 or 4 probably 4 and will loose. But there is no way, barring injury to Shaq or Kobe ,that the Pistons win. The NBA title was decided May 13 with .4 left on Fisher’s miracle.
That team had more talent, but the Blazers became even more erratic and unstable than the Lakers. Wallace was part of the problem, but it got to the point that nobody could have lead that team anywhere. I can’t put that on him anymore than I can put the not-so-great Suns on Kidd.
You can’t pin all that on one player. There were a bunch of teams that were clearly better, and they beat them. A point guard in particular needs people around him.
It IS changing. The last few years, I don’t think there’d even be this much argument about the eventual winner. I’m not trying to guarantee the East is better than the West next year or that an Eastern team takes the title or anything. I’m just saying the dynamics are shifting already.
Well looks like Detroit is going to take the first one. It’s definitely going to be an interesting series.
Was I the only one who noticed that woman with the extremely large cleavage sitting in the crowd behind Phil Jackson?
I really didn’t want Detroit to win the first one. Now LA’s gonna come out guns a-blazin’.
Hard to say. You notice Detroit didn’t take out Shaq and barely held Kobe back and they still won. If they can keep this up, they might actually take the series. At the least, they won’t get swept.
The biggest thing is that the lakers defense couldn’t keep the pistons wrapped up and the pistons defense wrapped up the lakers. After the pacers tight d, the lakers must be a cakewalk.
I’m going to say lakers in 6, but I’m hoping the lakers lack of passion cost them the championship
GO PISTONS!!
Hey, tampa just won the cup. Let’s hope the Davidson touch rubs of on the pistons. Make the old guy an extremely happy man.
Naw, you don’t want that to happen…he’ll have a heart attack and die… 
Congrats to Tampa Bay though for pulling it out…seeing Anderchuck lift the cup after toiling for 22 years was very nice to see.
Crap! I thought the Pistons had this friggin’ game. We just fell apart in the OT. Stupid, stupid desperate shots.
Ah well, we still took the home court away from 'em. And I think they proved this ain’t gonna be no cake walk for LA. I gotta give it up for Walton, though. Helluva game.
Well, 2 of 3, and it should have been 3 of three. So excuse my superstition but it kind of worked so far; so:
Please, Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,
Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,
Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please,Please!
A few observations:
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The Lakers are getting their butts kicked. Payton needs to sit. He’s contributing absolutely zilch out there. He can’t guard and he can’t score. Fish needs more minutes.
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Apparently, coming off the bench has made Fish prone to take retarded shots. He needs to stop that.
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Notable that even when losing and having pretty much every call go against them (Malone’s going towards the basket, feel free to knock him down Rasheed. George makes a steal, hey, whichever Piston is closest feel free to grab his arm and spin him around to stop the fast break. Ben Wallace, if you need that rebound, just plant your hand in Shaq’s chest and push hard enough to make him stumble back a bit. We won’t call anything - the Commish has told us to make extra double sure an Eastern Conference team wins this year. Even if you guys don’t need the help, we’re just gonna play it safe) they still had more class than the whining Pistons. Anyone watch Rasheed Wallace and Larry Brown start crying and whining like they were from Sacrament towards the end of the game once the refs started actually calling the fouls they were committing? Once the game was in the bag, of course.
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Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke! I was thrilled when the Lakers drafted him in the second round. Glad I was right. He’s gonna be good.
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Can I get a rebound? Please? Someone, anyone? Crash the boards? You’re telling me you can’t box out Rip freaking Hamilton?
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Look for the Lakers to come out hard tonight. Think Game 3 vs San Antonio effort. Turning point in the series. Lakers still in 6. (I hope)
[QUOTE=Neurotik]
A few observations:
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The Lakers are getting their butts kicked. Payton needs to sit. He’s contributing absolutely zilch out there. He can’t guard and he can’t score. Fish needs more minutes.
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Notable that even when losing and having pretty much every call go against them (Malone’s going towards the basket, feel free to knock him down Rasheed. George makes a steal, hey, whichever Piston is closest feel free to grab his arm and spin him around to stop the fast break. Ben Wallace, if you need that rebound, just plant your hand in Shaq’s chest and push hard enough to make him stumble back a bit. We won’t call anything - the Commish has told us to make extra double sure an Eastern Conference team wins this year. Even if you guys don’t need the help, we’re just gonna play it safe) they still had more class than the whining Pistons. Anyone watch Rasheed Wallace and Larry Brown start crying and whining like they were from Sacrament towards the end of the game once the refs started actually calling the fouls they were committing? Once the game was in the bag, of course.
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Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke! I was thrilled when the Lakers drafted him in the second round. Glad I was right. He’s gonna be good.
[QUOTE]
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Derek Fisher is playing on a sprained knee, so unfortunately for Laker fans he is probably playing about as much as possible. His ability to guard either Hamilton or Billups is likely at a level below Payton’s right now.
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Oh please. I have no preference in this Finals at all, but complaining about the refs is just sort of sad at this point. Watch the Lakers with the same critical eye and you will see Shaq, Karl, Gary, Kobe and the rest of the team get away with just as much swiping, pushing, hacking, etc. The refs aren’t good, but they are consistently inept. As for the idea that the lauge office sends down some sort of edict on who to favor, that idea is even more laughable. If that were ever found to be the case, Stern and the league could lock up the doors then and there because the NBA as we know it would be dead.
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Luke is a perfect fit on a team like this. If he can stay on teams with 3 obvious scoring options, he can sit back, play solid on background fundamentals important to winning (screening, passing, solid help defense) and pick up enough junk points and rebounds to be a real factor. He is a huge upgrade over Mark Madsen. I picture him having a career similar to Aaron McKie. Never a superstar but the kind of guy that can make a team a lot better.
I was an early predictor that the Lakers would cruise. This may be a nice series after all. While I still believe the Lakers may prevail they must win the next game for that to happen.
Sorry, but you could lop off Fisher’s legs at the knees and he’d still be a better defender than Payton is right now. Remember when Tony Parker torched his butt in the playoffs two years ago? Yeah - Payton’s two years older now.
Let’s be clear here - the Lakers aren’t losing because of the refs. Whe Rip Hamilton is outrebounding the big men on the team that’s not an officiating problem, that’s a competency problem.
But everyone knows the refs aren’t consistently inept. The refs call games to your reputation (see the term “respect” or the “star treatment” or “Michael 'I can blatant shove my defender in the back to get open for the supposed last shot of my career in the ‘98 playoffs and nobody will say boo because I’m me’ Jordan”). If you’re a player with a reputation for dirty play, then you get more borderline fouls called on you. Conversely, if you’re a player with a reputation for being a great defender - like Artest, Bowen, or someone then you get away with a lot more holds and contact than the average player. If you’re a team with a “blue collar” reputation then you get away with a ton more contact, holds and general physical play than the other team. It’s a fact.
Agreed. Some people are feeling dumb right now because they drafted people like Travis Outlaw in the late first round.
Here’s my drafting philosophy - if your draft slot is past 15, it’s time to stop drafting on potential and draft on what they did in college. Think Carlos Boozer. This year it’ll be Chris Duhon. At worst, Duhon’s going to be a solid backup for you. And yet, a bunch of teams are going to pass on him in the late first round because he’s too polished or whatever the excuse is. HEY - the “potential” guys have been drafted. They’re gone. Pick up someone who’s proven they can run a team or play in the post! Gah!
OK, I’m done.
But, this is not what you said. You wrote that the league was manipulating the refs to Pistons’s advantage.
Now, to address your “changed” post, I agree with the notion that reputation affects how refs call the game. Given that, you must be kidding if you think the Lakers have no positive reputation going for them. Shaq, Kobe, Malone and Payton aren’t superstars? Heck, Shaq and Kobe alone have been at the positive end of numerous calls. I find it incredulous that you really believe that a championship team filled with superstars like the Lakers are getting a raw deal from the refs!
As to the Lakers’s woes, when they won their championships, the role players played their roles. Now, it is an ageing Shaq and Kobe versus a well-oiled team and Payton’s facing a mid-life crisis.