When has Adelman's teams ever been over the hump? They got waxed by Det in 1990 an Chi in 1992. I will be shocked if the Kings are able to defeat the Lakers. They are defintely better than Dal, and probably better than SA.
So far, Lakers 20 votes Kings 20 votes Pretty close I voted for the Lakers, not because I like them, but because I live an hour from L.A.
pot... kettle. I'd like to drop the subject, but when you bring up the mental toughness bit like you seem to every time we have one of these threads, you don't leave me a lot of choice.
look...lets break this down as simple as possible... and im repeating this too from before... but game four, if the officials wave off walkers three at the buzzer like they should have...the lakers dont come back and win that game... one simple call...turned the whole tide of the series... it could have gone either way... so all the talk of mental toughness, and experience, and heart and all that other bullsh!t is meaningless.... one "call", going the other way, like it should have, and the kings win and the lakers are suddenly beatable instead of oh so high and mighty and unbeatable... its stupid... the kings will beat the lakers this year...and itll be in less than 7 games... and really if you think hard about that series...and realize game 7 should have never happened...then youd realize the kings beat them last year too.... heres to being annoying..ill drink to that...
I'll stick up for you Cat. kidrock8, you have no idea what annoying is. Annoying is one guy, on a ROCKETS BBS mind you, constantly ranting with his head shoved so far up Kobe Bryant's and Rick Fox's (along with the rest of the Lakers') asses that he fails to realize how far it's lodged up there and decides to criticize others, thinking that he's talking from an objective point of view.
This is one of the reasons I went with the Kings. The Kings are so deep that I think injuries would affect them less. I think that the Kings could compete with the Lakers in a seven game series even without Webber. Also, Shaq is older than Webber.
True, but size and strength age better than quickness. I admit if Shaq or Kobe gets a fairly serious injury the Lakers are doomed. However they proved even with nagging injuries they can persevere. Odds are those two are healthier next playoffs than they were last playoffs--and even then the Kings did not put them away. The Kings IMO could not get through the West without a healthy Webber, Vlade & Bibby. It would also be awefully tough for them to play the Lakers without Christie. So to me they have a lot more that can go wrong than the Lakers health wise. Also, as far as Vlade, he may not be that great overall but he is a great player to have against Shaq. Clark could replace Vlade versus most teams, but it would not do against Shaq because of all Valde's antics, experience and savvy are needed to moderate at least a little of the damage Shaq does when ever he steps on the court. I just think people underestimate how much went right for the Kings (home court, two big series leads, poor play by most Laker roll players) and they still didn't deliver, and how much better defense the Lakers play than the Kings.
By February 2002, Webber missed 24 games that season. The Kings were 17-7 without Webber and 17-3 with Webber. I think it would be tough for the Kings to get through the West without Webber but not impossible. My thinking is that if any of the Kings' players were injured, they still stand a pretty good chance of getting through the early rounds of the playoffs while if either Shaq or Kobe were injured they stand a pretty good chance of getting eliminated early. I would agree that the Kings pretty much need to be at full strength to beat the Lakers though I would argue that the Kings could probably get by without Christie.
I disagree, Christie is their best one-on-one defender. Anyways, as long as Kobe and Shaq are healthy and Stern is still running things, the Lakers will win. They won game 7 last year fair and square, but the first 6 games were all decided by the refs. I don't know who would have won had there not been so much interference, probably the Lakers, but it wouldn't have taken 7 games. Now, if we're talking about fighting, then the Kings would win. With Fox getting his @ssed wipped by Christie, Kobe getting punched by Childs and thrown around by Reggie, and Shaq....well.....let's just say with his swing no one will have to worry about getting hit. .....J/K for all you serious Laker fans.
Actually Horry's 3pt shooting percentage goes way up during 4th quarters of playoff games. They made a big deal about it during the WCF after the "shot". When under pressure, there are three types of people. Some who choke(webber), some who stay the same(Duncan), and some who are clutch(Horry, Jordan, Dream). The clutch guys just focus more when there is something on the line.
