Not their best or worst. The Lakers played exactly what they are against the Nuggets. There is no reason to think that somehow everyone will have peak performances in the next series, especially since the other team smacked them hard twice already and only lost the one time in a very close game because everything that could conceivably go wrong, went wrong. OKC is the Lakers' worst opponent from a matchup standpoint. They play right into their hands.
I have already stated I agree with that. I also said the counter statement is true. The Lakers are OKC's worst opponent from a matchup standpoint. They play right into the Lakers hands by taking all those jump shots.
Based on what happened during the regular season and the Lakers continuing to play like they are, the series results will be similar. OKC in 4 or 5. Should have been a sweep in the regular season. The Lakers are NOT OKC's worst matchup. Spurs and Grizzlies are. For a lot of reasons, they will be much harder for OKC to beat than LA. OKC slashes and draws more fouls than any team in the NBA. They also shoot jumpers well. If you think that plays into the Lakers' hands, OK.
He's dying to prove me wrong on some point. If you go back and read the Lakers are better than last year thread, you'll see all his counters to everything I said. That's ok though. If OKC comes out of the West, I will give them their due. And I'll definitely be rooting for them in the Finals if they play Miami. My whole thing is I do not believe OKC is coming out of the West until they actually do it or until they change up their roster and have a true low post game to go along with their perimeter game. I think they are fatally flawed, relying on outside jumpers and runouts and not having any post game. I think a good halfcourt team that can get up and defend the perimeter, then force them to dribble drive right into two 7-footers will beat them. A3PO has been chasing me all season on that one. His team is OKC. He thinks they are coming out of the West. So, if they do, he is going to have the grandest time punking me. LOL And if they don't come out of the West and I remind him and all the other Thunder maniacs how wrong they were, then all I'll read is how I keep bumping my own threads, etc. That's just the way it goes. Some posters just want to prove all the rest of the posters wrong to try to discredit them and make themselves look good. I'm not into that crap. I just like to express what I see and know about the game. A3Po is a good guy. But I'm definitely not his inferior when it comes to basketball. And the thing is, most of them are already wrong. They predicted the Thunder would be the #1 seed. They were wrong on that one. Ahem.
I don't think OKC is necessarily coming out of the West, it's that the Lakers won't. They are a clear 4th in the West (assuming Memphis wins tomorrow). I predict the WCFs will be OKC vs. Spurs with advantage Spurs. They will tatoo the Lakers but the Spurs are a team that can expose and exploit their weakness. Not to get too far ahead, Memphis' performance against the Clippers makes me think the Spurs will handle them decisively, but then again, the Spurs haven't been hit in the mouth yet (in the playoffs).
Okc will come to the finals. Yes they are flawed with no low post threat but Zbo,gasol,....aren't the same as a couple of years ago. This year is okc's year. Nobody is using their bigs this year. And I laugh if Bynum is considered a superstar.
Lakers would have closed the series in game 5 had MWP played. However, there's no doubt OKC is a better team. It takes a hot Kobe and their 2 bigs 100% efforts to win this one. If they play focused every game like today they have a chance.
He's really bad. But he switched Kobe to Lawson after down by 4 in 4th quarter. And that saved his job. Or maybe it's Kobe asking that?
One thing being overlooked here tonight is Kobe became the point guard when Sessions was out. He was facilitating for Blake and Artest. Nice wrinkle there.
Because Karl was determined not to let Kobe beat him. Artest actually didn't shoot well. He's 5-15 and 4-11 from 3. It's Blake getting hot and that's enough for Lakers to win it.
Most definitely. Do it all the time when the evidence demands it. I didn't believe in the Spurs until late in the season. Their machine-like performance should have convinced any doubter. However, their 1st round series with Utah doesn't count IMO. It was 4 scrimmages. If they beat the Grizzlies convincingly, Spurs should be a clear favorite over OKC in the WCFs. Listen to the Laker-lover below. He knows what is likely coming. goodbug, Lakers will need to play better than tonight. If this is their best, uh oh.
Did you watch the game, Kobe was doubled anywhere 18ft in. And Karl admit that's the game plan. It only took 5 min for Kobe to cut the lead from 15 to 2 in game 5, Karl was not gonna let that happen again. Blake did get hot tonight but it wasn't like he's shooting contested 3s, he got wide open due to the double team. And LeBron didn't shoot 55% in finals. That's a blatant lie. Just check my signature.
They let Nuggets come back due to Brown's fault. He should have switched Kobe on Lawson once Blake was brought in. As hot as Blake is today, he's +1 the entire game. That said it all. Other than that stretch, Lakers play great tonight. Indeed OKC have better perimeter shooting. But at the same time they don't have the speed of nuggets and Lakers don't have to run in every defense position. It's a tempo that Lakers are more comfortable with.
We'll see about the tempo. I bet OKC will play with at least as much as the Nuggets did in this series. They don't need to but it's an easy weapon against the Lakers.
OKC don't have a 6-8 PF, their C is slower than Bynum. WB can be a one man fast break and Harden Blake matchup scares me. But overall I don't think they'll score more than half of points in first 10 seconds like Nuggets.
Kobe most likely suggested it For years watching Cavs games, if the games were close... Mike Clown couldnt even draw up plays, he would have his assistants do it for him. He is that bad of an offensive coach. Hubie Brown actually called him out on it, in the 2008 Playoffs againist the Celtics
Yes, and I am considering that fact. The most unbelievable thing in the Nuggets series was the amount of fast break points. I can find no reason for it besides the Lakers weren't bringing it. That changed with Artest back last night. Yes, the Nuggets still got some runouts but they were mostly when Artest was on the bench. There is no reason for so many runouts besides just playing lackadasical. And that's the way I feel about the Nuggets series. The Lakers simply slopped their way through it. Makes me wonder if they intentionally stretched it to get Artest back for the Thunder and then they overdid it and had trouble correcting back to playing hard. I don't know. All I know is this, the Lakers are much better than they showed against Denver. Whether they bring it against the Thunder is a mystery.
