Wade Allen Lewis Bron Bosh vs. Nash Kobe Artest Gasol Howard We all know it's happening in June. I'm actually going to root for the Heat, dont' want to see that b***h Howard win a ring, or Kobe win another. But who would win?
I don't personally like either teams but I think Lakers would smoke the Heat. Thought this will depend on how well they play together by the playoffs. That's on Kobe though...
So how long until NBAStore.com goofs up again and releases a Heat vs Lakers finals t-shirt prematurely?....
It's really hard to argue against the Lakers, regarding the starting line-ups. That is a ridiculously good starting 5, as 4/5 players can demand double-teams at times.
The Lakers now have a ton of talent, but they don't really fit together well. But, when you have that much talent on one team, you can still dominate even if the pieces don't fit perfectly.
Heat v. OKC Finals rematch OP. Lakers aren't beating OKC. Perkins match up great with Dwight every matchup. KD and WB are a year older, and better. Kobe is another year older, and we're seeing how he's playing in the Olympics. He still requires a ton of shots to be effective. And they still don't have a bench. OKC will beat them in 6 or 7 rather than 4 or 5.
The Heat's biggest advantage over the Lakers the last few years has been speed, its gone now, you got Kobe, Ron and Dwight get back on D, whatcha gonna do? Lakers have mobility, size, strength, skill, shooting, defense, offense all packaged up into that lineup Miami can win a game or two but Lakers win this in 6
The Lakers have a very similar team to their last superteam, with Kobe/Shaq ~= Kobe/Howard and Payton/Malone ~= Nash/Gasol. That last team was the favorite to win the title going into the Finals but injuries and hero-ball led them to a shocking upset loss. Talent wise, they have one of the best starting lineups in history, but they have no depth and questionable chemistry. It'll be interesting to see if chucker#24 learned from the 2004 experience and is willing to sacrifice the glory for another title. If so, they've got a good chance. I'd rate them #3 still behind Miami and OKC, but we'll see.
Steve Nash needs the ball to fully display his passing skills, and you have seen how Kobe operates without the ball in the Olympics. How are they going to work at the highest level? And his defense will be worse than DFish/Sessions combined. The Lakers will be better simply b/c they have so many stars, but Miami has the best player, and OKC has the 2nd best player. And they have their own superstar teams. This could work IF Dwight is the main option offensively, which is not/never going to happen. If they play through Dwight with Nash being the main ballhandler and Kobe playing a Paul Pierce role, the Lakers could win it all. I just don't see Kobe being cool with averaging 19-20ppg but scoring at high efficiency.
I also wonder if the lakers can beat OKC. There are still a lot of question marks with the lakers: 1: How is Howards back 2: Can Kobe share the ball? or will he want to be the man. 3: Can Kobe let Nash do most ball handling, and if not how will nash be effective without the ball in his hands? 4: How will the Chemistry be? I really dislike the lakers, and now they have Howard it is even more. The westbrook Nash matchup is really a problem for the lakers, ofcourse now they have Howard to make up for Nash his inability to defend Westbrook. On the other hand Perkins and Ibaka are great to defend Howard. It will be a interesting series. If the Lakers beat OKC, they will have a lot of difficulties with Miami. The lakers are getting old, and who of them is going to stop James? It will be an interesting year, witht he rockets rebuilding and getting younger, and these couple of super teams battling each other.
So what if his defense is atrocious. Lakers have had atrocious PG defenders and played terrible P & R defense, they just fixed that right now by adding Dwight and they now get production out of the PG spot. Before Kobe got on board Lebron, Melo, CP3 & co laid an egg in the 04 and 06 International basketball competition so even if Kobe's not making his shots, his impact is still felt and its not like Kobe cant impact the game without shooting the ball Hes won plenty of playoff games where he didnt have to shoot the ball & just played D Game 7 vs Houston in 09 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AmGEcBQnCeJRqlkbowyD0VAdPKB4?gid=2009051713 Game 5 vs Denver in 09 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AmVMo1_qYafh47NM.Eu8JJsdPKB4?gid=2009052713 Game 5 vs OKC in 10 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=Am5i8slafF6jLFGLJZhEU6kdPKB4?gid=2010042713 Game 2 vs NOH in 11 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AiJJ.DM75hnfCvpvEj_1CJAdPKB4?gid=2011042013 Game 5 vs NOH in 11 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AujT6onds7eALN0.h1aBYAwdPKB4?gid=2011042613 If hes got weapons to work with & they deserve the ball, he'll let them carry the offense and stick to playing D. Its worked in the playoffs. He'll have no problems deferring to do it again
