This would be a very interesting Series. Kobe has had his issues with Reggie Miller. Artest will probably guard him a bit. J Oneal's development as a premier big man will be challenged by Karl and Shaq. I say Lakers in 5.
Dont think the pacers or pistons will have a chance. You need a superstar to win a ring and the lakers just vanquished the last one. I never considered JO to be a superstar, and detroit have none whatsoever. Pistons do matchup pretty well against them, but then again so did we . If the pistons are having trouble scoring against Indianas defense wait till they play the lakers when they are motivated.
if you want it to be a four game sweep, go with the pacers. i rather have the pistons duke it out and know that they will give the lakers a run for their money than to have the pacers play the lakers
Pistons have the best chance. A shove here, a hard foul there. Pretty soon tempers will rise and who knows. If Karl throws another elbow the league cannot possibly ignore it. Without Karl, RW will eat Medavenko alive.
Ummmm you made this a little early didn't ya?! Did you want to be the starter of the next series thread this badly?! i see the pistons going to the finals.
i think detroit has a better chance of beating the lakers. detroit has more experience than indy for one. also, i think that rasheed would do better against malone than oneil would. malones dirty tricks will be less effective against a veteran like rasheed. plus, rasheed is a tad bit loco and wont back down from malone. ben wallace will make shaq work hard on the offense, while forcing him to play more d than he has had to since he faced yao. lakers are getting tired and it shows. oneil and karl both look drained. malone is resorting more and more to cheap shots, elbows and bad fouls that he wouldnt be making if he was a little quicker (i.e. - not so tired) . they had their 7 days rest before the t-wolves series and that helped them as much as the fact that cassell wasnt there. its a darn shame that cassell was injured b/c if he was there i honestly think the wolves would have beaten the lakers. hell, if they even had troy hudson i think they would have won it.
The real NBA Finals is already over. Western Conference champion wins season after season, this year will be no different. And yes, very premature, considering Indiana's down 3-2 and facing elimination tonight in Detroit.
Please let Detroit win. I don't want to see LA run over another injury hobbled team. Detroit might win a couple games with their defense.
I have no choice but root for Detroit now, even though I like Indy more. The only way the East has a little chance is for the Pistons to finish off the Pacers fast tonight and have a fairly rested team going against the Lakers. Also, the only way the East team can beat the Lakers is to play dirty. That will intimidate guys like Medvedanko and Rush, and provoke Payton, Malone and Shaq to lose their cool. Detroit is better in that regard. That said, Lakers will have home court against Detroit but not Indy. The Lakers have not lost a home game in the playoffs yet. Antway, Lakers can sweep the Pacers and beat the Pistons in 5, 6 at most.
Indiana would be lucky to make it a 5-game series. Seriously. The only thing they would have going for them would be homecourt advantage. That's it. -They are one of only a couple of teams (and that's only if you count the Cassell/Hudson-less TWolves) that would not have an advantage at PG. Tinsley is hobbled and Anthony Johnson would have his hands full. -O'Neal is hurt and wouldn't last long againt the Lakers frontcourt anyway. He hasn't developed much of his game outside of the low post, making him far easier for Malone to guard than Duncan or KG. Hate Malone all you like, but he's shown that he's still a strong low post defender. Add Shaq to the equation, and it'll be even worse than K-Mart trying to go against Duncan last year. -Artest has slid badly. He's nearly become a non-factor in the Detroit series, averaging 15 a game. Is he going to find himself while chasing Kobe all over the court? -Al Harrington is having an equally poor postseason, and won't be a threat at SF since George can reasonably guard him. He might cause some problems if he plays PF, but that's only if he brings a steady outside jumper mixed with slashes to the basket. Evan
Neither Indiana nor Detroit has anyone who can hinder a well-motivated Shaq in the least. Detroit also has nobody who can bother Kobe in the least, whereas the Pacers have Ron Artest. Artest best guards players who use their one-on-one ability as opposed to guys who run though screens all day ala Rip Hamilton. Artest will do as good of a job on Kobe as is humanly possible. The Pacers also have home court, more depth, and especially athleticism off the bench. It will be unfortunate to not have Jermaine and Jamaal at 100% against the Lakers, but it is preferable to seeing the Pistons get swept and each game be 95-70. I will be cheering for the East representative, but I feel the Pacers have the only shot of taking it to even 6 games.
Good god almighty, what Detroit and Indiana are playing cannot be called basketball and it can't be called a "good defensive" game either. It's just 2 teams that can't shoot for crap trying to play the game of basketball.
Pacers would be a very good team if they had a couple legitimate scorers. As it is, I'm glad Detroit had more weapons, that's why they won.
i think detroit will be a better matchup b/c they had more big. Pacers seemed like they could of won tonight, i didnt really think that foul on artest was flagrant.
