they beat us in 04 in 5,how would th erox who faced the mavs this yr fair against the lakers of 04? i'd say it be longer than 5,i'd like our chances...your thoughts?
it's all about matchups, if you seriously think the 05 rockets would have been swept by the 04 lakers, you need to get your head examined.
The fact that it's all about matchups is why LA would have come close to sweeping. Yao had foul issues against the Mavs. I can't imagine how many he'd get against Shaq. Would Yao be guarding Malone or Shaq? T-Mac would probably cancel out Kobe...
That's a pretty good question. Yao and Shaq probably draw close to even. Kobe and Tracy draw close to even. Their role players were better than ours though. It really depends on how well our role players did. Also, would Juwon be healthy? That makes a huge difference.
We would've gotten our asses kicked. Yao would have fouled out. Shaq is a different person during the playoffs. T-mac and Kobe would have cancelled each other. The only advantage we might have is Deke. Karl would have owned Bowen. Payton > Sura. Remember that the Lakers beat the 03-04 San Antonio Spurs who were very strong that season. I think if Karl didn't go down, Lakers would have won the title. They were that close and that good.
I completely disagree with that. The Rockets would have taken them to 7 games I have no doubt about that. It took a miracle shot for the Lakers to beat the Spurs. After that miracle shot the Spurs quit in Game 6. That would have been a great series, with the advantage going to the Lakers because of experience.
It's about matchups. Example the Mavs beat us and then lost to Phoenix. But I really believe if we had beat Dallas we would have beaten Phoenix, who we had split with during the season because we matched up better with them. Something people forget, the Rockets had a strong defense. Detroit really didn't match up that well with the Lakers on paper but destroyed LA. The Rockets would have given them a run.
Yes its all about match-ups, and the same matchup the Rockets had no answer for would have been even worse this year with no J. Howard. T-Mac wouldn't have been able to guard Malone and he would have had even more impact. Maybe the Rockets would have won one more game.
all i hear is matchup and we tend to forget the only matchup the rockets won that year was point guard! mobley did ok against kobe and kato helped yao with shaq, malone will hurt the rockets even more with howard.
I think we will lose the series in 7 games just because we will eventually get screwed by the refs just like the Dallas serie. IMO, playing the 04 lakers is tougher than playing the Mavs. They have 4 hall of fame player which we would have trouble with, but Shaq is old, Malone is old and Payton is old. TMac could have cancel out Kobe. I think Yao would dominate inside because this year he has TMac to run that unstoppable pick n roll.
Last year's Rox might have a better chance if they traded head coaches before this theoretical match-up.
Lakers 2004 Roster: - Kobe Bryant - Shaquille O'Neal - Gary Payton - Karl Malone Slava Medvedenko Devean George - Derek Fisher Kareem Rush Rick Fox Brian Cook Horace Grant Bryon Russell Jamal Sampson Luke Walton Ime Udoka Rockets Roster 2005 - Tracy McGrady - Yao Ming - Mike James Jon Barry David Wesley - Bob Sura Scott Padgett Dikembe Mutombo Ryan Bowen Moochie Norris Clarence Weatherspoon - Juwon Howard Lakers had better starters 1-5 than we Shaq/Yao - Draw Kobe/Tmac - draw JHow/Malone - the hated one Sura/payton - at best a draw otherwise Lakes Fisher/James - at best a draw otherwise Lakers Bench George/Rush/Fox/Walton/Russel v Deke/Bowen/Barry/Wesley/Padget While Barry/Deke and Padge stands out Rush/Walton and Fox had some good minutes as well George and Russel are wildcards but IMO better than Bowen and Wesley Rocket River
I too agree. I don't care about last year or the year before. Just the year ahead, and what we can expect, how we can matchup and beat other teams. Besides, who has the sig: "To live in the past is to be a Celitcs fan." I love that because its so true. While it's nice to think about how we were 11 years ago, I want a championship THIS YEAR! And thinking about how this past year's team would have done against a team that lost in the Finals but beat are old-pre-t-mac days roster, is not only irrellevant, but.....well just irellevant. Those to teams will NEVER play each other, so why bother to think about it. ......than again, it is the offseason, and I'm posting @ 2 in the morning, so what does that tell you (I think we would have gone 7!)
