A fearless Prediction, LA will beat Portland Tonight.

Thank you, Caveman. Portland has all the talent but are an overrated TEAM. MD isn't worth all the hype. I know Damon doesn't care much for him but he did have an interesting quote about the coach saying:

MD doesn't really do much. This team pretty much coaches itself, especially with the additions of Pippen and Smith.

 

Looks like Pippen was up to his old tricks. From what I heard Kobe pretty much took him to school in the fourth quarter....including a nice block on one of his weak*ss shots. Sound familar?

 

Good call cave-dweller. A little bit of a risk since the Lakers can leak on any particular night...and simply disappear.

Gotta agree with you on Doc/MD. If anything, Portland has won on individual talent so far, not teamwork. Orlando has played some exciting ball, but I wonder if they will sink later (like the Suns run after MAinge took the reins and implemented his all-guard squad).

Pippen looked sick tonight.

 

Pip would fit the Lakers well because Kobe and Shaq are the men there. Pip is the consummate second-fiddle. Phil knows this. No body can play Robin to someone else's Batman better than Pip. Problem is that Portland has no Batman for him to follow. Pip wilts under pressure. We Houston fans know this all too well.

 

The Triangle was OK. Jackson tossed it out in the fourth to run Kobe off the screen-n-roll. The spacing fell apart early because no Lakers were hitting their jump shots (so Portland defenders zoned the post) and Portland was using the hack-a-shaq from tip off. Portland was DITing to Wallace.

It was a slow and ugly game until Kobe came in. He was just energy on defense and on offense. He didn't take many shots in the 1st half but you could tell he is still getting a feel for running the Triangle in game situations. His spacing was bad a lot. In the second half, Phil cut Kobe loose, especially in the 4th (we all know why you can't go to Shaq). Dude was just slicing the Portland D apart. On top of it all, he was shutting down Damon and still finding time to punk Pippen.

Let me say this, Shaq is scary. He was snatching rebounds like crazy. He almost displocated Wallace's shoulder with one snatch. O'Neal is doing everything. Defense, rebounding, scoring.

After the game, Jackson said that Kobe has a lot to learn but Phil still has a lot to learn about Kobe.

After seeing this game, I think Portland is overrated. They can't rise for the big games.

[This message has been edited by JeffB (edited December 04, 1999).]

 

Portland is #3 in the league in assists per game... they're not just a one-on-one team. They're loaded to the hilt and for the most part are an unselfish team. Allen Iverson and Isaiah Rider are one-on-one ballhogs... their teams respectively are 25 and 27 in the league in assists.

(The Rockets are 18, btw).

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Rocket fuel pumps through these veins...