Several teams can... the Spurs, Kings, Wolves, Bucks, etc. The Lakers had one magical run where the chemistry was fabulous and everything clicked. Last year, they were close to unbeatable. However, so were the Rockets in the 94-95 playoffs. (the second championship year) The Rockets just built up a great chemistry in the playoffs, and even though the Magic and Spurs were exceptional teams that year, they couldn't touch us. Clyde, Hakeem, and the whole team had such great chemistry, passion, etc. We never recovered it again. What evidence is there that the Lakers will? Yes, the Lakers won two years ago also, but the Blazers basically gave them that title... any other team in the NBA could've held a 15 point fourth quarter lead in game seven. Bookmarking this thread... Please do... make sure and bump it up every year when the Lakers get knocked out.
I hate to say it but the Lakers will win the 2002 NBA title if Kobe and Shaq are healthy and on the court. I don't see any team winning 3 out of 5 or 4 out of 7 vs. the Lakers.
All the cuts on Kobe need to stop. He didn't have a great game. So what? He's played without O'Neal quite a bit in the past. He's performed very well, generally. And let's not forget: the Lakers have almost nothing besides O'Neal and Bryant. Take either one of them away, and they'd be lucky to make the playoffs. Take both of them, and they're worse than the Bulls.
The Blazers choke job two years ago was big, but it wouldn't have been as big as the Lakers would've been had they lost to that team after having them down 3-1, and two of the remaining three games at home. Besides, did it come as a big suprise that that particular Blazers team couldn't seal the deal?
But you honestly think they are qually good without either Shaq or Kobe? Take Shaq away and they're lucky to make the playoffs. Take Kobe away, I still think they make the playoffs year in and year out. While the rest of the team sucks, they always play hard and shoot threes well, which would work with Shaq. Of course, I'm an admitted Kobe hater and that can be skewing my perception, but I still think its accurate.
You may have some good basketball takes Cat but any of your posts concerning the Lakers are laughable at best.
Yep 56 pts in 34 minutes...no way he does that w/ Shaq around. But don't bother giving Kobe credit...I could've sworn I saw a ref shoot a jumper for Kobe.
"Also, what? Kobe's not allowed to have a bad game? He shot 9 of 25 in that game, now I'm assuming you think McGrady is much better than Kobe. Well lets look at some of McGrady's last few shooting games... He shot 6-20, 6-17, and 9-23 in his last 3 games, yep, he's definitely not a franchise player... Carter was 6-25 and 7-21 in his last 2 games... This all proves that Carter and McGrady just don't have what it takes to be franchise players...just like Kobe... " Actually McGrady has been playing on two sore groins, and his back is still not 100%. He should of not even played in the Boston, Philly, Portland games he could barley move. He didnt have his drive and had to settle for outside shots. That Portland game might have been his worst game as a Magic player. He has looked much better the last two games (Dallas, Jersey) even tho he didnt have a great night vs Jersey. P.S Look at his stats for the past 5-6 games, he misses a triple double by 1-2-3 in ast or rebs in most of the games. His drive wasnt there, but he still had great all around games.
Yep, I'm sure Laker fans are all non-biased and in a perfect position to tell me this. Yep 56 pts in 34 minutes...no way he does that w/ Shaq around. But don't bother giving Kobe credit...I could've sworn I saw a ref shoot a jumper for Kobe. If you think one game against the Memphis Grizzlies proves Kobe's value, that's the joke. If any of you think that this one game somehow proves Kobe's worth, remember that David Robinson scored 69 on the Clippers in 1994. Using this same logic, that would make Robinson better than Hakeem.
About Kobe's recent inconsistent and subpar performances. It has nothing to do with whether Shaquille plays or not. Kobe suffered a rib injury in the Memphis game before last nights and could hardly breathe afterwards. Look at his numbers following the injury(keep in mind I did not include last nights game) When Shaq played 6 games 24.8 ppg 21.3 shots per game 5.0 rebounds 5.1 assists When Shaq sat out 5 games 24.2 ppg 21.6 shots per game 6.1 rebounds 6.8 assists Shaq's influence on his scoring and effectiveness in scoring has been indiscernable, but Kobe has had much better all round statistics when Shaq has not played. And do keep in mind a somehwat healthy Kobe averaged 33 points in 8 games last season when Shaquille did not suit up. If you include last nights game Kobe has been averaging 29.5 points per game without Shaq since the injury.
A better discussion of this is occurring in this thread: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27519
Ok, I'm not a Laker fan, and I'll tell you, your bias against the Lakers is completely obvious. I hope you don't actually deny that you're biased against the Lakers.
