So the Rockets were the biggest challenge for the Champion Lakers

Size always matters.

 

I didn't bring up the battier trade, I am just expressing the pathetic acceptance of mediocrity on this board regarding the rox. The lakers haven't had a top 10 pick since 82. In the last 15 yrs, they have had 1 and the rockets have had 3 including a 1st, they traded for the 2nd, and also traded up to get eddie. When they have first round flameouts, they make major moves to try to get championship quility teams. I can replay that interview by kupchak on sirius radio like it was yeasterday. He said he made the move to get gasol because he didn't think they would make the playoffs without him once bynum went down. Nevermind they had the best record in the west when bynum was playing and considering they had the best player in the league, it was hard to believe a young guy like bynum would have such a imact. Can you see morey making that same move? I can't, but that why they have been the most successful pro franchise in sports. They make bold basketball moves and never settle on taking a team to 7 games. The 06 lakers team took the suns to 7 games. They came back with that squad and still finished 7 and got smoked by phoenix. The next yr,they won the west and this year they're champs. No maral victories for them, just rings.

 

Whooopeee! We lost to the eventual NBA champions!!!

still hurts the same, still hurts the same

 

The current Rockets team has been built slowly over time. You have to remember that to get a #1 pick, how bad we had to be. The Lakers were gifted with Kobe and Gasol, and they got Odom from another great acquisition which was Shaq.

That's their team....and this Laker team isn't one of the finest champions, they won't rank in the top 20.

Houston has been mired with injuries, but this squad Morey has put together would easily won this years championship if our TWO stars had been healthy.

Our SUPPPORTING cast took the Lakers to 7 games. That's how good this team is. People keep forgetting that.

You can't control injuries. KG goes down, so do the celtics hope. That's life. You can't predict them.

 

It would be disastrous if the Rockets think they are closer than they actually are.

 

f***, whatever. i rreally really didnt want lakers to win it all...especially when our support squad blew them out twice.

i dont think we should dwell on the fact we took them to 7 games without Yao..blah..blahblah.. the fact is we lost to them and they won the ring, the end of story, no one's gonna give a damn about second place finishes (and as four us, not even second place finish). until we beat them in a series and win it all, there's no point making a thread like this, almost celebrating our loss

 

The Lakers signed Shaq as a free agent.
Traded Divac to the Hornets for Kobe.
Trade Brown & Crittenton to the Grizzlies for Gasol.
Just remember that.
You need some luck for all those good things to be true.

 

We were the only team that put doubt in their heads. It's s*** to think about the possibility of having healthy yao and mac. . Could've been us instead of them hated fakers.

 

They had the balls to make moves that may not have been popular, but worked. Divac was a good player and they traded him for a high schooler. NVE,campbell, and eddie jones were really good players and they traded them because glen rice fit better. Fisher fit what phil wanted to do more than nve.They traded shaq a yr early vs a yr late and got 2 good players and a throw in for the best center in basketball. They turned butler into brown which eventually became gasol. So they go odom and gasol for Shaq. The turned cook who was better suited with a shaq based team into ariza because they wanted to transition better and defend with length. They trade players before their value drop and replace them with younger bigger players. They have great versitility and are young enough that they are the clear favorites to win it again. Olders players will take less to play with the lakers because they have a great organization, great coach, and great tradition. If the money is close, a guy like rasheed will choose La instead of houston. In fact, when was the last time the rockets have gotten a waived or released vet on the cheap? That's what winning at all cost will get you. Not to mention, as poor as he's been in the nba, they have a high lotto pick in morrison sitting on the bench. We've also seen that a healthy bynum can be a really good player also.

 

Anyone got the part in Phil Jackson's postgame press conference where he mentioned the Rockets giving them a challenge?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iGz0N8otxU

Around the 1:25 mark, not sure if he talked about us later.....not done listening to it.

 

You want to hear some more lucky stories? They won a ring with the nixon-magic backcourt in 80. In 82, somehow they got the number pick and colleges best player in worthy. Fresh off another title. After the drilling by philly, they traded norm nixon for the draft rights of byron scott. So in a period of 3 yrs, they got magic,worthy,and scott. So that's another string of luck, right?

 

Amen. Had either of these two stayed healthy, we'd beat the Lakers and let our D beat the rest to winning the 'ship.

Yea, the cast took them to 7 games but as a team, we have to upgrade as staying the course has shown we won't beat them as constructed as much as I love this team. Of course injuries happen but for us its at a much higher rate than other teams. Hopefully, for once, we'll be able to have our Big 3 healthy or our newest version healthy to finally win it all. The basketball gods have been unkind to us for too many years.

 

BS. Even with Yao in, the rox Lost all 4 games during the normal season.

The rox actually plaid better against the Lakers w/o Yao.

 

under normal circumstances, i would agree that this would be great cause for optimism going forward into next year, but unfortunately the cloud that yao's most recent injury has cast over the future of the franchise has nullified any definitive projections.

 

you're right, while the rox let many opportunities with TMac and Yao.
there is no excuse for the rox.
it's really time to move TLady, and get the good player with a backup center.

 

so since Magic beat the Lakers twice during regular season...

 

Unfortunately the Lakers get the benefit of being the Lakers. They don't need draft picks since elite players want to play there. Shaq came for free, Kobe came for free, and Gasol came for free.

 

At Kobe won't guarantee a championship next year. He said getting out of the West was tough.

 

Its because they're committed to titles and they will get rid of anyone if that's what it takes. The 95 lakers were pretty good and young. They had nve,jones,campbell and had just beaten one of the best teams in Seattle. They saw the limit on the growth of 2 guys like divac and campbell who were in their 4th and 5th season. They found a way to give divac away to clear room for shaq and draft kobe. They ran with that team for 4 yrs and then they gave away a all star in jones and a guy that made as in nve, and a quality big for rice. They make power moves that yeild big time results. How many gm's wouldve traded shaq when he was still the best big in the game. They couldve let shaq play his last 2 yrs out and use his capspace money, but they moved him and got 2 good young players. That takes big balls. That's the way the lakers do it.Watch what they do this summer. If they lose odom, which I doubt, they will get someone pretty good to come take the mle for a chance to win another ring. They will resign ariza, and someone will go to La cheap. Mark my words.