Nobody could defend Shaq at that point in time. And Fisher was mid 20s back then; not the old, washed up Fisher we see now. Past > Present.
What are you smoking? Kobe shot 50% in 3 elimination games and he outscored LeBron in these three games combined too.
http://www.usabasketball.com/misc/12_moly_stats_usa.pdf As you can see, despite having superstar talent around him, Kobe shot a blistering 43% (while contributing nothing else), second worst on the team and well below the team average of 52%. http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/2008/stats/USA.HTM In 2008, Kobe did a bit better, shooting 46%, although that was still pretty pathetic compared to the 55% AVERAGE team USA shot (mind you, these averages include Kobe's low percentage, high volume shotjacking). When Kobe had a superstar cast around him in 03/04, he shot 43%. When he had prime Shaq, who commanded doubles and triples on every possession, he couldn't crack 46%. Basically, Kobe is an inefficient scorer and that does not change whether he has scrub teammates or superstar teammates because Kobe is all about Kobe. So don't be surprised when Kobe shoots 42 or 43% this year, even though there's no logical reason he should given the quality of the team.
2000 Lakers for sure. At that time both Shaq and KOBE were in there primes. Kobe had more then the 3-5 years after Shaq left of prime years. He came into his own as a player when the Lakers started winning championships. It was by that time that he developed an outside shot to complement his skill set attacking the basket. People give Kobe flack for being Shaq's sidekick, but that's not a fair assessment of the situation. They were equals but the offense ran through Shaq because of the discrepancy between Shaq and the next centers. Looking back at those seasons, Kobe had great regular season numbers and even better playoff numbers. Back then Shaq and Kobe were the two best players in the NBA. Along with a perfectly built team around them makes them better then the current Lakers squad.
Howard could slow down Shaq as much as it was possible to slow down Shaq (as in Shaq wouldn't average 35-20 but rather a more reasonable 25-10ish IMO). Kobe was better back then than he is now, IMO. He could always be all out. But Nash and Gasol are definitely a significant amount better than anyone else on the 2000-01 Lakers team. Nash will make Dwight look even better offensively.
While Gasol and Nash are better individually then anyone on the 00 team after Shaq and Kobe, that doesn't tell the whole story. Those Laker teams were built perfectly around Kobe and Shaq. They had defense, toughness and big shot ability. But what would really hurt the current Laker team is that while Dwight is a great player, he would not be able to get his offense down low against Shaq, while Shaq would still be able to get his (although not as much as he did against the talent he played back then). For me that's the big difference that seperates these two teams.
Yeah, but they don't really need low post offense from Dwight in this series. They would just need him to try and slow down Shaq. And as basically the only person with the physical dominance close to what Shaq had, Dwight can do a relatively good job. All of Dwight's offense would come through PnR with Steve Nash. Also, Pau is fine with being the main low post threat. I don't see how they slow him and Dwight down at the same time. Especially with Pau's touch passing skills.
