Damn, why do people keep on bringing the Lakers are a better team without Kobe than Cavs without LBJ crap? Basketball is a 5 man game, if you can win 60 games in regular season, don't bring up the no support crap. Just play like what you do in regular season and you should be in the finals. If LBJ underperformed, it's his fault. If his teammates underperformed, then we have to question his leadership. You can use the excuse once, but it's getting old now. It's teamwork. As the leader, you get the credits for getting the job done, you of course should get blamed for lackluster performance. Kobe's team lost to Suns in 06,07 seasons. His team was crap, and he shouldered the blame. Great players find a way to win, and call it "it's on me" for real. It's pro league, you don't find excuses.
The Rockets took the Lakers to 7 games WITH Kobe and 95% of his current team How in the hell is LA better than the Rockets without Kobe. Ur making excuses for Lebron, but his team won 60 freaking games in TWO back to back seasons NO EXCUSES!! The "KING" has FAILED yet another year. Kobe is the KING
I dont think Lebron has failed yes he should get some of the blame because hes the best player, but the rest of the team didnt play that well either. Last night we saw a lot of things one of them being the Cavs cant come close to winning a game if Lebron doesnt play at a high level. Now with Kobe on the other hand the Lakers can win with him having a bad game. Basketball is a team sport one man can only do so much.
Cleveland's management has failed LeBron. As someone mentioned in an SI article, they keep bringing in overvalued talent. Shaq? Jamison? Mo Williams? Overvalued, all of them. Plus, they've had the opportunity to get a coach along the lines of a Larry Brown, etc., and they choose Mike Brown? Poor decisions. The only players worth keeping on that squad are Hickson, Varejao, maybe Powe if he's healthy, and maybe, maybe Jamison, though he's a playoff near-zero. They have no one near the calibur of a Scottie Pippen, or even Horace Grant. Ineffective role players. Delonte West- sure, he's dependable- although I do think he's a better option than Mo Williams at this point in the Boston series. Mo Williams- what a playoff performer. What is on LeBron is that he encourages that goofy, silly-type clowning by Cleveland- you think MJ and Kobe would tolerate that nonsense, or contribute to it?? If he wants to get to the next level, he needs to get better players around him- and he needs to cut out the goofball antics- that's what will win him a championship, barring injury.
Well, I should say that it may be an overrated factor, but maybe not. All I know is that the way to beat Boston is with an athletic or at least a defensive 5, not by putting in Z and Gibson when they haven't hardly played to this point. It's the same thing Avery Johnson did when he panicked and changed his lineup around for Golden State a few years ago- Utah showed you can beat that team with a halfcourt attack, and yet Dallas went away from what they did best. Cleveland needs to have a lineup out there with LeBron James and Varejao playing 35+ minutes- call me crazy, but to me, that guy, with all his obvious flops, is the 2nd most important player on that team right now in this series. He needs to play 40+ minutes, as long as he doesn't foul out. He also needs to play West, Jamison, and Parker as much as possible (yes, Jamison is a below-average player in the playoffs, but with the right 5, he can create damage). I know that means LeBron and Jamison are your primary targets, but I think that with Anderson, West and Parker playing defense on Garnett, Rondo, and Allen, they can negate some of the C's scoring. I don't know how you do that without bruising Shaq's ego, but he really needs to come off the bench with limited minutes- heck, I'd even say up Hickson's minutes. The less they play Shaq, Z, Gibson, and Mo Williams (unfortunately, his complete lack of defense and his sputtering offense has rendered him near worthless- I think that Delonte West can at least give you much better defense, and can at least equal Williams' O at this point), the better. Oh, and a different coach would be great.
Kobe was good enough to carry that team to the playoffs. He's not good enough to carry the whole team to the championship. Agree or disagree?
I agree that Danny Ferry made a few bad moves when he took over the team, esp. the Hughes signing, which everyone on this board predicted would be the disaster it was. He nonetheless made a number of great, cheap pickups. There is no denying that a healthy Shaq (still one of the league's best centers), Jamison (he peaked several seasons ago and he matches up horribly with Boston and Orlando's bigs, but he's still very good), Delonte West, Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker and Daniel Gibson are a good enough supporting cast for a deep playoff push. Not much athleticism, but plenty of size and offensive firepower. Mike Brown has also outcoached a number of better teams in the playoffs: he got past a stacked Detroit in '07 and neutralized the Celtics' team offense in '08. No excuses, Lebron. You have the personnel. And there is absolutely no excuse for undermining your coach at press conferences and refusing to take his criticism.
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Im sure the Lakers can win games, but the fact is they're not a playoff team in the West and as I stated earlier you need to win 50 games to make the playoffs and that team without Kobe is not a 50 win team. And to the Orl game you mentioned, every dog has its day...is Shannon Brown capable of scoring 20 a night? lol There's no doubt Pau is a hall of fame player with the talent he has and what he has accomplished the dude doesn't win games if he has no Kobe Bryant there
shannon brown doesn't have to score 20 a night. pau took a team worse than the current lakers (without kobe) to 49 wins. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MEM/2006.html you think they wont win 50 games. cool, but i never said they would EASILY win 50 games but more of it's not so far fetched because even without kobe they still have one of the best front courts in the league with gasol/bynum, a solid player in odom, and one of the greatest coaches of all time in phil jackson.
Making inferences from small samples is exactly what people are doing when they think they have LeBron all figured out because of a few bad games.
You're making it sound like Gasol/Bynum are shot creators and go to go guys like Hakeem. Gasol is an all star, no doubt about that but he is not a go to guy. There is a reason why he went to 3 post seasons and has a record of 0-12, not even a single win. When you're playing for the Lakers you have to bring your best because other teams always bring their best and play with a chip on your shoulder. Its like playing the Yankees, its a marquis team and you want to beat them. A Gasol led Laker team can't handle the blitz other teams would put on them. Bynum has so much potential but he can't stay healthy and he has poor defensive court awareness. Odom is Odom, the talent is there but from one night to another you just don't know what you're going to get. He got completely dominated by 20 year old rookie Serge Ibaka in the OKC series, he didn't put up 1 good game.
this is the playoffs bro, you're at the brink of elimination at home with a supporting cast that has helped you become the best team in the league 2 years in a row, now is not the time to pout and make a point ya know?
Yes, part of me agrees with that. I just think he really needs a solid #2, and he does need to mature a bit.
i wont even bother to respond to the bold because that's just ignorance. look at the teams gasol had while with the grizzlies. im more surpised they MADE it to the playoffs. he had rockets srubs like bonzie wells and stromile swift on his teams. in 05-06 gasol averaged 20 points while Eddie Jones as his 2nd option averaging 10 points per game in the playoffs. the proof is there. gasol led a 49 win team with a much worse cast than the current lakers. to argue that you would have to agree that that grizzlies squad is better than that lakers squad without kobe. and if you do then you are just lying to yourself.
