I think Lakers in 6. Lakers are playing amazing basketball right now. I think they will steal the first game in Minn and win 96-91 KG is good but its a whole different story when you have Shaq in the paint instead of Vlade. Thoughts?
LA in 4 or 5. Minnesota has no centers worth a crap. Michael Olowokandi will be forced to play, so that he can give Min 6 fouls. However, when you play with him, it's playing 4 on 5.
Wait a minute...Olawakandi gives Shaq fits, and Shaq backed down from him last year. I think the T-pups can take them.... DD
I'm with Hikanoo, Lakers in 6. Lakers are playing great defense, and combined with the fact that Cassell is not 100% is not good for the T-wolves.
5 or 6. I think KG showed some heart and desire to win... I'm not sure he will allow the Lakers to sweep. What's interesting will be the East series... which I believe will be much closer.
The Wolves have three big bodies to throw at Shaq. E. Johnson, Kandi and Oliver Miller(6-9, 315 lbs). They have been playing 4-5 all season and still the No.1 seed. Using double teams can limit Shaq and Duncan, but KG's game is not very easy to be neutralized by DTs. The Kings tried it without much success. The Lakers, on the other hand, aren't that dominant compared to their championship seasons. 4 out 5 games they played the Rockets were close games that could've gone either way. The Spurs didn't have good outside shooting against them but even so Fakers couldn't beat them with ease if one watched the game instead of just looking at win-loss column. The Lakers are still a monster team with 4 HOFs, but the Wolves are on the rise with the best player. The Wolves are better fit than the Spurs to beat the Lakers though. It's tough to call.
Lakers in 4. I expect the worse. Cassell is banged up and the Lakers are just too good. Damn, I hate that team so much.
T'Wolves institute the "hack-a-Shaq" and win it in 6. KJ goes to be the finals as league MVP, and Sam gets Finals MVP. Go 'Sota. Go E.T.
Wolves a better matchup against LA than SA? The Wolves shortcoming against LA will be the fact that they can't ever get points in the paint. When an interior team plays a perimeter team, the odds are in the inside team's favor. Wolves may have fouls to give, but they still have no prayer in guarding Kobe. If they play with Hassell, that means their offense has 2 guys on the floor (Hassell and any of the Wolves scrub centers) that LA does not need to defend. Which means they can use 5 guys to guard whatever trio of KG, Cassell, Spree, Wally is on the floor. The Wolves lineup doesn't have enough versatilty. I mean versatilitiy in that they will have a major weakness that LA can exploit, no matter what lineup Minnesota uses. Whoever Cassell, Hoiberg, or Wally is guarding, will be able to score at will seemingly. If you plug in Hassell for defensive reasons, he is a ghost on offense (read above about my 3 on 5 comment). The Wolves have the depth to go with an offensive or a defensive lineup. The problem lies with the fact that they aren't able to have both on the floor at the same time, save for late-game situations when there are 32432443 timeouts to allow offense/defense substitions. Though Phil Jackson doesn't use timeouts for last second shots, unless it is to move the ball up to halfcourt when there is only less than 5 seconds or so. No matter what Minny does, they have no semblance of answer Shaq and Kobe. If Malone can hit his open jumpers, something he didn't do against SA, Minnesota stands zero chance. Madsen and Hassell are good/decent defenders/hustle guys. But provide NOTHING offensively. Throw in the Wolves' centers and those are more guys who provide nothing on offense. Hoiberg, Wally, and Cassell are good offensive guys, but provide nothing defensively. When 7-8 guys the Wolves have in their rotation, are major holes on offense or defense, you will be toast.
Lakers are NOT good. With 4 potential allstars, they gave up one game to use and another potential two later down the stretch. Lakers still might win, but only because their team is stacked. Spurs play a crappy series after the first two games.
Laker Strengths v Minnesota Weakness SHAQ - CENTER v weak centers KOBE - S G v Weak SG Minnesota Strengths v Laker Weakness KG - PForward v Weak punk *ss Malone Spreewell - SF v Weak forwards [Fox and George] Cassell - PG v run down Payton The Series IMO hinges on Cassell v Payton Rocket River
I think Lakers got some help with Spurs missing a lot of outside shots. They will probably double garnett since he is much too agile for malone to guard. Duncan was more of a power/finesse in the post player which played more to malone's defense. Garnett is much quicker and agile than duncan. But I don't see the wolves missing as many wide open shots on the perimeter as the spurs did. Minnesota will have to play the zone of their lives to pull out a series win here, but they are capable of it. Lakers in 6, with another pivotal game 5!!
i say Wolves in 6. Garnett is gonna lead his team, he is the best basketbal player in the world. I do not know wich player on the lakers is gonna gaurd him. Malone and shaq are to slow, and the other players are to small. The lakers are good, but not as good as they were duing theyr championships. Cassel is also gonna destroy Payton. off course shaq and kobe are gonna have some great nights. But i think Garnett will show the world he is the best there is atleast i hope so
Lakers enter the series ON THE ROAD but rested. Wolves are physically (Sammy) and emotionally (Game 7/long series) spent. It will likely be Game 3 before Wolves 'engage' in this series and by then they'll be down two home games. The odds are stacked against Mini. Go, KG and Sammy -- make me look d-u-m !!!
I want TWolves to win, but it'll be the Fakers in 6... As much as I hate to say it, they'll win it all...
