Paul is an upgrade but can he produce the same amount of shot made by Adridge?? I doubt it! Adridge is sick. Every time he shoot, it seems always go in.
L.A. will be a great challenge for us. As long as we play hard and the way we are capable of playing then there will be no shame in losing to LA. That team is fully loaded. One could argue that they basically have no weakness on paper. Yao may give them trouble and that is probably the only advantage we have and hopefully we'll be able to fully exploit it. So even if we lose to them, I think it will be great experience for us.
You need a trophy to symbolize what you've done? Lakers are the best team in the West right now. Homers need to wake up and realize that we have a less than stellar chance at taking them down.
----------------------------------------------------------------- i hope they won't, i will start praying from now on, Bynum/Gasol/Mbenga, please man up and play Yao one on one...
That's my point exactly, how on earth is Gasol going to play better than Aldridge did this series? He might be a better player, but Aldridge lit us up like Chinese New Year in Beijing. Yes they have more talent, yes they have more experience, and yes they are a better team than Portland. But my point is that we basically practiced against them the last 6 games, and that's an advantage. Plus, let's not forget how Odom and Gasol struggled against the Celtics last year. This team is beatable, just watch the finals last year as a guide on how to contain Kobe and knock out the lakers....
1. Pau Gasol is better than LaMarcus Aldridge and will pose more problems. Aldridge is probably a better pure scorer at this point, but Gasol will hurt you with his passing ability, basketball IQ and experience. Scola is going to have his hands full, as will Yao when they play "small". 2. Odom is a bigger matchup problem than you think. He will hurt the Rockets far more than Fernandez ever could. 3. The Lakers in general have an advantage with their superior length, especially at the forward positions. Other than that, I do agree that many people are selling the Rockets a little short here. I honestly think it's a long shot for Houston to win the seven game series, but it will be longer than people think.
See, I dunno. Truthfully, I think the X-factor, for both teams, actually, are the benches. If Lowry/Wafer/Landry can produce better than Farmar/Vujacic/Ariza, then we might be able to pull off 7 games.
Lamar Odom is the biggest match up problem for the Rockets. He's long and can grab rebounds, and our power forwards can't guard him on the perimeter. If he has a good series it will be tough for the Rockets. I think in close games, defensively Battier should guard Kobe and Artest guard Odom on the perimeter. The Lakers will have the size advantage (outside of Yao) but the entire team needs to help on the boards, much like in Game 6 vs Portland.
Aldridge has a better jump shot. That is about it. Gasol's jumper is pretty good too, but I doubt he'll be as money as Aldridge did.
The Blazers were great practice on adjusting to the fronting defense. Give credit to Aldridge and Oden, they were very physical in the post against Yao. After butting heads against those two, I think LA is going to feel like a vacation for Yao. Bynum is more offensively polished, but he's still coming back from his injury, still raw. Neither is he as physical as Oden. Yao eats him alive. Gasol however presents a match-up problem for Yao. He's quicker, just as strong, and can bang in the post. This is the key match-up.
Comparing the Lakers to the Blazers is kinda silly. Several reasons why: - The Lakers have the best coach in the league, perhaps ever (and don't say he only won because he had the best players -- Jordan never won a title before playing under Jackson and neither did Kobe or Shaq). The Lakers were 34-48 after Jackson left and didn't get good again until he came back. Jackson is the real deal and has beaten Adelman countless times in the playoffs. - Kobe is light years ahead of Brandon Roy because Kobe actually puts tons of effort now into getting his entire team into the game, something Roy doesn't do yet. - Pao Gasol is much better than Aldridge. - Bynum is much better than Pryz/Oden. - The Lakers supporting cast plays big in the playoffs while the Blazers supporting cast basically didn't show up for the entire series. Gasol, Odom, Bynum, Ariza, Fisher, Brown, etc. are all capable of scoring 15+ points on a given night. - The Lakers fast break A LOT which the Blazers don't do. - The Lakers have really good three point shooters. Kobe, Fisher, Odom, Ariza, Walton, etc. can all shoot the three. - The Lakers half court offense is one of the best in the league while the Blazers half court offense is basically just pick n rolls with Roy. The Lakers run the triangle offense which means that there are constant cuts through the lane and people moving without the ball which means that all five of our guys will have to play defense and stick to their man. It's not like Portland where you really only have to stick to Roy and Aldridge because the other guys just stand around and watch. One positive is I doubt they will front Yao. Odom might a little but I doubt Bynum and Gasol will. What they did in the regular season is let Yao catch the ball in the post and then have another guy come from the baseline and swat the ball away from him. It was pretty effective in the regular season. The other positive is that the Lakers don't really play 48 minutes. They play like a team that knows they are better than everyone and can turn it on whenever they want. If you watched the Utah series, they would never put Utah away. They'd get a lead and then always let Utah back in the game and it came back to bite them in game 3.
I agree with the other guy. If we somehow beat LA, Denver is no big deal, we match up very well with the Cavs (or Magic or a depleted Cetics). Only Mavs scare me a little.
