Don't forget to watch this series. Should be a blast, I think the Lakers have a slight chance to pull the upset in this one. Kobe could go nutz. Will they put Marion on him defensively? Should be interesting. Also Smush does well against Nash, picked his pocket multiple times in the games they have played this year. I think this will be an up and down fast paced game series, should be the most entertaining. I'll be watching. Does anyone else think the Lakers have a chance to pull it out? Or will the Suns handle them easily?
Somebody might want to remind Lamar Odom, the most overglorified role player in the league, he needs to step up his game and at least do something to help out Kobe.
Kobe needs to quit ball hogging and let Lamar be a playmaker once in awhile. He is jacking 27 Field goal shots a game + 10 free throws per game to get his 35 points per game. Plus his 1.5 assists for every TO doesn't help. MVP my ass, if the Fakers were real contenders or a top 4 seed in the West, maybe.
There are people on this board who think Lamar Odom brings more to a team than Shawn Marion. I disagree completely, but this series should tell the truth on that one. With that being said, Lamar Odom has been playing really really well over the past few weeks helping to put the Lakers on a 5 game winning streak to end the regular season. I believe he had 2 triple doubles during that span.
Lamar is the playmaker in the lakers offense. He is the PG in the triangle offense, kobe's role is that of a sf, smush of a sg, kwame as center, and pf is filler. The offensive system is designed around kobe, he is supposed to be jacking up a high percentage of shots. The lakers have no chance at being a top 4 seed in the west with the talent on their roster. They were predicted to not even reach the playoffs.
while they have more of a shot than against san antonio, the lakers don't really have a shot in this series (tv people seem to be giving the lakers way too much of a chance). they just can't stop phoenix and no matter what they do on offense it won't be enough. there's a reason phoenix had beaten them like 7 straight times before the last game where phoenix was resting people. what i wanna see is if kobe breaks mj's record of 63 in a playoff game. he's in the midst of a season where scoring a ton is routine, he's on a team that lets him shoot at will, he's playing an uptempo team that will let the games be high scoring, and the uptempo team seems content to let him score and shut down everyone else, and you know kobe would love to top mj. so it's really the perfect storm. i wouldn't bet on it happening, but if it's going to, this would be the player and the series.
Wrong. Huge Kobe Fan. The farther the Lakers make it, the more Kobe I get to see. Plus, this is the NBA dish, Rockets are done and there isn't much else to talk about for those of us who love the NBA and the game of basketball.
I could see that happening, but I could also see Marion giving him fits with his length and range defensively. Marion always d'up Tmac farily well.
If holding the ball for a few seconds and then passing it to Kobe is playmaking then i guess he is a playmaker on the team. Odom is at his best when he has the ball and has freedom to create for himself and others. Check out his only season at Miami where he and Wade carried that team to the second round after they started the season 0-9 or something like that. With Kobe in the game, Odom can't do much.
My hopes of seeing Kobe eliminated from the playoffs is one of the few reasons I have to watch the rest of the season. I'd love to see Miami win it all this year.
I know Kobe is going to average 40+ for this series. But could he average 50+? what do you guys think?
If I had to pick a first round upset it would be this series. The true stars come out in the playoffs. That means scrubs/mediocore/good regular season players like Raja Bell, Barbosa, Diaw, jones, house, thomas will likely dissapear and true stars like Kobe will show why he's so great. It's also going to be interesting to see if Marion actually does anything for once in the playoffs.
What happened to the old days when people tuned in to watch Jordan, Bird, Magic, etc... Even though they were fans of the teams, they still wanted to watch these stars, thats what the NBA was all about. Why is it so different now? Why does everyone preach on "team game" now? Do you know how boring it is to watch the pistons? & the spurs? Is it because of the zone defense? Has the 1-on-1 superstar matchups gone away because of the zone? Perhaps this is why most people don't watch the NBA outside of watching their own home team anymore. I want to see Kobe vs. Lebron in the finals, that would be sweet.
odom in miami: 17.1 pts, 9.7 rebs, 4.1 asts, 43%, 3.0 TO's odom w/ LAL: 14.8 pts, 9.3 rebs, 5.5 asts, 48%, 2.7 TO's so it looks like he dropped 2.3 pts but made up for it with 1.4 asts (so he's even more of a playmaker), he shot much better, and turned it over less. kobe has really screwed him up.
Marion giving Kobe fits in the playoffs? Forget it. Try Marion playing his worst ball of the season like last year. But it doesn't matter. Steve Nash will not allow the Suns to lose this series and unless several Suns choke and play out of character compared to the regular season, this series will go 5 games maximum. It may be entertaining to watch Kobe completely dominate on offense, but the Lakers are way outclassed here. I agree with Suns fans who say pencil them into the WCFs.
I am one of those people that think the Lakers have a chance. Anytime you have the best player on the floor on your team, you can't be counted out, regardless of whom you're playing. It should be as entertaining watching Kobe, Wade, Lebron, and other bona fide superstars in the league going off in the playoffs...players like them live to perform in the postseason...hopefully Marion and Nowitzki will also show up for a change this time around (they both sucked in last season's playoffs).
