So the Rockets were the biggest challenge for the Champion Lakers

Mutombo?

 

doubt it. Mac is happy his prediction came out true.

 

what's luck about that? that's shrewd management. people still b**** about the gasol trade (not saying you), but the lakers had exactly what memphis wanted. that team is bleeding cash, I don't understand why people are so upset over that move or refuse to accept the reality that it was a salary dump, they wanted to get contracts off the books.

gasol is a very good second fiddle type player also, but even if your opposition to that trade is that they gave up a star franchise player, I disagree. gasol is not winning a championship being the the franchise player.

i'm sure if other teams saw the value in kobe, some could have put together better packages than divac

 

We could have beat them with a healthy Yao and Mutombo

Unfortunately "could have" and "if healthy" seem to always be our themes in the off-season

 

Well, if they didn't trade shaq, they were going to lose Kobe, and maybe Phil too, so I'm guessing anyone would have done the same. Not that bold, when it comes down to it.

 

You're way off base. They didn't draft Kobe, they traded Divac for him when Kobe said he wasn't going to play anywhere except LA.

They didn't make a "bold move" in trading Shaq... they had to. One, he demanded a trade after they chose not to offer Phil Jackson a new contract (another bold move, eh?). Two, Kobe was a free agent and had made it clear that he wasn't coming back if Shaq was. He was talking with the Clippers about signing with them. LA had to move Shaq, and they got pretty good value back in Odom and Caron Butler. Oh, they moved future All-Star Butler for freaking Kwame Brown, another bold move .

These "bold moves" led to the Lakers winning 34, 45, and 42 games in the next 3 seasons, missing the playoffs once and losing in the first round the other 2. They got better when Pau Gasol fell in their laps, which was a move that was not so much bold as it was no-brainer.

 

What do you expect when your team has been plague with injuries for years?

 

i agree.....i'm am upset def b/c that could've been us celebrating but i am still proud of our team.

 

The Lakers caught a lot of flack for moving Shaq. I understand that there was a lot tension, but ultimately that was a financial move. they couldn't keep both, so they chose kobe because shaq was old and kobe was more viable long term.

 

NBA games are not that simple. Last year Celtics beat LA 4-2, and that's their easiest series(all others went to game 7). Would that mean those east teams are better than Lakers last year? Where are those teams now?

We caught LA off guard when they relax too much knowing yao's out. This happens in all kinds of sports, just like we got dominated by Bucks when Redd and Bogus are out.

We should be pround of our effort in this series, but that doesn't mean we can beat them when all are healthy(It's always a possibility though).

 

Denver gave Lakers most trouble, they pretty much led all the way in first 4 games and 3 quarters in 5th game. Lakers had to count on Kobe's late game heroics and Ariza's steals to win 2 of first 4.

 

All that matters is the W or L in the end.

 

Give the team a break. The lost to the eventual champs in 7 games.

No Tmac and losing BOTH centers?

Do you really think they underperformed? Given the horrible circumstances, I think they played admirably.

 

Obviously, Phil Jackson disagrees with you!

 

I think Morey may have more financial considerations to worry about.

You do bring up a very good point about bold moves though. It's usually not the gradual improvements that get a team to the top. If you patiently grow your team, the good young players you develop will probably leave via free agency (ie. salary cap) before they team has achieved its full potential.

Is it the time for a bold move by the Rockets? I don't know. If we can get a 90 percent Tmac back then we probably have enough talent to win it all. That may very well not happen though. If we just stand pat, I can totally envision some of the up and coming guys (Landry, Brooks, Scola, etc.) getting bigger offers from other teams later on.

 

+1

funny to see that after all these years, our cynicism finally overlaps on one common issue.

 

Seriously, does it even matter? Try asking the Suns if they felt good about giving the Rockets "the hardest time" during our championship years. Or ask whether the Kings or the Blazers whether they felt good about "almost" beating the Lakers during the 3-peat. In the end, results matter. Almost is meaningless.

That said, I think the Rockets gave the Lakers the hardest time only because we are the only team that can slow Kobe. It was more a matchup thing than anything else.

 

Shaq was traded cause he wanted out.
Stop whining.

 

Game 1?

you're trash stop posting. Houston won game 1 at LA, was up game 2 and game 3 then Yao got hurt. you NOT watch the series or are you having fun with revisionist history? there was no huge blowout WITH yao like without him to end the series. if yao was healthy houston would have taken another game in LA

stop talking about yao in the first place,the reason Houston gave LA the hardest time is Houston having 2 guys to throw at Kobw (rest of the league done even have 2) that was the key to the entire thing

 

I think the Rockets were only successful against the Lakers because we made an all out effort to guard Kobe with Battier and Artest. Its true like some have said on this board, Kobe is no longer the explosive player he once was and his athleticism is suffering from a decline. So the Rockets used physical defense on him and made him settle for more jumpshots than drives to the basket. Neither Denver nor Orlando really made a defensive effort to rough up Kobe and make him earn his points. Nuggets were just horrible against Kobe when putting Smith or Carter on him. At times I was baffled by the strategy, I mean here we have the best peremeter player in the game and his being guarded by Anthony Carter? George Karl should know better especially since Carmelo was much more physical with Kobe in the first 2 games and Bryant didn't like getting pushed around in the paint. Karl needed to put Anderson and Carmelo on Kobe and let Smith play Odom or Ariza. Yes that would be mismatch but this way you make someone other than Kobe beat you. Same thing with Orlando, Courtney Lee was good at getting physical with Kobe during some stretches especially game 3 and Pietrus did a good job but again you have to double team in for 48 minutes and get a hand in face on every shot like Battier otherwise he will find a way to make you pay.

Another factor was once Yao went down, Rockets went to a smaller lineup thats was faster and athletic which pushed the Lakers' defense to the edge. They have a history of struggling against smaller quicker lineups like Phoenix a couple years ago when they lost 2 years in a row.

Still very proud of the Rox for taking the champions to a game 7 without their 2 best players.

With Morey about to unleash his genius in the draft and offseason, Rox will be back locked and loaded to take on the Lakers next year.