Geez, the Laker's offense is equally as smooth looking as ours - plus they have a higher talent level in the Odom-Bynum-Kobe-Gasol starter combo. Their bench is deep, and they have 9 time NBA championship coach and the current best player in the universe. That's why they are considered a contender. Our only strength against them is our Defense. While they are certainly unproven, the assets and coaching mitigates that fact.
Yep they did. I remember writing a sad journal entry about it in school expressing my disappointment...lol - - - The Lakers are a good team. They were playing very good ball even before the Gasol trade. They're about even with last year's Jazz team I say, not to be taken lightly. (slighly on-topic: love or hate Steven A Smith his response to the question about the Gasol trade is great <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8j9nsqv9m6M&rel=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8j9nsqv9m6M&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
You had me until this. Come on now. Yeah they've beaten a lot of cupcake teams, but they're not exactly squeaking out victories. They have been truly dominant and do deserve to be ranked with the elite teams in this league at this point. I do agree that the Rockets have a punchers' chance of passing them in the standings though. It's also worthy to note that earlier in the season before they lost Bynum, they were beating a lot of good teams too. That's why they've been consistently in the top 4-5 on Hollinger's Power Rankings all season long.
wow....just wow. i know we're rocket fans but youre being delusional. the lakers dont have the best record in the west for nothing.
and for the record, the top tier is still: Spurs Mavs Suns and now Lakers Jazz Celtics Pistons 2nd tier: Rockets Hornets right now we're pretty much the gate keepers to being contenders. if you beat us, you're contenders. if we beat you, you arent contenders.
Like I said, they're a very good team. But of their remaining 19 games, 15 are against Western Conference teams. And 9 are against teams now in the top 8 spots. Plus they'll be trying to work a not-in-game-shape Bynum back into their retooled lineup, which could throw things off. Their record is going to take a hit in this last part of the season, and I'm betting the Rox will finish above them.
How do you figure the Jazz are top-tier and the Rockets are not? We have a better record then they do and they're a really *bad* road team.
Actually, the Lakers have probably the easiet schedule left out of all the western teams. They're tied with Dallas for having the least amount of road games left, 8. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080308-09
the Jazz have struggled on the road but they've been unbeatable at home. They just beat the Suns on the road though. It's debatable whether they're contenders or not but lets just say I dont like our chances with them again in a 7 game series.
And the picture shall be brought forth of his astounding defense. I do not think Jazz are top tier. They only are top tier in their division. I think healthy we are top tier, not healthy (aka right now) we are still pretty good. 2nd tier. Mavs and Suns have fallen from the top tier until further notice. They are almost in trouble of missing the playoffs and you're going to rate them top tier? They both made ground shattering trades. Until they are in full form, it's hard to say where they stand, but right now they aren't playing very well.
JVG picked LA as his frontrunner for the championship, so I'm still going to believe that LA is the real deal until they prove otherwise. Like us, they had the hardest part of their schedule early, but they performed remarkably well during that stretch with Bynum doing an inordinate amount of owning. What that means is they have the easiest schedule remaining out of all the Western Conf. Playoff teams, so the 1 seed should be all but theirs if they just take care of business. After that, well, the playoffs will decide it. I still think San Antonio has the edge on everyone come playoff time, but I wouldn't count us or LA or even Phoenix out if Phoenix can actually make the playoffs lol.
I would never bit against Kobe, especially with the kind of games he has against the ROX (50+ pts/game) in the last 2 years.
I think our winning streak with end with the lakers, which is not a bad thing. we will be the number 2 best and longest streak since the 76 lakers with 33. Lakers are just too much for us right now, and they are missing byrum. gasol at center, odom at the 4. who's gonna take them? hayes, scola, and landry? maybe containly odom, but gasol? no way. Kobe vs Tmac, i will give it a wash. RA maybe playing better now vs fisher. not to mention they got deeper bench than us.
