General Chat / Official NBA Playoff Predictions/Discussion Thread

Except Iverson's injury prone and more banged up now, and T-Mac... well, I'd take him actually.  It'd continue the line of getting stars from Orlando. 

And you wouldn't take AI? Man you lakers fans are greedy.

Except Iverson's injury prone and more banged up now, and T-Mac... well, I'd take him actually.  It'd continue the line of getting stars from Orlando. 

That'd be really good actually. T-Mac is one of the reasons why Shaq is in LA. It even says in a basketball magazine. T-Mac and Shaq, hmm a new era? Possibly.

This is coming from a diehard but objective Laker fan:

Kobe's ego has led him to want to lead a team by himself to success and a title.

Shaq feels threatened by anyone who's star power might overshadow his own. There's a reason he got out of Orlando when Penny was basically more famous than he was. That's why he feuds with Kobe sometimes too.

I'll admit it, if I wasn't a Laker fan 4 Life, I'd understand why people hate the Lakers. In a way, we ARE basketball's Yankees.

Well, today made me happy, but I'll break it down objectively:

If you're an optimistic Lakers fan:
Lakers won! And handily! They seem to have their swagger back, and they played amazing defense today. The big four scored in double figures. Kobe/Karl two-man game was unstoppable. Shaq made half of his free throws. The offense was rolling. The bench supported you. Lakers as a team shot near 60%. You won by 24. Today was an awesome day. Parker barely scored. Duncan struggled. The Spurs shot horribly. Suddenly, the 17 game winning streak is over and the aura of invinsibility has been cracked. And remember last year? The Lakers were down two then came back to tie the series. Kobe will be flying back from Denver, and you know he always has insane games after coming back from court.

If you're a pessimistic Lakers fan:
Way too many turnovers; way too many offensive rebounds for the Spurs. It's a good thing the Spurs couldn't hit the water if they fell off a ship, because they had WAY too many second chance opportunities. They also stayed in the game until the third, despite shooting 20% worse than the Lakers from the field, because the Lakers turned the ball over a billion times. This definitely can't be good. The Spurs were a little lackadaiscal today, but you can't expect them to do that again. And you definitely can't be turning the ball over so often. Plus, the Lakers are still down 2-1. San Antonio is not a team that stays down. They will rebound.

If you're a pessimistic Spurs fan:
The Lakers shut down Parker and Duncan and the rest of the team couldn't carry the load. The Spurs were beaten by a huge 24, and now questions will rise as to whether or not they can play like they did. What if the Lakers keep this up and prevent San Antonio from ever regaining their edge? The Lakers have the big four. You only have the big two plus one (Ginobili). And then there were all the turnovers! Game four doesn't look too good either, since history bears against you. And did I mention Kobe will be flaming hot since he's rushing back from a court case?

If you're an optimistic Spurs fan:
Hey, you're still up 2 games to 1. You only need to win one game in Los Angeles and you'll pretty much have this series iced. You had a bad game, but that happens. Spurs are definitely better than 30% shooting, and there's no way Parker and Duncan will score like six and ten routinely. You made the Lakers turn the ball over a lot, and you got a lot of offensive boards. In the third, you had plenty of chances to get back into the game. Plus Popovich is a great coach. He'll analyze the tape, find weaknesses in the Lakers' new gameplan, and prepare you for them. You still have homecourt advantage, so the Lakers are still under pressure. Today was just.. an off day. You were up 2-0 and a little comfortable and did not play with intensity and desperation. Tuesday will be different, because you will want to prove something after getting embarrassed. The Spurs are extremely consistent, and they do not slump. They'll find a way to win this series. They are the defending champs after all, and they can't possibly play worse than they did today. And the Lakers are inconsistent. Knowing them, after how well they played today, they'll probably play that badly on Tuesday.



So basically, Tuesday is also a must-win for the Lakers. They have to play like they did today for all 48 minutes, just as they did today. I said the Laker X-Factor was their defense. That starts everything. If they can control the Spurs' X-Factor (Parker), they'll be in great shape, but lets hope the Lakers don't slack off and/or get cocky.

Cork? that was SAD! I watched the game yesterday, and what I saw was a Lakers team winning the game they were suposed to win. It reminded me of game 3 in the Kings vs Mavz series. The Spurs (and mostly Duncan and Parker) will not look like that next game, the Lakers will have to be perfect to win.

How about them Heat.

shit wade and odem had an amazing dunk each, maybe a 1, 2 punch on SC tonight

it was a slug fest, the ref's made alot of bullshit calls too, but in the end we were just to strong

When you look at it, ,the Heat are unstoppable when playing at prime.

and at home i mite go to next game if it does not cost an arm and a leg...

I admit it. I was rooting for the Kings. I mean, who DOESN'T love a great comeback (unless it's against your team)? Great game. Anticlimactic ending (to steal Iris's words), but awesome game.

I just can't figure out why they shoot a three when they're down by one. Go for a layup, draw a foul, anything. It was one heck of a game though. When they were down by 13 with a couple minutes left I almost gave up and turned the game off but then I remembered seeing the Kings come back from being down 10 before with only a minute to go so I I mustered up some positive will power and on the very next play, Peja hits a three (finally!) then gets a steal and hits Bibby for another three. It was one of the very few times where it seemed like believing was actually enough. The threes kept falling and Peja got another steal. Ah yes, shame it had to end that way, but it was a great game. When KG got called for traveling I really thought the Kings were going to win. Everything was going right for them. And it was vindication for a crappy performance at the end of game 2. Who would have thought the game would end with a Trenton Hessell block. The probablity of that happening, it just boggles the mind.

Still, I've watched the Kings play enough to know that if they were going to take the game, they were going to take it in regulation when they had all the momentum and the shots were dropping. I can't say I was surprised at the final outcome, it's what I expected when they went into OT with Bibby fouled out.

Bibby fouling out was the turning point, I felt.

And you'll never get a call at the end of the game like what Peja tried to get. He should have just shot it from 35. He stood a much better chance of hitting it from that deep than from trying to draw a foul.

2-2 Lakers. Amazing comeback, just amazing.

In other news, Kobe is pleaded not guilty.

Good News:
Two games in a row we've stopped Tony Parker and Tim Duncan.
We came back after being down by ten at halftime.
San Antonio will be wondering how to shut down Kobe and Shaq.
The series is tied.

Bad News:
Deja vu. And last time, we lost the next two games.
Kobe and Shaq can't carry the game all the time.
Falling behind in San Antonio will most likely not result in a comeback Laker win. It's different on the road.
The Spurs will make more changes, which means they can come out with new attacks that we have not expected. We'll need to adjust too.


But hey, 2-2 is a heck of a lot better than 2-0.

This has been a great playoffs.

2-2 Lakers. Amazing comeback, just amazing.

In other news, Kobe is pleaded not guilty. 

Did you expect him to plead guilty?



Pistons got stomped, but they can, and will win at home and hopefully in game 6.

wow, the Heat beat the shit out of the pacers

the only thing we did not do well was stop J. O'neal, and Artest did well too, but other then that just about perfect.

so thats 18 stright at home, now we just need a road win...

Wow. I didn't think Miami would be that good... they've really surprised me.

We might very well have all four series tied at 2-2! What an amazing playoffs this has been.

16 point lead, but then a 1 point win. Pathectic .

Still, I LOVE FISHER.

thats got to be one of the top 5 endings in the history of basketball, LA was a tenth of a second from getting fucked over after the way they started.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, LA does this every time. I didn't watch the game, but i assume there were some strange late calls in LA's favor, mainly because the leauge can't seem to survive without LA in the finals.