N.b.a. (2 Viewers)

okay...7th place seed facing the Spurs instead of the Thunder's Durant/Westbrook combination is a small consolation for a team probably destined to go nowhere in post season...but I'm glad they proved all the mid-season critics wrong about even making the playoffs this year...I'm also glad to see Blake stepping up and hope Nash's return can keep Gasol and Howard motivated...Jamison has been a great role player the second half of this season...again...I don't really expect them to beat San Antonio without Kobe...but I hope they are competitive without him just to instill some confidence in their future...
 
mikemiller1955 said:
okay...7th place seed facing the Spurs instead of the Thunder's Durant/Westbrook combination is a small consolation for a team probably destined to go nowhere in post season...but I'm glad they proved all the mid-season critics wrong about even making the playoffs this year...I'm also glad to see Blake stepping up and hope Nash's return can keep Gasol and Howard motivated...Jamison has been a great role player the second half of this season...again...I don't really expect them to beat San Antonio without Kobe...but I hope they are competitive without him just to instill some confidence in their future...
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The Spurs are a team the Lakers matchup well with. A younger team like OKC would have run them off the court. I don't think they win without Kobe, but it could be interesting. Maybe goes six. Howard seems to have taken over the leadership role. If Gasol plays hard, they might be a tough first round team. Particularly in LA. And they have nothing to lose since no one expects them to win.
 
Combat said:
The Spurs are a team the Lakers matchup well with. A younger team like OKC would have run them off the court. I don't think they win without Kobe, but it could be interesting. Maybe goes six. Howard seems to have taken over the leadership role. If Gasol plays hard, they might be a tough first round team. Particularly in LA. And they have nothing to lose since no one expects them to win.
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true...SA's older legs will help the Laker's porous defense...both Gasol and Howard have stepped up the last few games...Gasol's rebounding and offense...and Howard's defense...I don't think they can match or have an answer for SA's perimiter shooting...but it should be a fun watch...you know...if they had played like this all year...they wouldn't have been in the 7th seed position...

if Jamison and Blake can score from the outside...they may take it to 6...

but even if they won...wouldn't they face OKC in round 2?
 
so...

remind me again why I was so happy the Lakers got the 7th seed for the supposedly more favorable match up with San Antonio...

I think I would rather have Kobe coach from his bed than D'Antoni...

the theme of "the only advantage" the Lakers having was the combination og Gasol/Howard in the offensive paint wasn't utilized very well...

Kobe's tweet was..."post...post...post"...

hope they change their strategy some for Game 2...their lack of perimieter shooters really seems to favor this plan...

my goodness...they missed a lot of shots on good looks...if Gasol and Howard din't combine for 30 rebounds it would have been a real blowout...
 
mikemiller1955 said:
so...

remind me again why I was so happy the Lakers got the 7th seed for the supposedly more favorable match up with San Antonio...

I think I would rather have Kobe coach from his bed than D'Antoni...

the theme of "the only advantage" the Lakers having was the combination og Gasol/Howard in the offensive paint wasn't utilized very well...

Kobe's tweet was..."post...post...post"...

hope they change their strategy some for Game 2...their lack of perimieter shooters really seems to favor this plan...

my goodness...they missed a lot of shots on good looks...if Gasol and Howard din't combine for 30 rebounds it would have been a real blowout...
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The Spurs are the better team. The Lakers just need to steal one on the road and win at home. They can lose ugly a few times and still make it a series.
 
The Lakers have them right where they want them. Down 0-3 and 20 points behind at half. The Spurs have to be overconfident at this point. If only a couple more Lakers get injured, it could turn around.
 
With Westbtook out, Spurs have an excellent shot to make the finals. Sooner the Lakers are out the better. They don't really even belong there this year.
 
jazzeum said:
With Westbtook out, Spurs have an excellent shot to make the finals. Sooner the Lakers are out the better. They don't really even belong there this year.
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I guess you haven't seen the Atlanta-Indiana series. The Eastern Conference is full of awful teams. Five teams in the West had more wins than the Knicks who finished second in the East. The Lakers had the same record as Chicago.
 
The Bulls didn't have a good team this year; no Rose. Sorry Lakers were not a good team this year and once they lost Kobe, no chance.

There is only one team that's going to win and that's the Heat. So forget your West. Knicks will make them work a little, six games; one can only hope for seven.
 
Combat said:
The Lakers have them right where they want them. Down 0-3 and 20 points behind at half. The Spurs have to be overconfident at this point. If only a couple more Lakers get injured, it could turn around.
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hahaha...very good...

Doug...read this...I found it the other night...it kind of sums up the season pretty well...

Murphy’s Law Injury Season Continues

Published by Mike Trudell on April 25, 2013

Things seemed bad enough from an injury standpoint with Kobe Bryant watching losses in Games 1 and 2 from his home in Orange County as his backcourt partner Steve Nash hobbled/battled his way through nerve issues in his back/hip/hamstring.

But in a season in which nearly everything has gone wrong from an injury standpoint, we learned on Friday that Steve Blake would be out indefinitely with a moderate hamstring strain, while Nash and Jodie Meeks (sprained left ankle) are doubtful for Friday’s Game 3.

Blake had an ultrasound on Friday to confirm the hamstring strain; Meeks had an MRI on his ankle; and Nash received two epidural injections in his back, in addition to a cortisone shot in his right hip.

Mike D’Antoni said that Nash is the more likely between he and Meeks to be able to play, but both are unlikely to see the floor.

As such, the Lakers would be without their top four guards, with 2011 second round picks Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock (the recently called-up 2012-13 D-League MVP) and Chris Duhon remaining to try and hold the fort.

Morris will likely start at point guard, charged with defending Tony Parker, which Blake did exceptionally well in the first two games. Parker did manage to explode for 15 of his 28 points in the third quarter of Game 2, hitting 9 of 20 shots and 9 of 10 free throws, after 18 points on 8 of 21 field goals in Game 1.

Goudelock may get the nod at off guard, his ability to create his own shot and knock down open threes coveted, with Duhon backing up both spots.

INJURY MONSTER (bug doesn’t cut it)
In the regular season, the Lakers lost 81 games to starters, and 171 overall, with almost every key rotation player missing at least four games:

- Steve Nash: lower left leg fracture (24 games); right hamstring/hip issues (8 games)
- Kobe Bryant: sprained left ankle (2 games); torn left Achilles tendon (2 games)
- Metta World Peace: torn lateral meniscus in left knee (6 games)
- Pau Gasol: tendinitis in both knees (8 games); concussion (5 games); torn plantar fascia in right foot (20 games)
- Dwight Howard: torn labrum in right shoulder (6 games)
- Jordan Hill: left hip injury (53 games)
- Steve Blake: abdominal injury (37 games)

Add in two missed playoff games for Bryant, one for Hill and Jodie Meeks plus the potential for four guards out for Game 3, and things have gone beyond ridiculous. A qualifier is the team’s collective age, making injuries more likely, but even head athletic trainer Gary Vitti said he’s never seen anything like this season from an injury perspective.

For comparison’s sake, here’s how three other Western teams have fared on the injury front from a games missed standpoint:

Lakers: 171 total, 81 starting five
Spurs: 86 total, 50 starting five
Clippers: 86 total, 17 starting five*
Thunder: 12 total, seven starting five
*Chauncey Billups also missed 60 games

Pretty rough for the purple and gold, to say the least, particularly as the Spurs, Clippers and Thunder have all gotten their key players back for the postseason.
 
jazzeum said:
The Bulls didn't have a good team this year; no Rose. Sorry Lakers were not a good team this year and once they lost Kobe, no chance.

There is only one team that's going to win and that's the Heat. So forget your West. Knicks will make them work a little, six games; one can only hope for seven.
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That's all very interesting, but you were claiming the Lakers shouldn't even be in the playoffs. As bad as the Lakers were, they finished 7th in the West with a record good enough to have placed 5th in the East. They were certainly playoff worthy even with all their injuries. You haven't seen ugly basketball until you have watched the Indiana-Atlanta series. They couldn't show that to the prisoners in Guantanamo for fear of risking a cruel and unusual punishment claim.
 
I'm not sure it's fruitful to discuss further since you're a Lakers fan. They did make the playoffs so I suppose they were playoff worthy in that respect. However, once they lost Kobe, what was the point? They had no shot. You keep comparing it to the Hawks Pacers series, which may be uninteresting to you but at least it wasn't a mismatch as the dreadful Lakers Spurs series.

At any rate, your team's season is over. There's always next year although I understand Kobe's recovery will take a long time.
 
jazzeum said:
However, once they lost Kobe, what was the point? They had no shot.
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you may not realize this...
but Kobe got injured versus Golden State...trailing...the Lakers rallied to win that game...
then without Kobe...they beat San Antonio...the same team that you refer to as a mismatch series...
and then again without Kobe...they beat Houston...
to not only make the playoffs...but to move to 7th seed...

even without Kobe...if they had not lost all 4 of their guards to injuries...things might have been a little different...they already proved they could win without him...as a Laker's fan I hoped the team might have been more competitive...but when you bring up a starting forward from the D-League (Goudelock) to run your offense...the injuries just become too much...

Westbrook from OKC said 2-3 weeks ago...when Kobe was healthy...that if the Lakers made the playoffs...which everybody wrote them off a mid season...that they would be the scariest 8th seed in the history of the playoffs...

your importance on one individual players kind of reminds me of your numerous "Linsanity craze" posts that you went through a while back...

basketball is a team sport...not a one man sport...it always has been and always will be...
 
would love to see Memphis steal one on the road to go up 3-2 on the Clippers...Blake has 3 fouls in the 3rd quarter...which could be a factor...
 
Impressive victory by the Rockets tonight. Glad to see their center take the crowd out of the game when the Thunder kept fouling him intentionally. This series and the Knicks series are getting interesting.

Hope JR doesn't turn out to be the goat of the Knicks series with his stupid foul on Friday.
 
Nets hang on to win. Game 7 in Brooklyn. Been a long time since you could say that. Nice sound to it. Of course, Bulls team is not at full strength but a win is a win.
 
mikemiller1955 said:
you may not realize this...
but Kobe got injured versus Golden State...trailing...the Lakers rallied to win that game...
then without Kobe...they beat San Antonio...the same team that you refer to as a mismatch series...
and then again without Kobe...they beat Houston...
to not only make the playoffs...but to move to 7th seed...

even without Kobe...if they had not lost all 4 of their guards to injuries...things might have been a little different...they already proved they could win without him...as a Laker's fan I hoped the team might have been more competitive...but when you bring up a starting forward from the D-League (Goudelock) to run your offense...the injuries just become too much...

Westbrook from OKC said 2-3 weeks ago...when Kobe was healthy...that if the Lakers made the playoffs...which everybody wrote them off a mid season...that they would be the scariest 8th seed in the history of the playoffs...

your importance on one individual players kind of reminds me of your numerous "Linsanity craze" posts that you went through a while back...

basketball is a team sport...not a one man sport...it always has been and always will be...
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Yes, and the Spurs are testament to that! I always felt that the Lakers were too much of a veteran team, they do need younger blood coming up, not sure how they are going to get it though, guess if Howard stays Gasol will be gone... On the other hand Clark, Morris, Goudelock and Hill are there (for now), hope they'll grow soon... But it looks like some rebuilding years for the Lakers (and the Celtics too...). Patience...

Paulo
 
Knicks did their best to blow a 26 point lead tonight but managed to hang on to move on against the Pacers. Whew!
 
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