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Official 2009 NBA Playoff Thread of Shaq forces trade to the Cavs, keeps streak alive
- Thread starter reilo
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The Frankman
Banned
God if Orlando doesn't win this series I may not be able to watch the NBA Finals. GAF will explode in 404 errors from the Laker fans and Cavalier fans duking it out. It'll be like the last scene in the old 90's X-Men cartoon with the X-Men and Magneto's forces w/ humanity trapped in the middle...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PrvRnjJ0HY
Skip to 49 seconds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PrvRnjJ0HY
Skip to 49 seconds
Himuro said:
Its not Karl. Its the players they have. Guys like K Mart and even Nene sometimes think they have offensive skill sets. THEY DON'T. K Mart is a special waste considering he doesnt play great D and has no offense. They need to surround Melo, Billups, JR, and Kleiza with some guys who do the dirty work and play solid D.
Shawnwhann
Banned
George Karl always looks constipated in the press conferences...especially with all the heavy breathing! :lol
Rodeo Clown
All aboard! The Love train!
They have too many headcases. You can't have a lot of guys like that.effzee said:
The Frankman
Banned
if my PhotoShop wasn't acting up I woul have Kobe and LeBron on this. GOD PLEASE LET DWIGHT, HEDO AND LEWIS OVERCOME LEBRON AND THE REFS!!!
Future PhaZe
Member
The Nuggets are a good team and they very nearly took advantage of the Lakers this year. It's a shame that some idiot gave Martin a franchise killing contract because they'd be able to make some great corrections to create a championship ready lineup otherwise. It'll be interesting to see where they go in the off season.
The Nuggets could have played better but this wasn't really a matter of the Nuggets not showing up. This was a matter of the Lakers simply being unbeatable tonight. As a Laker fan I can honestly say this is the first time I've seen this team show up in the playoffs. In the Utah series we didn't lock anything down and while we won in 5 games none of those games ever felt comfortable. The big wins in the Rockets series were us taking advantage of an injured sheep in our home court.
This game was just beautiful watch if your a Lakers fan or a fan of great execution on the offensive end. This is the first time since the regular season that I saw Lakers basketball. The Rockets walking into Staples and chucking up bricks all night isn't an example of how the Lakers played in the regular season. This was a game that was just about control. As Kobe says it's about execution and you saw nothing but it for 48 minutes. Beautiful passing out of doubles, great movement off the ball, and great offense in 1 on 1 situations.
I can't say enough about how impressed I was with Kobe tonight. He was a coach out there and it was like he was playing a game of 2k9 with a professional coach on the floor with him telling him everything he needed to do to get buckets. The bench played beautifully and Pau and Lamar were beasts.
If the Lakers haven't figured it out by now maybe they understand. The game for them is about forcing a double team. If we force doubles on Pau and Kobe with consistency then it's as simple as making the pass and then the open dunk/layup/3pt shot. In our losses people always talked about defense. It was never defense. It was offense. Your going to play bad defensively here or there. What you can't do is not make the proper plays to score enough to keep yourself in ball games.
The Nuggets could have played better but this wasn't really a matter of the Nuggets not showing up. This was a matter of the Lakers simply being unbeatable tonight. As a Laker fan I can honestly say this is the first time I've seen this team show up in the playoffs. In the Utah series we didn't lock anything down and while we won in 5 games none of those games ever felt comfortable. The big wins in the Rockets series were us taking advantage of an injured sheep in our home court.
This game was just beautiful watch if your a Lakers fan or a fan of great execution on the offensive end. This is the first time since the regular season that I saw Lakers basketball. The Rockets walking into Staples and chucking up bricks all night isn't an example of how the Lakers played in the regular season. This was a game that was just about control. As Kobe says it's about execution and you saw nothing but it for 48 minutes. Beautiful passing out of doubles, great movement off the ball, and great offense in 1 on 1 situations.
I can't say enough about how impressed I was with Kobe tonight. He was a coach out there and it was like he was playing a game of 2k9 with a professional coach on the floor with him telling him everything he needed to do to get buckets. The bench played beautifully and Pau and Lamar were beasts.
If the Lakers haven't figured it out by now maybe they understand. The game for them is about forcing a double team. If we force doubles on Pau and Kobe with consistency then it's as simple as making the pass and then the open dunk/layup/3pt shot. In our losses people always talked about defense. It was never defense. It was offense. Your going to play bad defensively here or there. What you can't do is not make the proper plays to score enough to keep yourself in ball games.
Future PhaZe
Member
As far as the Finals are concerned I would rather play Orlando for the HCA. I think the matchups are irrelevant at this point. Whether it's the Cavs or not it's simply about us showing up and making the right adjustments.
Either way I don't have a sense of fear about any of these teams like I had for the Celtics last year. Last year deep inside I pretty much knew there was no way we were beating that team. A defensive juggernaut of a team with the perfect assortment of bench players with clutch players everywhere you looked. Posey and Eddie Houses daggers consistently hitting us off the bench with Powes aggressiveness and PJ's veteran play. Then add 3 hungry as fuck all-stars and arguably hall of famers with a strong defensive center. Oh...and we had a hurt Ariza and no Andrew Bynum and were playing in the hungriest arena in basketball. If we don't piss away that 20 pt first half lead against the Celtics in game 4 we very likely go to Boston up 3-2 that year despite all that was against us.
This year doesn't compare. We're battle damaged but healthy, we've been tested, and we could possibly have HCA. I'm not going to call it our year because quite frankly the Magic and the Cavs are fucking good, but if we play our game I like our team.
Either way I don't have a sense of fear about any of these teams like I had for the Celtics last year. Last year deep inside I pretty much knew there was no way we were beating that team. A defensive juggernaut of a team with the perfect assortment of bench players with clutch players everywhere you looked. Posey and Eddie Houses daggers consistently hitting us off the bench with Powes aggressiveness and PJ's veteran play. Then add 3 hungry as fuck all-stars and arguably hall of famers with a strong defensive center. Oh...and we had a hurt Ariza and no Andrew Bynum and were playing in the hungriest arena in basketball. If we don't piss away that 20 pt first half lead against the Celtics in game 4 we very likely go to Boston up 3-2 that year despite all that was against us.
This year doesn't compare. We're battle damaged but healthy, we've been tested, and we could possibly have HCA. I'm not going to call it our year because quite frankly the Magic and the Cavs are fucking good, but if we play our game I like our team.
DeathbyVolcano
Banned
Congrats Laker fans!
Forceatowulf
G***n S**n*bi
I know, I know! I'm Just happy about the win and the fact that everyone is healthy enough to play well in the finals for a change!ryutaro's mama said:
Seriously, when the hell was the last time that happened?Did not expect a win tonight at all. I thought for sure the Lakers would close Denver out wearing the white uniforms of death this Sunday... but they fucking did it!
I definitely want Orlando now. Having HCA is very important for us. I know we can steal games on the road from the best of them, and Orlando wont even be the best home team we face in the playoffs!
Please Orlando, please win tomorrow!
We're almost home Laker fans.... we're almost home.
And no, I will not give props to the Nuggets. After that push to the back and trip to Kobe they can all go to hell. Fuck 'em.
Forceatowulf
G***n S**n*bi
I had to leave the room when I saw that. I was embarrassed for him.Majestros said:
When Luke does that to you... you're having a really bad day.
Fuck it sucks that we have to wait till Thursday to play the Magic. But I'm glad they'll get some rest, we fucking deserve it.
No Lakers for an entire week... *sigh*
They're all one unit. You know damn well they know he does this type of shit and they tell him he's playing "good defense". The fuck out of here.Majestros said:
Alright, alright. I'll give props to Melo, Chauncy, Birdman, Nene and coach Karl. But Jr Smith, Martin and Jones can fuck right off.
Ninja Scooter
Member
back to back great games by the Lakers?!?
"ANYTHING IS POSSIBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
the attention can now fully turn the the Finals. Lakers-Age: Who would you rather face. We beat the Cavs twice this season, and lost to the Magic twice. Going into the ECF i wanted the Magic to win, but now i'm having 2nd thoughts because Orlando seems like a nightmare to matchup for anyone...then again if Lebron pulls off the 3-1 comeback he might get some Wade treatment in the Finals...my preference? I'll take my chances with Orlando and the home court. Pray for Pau and Andrew.
"ANYTHING IS POSSIBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
the attention can now fully turn the the Finals. Lakers-Age: Who would you rather face. We beat the Cavs twice this season, and lost to the Magic twice. Going into the ECF i wanted the Magic to win, but now i'm having 2nd thoughts because Orlando seems like a nightmare to matchup for anyone...then again if Lebron pulls off the 3-1 comeback he might get some Wade treatment in the Finals...my preference? I'll take my chances with Orlando and the home court. Pray for Pau and Andrew.
KolosLazar16
Member
I'm going to go with a Jameer-less Magic team w/ HCA. Jameer LIT US UP in the reg season, and even if he comes back he'll be rusty as hell. Much rather play the Magic. Regardless, I'm mad excited right now. 6 day break =X
Whoever wins. Honestly i still don't give a fuck.Ninja Scooter said:
As weak as the Cavs look right now, i think the Lakers can close them out in 6 max. On the other hand, if the Magic give us 15-point leads in the first quarter, they're not coming back to win any of those games.
Actually i think losing to the Cavs in Game 5 was huge for Orlando because it might make them realize that they can't come out so lazy. If they'd won that game, Phil would have had a field day against that mentality.
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