SQ_Crazies wrote:
WTF do the last 3 years have to do with anything?
I'm looking at a Laker team that could have won their first round series in 4 games--but you have no bench, and you have a superstar who is selfish as fuck. Just like a lot of people always said he was. It's time now, more than ever, for him to defer to teammates and use his experience to pick his shots and play efficiently. Gasol and Bynum should have combined for 40 shots a game against the Thunder. That should have been the game plan, now I see a coach who is supposedly the GOAT who is just letting a player run wild at the expense of the rest of the team. Kobe is NOT the best player on the roster when he's shooting 25 shots a game anymore. Gasol is. Kobe could be if he would realize that he's not who he used to be. He could still impact the game in a HUGE way--I know this because he's done it a couple times. He did it in game 5 and look what happened. He took on the role of being the lights out defender that they needed to slow down Westbrook. He picked his shots better, he used the attention that he draws to benefit the TEAM and passed the ball. The 3 guys in the front court were 1, 2 and 3 in shots attempted in game 5. That's how it should have been all series, that's where the Lakers had a HUGE advantage. No big man to stop Gasol OR Bynum, let alone together. No one could defend Artest when he was going to the hoop or setting up on the block.
But instead, they dicked around. Kobe did what he wanted, regardless of how it hurt the team--in turn he ended up hurting himself by playing far more minutes than he should have in the 1st round. Like I said, it doesn't matter now--their record is now 0-0. Clean slate. But if they continue to play the way they did against the Thunder, they will not make it out of the West. This ain't last year. Last year they had a much better bench and a much better Kobe. If I thought the Jazz could beat the Lakers in a game 7 in LA, then I'd pick the Jazz IF the Lakers come out like they did against the Thunder. But with the experience on that team just in the head coach and Kobe, I would expect them to come out and put a hurtin' on the Jazz the way they should. They're head and shoulders above every other team in the West if they want to be--even with Kobe at less than 100%.
And regarding FTAs, it's not an important base level stat. If you're shooting jumpers that are going in, or the other team just isn't fouling you and you're making shots then what the hell does it matter how many FT's you shoot? Check out the Milwaukee Bucks--they've been overcoming that ALL SEASON (to a much larger extent) and look where they're at, a game 7 without (arguably) their best 2 players and against a team that some thought could possibly win the East. So the fact that LA survived a -55 FTA margin is not that impressive to me, especially against the 8 seed. But I suppose you sort of have a point, because as solid as the Thunder are, the Jazz are much better. And whoever they'd see in the conference finals will be much better, so they may not be able to overcome that if it happens again.
I'm not slamming your team. If you think that just because I'm a Cavs fan that that is what I'm doing, then you need to pay more attention to what I'm saying.
Lastly, thanks for the LOL at the thought that the Lakers "obliterated" the Thunder. You relied on your big man to put back Kobe's shot for it to not go 7 games, hardly obliteration.
You do realize in the second round last year they went to game 7 with the Rockets. You do realize they have the exact same bench as last year.
