2004 NBA Playoffs - Win or Go Home.

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121

I'm not taking anything away from Pistons 5Abi. They did what they suppose to do. They played Pick and Roll with us all night long; and who's on Lakes' roaster to defend P&R? Karl Malone.

If you remember, when Karl returned to the team, in the mid of March, it was because of him, Lakes win 11 consecutive games. Without Malone, Lakers don't have interior defence. There's no one on team who can play low-post defence. Who'd want against to play against 'Sheed? Slava? Cookie?

Our best shot will be Sunday's game. Lakes have 2-day rest. If Malone can give us 30 solid minutes, I think we have a chance of taking Game 4

But it's highly unlikely at the moment; and I don't want Malone to risk his knee which is already at worst condition(as of late Dec.). If we lose, that's fine. I won't mind it.

122

hahahahahahahahahaha... It serves them right. cocky pissants. Go detroit!!!!

PT chanda, you make it sound like P&R is some novel concept. It has been around since Naismith nailed that peach basket in Springfield. You are telling me no one on the Lakers cna defend P&R? Are you crazy boy? I can defend P&R. You either switch or fight through, what is so hard? If you have the matchups done right. It is not rocket science.

Secondly, how many dream teamers do the lakers need to beat a team? I mean, it is too bad that poor Bitchboy Malone is hurt. So what???? Is Luke Walton the best they can come up with?

Who is a better coach, Jackson or Brown. One has a team of all stars and the other has a team of role players. You tell me. it is far easier to win with superstars to anchor, have a ot to guy or guys in Jackson's case than what Brown has to scramble with.

It reminds me of Riley. You give me Magic, Worthy and Kareem and I will give you a championship year after year.

123

There were some funny placards in the spectators

“Payton’s pride has hurt more than Malone’s knee injury”
“I can see Shaq and Kobie but where are the Lakers?”
“This is not going to be a Hollywood ending”

Lakers are in deep siht...With Malone being injured and mediocre players coming off the bench, Kobie and Shaq will have to do something extra-ordinary. The only way Detroit will lose is if they beat themselves...which they are fully capable of.

124

As soon as Lakers lose again, Matsui comes back to the thread :p

I agree bout Larry Brown tho. He has done it again like he did with the 76ers i.e made zeroes into heroes.

PT, Lakers won w/o Malone when he was gone and missed some 13 games. If they could win w/o him then, they can win at least 1 game now as well.

125

5Abi and PT, I like you fobs. :flower1:

Tell me what would you do to turn this laker ship around. And please don;t cut and paste from “I love Kobe” website.

Lakers are a bunch of bitches. The only person of any redeeming value is Shaq. He is th emost dominating force in the NBA. More so than Jordan. Kobe reminds me of Penny. Put him in a situation when everyone doubles him and watch his number drop from 25 to 9 pts a game.

Lakers need to give Shaq more touches. In the first half of the last game he had a pretty good first quarter and was doing well, but they went away from him, trying to keep old man payton happy. They also should take care of the ball better, having not a true point guard who can keep up with Billups, in size or skill, they need to have Kobe play point. The problem is that Kobe is a selfish punk, if he can swallow his pride and get others involved a bit more while running the offense the P&R, or any other “innovative” strategy that larry can come with, will fail.

As far as the P&R is concerned, you have to commit to what you are gonna do. Either switch or fight through and waith for the weak side to rotate.

In the immortal words of LL Cool J “…I’ll throw it down your throat like Barkley” :stuck_out_tongue:

126

it's a bit difficult to see/believe the Lakers geting manhandled the way the Pistons have manhandled them. I personally thought Lakers would walk over the Pistons in the third game after Kobe hit THAT shot.

anyway, Bryant could still come into his own and take out the Pistons singlehandedly. but they definitely need to do something about the sulking duo of Payton and Malone.

127

Detroit what!?

no...

Detroit what!

Sit down.

128

goodbye lakers, i really hope not to see them in the finals for the next 5 years at least.

pistons and lakers are two teams i hate, both made to the finals and i realized that my hatred for the lakers has no limits. especially the current malone/payton version.

i hope lakers explode in the off season, kobe leaves, malone retires, payton retires, shaq doesnt get an extension, phil jacksons retires and clippers (even bulls) sweep lakers next season.

jokes aside, what i didnt like about the current lakers was how malone and payton "chose to get a ring". nba shouldnt have allowed their signing with the lakers.

good to see the nba championship coming to eastern conference though.

129

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Matsui: *
PT chanda, you make it sound like P&R is some novel concept. It has been around since Naismith nailed that peach basket in Springfield. You are telling me no one on the Lakers cna defend P&R? Are you crazy boy? I can defend P&R. You either switch or fight through, what is so hard? If you have the matchups done right. It is not rocket science.
[/quote]

To defend P&R, you gotta laid out your whole body. Karl has played P&R all his career with John. He knows what it is at stake. He can fight through screens and switch but he's banged up. Look at the numbers of Tim and KG. How they have been dropped just because of Malone's presence. He's the one who plays screen & rolls better than anybody else on Lake roster.

[quote]
]*Originally posted by Matsui: *
Secondly, how many dream teamers do the lakers need to beat a team? I mean, it is too bad that poor Bitchboy Malone is hurt. So what???? Is Luke Walton the best they can come up with?
[/quote]

Yawn.. Had Grant wasn't at IL, Luke wouldn't have played in playoffs.

[quote]
]*Originally posted by Matsui: *
Who is a better coach, Jackson or Brown. One has a team of all stars and the other has a team of role players. You tell me. it is far easier to win with superstars to anchor, have a ot to guy or guys in Jackson's case than what Brown has to scramble with.
[/quote]

Yeah, Doug Collins and Del Harris gave reciept to Phil for 9 rings..

[quote]
]*Originally posted by Matsui: *
It reminds me of Riley. You give me Magic, Worthy and Kareem and I will give you a championship year after year.
[/QUOTE]

something similar to you said last year. Give me MJ, Pippen and Payton, I'll give you championship, huh?

[quote]
*Originally posted by Matsui: *
The only person of any redeeming value is Shaq. He is th emost dominating force in the NBA. More so than Jordan.
[/quote]

....more so than Wilt The Silt? :)

[quote]
*Originally posted by Matsui: *

Kobe reminds me of Penny. Put him in a situation when everyone doubles him and watch his number drop from 25 to 9 pts a game.
[/quote]

It's a bit difficult once you get double/triple team, knock down hard, and still don't get a call. I bet Penny never played like that or has ever knocked down a 26 footer 3-pointer in his career?

[quote]
]*Originally posted by Matsui: *
The problem is that Kobe is a selfish punk, if he can swallow his pride and get others involved a bit more while running the offense the P&R, or any other "innovative" strategy that larry can come with, will fail.
[/quote]

Kobe is selfish? For crying out loud....Tells me how much you know about Lakes. Lakes play Triangle offense.

130

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Pakistani Tiger: *

Kobe is selfish? For crying out loud....Tells me how much you know about Lakes. Lakes play Triangle offense.
[/QUOTE]

Kobe was selfish in the 4th quarter of the Game 4 and Shaq let his feelings known as well. Shaq had the biggest game of the playoffs scoring 36 pts along with 20 rebs. It was all going well until 4th quarter, all of Kobe's shots were missing the net. And the basic startegy of triangle that Lakers play revolves around feeding the big dog - Shaq. Shaq is the first option.

131

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by The Rainmaker: *
i hope lakers explode in the off season, kobe leaves, malone retires, payton retires, shaq doesnt get an extension, phil jacksons retires and clippers (even bulls) sweep lakers next season.
[/QUOTE]

could very well happen. if the Lakers continue to suck this bad in the rest of this series, I'd be very surprised if Bryant stayed. I think you can pretty much say that Malone and Payton are gone for sure. it must hurt taking such a deep salary cut just for the championship and still fail to win one.

even if the Lakers hang on to Shaq, how long is he going to be a force for? not long, especially not without Bryant.

hey, I have an idea. how about trading Carter for Bryant. everyone wins in this trade. the Raps fan have had enough of Carter. LA fans and Shaq have had enough of Bryant. it is perfect - superstar for superstar. what do you say 5abs, PT? :D

132

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
PT, Lakers won w/o Malone when he was gone and missed some 13 games. If they could win w/o him then, they can win at least 1 game now as well.
[/QUOTE]

5Abi, that was regular season man; and whatever games Lake won w/o Malone were against the teams who didn't even qualify for the playoffs. If there's anyone on team, who has really cracked down on defence, it's Malone.

Check these stats:

Duncan - 2003 Postseason v. Lakers: 28.0 PPG, 11.8 Reb, 4.8 Assists, 1.33 Blocks, 52.9% shooting

Duncan - 2004 Postseason v. Lakers: 20.7 PPG, 12.2 Reb, 3.3 Assists, 1.67 Blocks, 47.3% shooting

Garnett - 2003 Postseason v. Lakers: 27.0 PPG, 15.7 Reb, 5.2 Assists, 1.67 Blocks, 51.4% shooting

Garnett - 2004 Postseason v. Lakers: 22.5 PPG, 11.3 Reb, 5.3 Assists, 1.00 Blocks, 47.5% shooting

Given that how great a player 'Sheed is, before the start of the series, I was convinced, Malone will handle 'Sheed. I'd imagine most people could tell you without the stats that Malone is better than the fearless trio of Robert Horry, Samaki Walker, and Medvedenko, whom the Lakers used at power forward the past few years. That is, people who have followed Lake games. Malone did go man to man with KG and Duncan. His feet were quick to move then, now you see him limping. He just played 21 minutes last night, 'Sheed took full advantage of that spot, exploded as expected.

Besides that, Pistons have never let the perimeter opens for Lakes, that is why you see Fish, Kareem, George aren't knocking down 3s as they have this postseason.

Tuesday is our last stand.

133

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by 5Abi: *

Kobe was selfish in the 4th quarter of the Game 4 and Shaq let his feelings known as well. Shaq had the biggest game of the playoffs scoring 36 pts along with 20 rebs. It was all going well until 4th quarter, all of Kobe's shots were missing the net. And the basic startegy of triangle that Lakers play revolves around feeding the big dog - Shaq. Shaq is the first option.
[/QUOTE]

In the 4th qtr, things turned around when G.P. called for offensive foul. Rip flails his arms whenever he gets touched, collapses to the floor. The refs always fall for it, and he gets the calls.

Did Shaq called out Kobe alone? He was trying to penetrate in the lane, but for some reasons, when you are on road, home team gets benefit of the doubt. This has been NBA trend for some years.

...and stop sounding like jerk Bill Plaschke.

134

As per big daddy..the stage is set!! I will be the first one to salute this Lakers team if they come back from 3-1. Home court could be big for Lakers if they sneak a victory in game 5....otherwise they will lose this series 5 (yes 5) - 0

135

What?: KG was a monster in the series what are you taking about? They are getting burned by the P&R not by the forwards of the pistons but the guards. Malone is good at defending Rashid in the post not up at the key. Pcik and roll is designed to provide matchup difficulties which arise when Laker big men switch off t cover Billups and Rip. Who either blow by them or feed it to the forwards down low.

Excuses, excuses… If elden campbell wasn;t 109 years old..what if?

Y

Go read up on Penny before his Knee injuries. He was among the top 5 players in the NBA. :rolleyes:
As far as the foul calls. Puhlease…Lakers think that they should get Jordan type calls…I am sorry…aside from Shaq, there is no one who is Jordanesque in dominance on the lakers. We are quickly finding out.

Kobe is selfish. Kobe took 25 shots int eh first half of last game. How many did ONeal take? Who had a higher percentage. Kobe not only is selfish, he has taken bad shots throughout this series. Flsahes of brilliance will always lose to the steadya dn workman like approach.

136

I must admit, I haven't enjoyed a final matchup this much since the Bulls glory days. It's been hilarious watching Malone holding his head seemingly all series long and Payton wearing that "what did you say about my momma" scowl all night. Prince has tied knots around Kobe and were it not for a subpar 60 seconds, this series would be over already.

More than anything though, it is the WAY the Pistons have played that has won over many hearts. Fearless, team-oriented and hard-nose, lunch pail defense. Sure Shaq has been getting his but it is telling that no other Laker besides Shaq and Kobe has reached double digits in any of the four games. The Pistons, the Bad Boys, are making this a memorable summer for basketball fans as the old, slow giant gets ready for a fall a la Saddam's statue.

137

KG was a monster? :rotfl: Why did Wolves lose the series then? Oh, let me assure one thing though. Wolves bb style is backscreens, double screens.

What excuses? Grant is on IL.

You can’t compare Shaq to Jordan. If you wanna do the comparison, do it with Wilt’s number.

As for fouls, it’s NBA trend. The refs favor home team more than road team. Go figure that out. Are you telling me if Kobe is getting double/triple team, he won’t draw a contact, huh? The guy is special in doing such things…

Again… you’re bubbling around. If Kobe stop taking shots, there will be media riot against him. You must be sleeping during the season games. Without Kobe, this team wouldn’t even smell the playoffs(and Shaq as well).

Kobe proved his point back in the Sacramento game when he didn’t shoot, passed the ball to his mates, who couldn’t knock down the shots and got accused of throwing the game.

138

Wolves lost the series because they didn;t play defense. Also, Cassel as injured as well but you didn;t see the btiching and making excuses.

You can ofcourse compare Shaq to Jordan. They were the most dominant players of their era. Option 1 or the team. Shaq has delivered, Kobe hasn’t.

Getting double triple teamed is not a new phenomenona dn it doesn’t ean that your automatically draw the foul. How you beat double triple teams is to pass out before the defenders box you in, that way you create open shts for your teammates without allowing for the weakside defense to rotate over. You don;t heave 25ft rainbows and expect to get a call. This is where his selfishness has beaten them.

Who cares? No one asking Kobe to not shoot, but asking him to take better shots, pass out of double teams and for god’s sake make the shots that are there.

He did throw the game…Magic understood the need to step his shooting when needed and get the teammates involved more when needed, this what superstars do. Kobe is a baby. nothing more.

You have much to learn about the game my son!!! Go and play th egame instead of regurgitating buzzwards like “dish” and :boards" from ESPN.

139

Should be a good one tonight, Pistons favored by 3.

Michigans Gov. is talking some trash

"The Pistons are going to take it," she said. "The L.A. Lakers are a one-man show, one-and-a-half maybe if you count Kobe (Bryant). They're going to be shut down."

Afterwords Matsui and P.T. should take it to the cage for a little one on one.

140

I've always felt that Phil Jackson was a master motivator and sports psychologist that could generally bring out the best in his team over the course of a season or a series. I've never felt him to be a good game-day coach.

Larry Brown has pure and simple developed a game plan that has taken away from the Lakers the things they do best. Phil Jackson has been totally unable to strategically and tactically figure out how to respond. The Detroit players deserve kudos for executing Brown's plan to perfection. The Lakers players look frustrated and defeated because they see their normal style of play not working and get nothing from their coach to counter the Piston's plan.