Well now I have gotten what I have been wishing for. It's going to be the Lakers vs Spurs in the Western Conference finals. Now let's hope in two weeks I'm not pissing and moaning about it. The Spurs played a good game tonight and joined Detroit and Los Angeles as the only second round teams to win on the road.
The Hornets live and die by Chris Paul and tonight he needed more help than his teammates could give him. It takes more than one man to win in an NBA game. We Laker fans ought to know after the Lakers were disassembled following Detroit's destruction of L.A. in the 2003/2004 season NBA Finals and Phil Jackson (at that time) deciding to move on.
For the last three years the Lakers have been all Kobe. He couldn't do it by himself then and neither could Chris Paul now. That's the entire game in a nutshell. It takes a team of five to win deep in the playoffs and the Hornets came up short after being the surprise of the year. Congratulations to New Orleans. They are young and you WILL hear more from this team next year.
Now as far as the Spurs go...they are virtually the same team that beat the Lakers in the 2002/2003 West Finals. But.....the Lakers are vastly improved and a hell of a lot more athletic. Shaqille O'Neal in his prime was the MAN and the dominate center in the NBA but by the Detroit series he was not the Shaq of old and he and the Lakers were exposed by the Piston's great team play. Now with Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher (again) and Lamar Odom the Lakers are a very dangerous machine.
As much as I detested Jerry Buss for the aftermath of the 2004 finals and the trashing of that version of the Lakers, it's easy to see he was looking toward the future. In retrospect he was absolutely correct. Now it's come to fruition and we're all looking forward to the Western Conference finals starting Wednesday. Go Lakers!
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2 comments:
Damnit man! What happened to the Hornets last night?? Got beat at home no less!
Ho hum.
Well, the Lakers/Spurs matchup ought to be a doozy. And I'm sure you and your sister will have plenty to argue about. Good luck to your Lakers. . .I have absolutely no allegiance to the Spurs.
It was a good game but from what I could see N.O. got panicky in the fourth when they quit penetrating and went to three-pointers that weren't falling in.
San Antonio did the same thing. They stopped driving and fell in love with the perimiter shots (that weren't falling in either) and that's why the Hornets damn near caught them. In other words both teams abandoned what got them to the playoffs in the first place. The Spurs just had the good fortune and talent to hang on. It could have gone the other way with one or two shots.
N.O. will be back next year for sure. Chris Paul is a dynamo and a young player. He just needs a little help. San Antonio is gonna get trashed IMHO by the bigger and more physical inside men on the Lakers. Tim Duncan cannot handle Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, either one-on-one or especially together. If you do watch the games pay attention to Kobe and Ginobli. They both are fluent in Italian and will talk trash to each other in the Italian language all during the games. It happened in all the games years past and I'm sure it will happen again. It's really funny to see and hear it. Not many people know that Kobe Bryant grew up in Italy while his Dad played in the European leagues.
My predictions is Lakers in six games if they use the 2-3-2 playoff format. Looks like you had a good weekend Toast. Later on buddy.
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