| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
1995Lakers
Star Player
Joined: 26 Aug 2020
Posts: 4472
|
 Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 3:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Japago wrote: | | 1995Lakers wrote: | | Japago wrote: | | Japago wrote: | I REALLY don't understand the thought behind the Lakers being a great team. They just had a mediocre record while LeBron and AD had a healthy season.
Look at the teams the Lakers beat last year. Neither of them made the playoffs this year. Ja was injured and Steven Adams didn't play for Grizzlies. The Warriors were an old team that came off a grueling 7 game series against the Kings. Curry had to drop 50 in game 7 for them to win.
The Lakers are a mediocre team that had a fluky playoff run last season. They got the right breaks to make it to the WCF. |
I honestly wish last year's playoff run never happened. I think it deluded the front office into thinking the team is better than they are. |
You are going to see the Timberwolves and/or Suns get their asses kicked again by the Nuggets once the Nuggets advance to the second round and neither team will play the Nuggets better than the Lakers. Neither team played at a consistently higher level than the Lakers last year and the Suns really got by on unsustainably hot mid-range shooting by Booker. Once that fluky shooting ran out, what happened? Straight up ass-wooping by the Nuggets that wasnt even competitive |
EVERY other team played the Nuggets better than the Lakers last year. Do you not understand that the Lakers didn't win a single game while every other team did?
That's embarrassing when you consider they faced 2 8 seeds. They faced 8, 4, 7, 8.
Last year, I don't think the Lakers beat a healthy Grizzlies team, Suns team, or Clippers team. MIN missed Gobert in the play-in game the Lakers beat them in.
This year, the Clippers and Suns added to their teams. MIN and OKC took steps through player development and added chemistry.
I just don't see them being the 2nd best team in the West either last year or this year. They just got lucky last year with an easy path.
The Lakers were mediocre this season with a mostly healthy team. That's what they are.
Booker was great in both rounds. Booker has that level of talent on offense. He made an NBA finals with old CP3 as his 2nd best player. Don't think that was a fluke. Shooting is a skill. Are you standing on a Charles Barkley platitude? |
You aren't understanding the level to how unsustainable Booker's shooting was in the playoffs particularly his long distance/mid-range pull-ups last year. I think at one point it was over 70%. It was pure insanity and one that no one could even closely match in NBA history so of course that was going to go down. THAT IS A FLUKE. Could he beat teams with hot shooting and possibly a series? Of Course. I saw Nick Van Exel do it to Seattle in 1995 and Sacramento in 2003. I saw Kobe do it throughout the 2010 playoffs particularly Phoenix. If you think Booker's unsustainable shooting is something to rely on though, you will be sadly mistaken more often than not. Its called shot quality. Phoenix had the worst or one of the worst shot qualities of all the NBA playoff teams last year but they got by on the individual greatness of Durant/Booker. They are a jump shooting team that relies more heavily on the mid-range than most AND want to know what else is the deathknell for Phoenix vs LA? Its the same weakness GSW has. They foul a lot and they dont shoot many free throws themselves. Near bottom in the league in both. So what do you think LA is going to do to them???? Its not like Ayton is providing much rim protection. THIS is part of the reason why I said the fundamentals always favored LA over Phoenix. Could Booker shoot them to a playoff win vs LA? Sure but Ill choose the team more likely to win because of the fundamentals and because they have the top end talent to maybe not match Durant/Booker but enough to keep the game close and rely on shot quality/defense to win. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
1995Lakers
Star Player
Joined: 26 Aug 2020
Posts: 4472
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 3:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
| But this is last year vs Phoenix where I was pretty confident of Laker victory. This year vs Phoenix would be tougher. Their fundamentals in terms of how the Lakers would attack them have improved. Last year they were tailor-made to be beaten by the Lakers the longer a series goes. This year, Phoenix does worry me.....although they wouldnt worry me at all if we can beat Denver on even ground without injuries. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lakersfever714
Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Jan 2016
Posts: 12020
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 4:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| 1995Lakers wrote: | | But this is last year vs Phoenix where I was pretty confident of Laker victory. This year vs Phoenix would be tougher. Their fundamentals in terms of how the Lakers would attack them have improved. Last year they were tailor-made to be beaten by the Lakers the longer a series goes. This year, Phoenix does worry me.....although they wouldnt worry me at all if we can beat Denver on even ground without injuries. |
Phoenix has no answer for AD. Phoenix is even smaller than us. Only two teams could contain AD. One is Denver and the other is Minnesota. Lakers and AD could only bully maybe 25 out of the 30 teams.
_________________
Playoffs is good enough. - Jeanie Buss 2024 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lakersfever714
Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Jan 2016
Posts: 12020
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 4:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
See? Told you guys OKC would have been a breeze. Taking on elimination game against the lowly Warriors or Kings in order to swap our odds from being underdog to being favored was a no-brainer. We definitely would have been favored against OKC. It's quite insane to go from being underdog against Denver to being favored against OKC.
_________________
Playoffs is good enough. - Jeanie Buss 2024 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
1995Lakers
Star Player
Joined: 26 Aug 2020
Posts: 4472
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 4:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
| lakersfever714 wrote: | | See? Told you guys OKC would have been a breeze. Taking on elimination game against the lowly Warriors or Kings in order to swap our odds from being underdog to being favored was a no-brainer. We definitely would have been favored against OKC. It's quite insane to go from being underdog against Denver to being favored against OKC. |
Yup I watched how they played yesterday. Beating them is too kind a word. Let me be blunt: They would have kicked OKC's ass and it would have got ugly quickly. With our strengths and their weaknesses and their lack of execution/inexperience, it would have been the first Pelicans game all over again. But lets be clear, beating up on the OKC Thunder would have done nothing to prepare us for Denver. Its why I hoped LA would be on the other side of the bracket of Denver and hope attrition takes its toll on Denver and knocks out one of the Denver big 3. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lakersfever714
Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Jan 2016
Posts: 12020
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 5:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| 1995Lakers wrote: | | lakersfever714 wrote: | | See? Told you guys OKC would have been a breeze. Taking on elimination game against the lowly Warriors or Kings in order to swap our odds from being underdog to being favored was a no-brainer. We definitely would have been favored against OKC. It's quite insane to go from being underdog against Denver to being favored against OKC. |
Yup I watched how they played yesterday. Beating them is too kind a word. Let me be blunt: They would have kicked OKC's ass and it would have got ugly quickly. With our strengths and their weaknesses and their lack of execution/inexperience, it would have been the first Pelicans game all over again. But lets be clear, beating up on the OKC Thunder would have done nothing to prepare us for Denver. Its why I hoped LA would be on the other side of the bracket of Denver and hope attrition takes its toll on Denver and knocks out one of the Denver big 3. |
Our championship fate would lie in the outcome of the second round matchup between Denver and Suns/Wolves. If Suns/Wolves won, then we'd be golden. That's our championship. That's why I wanted the other route.
I'm surprised every single Laker fan assumes Denver would just make it to the WCF. As I've been saying, just because Denver has looked so good against us doesn't mean they will look as good against Suns/Wolves.
Path 1: we face Denver in the first round (100%)
Path 2: Denver might get eliminated in round 1 or round 2 (not 100% we'd see Denver in WCF, hence Lakers 18th championship)
So in path 2, our "championship chance" lies in the percentage that Denver would get eliminated in the first two rounds.
_________________
Playoffs is good enough. - Jeanie Buss 2024 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lakersfever714
Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Jan 2016
Posts: 12020
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 5:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
Denver is 2-2 in the regular against Suns and Wolves. If you're saying regular season don't count, then how else could we evaluate these matchups? Based on feelings? You'd just "feel" that Denver would beat all of these teams?
Denver is 4-0 against us in the regular season so you could "feel" that the Lakers could beat Denver but that's just feeling. That's not going with the stats.
_________________
Playoffs is good enough. - Jeanie Buss 2024 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cathy78
Star Player
Joined: 21 Jan 2013
Posts: 1419
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 8:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: | | What if the Lakers could beat all teams except the Nuggets? |
Well - I guess they can't be the champions then. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lakersfever714
Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Jan 2016
Posts: 12020
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2024 4:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
| cathy78 wrote: | | Quote: | | What if the Lakers could beat all teams except the Nuggets? |
Well - I guess they can't be the champions then. |
Yes, they can. Watch the Wolves beat the Nuggets next round. Then Laker fans are gonna cry because the Lakers could handle the Wolves easier. So yes, it IS possible to not have to face Denver in order to win the championship!!
_________________
Playoffs is good enough. - Jeanie Buss 2024 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
lakersfever714
Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Jan 2016
Posts: 12020
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2024 4:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
You guys all think championship chances are so easy, especially with Jeanie at the helm. Have you all forgotten about 2013-217? I haven't.
_________________
Playoffs is good enough. - Jeanie Buss 2024 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
