Round 2 Western Conference Playoffs: Lakers vs Jazz

• Trueblue23

  

  Should be a great series, hopefully the Lakers can slow down Dwill
• Hb31187

  

  Lakers in 4. Double Digit wins each game
• 2quik4u

  

  artest sucks i mean durant went 5-23, should have kept ariza...
• osu99

  Williams may already be slowed down after that hit he took on the screen at the end of the game. He's holding that left arm pretty gingerly.
• NOL fan

  A matchup of 2 teams that probably should have changed their names when they moved to their current cities
• 2quik4u

  

  nice to see bench mob finally show up
• 2quik4u

  

  mormons are going down
• bigdaddy2003

  

  Lakers in 5.
• hoops23

  

  Hb31187 wrote: Lakers in 4. Double Digit wins each game

  
• 3reppom

  

  The Lakers will win in 6. But Derron Williams is just going to go off on the Lakers. He will average 30+ and 10 on 50% shooting against the corpse of Derek Fisher. The big problem for the Jazz is that to win they are going to need Carlos Boozer to guard someone for the entire series. That's not happening.
• newarkcatholicfan

  

  The Lakers will win in 6.
• Hb31187

  

  LTrain23 wrote:

  Hb31187 wrote: Lakers in 4. Double Digit wins each game

  

  Yes
• Swamp Fox

  The Lakers survived the upstart OKC team and now it's business as usual in Round Two. Kobe can still win you a game or two, particularly in the friendly confines of the Staples Center. Here they come...
• JakeGiant

  bigdaddy2003 wrote: Lakers in 5.

  Agreed.
• Rotinaj

  

  Lakers in 7. LA will not win a game in Utah. Williams and Boozer are playing great right now and i wouldnt be surprised to see Utah win in 7.
• wes_mantooth

  

  Lakers in 5.
  
  I am still puzzled on how the Nuggets lost to the Jazz....hell, the Jazz are all banged up.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  If we get the Lakers that just played the Thunder--Lakers in 7.
  
  If we get the Lakers that we should get--Lakers in 4, 5 tops.
• JakeGiant

  SQ_Crazies wrote: If we get the Lakers that just played the Thunder--Lakers in 7.
  
  If we get the Lakers that we should get--Lakers in 4, 5 tops.

  I actually think the Utah series will be a little easier.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  JakeGiant wrote:

  SQ_Crazies wrote: If we get the Lakers that just played the Thunder--Lakers in 7.
  
  If we get the Lakers that we should get--Lakers in 4, 5 tops.

  I actually think the Utah series will be a little easier.

  I do too, because I'm inclined to believe that Phil won't let this team come out and shit down it's leg again like they did against the Thunder.
• JakeGiant

  It had little to do with that, although I won't discount it totally.
  
  OKC had the perfect formula of being talented, youthful, healthy, and perhaps most of all, not knowing any better. When was the last time OKC played the Lakers in the Playoffs? We all know the answer. Meanwhile, Utah, i.e the last 2 years, has been eliminated by the Lakers, and can't win in LA. The mental block will set in. Book it.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  OKC did have the perfect formula to beat a Laker team shitting down their leg. They DIDN'T have the right formula at all, which is why it wasn't over in 4.
  
  At this point, if the Lakers don't start playing better basketball, I'm 100% sure they won't make the Finals. I still think they will, because I have no reason to believe they won't snap out of it but Christ, people are overrating the hell out of the Thunder. They're a good, young team. But that's it, the Lakers should have obliterated them. They won the series, so it really doesn't matter how, but I didn't like what I saw. And I'm not sure how you could have.
• JakeGiant

  SQ_Crazies wrote: OKC did have the perfect formula to beat a Laker team shitting down their leg. They DIDN'T have the right formula at all, which is why it wasn't over in 4.
  
  At this point, if the Lakers don't start playing better basketball, I'm 100% sure they won't make the Finals. I still think they will, because I have no reason to believe they won't snap out of it but Christ, people are overrating the hell out of the Thunder. They're a good, young team. But that's it, the Lakers should have obliterated them. They won the series, so it really doesn't matter how, but I didn't like what I saw. And I'm not sure how you could have.

  What's new? More times than not, you and most Cavs fans haven't liked what you saw in the last 3 years.
  
  How could the Lakers obliterate the Thunder when it was -55 in the Series regarding FTA? Besides, how many times can overcome that against another solid team?
• SQ_Crazies

  

  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.
• JakeGiant

  SQ_Crazies wrote: WTF do the last 3 years have to do with anything?
  

  Because, including this year, you and Cavs fans are always stating something you don't like about the Lakers, and we're the ones making it 2-2 in the Finals, winning it once. This year is nothing new.
• JakeGiant

  I agree Kobe is selfish as f. All greats are when it comes to trophies(they want as many as possible).