NBA 2008-2009 Season

[Flarega]

Maybe they'll start making kobe/dwight commercials.

[Heavencloud]

Gonna be a good series, Lakers and Magic both good balanced teams... I'm gonna say Lakers in 7.

[fren.]

Did Lewis just say "We're going to the Eastern Conference finals, baby!?"

[Headspace]

Magic in 3.

[Stee]

Well the main reason the Lakers lost in the regular season to the Magic was because of Jameer Nelson, this kid owned Derek Fisher so bad. Shannon Brown wasn't acquired yet and Farmar was injured for one of those games.

I say Lakers in 6 with every game hard fought.

[Kyo]

SHould be a good finals, Lakers in 6.

[Cephius]

Not that I watch much basketball, but I did tune into this series a bit and jesus christ did the Magic get shafted with the refs. I'm glad the NBA didn't get their wish for a Labron-Kobe finals, because Cleveland certainly didn't earn it.

I don't think the Magic stand a chance against LA, though.

[Dimmauk]

How are the Lakers going to stop Howard?

[0ni0n]

How are the Lakers going to stop Howard?

odom? (sp?)

[Akiyama]

How are the Lakers going to stop Howard?

They have way more big bodies they can throw at Howard than the Cavs did. That and they aren't old and slow like Big Z and Ben Wallace were. I don't count Verejao(sp) because I always thought he was sort of soft anyway. While I don't think Gasol can go one and one with Howard for the entire game, they do still have Odom and Bynum to throw at him, and then the other big can guard Lewis/Turkoglu while Kobe's on the other forward.

[GRT]

orlando is going from having to defend 1 or 2 guys to having to defend 4 or even the entire team

good luck to them, they gonna need it

[Stee]

Bynum is going to be the x-factor this series, if he can show he is healthy and make Dwight shoot only hook shots then this series will be easy for the Lakers.

The main thing is if the Lakers can stick to their man and no stupid pointless double teams.

[Cephius]

To me Howard isn't a playmaker, he isn't the guy you run the offense through. He cleans up the garbage under the basket, and once in awhile they'll dump it down to him. The Lakers big guys just have to keep him off the boards and try to give some help off his spin moves.

From what I've seen of the Magic, their real threat is their 3 point shooting. I'm sure the Laker game plan will be to deny people open looks from 3 and make Howard beat you (which I don't think he can do)

[Headspace]

LeBron, can you explain your crab walk dribble? ahaha

[wyrmtung]

Why do you guys think that two soft sissies like Gasol and Bynum are going to contain Howard? Really? Come on, really?

[Akiyama]

To me Howard isn't a playmaker, he isn't the guy you run the offense through. He cleans up the garbage under the basket, and once in awhile they'll dump it down to him. The Lakers big guys just have to keep him off the boards and try to give some help off his spin moves.

From what I've seen of the Magic, their real threat is their 3 point shooting. I'm sure the Laker game plan will be to deny people open looks from 3 and make Howard beat you (which I don't think he can do)

"Once in a while" -- yet he scored 40 tonight. Honestly, his offensive game is stepping up, and good lord is it a lot better than two years ago.

Anyway, my point is.. I don't think he's just a garbage cleaner that gets the ball dumped down once in a while. Since he's been making a lot more of his free throws (12-16 tonight), they've run through him even in the 4th quarter, and when you can go in, then kick it back out? Yeah. He had 52 touches tonight, and 40 of those were in the paint. Don't say they don't run the offense through him because they can, and if they do.. the Lakers are in serious trouble.

If they try to crowd the 3 point line, then I do think Howard can beat you. If he starts slamming it in, and even opens a small gap for those 3-point shooters, they can make those shots. The Lakers did have a problem when they had to deal with a healthy Yao Ming you know, and Howard is way more athletic. I do think Yao is the better all around center, what with a real go-to shot and good free throw shooting, but still.. don't act like the Lakers won't have any problems with Dwight Howard.

And I agree with wyrm somewhat. Bynum can block some shots, but have Gasol and Bynum dealt with and played well against a real Center? Let's see... when Yao was healthy for those few games, Bynum was no where to be found. Gasol probably was because he could score in other ways, but Bynum was not. You need two Centers overall in a game to contain Dwight Howard. In the series with Denver, they don't have a true center. They have guys like Birdman, Nene, etc.. but not a true go to Center.

I said Lakers in a sweep, but I kid. I think it can be a 6 game series where it goes either way, but I'd like to take the Magic in 7.

[Stee]

Why do you guys think that two soft sissies like Gasol and Bynum are going to contain Howard? Really? Come on, really?

lol you can call Gasol soft all you want but Bynum is the anti-soft, this kid will whack anything inside the paint...and hard.

[Akiyama]

lol you can call Gasol soft all you want but Bynum is the anti-soft, this kid will whack anything inside the paint...and hard.

Yeah. We saw when he slapped the fuck out of a couple guys in the Denver series. Smacking someone in the face really hard or clotheslining them =/= tough

[Stee]

Yeah. We saw when he slapped the fuck out of a couple guys in the Denver series. Smacking someone in the face really hard or clotheslining them =/= tough

Tough is protecting the paint, blocking anything that moves and that's exactly what he has done while healthy. His hard shots to other players are merely missed timing, which happens to every competent center in the league.

This kid still has a lot to prove but since the start of the season he has been locking down the paint.

And a few weeks coming off injury isn't going to make you completely healthy especially for a big man. Even now you can tell he still has problems with his lateral movement and his timing. So yeah he did disappear vs Yao but he was barely out of injury and he had severe problems with a knee brace. If he was healthy he still isn't a match vs Dwight one on one but he will at least slow him down a bit.

[Akiyama]

Bynum still has a lot to prove, I agree.. and I do think he could be good, but he was disappointing more times than not during the playoffs this year.

And I don't think it's just the injury that gives him problems with lateral movement/timing. I just think he's still young and learning, and isn't as good as he obviously could be.

Don't give me that crap. It's just when he played a real Center, much like Greg Oden only obviously better than him, he would disappear. Bynum versus a healthy Yao or Dwight Howard won't match him with the numbers or impact I feel. He's gonna need help from Gasol and Odom.

And to back it up, against Utah, he averaged 5 points, 1 block and 3 rebounds in about 15 minutes.

In May, he's averaged 7 points (6.8) 4 rebounds (3.8), and 1 block in about 17.4 Minutes. I just don't think he's ready to face the big guys yet. He broke double digit points 5 times, got up to 3+ blocks twice (once against Denver, once with 4 against Utah), etc etc. Honestly, I think a good Odom is > Bynum, especially during these playoffs. Bynum still needs to grow.

So yeah, to end my rant.. you're right about a lot of things. He won't match vs Dwight. Maybe he's still hurting? I dunno. I just think he has little confidence in himself.