I think the Lakers will employ the old Hack-a-Shaq on Howard to put him off his rhythm and hence put more pressure on guys like Turkoglu and Lewis (who will choke) to bolster the scoring sheet.

Lakers in 5 or 6.

Since Mani's doing it..

Manifesto7

Osaka27173 Posts

June 15 2009 13:13 GMT

#3542

haha, nice call

Ace

United States16096 Posts

June 15 2009 15:19 GMT

#3543

On June 15 2009 16:59 igotmyown wrote:

Show nested quote +

Unfortunately, it's always easier in theory than in practice. Great contenders fall back to mediocrity more often than they bounce back. Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, Mavericks could have won it all and now they range from bottom feeders to 2nd round beat downs. Chris Paul's hornets, AI's post-finals sixers, garnett's timberwolves, the heat, if you don't have year in year out stacked teams, injuries and player movement regress you back to the norm so fast.

massive talent influxes in championship teams
shaq's lakers: you get shaq and kobe in quick succession.
spurs: injured robinson->duncan. (last two rings are hard to explain though)
pistons: exception, maybe
heat: shaq got traded
celtics: kg, ray allen
lakers: pau gasol for kwame brown
Talent does not necessarily come in the year of
the big 3 have fallen a bit from all star level

One major difference between Boston and Sac,Pho, and Dallas: They actually won the chip and they didn't have a meltdown. They actually overachieved. I still think a healthy Boston would have beaten Orlando (with ease), struggled with Cleveland and if they won - destroyed the Lakers because Andrew Bynum is still fucking garbage.

72AND10

United States93 Posts

June 15 2009 16:19 GMT

#3544

I'm just happy for Kobe's sake and the fact that he doesn't have to hear the three words, "championship without Shaq" ever again. Congrats to him, Phil (10 rings) and the Lakers. Let the "greatest coach of all time" debate begin alongside an ongoing LeBron / Kobe debate throughout the summer.

Although I have to agree with a few people in this thread; the finals and the NBA have gotten pretty boring. Someone was telling me how it's the least watched sporting event or something when considering major sporting events. Maybe not less watched than hockey, but definitely down there.

Xeris

Iran17695 Posts

June 15 2009 16:49 GMT

#3545

I was a bit disappointed in the game yesterday, it was really boring =P

tonight

United States11130 Posts

June 15 2009 21:24 GMT

#3546

God, now I have no sports to watch until the football season starts up. I need another thread to come to everyday.

CharlieMurphy

United States22895 Posts

June 16 2009 00:17 GMT

#3547

On June 15 2009 14:28 [X]Ken_D wrote:
GG. What a boring NBA Final. Glad I didn't watch it.

The western quarter and semi-finals are a lot more interesting.

Yea, game 5 was pretty boring and uneventful. They just steamrolled the Magic. I guess it was expected since Magic's psychological morale was zero. I mean they had to win 3 straight games. They had the hungry Lakers there only needing 1 game. Basically it was resetting the score to Magic needing 3 wins for every 1 Laker win. That will never happen in a hundred years and they knew it. Lakers are the champs!

PS- It also seemed like in the previous game Magic's plays were more spread around and had a lot more based around Hedo and shooting plays. Seeing how those strategies came up short in the previous games they seemed to switch to a really aggressive last ditch effort strat of inside the paint game which was working well for the first few minutes but got completely raped when the Lakers adapted to it.

Oh yea, and guess what. Less fouls and bad calls and Lakers fucking raped, so all you people claiming that Lakers are rigged, get the fuck out.

il0seonpurpose

Korea (South)5638 Posts

June 16 2009 02:39 GMT

#3548

This was a beautiful thread

KOFgokuon

United States14911 Posts

June 16 2009 02:43 GMT

#3549

On June 16 2009 11:39 il0seonpurpose wrote:
This was a beautiful thread

let's do it again next year =p

HonestTea

5007 Posts

June 16 2009 03:48 GMT

#3550

I'M GOING TO MISS YOU GUYS

BUT NOT AS MUCH AS I MISS CHAUNCEY

decafchicken

United States20159 Posts

June 16 2009 05:04 GMT

#3551

On June 16 2009 12:48 HonestTea wrote:
I'M GOING TO MISS YOU GUYS

BUT NOT AS MUCH AS I MISS CHAUNCEY

/signed

KOFgokuon

United States14911 Posts

June 16 2009 05:08 GMT

#3552

how cute

tonight

United States11130 Posts

June 16 2009 10:02 GMT

#3553

On June 16 2009 12:48 HonestTea wrote:
I'M GOING TO MISS YOU GUYS

BUT NOT AS MUCH AS I MISS CHAUNCEY

Now that's something I can get behind.

Ace

United States16096 Posts

June 16 2009 11:29 GMT

#3554

So I had this really long post, with lots of insight into next year, what teams are gonna do good/bad, best player, MVP, LVP, best GM, worst coach, all kinds of shit.

But like a dumbass I was typing in Garena and of course it crashed.

So I'll leae with this:

Andrew Bynum still sucks.

And in November I will flame more idiots that come in with all kind of bs logic and "theories" about how good their team is (Orlando and Denver, hai!). What happened to the Orlando fans that posted way back on like page 20, disappeared for weeks, came back on like page 150 and argued with me saying "I told you so!" - WHERE ARE YOU NOW?!

Thought so.

Glad the Lakers won as I really hated Orlando and Denver fans far more this season. I think I called Lakers in 5 or 6, didn't think the 5 would be so one sided. The Lakers could have swept this series 4-0 and you can kid yourselves all you want thinking there were close games this series - there were not. Orlando's defense got raped, it was just ridiculous shooting that kept them in it.

Boston is still my favorite to win it all next year if the Big 4 are all healthy. Cleveland is the only competition they have in the East. A healthy Boston would sweep Orlando or eliminate them in 5. 6 if Rondo takes a shit and overfloods the toilet and has to stay with the plumber to fix it making him late to a game.

P.S. - I still hate the Lakers.

inertinept

Bangladesh1195 Posts

June 16 2009 13:08 GMT

#3555

orlando fans are still here, I dont really know where you specified in your post what team you root for, but im pretty sure the Magic finished 2nd this year and your obviously not a laker fan so pretty sure Orlando is better than whatever shit team you root for.

Ace

United States16096 Posts

June 16 2009 13:14 GMT

#3556

On June 16 2009 22:08 inertinept wrote:
orlando fans are still here, I dont really know where you specified in your post what team you root for, but im pretty sure the Magic finished 2nd this year and your obviously not a laker fan so pretty sure Orlando is better than whatever shit team you root for.

this post is full of fail. Finishing second means you still lost. GG NO RE gtfo.

oneofthem

Cayman Islands24199 Posts

June 16 2009 14:58 GMT

#3557

lolceltics have about a 3% chance of winning next year, enjoy your crippled kg at 20m

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm

rei

United States3594 Posts

June 16 2009 15:43 GMT

#3558

Yao and T-mac needs to suck it up and put some iron platings on their knees and foot. fucking bone fractures over and over. With those 2 players Huston could have taken out the Lakers this year.