For entertainment The LAKER game on thread from last evening

[beat]

Just read thru the Laker version of their GAME ON thread from last evenings blow out!

Interesting to read thru it...........Man they hate their bench!!

http://thelakersnation.com/forums/index.php?/topic/36337-los-angeles-lakers-vs-oklahoma-city-thunder/page__st__500__s__40ba7eaced21627ef487669400d50ba6

beat

[LACELTFAN]

Just read thru the Laker version of their GAME ON thread from last evenings blow out!

Interesting to read thru it...........Man they hate their bench!!

http://thelakersnation.com/forums/index.php?/topic/36337-los-angeles-lakers-vs-oklahoma-city-thunder/page__st__500__s__40ba7eaced21627ef487669400d50ba6

beat

As much as we watch the Lakers and what they are up too...C fans have never been obsessed with the Lakers like the Lakers as an organisation are obsessed with the C's...as long as I've been a C's fan, LaLa land has been looking eastward. I was just a kid when I started following the C's, in LA. I didn't really know much of the history at the time but I became a fan of the C's right about the time when C's were catching the Lakers in number of titles. As the years went on, the Lala's became more and more focused on beating those damn C's in green. I'm sure you have heard Jerry West saying that for a while there he wouldn't wear green...
Do you think that there are C's fans that hound the Laker sites the way Laker fans hound the C sites?

[jeb]

Lacelt

No. I doubt it. Like greenie and martini...if we are so old and done then why are you here? Why the rabid interest.

On the other hand sky and mg and tj are all gentlemen and respectful parts of this board.

I like having them here and I know that they know that La boston is special indeed.

[LACELTFAN]

Lacelt

No. I doubt it. Like greenie and martini...if we are so old and done then why are you here? Why the rabid interest.

On the other hand sky and mg and tj are all gentlemen and respectful parts of this board.

I like having them here and I know that they know that La boston is special indeed.

I agree, I think the Lakers are a great organisation too but ever since I've been a fan they have measured themselves against the C's, I think. It is the best rivalry in sports, IMHO because both teams have done so well.

[Guest]

Just read thru the Laker version of their GAME ON thread from last evenings blow out!

Interesting to read thru it...........Man they hate their bench!!

http://thelakersnation.com/forums/index.php?/topic/36337-los-angeles-lakers-vs-oklahoma-city-thunder/page__st__500__s__40ba7eaced21627ef487669400d50ba6

beat

beat,

As I mentioned last week, they get very good bench play from Farmar and Brown on the same night and then they are both ice cold the next game.
As an example, last night Farmar and Brown played 50 minutes, were 5/15 in FG, had 13 pts and 1 assist, and virtually all of those points were in garbage time. Tonight, they played 53 min, were 8/12 in FG, had 23 pts and 3 assists.
In my opinion Odom is the most overall talented 6th man in the league, so when he starts, it decimates their bench.
With Odom starting, LA has one of the 5 worst benches in the NBA.

[Guest]

Just like Red Sox fans are with the Yankees, Lakers fans are probably more obsessed with the Celtics because we are looking up to the Celtics because of 17 to 15 and 9 to 2.
Whether or not you factor in the Lakers 30 NBA Finals appearances compared to Boston's 19, that is a separate agrument to the numbers listed above.

[Sam]

TJ,

I've never encountered a Celtics fan who counts appearances as being meaningful. That's not a slam on the Lakers, because it truly is extremely impressive to have appeared in something like half of all the finals. But older Celtics fans were habituated, early on, to counting only championships as successes; and newer Celtics fans have simply inherited that perspective. As I say, this comment is no slam on the Lakers but simply an attempt to explain the differences in perspective.

I know that, if the Celtics never won another championship in my lifetime, I will always feel a little embarrassed (maybe even to the point of a little guilt) for having experienced the dominance that occurred in the 50s and 60s. That dominance and Red's feisty attitude were clearly what earned a lot of hatred for the Celtics around the country, and I believe that hatred to have been inherited by many latter day fans as well. It's just a fact of life.

I was extremely happy for Jerry West when he got his ring (as were the old Celtics themselves—I know that personally) because he was so admired, gave so much, and was so obviously deserving.

Sam

[spike]

tj

Until you brought it up, it never occurred to me that the Lakers are the losingest team in NBA Finals history. It kind of has a ring to it.

Kidding aside, it was actually interesting to read through the threads in lakersnation.com. There are some fairly cool posters on there and some worthwhile discussions. I didn't realize that all Laker fans aren't morons and mental defectives; some of them might actually pass an IQ test (lol).

I noticed that many Laker fans are worried about Fisher's vulnerability to speedy guards like Brooks and Westbrook and about possible matchups with Portland and OKC. Playoff experience will be the deciding factor there, if you ask me.

Here we are, silly Celtic fans, worrying about having homecourt advantage over all the West teams except LA, if we should make it to the Finals, when there are teams in Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Cleveland and elsewhere that would consider that to be hubris, while Laker fans are focusing on their own conference, as they rightfully should.

All joking aside, the Lakers have been a noble opponent over the years, from West and Baylor to Magic and Kareem to Kobe and supporting cast. A team's quality can only be measured by the caliber of its opponents, so that's how we know we've had some great teams here - because we've had such great opponents, most of all LA..

Here's hoping the Lakers make it to the Finals for the 31st time. They deserve it.

[bobheckler]

tj,

LA's bench is already pretty weak. The only things that make it tolerable is Odom (IMO, the clear pick for 6th man in the NBA) and Brown. Sure, Brown's up and down a bit, but he's a talent and does perform well, but the dropoff in quality between Odom and Brown is large. Farmar is far more inconsistent than Brown. He's a real trick-or-treat player. Walton is solid, albeit unimpressive and Sasha Eurobitch is a one-dimensional girl who isn't even delivering on his single dimension. Take Odom off the bench and insert him into the starting lineup (which is where he'd be on almost any other team in the NBA) and I think calling LA's bench "one of the 5 worst in the NBA" is being kind. They'd kill to be #5.

As far as LA's 30 Finals appearances, I agree with Sam (what a shock!). Until 1976, when the ABA finally folded and teams like San Antonio and Denver joined the NBA, the Lakers never really had much competition in the west, so making it to the Finals was not that big a deal. The one team that consistently gave them grief were the old St. Louis Hawks. When they moved to Atlanta (and were transferred from the western conference into the eastern conference) in 1968 and were replaced with the brand new Phoenix Suns, life got even easier for them. Even the addition 8 years later of battle-hardened veteran teams like Denver (with Issel and David Thompson) and San Antonio (with Iceman Gervin) were only short-lived threats since the terms for joining the NBA were soooo onerous those teams struggled when they had to rebuild (i.e. players on the payroll when they joined the NBA were ok, but paying the money to replace them in out years was tough since it cost those franchises so much just to join the NBA). The New York Nets, in particular, were devastated. They not only had to pony up a ton of money to bail out of a failing league and join the NBA (or lose it all), they also had to pay a ton of money to the NY Knicks for territory infringement (the Knicks weren't too happy about having another NBA team within 50 miles). As a result, they had to sell, in essence, one of the marquis players of the ABA and breakup an ABA championship team. A player who almost single-handedly forced the NBA to agree to let the ABA teams join (which they resisted for years). I'm talking, of course, about Julius Erving. So, the Nets survived, but after being the Boston Celtics of the ABA, they were now just a shell of a franchise because they had to sell off their talent just to stay afloat.

Post-Magic, of course, the NBA has had more parity and the Lakers' Finals appearances have been merited and well-earned.


bob


/

[Guest]

I really don't care much about the depth of LA's bench when the playoffs start. If Kobe, Odom and Gasol have to play 40-42 minutes per game, so be it. Powell and Mbenga who aren't bad players will only play if LA is in foul trouble.
I just want to see Vujacic staying on the bench keeping Adam Morrison company.
I don't really want to comment any further about the championships/finals appearances because that will be a long and time consuming discussion.
We can focus more on this year.

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