fc barcelona world champs?

Barcelona beats the Lakers. Party time!

I realize it's not saying much, but this was the BEST PRESEASON GAME EVER. (At least from an LA perspective.)


I love Europe, Spain is my favorite country in Europe and Barcelona is my favorite city in Spain. It was great to see the way the people there were reacting to Pau the whole time he was in town. He is a rock star there. And it's great to see how into basketball the city is.

They were cheering for both Pau and for their hometown team, which was cool.


It was a lot of fun to watch and although it means nothing in the big picture, it actually felt like a real game, as the Lakers (for the first time I've ever seen in a preseason game) actually played like they cared. I think they wanted to get a win for Pau and also give the people in Barcelona a good show, as it's the most basket-ball crazed city in Europe, and guys like Kobe (having grown up in Italy) appreciate that.


And hopefully, since the team actually put a bit of effort into winning this game but came up short, they'll learn a few lessons for when the games count:

1. Don't jack up so many 3s.

2. Get Pau more touches. He doesn't get enough in most NBA games.

3. Practice Free Throws. Practice Free Throws. Practice Free Throws.


(If any of that sounds familiar, it's because those are things the lakers have needed to work on for the last 3 years, yet still haven't figured out.)


On the plus side for LA, Kobe is moving a lot better, and his FTs looked good (better than last year), so hopefully his finger is less of an issue going forward. His jumper will come back with his legs and with practice time.

You guys (Jeb, Bob H, etc) were right about all those minutes early in the season last year taking a toll. We all saw how that played out late in the season. Hopefully with a much-improved bench, Kobe's minutes will be much lower this year.



I don't think Barcelona would beat the Lakers (or the Cs for that matter) very often if the Lakers were in mid-season form, but that's no slight on Barca. The Lakers are the NBA champs, and most teams wouldn't be able to beat them if they're on their game.


But Barca is a very solid team, and they would win some games in the NBA. They've got legit players, a number of whom are on the Spanish national team that took the redeem team to the wire in the gold medal game in '08.


They would have a hard time making the playoffs in the West because it is so deep, but in the East, they could absolutely make the playoffs. There is no team in the East outside of the top 6 that is substantially better than Barcelona.

They could definitely compete for the 7 or 8 seed with the Knicks, Bobcats, Wiz, etc.




All in all, it was a fun game to watch, the atmosphere was one of a kind, and it was good to see the teams play semi-competitively in the pre-season.

A good way to start ramping up the intensity level for the season.

And a whole lot more interesting than a game vs the Grizzlies in Bakersfield.

Oh yeah, and PS-


"They still have not beaten our starting five."

bbsky
Who on Barcelonas roster could play in the NBA?It is kind of shocking they could beat Lakers unless LA was just playing their scrubs.
cow

Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro probably could probably play on most teams I would say.

Edit: not as starters but make the 15 man roster.

Juan Carlos Navarro, Ricky Rubio and Pete Mickeal are all NBA quality players and not bench warmers. They would be very good players in the NBA. Pete had 26 pts, 13 rebs and 7 assists against LA yesterday.

babyskyhook wrote:On the plus side for LA, Kobe is moving a lot better, and his FTs looked good (better than last year), so hopefully his finger is less of an issue going forward. His jumper will come back with his legs and with practice time.

BSH,

I know Kobe had surgery on his knee over the summer, but I haven't heard anything about his finger, which I thought he also need to get fixed. Are you aware of him having surgery on that? Is he still wearing the splint?

Thanks.

Outside

it really was a great game to watch...barcelona has a nice system and everybody plays within it. They really gave the Laker frontcourt hell.

cowens/oldschool wrote:bbsky
Who on Barcelonas roster could play in the NBA?It is kind of shocking they could beat Lakers unless LA was just playing their scrubs.
cow

Hey cow- how are things ?

The LA loss was a combination of things.


Bacra is a very solid team. They've got legit players, a number of whom are on the Spanish national team that gave the Redeem Team everything they could handle in the gold medal game in '08. Several are either NBA bound (Rubio) or have NBA talent but prefer to play in Spain (Navarro, Vasquez). They've also got some guys who are probably borderline rotation players in the NBA filling out the roster.


Navarro would be an excellent triangle point guard, as he can really shoot and is a very good penetrator. He dropped 34 on the Lakers in LA two years ago, and is a fixture on Spain's national team (best in the world outside of the US).

Rubio you know about, and Vasquez was the guy who was drafted in the lottery in '05 right after Bynum who never came over to the NBA because he doesn't want to leave Spain. He's another guy who has played well vs elite competition on their national team.

Also, they run a great system with great ball movement. They really play as a team and are fun to watch. And they can all shoot from deep. They took 38 3s.


On top of that, the Barcelona guys were treating this game like it was a playoff game, wanting to show their fans (and the world) that they could beat a high profile team like the Lakers. For LA, this was a pre-season game. ALthough they put more effort into it than they usually do (which isn't saying a lot, as they usually put zero effort into the preseason), it was clear that the Lakers were as interested in letting Pau put on a good show for his hometown (coast to coast dribbles, etc) as they were in actually winning.

Also, Barcelona is already into their regular season, so they are playing with crispness, whereas the Lakers are clearly rusty from the summer off and integrating five new players to the system. Phil is giving these guys a lot of minutes, which is good for them to learn the system, but results in a lot of ugly sequences. (The second unit, which is mostly new guys, scored all of four points in the first seven minutes of the 4th quarter yesterday). Add in the fact that Bynum and Kobe are still recovering from knee surgery and either not playing (bynum) or don't have their legs under them (Kobe).


Add it all up, and I'm surprised the game was as close as it was, as Barcelona, although they would have a hard time making the playoffs in the West, could make the playoffs in the East. They could definitely compete for the 7 or 8 seed.

And with the Lakers neither at full strength nor fully-motivated, I saw this one coming.

So a tip of the hat to the crew from Southern Spain. They deserved to win.

swedeinestonia wrote:Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro probably could probably play on most teams I would say.

Edit: not as starters but make the 15 man roster.

Rubio will be a starter when he comes over.

Navarro would be a starter in the right system, such as LA's. He's actually a perfect triangle lead guard.

Vasquez would start for most teams, but he's never coming over. Likes his life in Spain too much. Too bad the MAgic used the # 11 pick on him. (OUCH.)

Outside wrote:

babyskyhook wrote:On the plus side for LA, Kobe is moving a lot better, and his FTs looked good (better than last year), so hopefully his finger is less of an issue going forward. His jumper will come back with his legs and with practice time.

BSH,

I know Kobe had surgery on his knee over the summer, but I haven't heard anything about his finger, which I thought he also need to get fixed. Are you aware of him having surgery on that? Is he still wearing the splint?

Thanks.

Outside

Outside-


he chose not to have the surgery because the rehab would have taken too long and caused him to miss too many games this year. (Kind of the opposite of the way Bynum's mind works.)

He says it's better than it was last year (by the looks of his free throws in the preseason, I think that's true), and he's not going to wear a splint anymore. He's going to wear some kind of soft sleeve. He seems to have figured out how to play through it and is just going to suck it up and not worry about it.


Kind of like Lebronze and his elbow. Oh wait..........

How often do the Lakers go 0-13 on 3 pointers? If they made just one they would have won. I wouldn't count them out of the NBA race just yet.

Meanwhile, Barcelona is one of the most beautiful, albeit gaudiest cities in the world.