No Magic in Orlando
Game 4 of the NBA Finals was an absolute choke job. Simple as that.
There are so many questions about why the Magic couldn't win it and force a pivotal Game 5 and even the series, but teams that aren't prepared to win play like Orlando did last night.
Now Game 5 is just an afterthought. It's just something for ABC to air to fill time. There is no chance on earth that Orlando wins three straight, and everyone knows it. Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson both choked, Stan Van Gundy made glaring tactical mistakes and Kobe will get his fourth ring because of it.
Why does Nelson allow a 3-point attempt? We will never know. Why did Orlando allow three passes downcourt without fouling up three? No clue. Why was Dwight Howard even in the game on the possession before when he is a 59% free throw shooter? You got me.
This is a watered down NBA in 2009. Jordan's Bulls, Isiah's Pistons, Malone's Jazz, Drexler's Trailblazers, Hakeem's Rockets and even Ewing's Knicks teams would have buried both of these teams. Those teams didn't have glaring holes like Orlando and LA do.
Let's face it, if KG is healthy all year the Celtics and Lakers were meeting again anyway. And LA isnt even that scary. Outside of Kobe who scares you? Trevor Ariza? Please.
Dwight Howard should spend every waking moment of the offseason working on his pathetic offensive skills and trying to improve that god awful free throw percentage.
Congrats to the Lakers. They are the best in '09. They beat a team who missed 15 free throws on their home court. Jordan and Pippen would have beaten Orlando by 22 last night as opposed to hitting a game-tying 3 with 4.6 left to force overtime.
Now Orlando can start making their summer vaca plans.
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Categories (click for archive)Jason Bishop | Junkies |
word!!your on the money sturch!
orlando is a joke,them an the lakers are not even close to the teams in the past!
Can u imagine the pistons,bill laimbeer, edwards,salley,rodman,aguire,isiah thomas ,dumars and dont forget the microwave off the bench,vinnie johnson,Isiah and dumars were kinda good! dumars was awesome.and thomas
they would clobbar LA big time.
Even the pacers with ricky Smits was good, better than gasol,probably, the johnson brothers derrick mckey,dont forget only reggie miller,mark jackson.
The Knicks with Ewing,charles smith, charles oakley,mason off the bench, starks, derick the point gaurd from dallas.
The bulls cartwright,dont sleep on cartwright, he would dominate any laker center,kukoc,horace grant,even will purdue was decent,pippen,Micheal Jordan was kinda good,and the other grant shooting gaurd!paxson,and the other white shooter with blonde hair!
Lakers u have Jabbar,Bob Mcadoo,james worthy,michael cooper,um magic,bryon scott.
the celtics ,um parrish,mchale ,um lawrence bird,cornbread maxwell,dennis johnson,ainge,dont forget greg kite,or maybe not.and billy walton with his towel.
Even the sixers, mosas malone,dr j, mo cheeks,bobby jones,dont forget andrew toney.
i could go on and on.
Players today not even close!!!!
Yeah lakers and orlando, not even close to being good as past teams.
Imagine the pistons,Laimbeer,edwards,salley, rodman,aguire,Dumars ,I Thomas,even the microwave,vinnie johnson.
The Knicks, Ewing,charles smith, oakley,mason off the bench,starks,derrick harper.
Even the pacers ,smits,underated center,probably better the gasol,The Johnson brothers,derrick mckey,reggie miller,Jackon,they would even take the lakers.
not to mention the bulls,dont sleep on cartwright,even will purdue was decent,horace grant,ron harper,paxson,kocuc.michel jordan was allright.
Celtics,parrish , mchale,lawrence bird,cornbread maxwell,dennis johnson,billy walton,ainge,dont sleep on greg kite!!or maybe do sleep on him.
the sixers with mosas malone,bobby jones,dr j, cheeks and dont forget andrew toney.underated shooting gaurd.
The lakers, jabbar,bobby mcadoo,james worthy,micheal cooper defensive stopper,byron scott an um magic.
could go on and on,past teams would stomp the lakers!not even close!!!!!
Olajuwan was awesome,horry,kenny smith, drexler,cassell,but the lakers do have lamar odom!!
Note to self. Urinate in pool only when children are around.
Signed, Jason
Lurch, you are romanticizing teams of the past and not fairly giving this Lakers team credit. I agree that they are not one of the best teams in history, but they are a lot better than you think.
Your statement, "outside of Kobe, who scares you? Trevor Ariza? Please." is disingenuous. Ariza is the 4th leading scorer in the playoffs for LA (11.1 ppg) and was inserted into the starting lineup late in the season for primarily defensive purposes. Let's compare him to the 4th leading scorer for the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls that you say would destroy this Laker team. You know who that was? Luc Longley. Pretty scary indeed. A 7'2" kangaroo who scored 7.9 points and averaged a whopping 5 rebounds per game (I know, Rodman and Pippen got their share of rebounds instead, but you see the point I'm sure).
Want other comparisons, Larry? Here are the 4th leading playoff scorers on some of the other teams you said would kill the Lakers: Charles Smith/1993 Knicks (11.1 ppg), Otis Thorpe/1994 Rockets (11.3 ppg), Sam Cassel/1995 Rockets (11.0 ppg), Kevin Duckworth/1992 Trail Blazers (11.9 ppg), Bill Cartwright/1991 Bulls (9.1 ppg) and Jeff Hornacek/1998 Jazz (10.9 ppg). All good players, but not exactly a "scary" bunch, is it?
You seem to gloss over the fact that not many teams have a cake walk to the championship. The 09 Lakers take games off and don't give 100% every night. It's a weakness for sure, but don't think that means they couldn't hang with the champs of years past. The 1995 Rockets won 47 games in the regular season and were 12th in the league on defense. It took the 1998 Bulls 7 games to beat the Pacers, who basically only trotted out the one dimensional Reggie Miller, flat footed Rick Smits, and the corpse of Chris Mullin. The 2008 Celtics, who, for some reason you think are much better than this year's Lakers team, had to play in 26 games to win the title, the most in NBA history. The 2008 NBA Finals was much closer than you think, since game 1 could have went either way, and game 4 featured the record comeback. Only 1 game was a blowout, so you remember the series as being easy for the Celtics, but last years team didn't have Bynum, who could at least contribute some fouls, and a healthy Ariza, who has been crucial in numerous playoff games this year.
It's easy to say what you think would happen if two teams were to play, but the reality can be far different than what you predict. It seems obvious that the 1993 Bulls would beat the 09 Lakers, but then again, all 10 "experts" for ESPN.com picked the Cavs over the Magic, some in 5 games. You don't really know who would win until the games are played.
I don't think the 09 Lakers would beat the 86 Celtics, 87 Lakers, 90 Pistons, 96 Bulls, and 01 Lakers, but I think it would be a lot closer of a series than you think. The 09 Lakers would certainly not get "pwned," as you said on Friday's show.
Bonefish, his point is a valid one. You want to compare 4th leading scorers of championship teams? You just defended his point without meaning to. Hornacek, Cassell, Otis Thorpe, Bill Cartwright? All those guys are leaps and bounds better than Ariza. One guy was a deadly shooter. Another guy as clutch as they come in his prime. The larger point is that the depth of teams today get watered down after the first 2-3 guys versus 4-6 back in the day. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper. Harper or Ariza? Please...those teams would destroy these Lakers. And on that note...Pippen and Jordan could take turns pestering Kobe. And when Jordan was on him Pippen would put the absolute clamps on Lamar Odom. Odom would be a helpless non-factor and guys like Rodman, or if you want to go back further to earlier teams, Cartwright would pester Gasol. I could go on and on here. Kobe is sick, but let's not defend his mediocre team too much here.
Ed, there is no "magic" in your kingdom as well...lick.
A lot of analysis above to defend a Lakers team that was good, but not among the NBA elite on an all-time basis. If Kobe 3 years ago had the right attitude and this supporting cast, it might be more realistic, but Kobe has a lot more mileage, and they really don't have another NBA Top 50 all-timer, whereas some of the great teams above had 2-3. That's the difference.
You spent who knows how long looking up every 4th leading scorer on every contender in the past 25 years only to say at the end that you don't think the Lakers would beat any of those teams. Well done.
No magic in the bedroom either....but there is in the bathroom sink though