Another Cakewalk for the Lakers?

[GreenFaith1819]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

Well, Kobe is more "Worldly Attractive..Hollywood..." than KG and Paul. Kobe can play til he's 50 but he will never be "Too Old."

I'll take the latter. Forever Green.

[GreenFaith1819]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

yes, age and number of years in the league. Kobe's on the decline. Lakers fans and the media just don't want to admit it.

Of course they don't admit it! It's Hollywood...almost like Never-Never Land over there...no one dies..everyone flies through the skies...everyone is indestructible, lol...........

[Bankshot]

Thanks, guys.  I feel a bit better now.

[guava_wrench]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

yes, age and number of years in the league. Kobe's on the decline. Lakers fans and the media just don't want to admit it.

Age itself isn't the actual problem since different people age differently. But KG has already has recently had a serious injury and Kobe has been dealing with finger problems for a while now.

Ultimately, decline in performance is what matters. KG has had a clear decline, Pierce and especially Kobe less so.

[hpantazo]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

yes, age and number of years in the league. Kobe's on the decline. Lakers fans and the media just don't want to admit it.

Age itself isn't the actual problem since different people age differently. But KG has already has recently had a serious injury and Kobe has been dealing with finger problems for a while now.

Ultimately, decline in performance is what matters. KG has had a clear decline, Pierce and especially Kobe less so.

I'd wait and see how KG's "decline" looks next season. I expect him to be more fully recovered from that knee injury. We'll see.

[GreenFaith1819]

It's ticking me off the the only teams with cap space are in the East and it seems like all the big free agents are going to land in the East, making it that much more difficult for us and another cakewalk year for the Lakers.   I wish Lebron would sign with the Clippers.

Sick of the Lakers having such easy seasons!

How many of the FAs are from the east? The top 3 are. Clev will likely no longer be a threat, though Chi or Mia could be much improved.

Utah and Phx look like they will be far inferior. Clips will be better already with Griffin, but without grabbing a good FA i don't take them to seriously. Oden returning is always big for Portland and OKC could be improved by aging (or they could regress to the mean). San Ant is like a bit of a wildcard like us, except they have more people under contract. I wouldn't overemphasize San Ant's elimination last season -- bad matchup for them against Phx.

Denver will continue to worry about K-Mart and Nene getting injured and their coach disappearing. Only Utah and Phx look to be hurt by losing top free agents. I expect this to hurt Phx more than Utah since health would help Utah more than Boozer. Milsap needs to come to play though.

If someone like Amare goes to the Knicks, will that make much of a difference? Mia had a better player in Wade last year, but they were still only mediocre. I don't expect the Knicks to be any better than last year's Miami unless they get 2 great players.

I also feel like Kobe will continue to have more health issues every year. He is definitely a warrior, but not having Kobe at a transcendent level really dilutes the Laker lineup.

So true - especially your last part.

One more reason for me to appreciate The Boston Celtics...we struggled with many of our Heavy Hitters being hurt for extended periods of time, but yet we still managed a 50 win season last year.

Can anyone here imagine LA without Kobe Bryant for an extended amount of time?

[guava_wrench]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

yes, age and number of years in the league. Kobe's on the decline. Lakers fans and the media just don't want to admit it.

Age itself isn't the actual problem since different people age differently. But KG has already has recently had a serious injury and Kobe has been dealing with finger problems for a while now.

Ultimately, decline in performance is what matters. KG has had a clear decline, Pierce and especially Kobe less so.

I'd wait and see how KG's "decline" looks next season. I expect him to be more fully recovered from that knee injury. We'll see.

We can speculate all sorts of things, but that doesn't make it a safe prediction. If we are asking why people talk more about KG's decline than Kobe's, it is because they are basing it on what has actually occurred.

[Mr October]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

Kobe must have signed a deal with the devil. Given all the regular and post season minutes he has played, his endurance is remarkable.

Also for those banking on Portland or Oklahoma breaking through... I don't think its going to happen. Neither of those teams have proven they can play worth a lick inside Staples center.

You have be able to win in Staples if you want to beat LA. In 2010, I only trusted Boston or Cleveland to pull that off.

[misha]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

Kobe must have signed a deal with the devil. Given all the regular and post season minutes he has played, his endurance is remarkable.

The deal was getting a free pass on rape for longer basketball career.

[Rondo_is_better]

When it comes to the playoffs, there is no western conference. The past 3 years, there have been 4 teams each season competing on a completely different, championship caliber level. 

2008: Pistons, Celtics, Lakers, Cavs
2009: Orlando, Cleveland, Lakers, Boston except our injuries ruined us
2010: Cleveland, Orlando, Boston, Lakers

If you'll take a look at that list, you'll see that there are 5 teams. 4 of them are from the eastern conference. The lone championship contender from the west every year? The Los Angeles Lakers.

Yes, the "bottom half" of the western conference is better than the "bottom half" of the Eastern conference. We have some real crap teams in the east like the 76ers, Nets, and Knicks. The western conference only has Minnesota in its pantheon of suck. That's all regular season business.
 
Besides, if you're someone who does care about the regular season...

All in all, the quality of the conferences even out -- the East's abundance of championship contenders makes up for its collection of poor teams, while the West's dirth of contenders and terrible teams leaves them a homogeneous, mediocre-to-good conference.

When it comes to the playoffs, its a totally different ball game. The teams that matter are the great ones. The contenders. A contender will always win a series over a non-contender. That's why LA beat Phoenix this year. That's why Orlando destroyed Atlanta. There is no team, and there HAS BEEN no team in the west that could challenge the Lakers in a 7 game series these past 3 years. Only contenders beat contenders. Until there is another real, bona fide contender in the West, the Lakers will proceed unmolested to the finals every year until Kobe retires.

[LizzakeShizzow]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

Well, Kobe is more "Worldly Attractive..Hollywood..." than KG and Paul. Kobe can play til he's 50 but he will never be "Too Old."

I'll take the latter. Forever Green.

The media and web talk about Kobe and Fisher's age all the time. Kobe was under fire for getting injured and playing through questionable finger and ankle injuries, when he should have rested. "He's not getting any younger. Rest up." Fisher was under scrutiny for most of the regular season until he stepped it up when it mattered. "Time to take a backseat to Farmar or can't keep up with these elite point guards". He played with Westbrook, Williams, Nash and (a bit) of Rondo just fine in the postseason.

It all boils down to the players themselves, their experience and conditioning. Both squads have their veteran players in the early to mid thirties and its acknowledged. Some veterans just can keep it more consistent than others. Don't make it seem like "everyone" favors the Lakers and you poor Celtics are picked on when the age thing comes up. You choose what you want to hear and comment about here. These are borderline excuses for the outcome of the 09-10 season. Leave it at the door and in the past. Give both squads credit for knowing what it takes to win championships and having experienced rosters and coaches to get them there.

[manl_lui]

i wouldnt say cake walk, they were surprised to play Thunder in 6 games instead of the anticipated 4-5 games.

I say the Thunders will be good next season probably top 4 West.

Mavericks if Dirk returns, theyll have time to work on chemistry. And Nuggets and Coach Karl will be back, so i wont say easy path for the lakers

[Papatrichs]

Three years straight of going deep, deep in the playoffs. It will obviously take its toll on the players especially Kobe.

[GreenFaith1819]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

Well, Kobe is more "Worldly Attractive..Hollywood..." than KG and Paul. Kobe can play til he's 50 but he will never be "Too Old."

I'll take the latter. Forever Green.

The media and web talk about Kobe and Fisher's age all the time. Kobe was under fire for getting injured and playing through questionable finger and ankle injuries, when he should have rested. "He's not getting any younger. Rest up." Fisher was under scrutiny for most of the regular season until he stepped it up when it mattered. "Time to take a backseat to Farmar or can't keep up with these elite point guards". He played with Westbrook, Williams, Nash and (a bit) of Rondo just fine in the postseason.

It all boils down to the players themselves, their experience and conditioning. Both squads have their veteran players in the early to mid thirties and its acknowledged. Some veterans just can keep it more consistent than others. Don't make it seem like "everyone" favors the Lakers and you poor Celtics are picked on when the age thing comes up. You choose what you want to hear and comment about here. These are borderline excuses for the outcome of the 09-10 season. Leave it at the door and in the past. Give both squads credit for knowing what it takes to win championships and having experienced rosters and coaches to get them there.

Welcome to CelticsBlog, Lizzakesshow.

So you don't watch ESPN? You don't believe that they didn't favor you all this regular season (and 2008)?

Many in the Media (and ESPN) picked LA to easily beat Boston in 2008.

Same thing this year, pretty much..I must say that the ESPN Analysts did come to the Greenside somewhat - only 6 out of 10 picked you all to win it this year.

As far as excuses for the Finals this year? No one in this thread is talking about excuses for the outcome of the Finals. Seems to me that you brought this up first. The outcome of the finals has been discussed in great detail on this blog already.

The main gist of this particular thread was to discuss LA's path to another Finals in 2010-11, and my comments centered on Kobe's Finger, and I made a comment earlier about OKC needing another Big to give LA problems should they meet again in the playoffs next year.

My assessment in this thread of how the Media follows LA is mine alone and I'll never change. The fact is, is that LA is in fact Hollywood - you just can't dodge that one. Hollywood is more attractive.

As far as the Age thing? I've been a rather frequent visitor to SS and R the last two months, and I saw very little mention of Kobe's age over there. I'm just one person, but that is my assessment of it.

Even Doc Rivers made a comment about it. He said that when Boston wins, it's because they are experienced - and when they lose, it's because we're too old.

Personally, I truly hope that Kobe and LA can hold it together one more year....as Doc River said once he chose to return this year "I want one more crack at it."

And Doc Rivers has in fact stood by his words, Lizzake - "Our Starting Five has Never Lost a Series."

Too bad Perk went down in that Game 7.

[celtic -_- pride]

It's funny how everyone talks about KG and Paul "getting too old" when Kobe is right there in age.

Well, Kobe is more "Worldly Attractive..Hollywood..." than KG and Paul. Kobe can play til he's 50 but he will never be "Too Old."

I'll take the latter. Forever Green.

The media and web talk about Kobe and Fisher's age all the time. Kobe was under fire for getting injured and playing through questionable finger and ankle injuries, when he should have rested. "He's not getting any younger. Rest up." Fisher was under scrutiny for most of the regular season until he stepped it up when it mattered. "Time to take a backseat to Farmar or can't keep up with these elite point guards". He played with Westbrook, Williams, Nash and (a bit) of Rondo just fine in the postseason.

It all boils down to the players themselves, their experience and conditioning. Both squads have their veteran players in the early to mid thirties and its acknowledged. Some veterans just can keep it more consistent than others. Don't make it seem like "everyone" favors the Lakers and you poor Celtics are picked on when the age thing comes up. You choose what you want to hear and comment about here. These are borderline excuses for the outcome of the 09-10 season. Leave it at the door and in the past. Give both squads credit for knowing what it takes to win championships and having experienced rosters and coaches to get them there.

when do you ever see them talking about the lakers age? the celtics have been called the "aging" boston celtics on occasion, but i dont care our "aging" starting 5 has never lost a playoff series. that is still true.