^ The Lakers should be stronger defensively, with the addition of Barnes and Ratliff... Blake has been a disappointment, IMO... Brown has outplayed him and his outside shot has gotten better this season, but he's still inconsistent.

D-Fish is the heart and soul of the Lakers, but he's gotten too old to be starting at the point and there's no other guard on the Lakers qualified enough to start.

Jav_sol wrote:

Celts beat Cleveland, 112-95. Cavs have lost 27 of their last 28 games.

And the game they won in OT against the Kinickerbockers, hard to fathom 28 straight losses. They've lost 18 in a row, must be getting close to the record.
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Your All-Star Starters

EAST:
Lebron James, D-Wade, Derrick Rose, Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard

WEST:
Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Yao Ming

Gee, I wonder where those Yao Ming votes came from? Here's hoping Stern picks Griffin to take his place.

Rev wrote:

Gee, I wonder where those Yao Ming votes came from?

Somewhere in Asia?

Miami falls 88-93 to the Knicks at the Garden, Lebron misses 17 shots, and goes for 7-24. Any Miami defeat is a good one, just like a Laker win.
I do think that Celtics are a better team than Miami.

Lakers getting trounced by the lowly Kings, 83-69, in the 3rd.

EDIT: Lakers lose, 100-95.

bmwracer wrote:

Lakers getting trounced by the lowly Kings, 83-69, in the 3rd. EDIT: Lakers lose, 100-95.

a game like this is a no-brainer, and it is not the only time they have fallen to a weaker team, and at HOME too, not much else i can say, other than, i'd be surprised if they pull out with a win on Sunday against the Celtics, is this going to be a rout, in a loss at home, just like with Miami.

qilver wrote:

a game like this is a no-brainer, and it is not the only time they have fallen to a weaker team, and at HOME too, not much else i can say, other than, i'd be surprised if they pull out with a win on Sunday against the Celtics, is this going to be a rout, in a loss at home, just like with Miami.

Lakers have lost to a bunch of lowly teams at home, to the point where they were deservingly booed.

Don't know what to think about today's game other than which Laker team will show up...?

bmwracer wrote:

Don't know what to think about today's game other than which Laker team will show up...?

The Laker team that doesn't play defense shows up and they lose to the Celtics, 109-96.

^^ Perhaps they need to play the Cavs, actually every team is wishing that now as they are now up to 20 straight defeats and play the Heat next. Record is 24 in a row by the '82 Cavs, what a sorry state that franchise is in now.
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bmwracer wrote:

Lakers have lost to a bunch of lowly teams at home, to the point where they were deservingly booed. Don't know what to think about today's game other than which Laker team will show up...?

it looks like they will be an early exit in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs, and they'll send off Jackson without a 3rd - 3peat.

It might be a bit early to tell, but I really think this team doesn't have the stamina and endurance to have a tough enough defense, and their offense looks very Kobe-oriented which usually results in one-side defeats, sadly. This team probably will finish in the mid-50's win, and not make a dent in the playoffs. Without homecourt advantage, and a competitive edge with a strong formidable defense, this team is just above-average to great, nothing like championship caliber. The way they've been playing is a great indication of a weak, inconsistent team that doesn't really know how to defend their title, let alone defend against any team, especially at home.

^ Lakers played soft against the Celtics: their bigs got manhandled, they got outrebounded, and Rondo ate up Fish.

When are these guys going to wake up and flip the switch?

bmwracer wrote:

The Laker team that doesn't play defense shows up and they lose to the Celtics, 109-96.

Forget about defense, how about some offense? Yesterday, it looked like they were intent to stand around and let Kobe do all the work. That's the kind of basketball that got the Lakers two first round exits against Phoenix a few years ago.
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mrsmith10 wrote:

Forget about defense, how about some offense? Yesterday, it looked like they were intent to stand around and let Kobe do all the work. That's the kind of basketball that got the Lakers two first round exits against Phoenix a few years ago.

The two Laker centers played tired/lazy: I can't believe that Gasol is wiped from playing center all those games when Bynum was out... Don't these guys have some kind of conditioning regimen?

Yet another disappointing Laker loss.

Maybe I'll just stop watching them play until the playoffs, when they will finally get motivated.

mrsmith10 wrote:

Forget about defense, how about some offense? Yesterday, it looked like they were intent to stand around and let Kobe do all the work. That's the kind of basketball that got the Lakers two first round exits against Phoenix a few years ago.

Had that same impression, Celtics had 34 assists compared to the Lakers 10(!), when you don't play as a team and have one player try to do it all losses like that are fairly predictable.
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Overall a good road trip for the Celts, tough to play three games in four nights. Also, it's always interesting to hear Bill Walton, that guy just loves to talk.

qilver wrote:

it looks like they will be an early exit in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs, and they'll send off Jackson without a 3rd - 3peat. It might be a bit early to tell, but I really think this team doesn't have the stamina and endurance to have a tough enough defense, and their offense looks very Kobe-oriented which usually results in one-side defeats, sadly. This team probably will finish in the mid-50's win, and not make a dent in the playoffs. Without homecourt advantage, and a competitive edge with a strong formidable defense, this team is just above-average to great, nothing like championship caliber. The way they've been playing is a great indication of a weak, inconsistent team that doesn't really know how to defend their title, let alone defend against any team, especially at home.

Sure the Lakers aren't yet playing to their full potential, but no matter how badly the Lakers have played at times this season they've still played better than a first or second round playoff team. Even if they're not playing their best they've beat teams such as New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Denver, and Utah pretty easily. Those are among the likely teams they would face in a 1st or 2nd round playoff match. The Lakers may not get past San Antonio, but the way San Antonio is playing right now, I'm not so sure the Laker teams from the past 2 or 3 years would even beat San Antonio.
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^ I agree. All this gnashing of teeth about the Lakers is much ado about nothing. They still have the second best record in the West and only one game behind Miami and Chicago for the third best record in the league. I'll be very surprised if they don't get to the West finals, and then we'll see what happens.

^ I hope you're right.

That said, the Lakers should pass out free mouthguards to all of us teeth gnashing fans.

The Heat waltz into Orlando and hold off a big rally by the Magic and win 104-100. James had 51 points, first one to score 50 this season? Despite their sluggish start, looks like them or the Celts will be coming out of the East, gotta give the Celts the edge now that Perkins is back and can relugate Shaq to a more minor role.
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