Quote:
Originally posted by Grand-Ranger:
What do you mean you dont hear about them anymore? I still hear of the Celtic Dyanasty often. And ofcourse you dont hear about it as often because it was,what, 30 years ago? Lets see if we hear about LA that often in 2032.
They are not great. Good maybe. But not great. Everyone knows Shaq stays more then 3 seconds in the paint and the refs hardly ever call it. Every one knows the refs are 90% of the time majorly baised for the lakers. Its no secrete. And they have such horrible attudites.
I agree Divac should stop trying to play a tuff game. Albiet that foul where he was fouled out wasnt a foul, Bryant ran right into him and Divac fell and Kobe went down with him. It was such a stupid call. Yea, Paga (Stoijokavic) screwed up. He should have made it, so did Turkgolou.
Maybe The Refs didnt give the Lakers this particular serries, but some of there calls are quite stunning.
Another thing that pisses me of! BILL WALTON!! God I hate that guy. No matter how bad the Lakers are playing he compliments them. And he is stupid. Really, he just basicly repeats what the other guy say[/QB]
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I agree,
Grand-Ranger.
I can think of 3 dynasties in "recent" years. The Celtics and Lakers from the early 80's and - of course - Da Bulls from the 90's.
All of those teams were great and the ongoing rivalry between the Celtics and the Lakers each year helped revive the NBA, which was dropping horribly in TV ratings back then. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird brought the fans back to the game and Michael Jordan kept them here.
Those teams were definitely the greatest ones during the last 20 years. Now the Lakers are great again. They have the BEST all-around team and the two most dominating players in their respective positions.
This version of the Lakers could easily handle any of the other 3 dynasty teams. By the same token, any of those 3 teams could easily handle this version of the Lakers. That's why dynasty teams are so great. They could handle any challenge thrown at them. Sacramento has given the new Lakers the biggest challenge they have faced in a loooong time. They have been steamrolling over teams for 2 years, but now the other teams are starting to adjust and learn how to play them.
AFA the refs go, that's just the way the NBA works. The star players get the favorable calls. If you ever get a chance to see Michael Jordan's game winning shot of the Bulls last NBA championship against the Jazz, watch it closely. He CLEARLY shoves Brian Shaw out of the way. Why wasn't it called? Because it was the winning shot of the final championship made by the greatest player to take the floor. The refs aren't going to take away THAT storybook ending.
Kobe suffered his share of fouls and no calls against more established players during his first years. Now his team are 2-time champions and he is one of the reigning stars. Shaq still gets 80% of his fouls called on the OFFENSIVE end, but he has learned to adjust and changed his style to account for the fouls the refs will call.
Vlade played Shaq better than anybody else in the NBA, but he has a reputation as a "flopper", so a lot of the calls are going to go against him.
There were PLENTY of NO CALLS in the last game - on both ends. The Kings got away with just as many fouls as the Lakers did.
The bottom line is that Sacramento simply couldn't handle the pressure. They had HUGE leads in Games 4 & 5 and should NEVER have lost either of those games. In Game 7, Bibby (and maybe Bobby Jackson) were the ONLY players that didn't take part in a universal choke-fest for Sacramento. Missing free throws and open jump shots WILL NOT win a championship.
But they came very close, and they should grow from this experience. They have PLENTY of talent and now they have played at the highest level. This should prepare them for next season.
BTW, I hate Bill Walton too. His claim to fame was playing center during the Glory Years at UCLA. Once he hit the NBA, though, he didn't do much of anything. How that qualifies him as an NBA analyst is beyond me.