Originally posted by \\/apor Snake
I\'m gonna call you Koko Puffs now, k? Hope you don\'t mind.
Sure.. whatever floats your boat mang
Just to make this thread a little interesting, and give Vaporsnake something to think about, I\'m going to attempt debating the \'otherside\' of the issue. I do think the Lakers are one hell of a good team, but I\'m going to try out my rusty debate skills and see what I can do here.
Okay.. So the Lakers are going to role over the Nets and win 3 in a row. Does that really make them great champions? Does that really make them a dynasty? What legendary NBA team have you seen in the past that does mediocre in the season and have to come back from fourth quarter deficits time and time again? What great dynasty team was there that depended solely on two players and two players alone?
Great players are always characterized by their ability to make their teammates better. Is Shaq or Kobe making anyone else on their team better? With all the attention on defense that Shaq and Kobe gets, how come the other players aren\'t hitting all their open shots? How come the role players only amount to about 20-30 points a game?
Would you seriously consider the Lakers a great TEAM? When the top two players of a team are taken out, and the rest amount to basically nothing, is that considered a great team? Take game 2 for example. Shaq sits out for the end of the 3rd, beginning of the fourth, and the Nets roll on a 14 point run, bringing them within 4 after being down by close to 20. And that is a dynasty caliber team?
The best TEAM that I see in the NBA today are the Kings. Being a Lakers fan, I hate the Kings with a vengence, yet I have to admit that they are more complete as a team than the Lakers are. The chemistry is there, and everyone contributes. There are four to five players on the Kings that could score 20 points or more on any given night. During this season, hardly any player other than Kobe or Shaq scored 20 points or more.
With the given dominance that Shaq has in the paint, with one of the best perimeters players in Kobe Bryant, the Lakers should be winning 70+ games per season, and should be rolling right throughout the playoffs. Yet they seem to stumble on every little pebble they find on the road, and display the concentration level of a 5 year old. Two years in a row they weren\'t Western Conference Season Champions. Yes, 70% of the Lakers are better than most of the NBA teams out there, yet 70% of anything is not what people want to see. When will Rick Fox, Derrick Fisher et al bring their A+ game? Until the Lakers show that they can put 4 good quarters together, and dominate other teams as they are capable of doing, I will not consider the Lakers to be a true dynasty.
