Unless youre claiming that the lakers are paying the refs off or something then you still have no reason to hate them. If stern wants to rig it, then thats his business, not the lakers.

but the problem is you just dont want to admit your team was beaten by a better team. Ill admit the Lakers were outplayed tonight. and despite some bad calls by the officials they could have easily won tonight if Odom, Fisher, and Gasol had played better.

see its not so hard.

I do expect them to bounce back in Game 4 though. Its gonna be a big game.

 

no worries leo... we shall see the lakers win it all this year

 

So because the refs help the Lakers, I can't hate them for that reason? If they are being helped, I think that's reason enough to hate them, regardless of whether they are instigating the cheating or not. Your reasoning makes no sense. If the NBA favors them, then I can hate them for that.

So you're saying that if say....almost your whole starting lineup played better they could have won? Couldn't have guessed that. If Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson, and Hedo Turkoglu would have played better, we could have beaten the Pistons!!

 

no. if you think the lakers are getting help from the refs yet they have nothing to do with it (which is certainly not the case, youre just making excuses for losing) then you should hate the refs or the nba, not the lakers.

and yes im saying that because thats what happened,no matter how obvious it is. They had a bad game hence the reason for the 20 point defecit. and now I see why you hate the lakers, still upset about shaq huh?

Dont worry we'll wait until Dwight matures his game a lil more before we take him too lol

 

I think the Lakers get help and they really have nothing to do with my team. Kobe is the best player in the league and he gets calls other players won't and don't get. They are treated better than other teams. Most Laker fans just think the Lakers are the best team ever and don't need the help. They get it regardless.

I will always be upset about Shaq.

I'm not worried about Dwight. We have him locked up for a while now, he's not going anywhere. He's also not the guy that has to be in the spotlight like Shaq. I don't fear him leaving.

 

okay, i can respect that opinion. but just remember that Kobe is hated just as much as he loved, so he doesnt get as many "veteran" or "superstar" calls that say Dwade got in the finals a couple years back. And what kind of fan would i be if i didnt think my team was the best? I always have confidence in my squad no matter what the odds

and i was just teasing you about Dwight. He's a phenomenal talent. All he needs to do now is develop some more post moves and the league is in trouble. He needs to spend a summer working out with duncan. then it would be even more of a nightmare than it already is playing against him.

Luckily the lakers have bynum who will hopefully return 100% healthy next year and keep improving. Then we'll see some classic Howard-Bynum post battles

 

Kobe still gets more calls for him then against him.

Dwight still does have quite a ways to go. He does need a mentor like a Tim Duncan. He pretty much disappeared when the Pistons played him tough. He's as strong as anyone in the league and should enjoy being played like that. He's come a long way, but there's plenty of room for improvement with him. Hopefully Patrick Ewing won't bolt for NY this summer.

Bynum is going to be a really good player in this league if he can stay healthy. He's not on the same talent level as Dwight (who is?), but he can be one of the more offensively gifted centers in the league in a couple years.

 

Yeah i heard about Ewing maybe joining D'antoni's coaching staff in NY. who knows why he'd want to go back there with all the work thats gonna need to be done to turn that franchise around. He should stay in Orlando to help Dwight some more. One of reasons Dwight sort of went away in that series against detroit is because right now he is a one dimensional player offensively. All he can do is dunk. So detroit tried to force him away from the basket where he'd have to work for shots. And it worked.

I think thats one aspect where Bynum is better than Dwight right now is in their low post game. Kareem has really been working with Bynum and it shows. But Dwight has the power advantage, so their matchup is really interesting. Perhaps the most astonishing fact about both of them though is their age. They have ENORMOUS potential.

Itll be interesting to see how Greg Oden factors into this equation as well, when he comes back...I never watched him in college, what do you think about his game?

 

He's going to need a while to catch on offensively at the NBA level. I watched him play a good deal in college and I saw him play live at the Final Four in Atlanta. Al Horford and Joakim Noah are both pretty good defenders and they couldn't do much with him. I think he will jump in and be a defensive force immediately, but his offensive game will have to progress over the next few years. The thing about him is that he actually likes playing down low unlike guys like Rasheed that love wandering outside. Oden could be a very special player if his body holds up. He's now had problems with both his wrist and knee, so health could be a major factor in his career. Watch out if he does stay healthy though.

 

trust me, the blazers are already on my radar. they have a nice young athletic team that is hard to match up with. If Oden can come back healthy and play well defensively they'll definitely make the playoffs. Brandon Roy is no joke. Throw in Lemarcus aldridgea and travis outlaw youve got trouble.

 

The Blazers are certainly a team of the future. That team is loaded with young talent.

 

Blazers are cursed team (remember, they're the team that passed Michael Jordan during NBA draft). Back when they had Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, Steve Smith, Arvydas Sabonis, Damon Stoudamire, Bonzi Wells ... they were the most fun team to watch. But since then they made few really bad moves like trading Jermaine O'Neal to Pacers and trading Zach Randolph to Knicks last summer.

 

Game 4 starts in 13 minutes.

 

Who's playing?

 

I don't think trading Zach Randolph was a bad thing. He has a fat contract and has played terrible in NY. They thought of him as a cancer and got what they could by trading away his big contract. They have messed up other deals though.

 

Randolph was a solid 24 ppg 10 rpg player at Portland. They got Frye in return who is a pretty good player, but not as good as Randolph.

 

I know he put up good numbers, but that doesn't tell the whole story of Randolph. He was a cancer in the locker room, plays bad defense, and had a monster contract. The move was more to get rid of him, not to bring in top flight talent. Frye was just a bonus.

 

Let me take a wild guess: Fisher didn't foul Barry at the end of tonight's game???

 

Oh, by the way, Barry WAS fouled and no ref whistle. Lakers get the call again. Point proven. Case closed!!!

 

Oh, and who ref'd the game, Joey Crawford. **** the NBA!!!