Posted on 06/06/2004 11:46:32 AM PDT by diamond6
Shaquille O'Neal scanned the reporters crowded around him, located the questioner and glowered.
The question had seemed innocuous enough — "Do you think you'll spend some time chasing Rasheed Wallace around the court?" — but it didn't sit well with O'Neal.
"Chase?" O'Neal said. "No. Not at all."
It was an answer and an affirmation that O'Neal continues to be the centerpiece of the Lakers, despite a drop in his playoff scoring average. The game will come to him in the NBA Finals, not the other way around.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
This just in!!
Shaq slams, Lakers LOSE!!!
Any predictions for Game 2 or the series, pal?
By the way Red, it's not over 'til it's over. Don't get too excited. You're record will fall within two weeks.
I said Lakers in 6. Nothing about this game changes my mind. In fact, if anything, I am less impressed with the Pistons than before the series started.
Because I think that as the game progressed-and the Lakers became even more inept-The Pistons' play really started to falter.
I mean, a couple more games like that, and they just might win another NBA championship.
Come on. Do you really think a defense that lets Shaq have layup and slam dunk after layup and slam dunk, without heavily hacking him is going to succeed?
As well as Shaq did in this game, he should have had 50 points if his teammates had not been so selfish and dense. The crowd could sense it in the first quarter. They cheered derisively when the Lakers finally passed the ball into Shaq after several times trying to take jump shots. If this is the way Ben Wallace plays defense on Shaq, then I question his credentials. The Lakers should continue to feed it into Shaq every time, until the Pistons do something to stop it. It's that simple.
It was moderately successful when Shaquille was playing with the Orlando Magic because there were only two other decent shooters-Nick Anderson and Anfernee Hardaway-on his team at the time.
I think the key to stopping the Lakers is to stifle Kobe Bryant. Once the Pistons have done that, and taken Karl Malone out of his zone, I think that their odds of winning this series become better than than even money.
Yes, I have several my man.
Um, the game won't end in a tie.
Jack Nicholson will be wearing sunglasses.
The half-time show will suck.
Kobe will take 30 shots.
Coach Coattails will sit on the sideline, indiferrent until the last few minutes, then get a technical when a charge is called against Shaq.
Lakers by 2.
They can stifle Bryant, if he allows them to. However, if he does what he's supposed to do, which is get other players involved, this strategy will also fail. He took a lot of forced bad shots in Game 1. I expect he will reduce that and probably get more assists. When Bryant drives and passes the ball off, look out. Eventually, he'll be open for shots, and that's when it becomes Kobe time in the 4th quarter.
I guess they can recover for the trip to Detroit; it just seems like something's missing this season.
It's kind of like The Yankees' continual attempts to buy every great baseball player on the market, and yet, still failing to win another ring. It just smacks of desperation.
If anyone's going to win this series for the Lakers, it will be "The Mailman."
They're not desperate, but they do have what it takes to win another championship - namely, EXPERIENCE. That 10 letter word is what will tip the scales in the Lakers' favor. The Lakers will now win 2 of 3 at Detroit. I guarantee it.
If my TV reception wasn't so freaking awful, I would try to sit through the entirety of Game 3.
This ought be a decent series.
Ok. 4 it is.
A local sportjabberer claimed before the first game, that the Lakers would take it in four, each game a blowout, each game a bigger win than the last. So, you were more right than he. The Dynasty is over, I think you might say.
Um.
All that being said, I was disgusted with the Lakers' performance. They came in overconfident and didn't work hard for at least two of the first three games. By then, the Lakers had been psyched out by the Pistons, and the entire mindset of the series had changed. The injury to Malone hurt also, but the worst thing was the way the team tore themselves apart by dissension.
I was just ribbing you because you were so sure at the outset.
Frankly, as I said in the first thread, I really don't follow the NBA any longer because I think the overall quality of play has gotten so shabby.
Good luck with your Lakers next year. It sounds like you're in for quite a few changes.
Thank you. I don't mind the ribbing. I enjoy it myself when I'm right. But you did hand me a rotten piece of crow, and I'll accept that.
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