Flashback! 2006 game 7 Lakers vs Suns

[imdaman99]

Kobe was lighting them up in the 1st half and they were still getting blown out. I'm sure Phil said something like get your teammates involved more and Kobe was like uhhhh you wanna see how bad these teammates are? OK I won't shoot in the 2nd half.

At least Kobe lost to a better team that had a million more weapons. Very different than Lebron quitting against the Celtics who you were better than or throwing a series just because you aren't going to get Finals MVP

[JT123]

Kobe was lighting them up in the 1st half and they were still getting blown out. I'm sure Phil said something like get your teammates involved more and Kobe was like uhhhh you wanna see how bad these teammates are? OK I won't shoot in the 2nd half.

At least Kobe lost to a better team that had a million more weapons. Very different than Lebron quitting against the Celtics who you were better than or throwing a series just because you aren't going to get Finals MVP

Weak trolling brah

[SouBeachTalents]

Kobe was lighting them up in the 1st half and they were still getting blown out. I'm sure Phil said something like get your teammates involved more and Kobe was like uhhhh you wanna see how bad these teammates are? OK I won't shoot in the 2nd half.

At least Kobe lost to a better team that had a million more weapons. Very different than Lebron quitting against the Celtics who you were better than or throwing a series just because you aren't going to get Finals MVP

People need to stop acting like the Cavs had a better team than the Celtics. I know what the retorts will be, the Cavs won a lot more games, they were the clear favorites, but the bottom line is the Celtics had 4 of the 5 best players in that series on their roster. Who on the Cavs would you take over Rondo/KG/Pierce/Allen? I honestly wouldn't even take Mo Williams over any of them, let alone anybody else on the Cavs.

I'm not saying that to absolve LeBron of blame, he greatly underperformed those last 3 games and was ABYSMAL in Game 5, so he certainly deserves criticism, but that doesn't change the fact the Celtics had the better team

[imdaman99]

People need to stop acting like the Cavs had a better team than the Celtics. I know what the retorts will be, the Cavs won a lot more games, they were the clear favorites, but the bottom line is the Celtics had 4 of the 5 best players in that series on their roster. Who on the Cavs would you take over Rondo/KG/Pierce/Allen? I honestly wouldn't even take Mo Williams over any of them, let alone anybody else on the Cavs.

I'm not saying that to absolve LeBron of blame, he greatly underperformed those last 3 games and was ABYSMAL in Game 5, so he certainly deserves criticism, but that doesn't change the fact the Celtics had the better team

Fair enough but in retrospect, we can say the same about the 2004 Pistons and 2008 Celtics. Cavs were heavily favored and almost everyone picked them just like they did for the Lakers in those 2 years.

[Ranked 12th]

Fair enough but in retrospect, we can say the same about the 2004 Pistons and 2008 Celtics. Cavs were heavily favored and almost everyone picked them just like they did for the Lakers in those 2 years.

4 of the best 5 players were Lakers, it was the other way around


Shaq
Kobe
Malone
Billups
Payton



That team was STACKED, stop comparing them to the 2010 Cavs, who only had LeBron

[Cocaine80s]

how do you lose to the suns

This.

[SouBeachTalents]

Fair enough but in retrospect, we can say the same about the 2004 Pistons and 2008 Celtics. Cavs were heavily favored and almost everyone picked them just like they did for the Lakers in those 2 years.

The only reason the Lakers were the favorites in '08 was because of how unimpressive the Celtics were in the playoffs, needing 7 games to get past the Hawks (lol) and Cavs, then beating the Pistons in 6 games, while the Lakers just crushed the Spurs & Kobe was arguably playing the best ball of his career. Roster wise, the Celtics would have the advantage, the Lakers had the best player in the series, but Gasol wasn't quite up to '09/'10 level and the Celtics had HCA.

The Pistons crushed the Lakers so badly in '04 that it seems almost ridiculous to say the Lakers were the better team, but even retrospectively when you have (by far) the 2 best players in the series on your team, championship experience & HCA, it's hard not to say you were fully expected to win.