thanks and a nice game to the suns... what a great 4th quarter as both teams went toe to toe and never blinked til the final minute... glad we got shaq on his first game with the suns and not a few games down the road when he has time to be assimlated into the system
thanks for the kind words, cheers to a classy post!
Good to see a great sport out there. It was a great game to watch and I was actually impressed with the way Shaq played. I think it actually helped out Amare's game a lot too. I do have to say that I love to watch the Spurs and Pistons play. They play the game the way it should be. With the trade the Spurs just made it should actually help them out a lot. There's no doubt about it, Detroit and San Antonio have 2 of the top 4 rosters in the league in my opinion (the other two being LA & Phoenix now). Dallas didn't help themselves with their trade. New Orleans has a nice roster but it isn't quite as polished as the rest. Plus they just don't have the playoff experience. If the Nuggets get Artest in the next day though, they will be right up there with the other 4 teams. Really I would love to see LA and Detroit in a finals rematch. Detroit and LA have the best two benches in the league. For every weapon one team has the other has one too.
The main forum needs more new posters like ChrisKreager. Lately it's been overrun with trolls and idiotic, hate-filled "Kobe vs. Lebron vs. MJ vs. your pet goat" threads.
Look at the GT for last night's game. The Laker trolls have become especially annoying, because they can't handle a great victory (like last night's) with the tiniest speck of class or dignity. Instead it's all-caps, bold font "LOL SUNS SUCK" posts. They in turn create more anti-fans--the kinds of posters that never bring anything positive into the forums, but think they're God's gift to the Internet because they're responding to the kind of insubstantial "Kobe>MJ" arguments that shouldn't be taken seriously anyway. And if that hate gets to be overwhelming, it only spawns even more irrational fans to combat the hate. And so on and so forth. Basically your classic chicken-egg conundrum, except in this case it's more turd-cesspool.
Um, I forgot where I was going with this. But stay classy, Mr. Kreager.
YEA!!!!! Tonight's game was highly competitive and Lakers beat them on their own home court with Shaq debuting. I was really impressed by Gasol, attacking and defending against Shaq, however, I felt he let Amare Stoudemire slip through the post, (but thats largely dude to Shaq's presence).
Overall I was impressed by Gasol/Kobe as always, and Fisher's D/Pressure on Nash...He didn't let Nash get comfortable at any time LOL! Go Lakers!
It was a grat win for Lakers and a not-too-depressing performance for Suns, as O'Neal seemed to mesh quite well in the run-n-gun.
But I'm really worried about rebounding. The Suns are not the best rebounding team in the world, even with Shaq, and we got outrebounded badly, with Gasol (deadly on offense) grabbing only 3 (!).
We badly need Andrew in the middle, to turn things around in this aspect.
We cannot expect Odom to always grab 15-18 a game.
I think with Shaq in there Phoenix is going to be a pretty good rebounding team. Just like the announcers were saying during the game, having Shaq in there frees up Amare to get those easy offensive boards and put backs. With Bynum in there you wouldn't have seen as much of that. The Lakers still need to focus more on defense. They gave up too many points.
I think with Shaq in there Phoenix is going to be a pretty good rebounding team. Just like the announcers were saying during the game, having Shaq in there frees up Amare to get those easy offensive boards and put backs. With Bynum in there you wouldn't have seen as much of that. The Lakers still need to focus more on defense. They gave up too many points.
Well said.
And I agree with your other posts about the Spurs making an excellent trade.
We can't count them out, they always seem to go on a post all star game streak.
A very nice win for the Lakers, no doubt. Our offense is simply awesome.
Defensively, however, I have some concerns. Amare absolutely abused us, and we got killed on the glass (Gasol, 3 rebounds?).
We really need the Beast back. His defensive prescence and rebounding might just take us over the top.
That felt like a western conference finals playoff game, it was a great game indeed! It's always great to hear from others teams fans who has good input and can be objective. Like Frank says, all the "suns suck" "lakers suck" posts get old really fast. It's much more fun to intelligently discss nba basketball.
I have to say I underestimated the effect Shaq would have on Amare when he's on the Floor. That moved Gasol to Shaq and Odom to Amare. By having each teams 2nd biggest guy defending Amare, he'll become a matchup nightmare.
I'm not sure if the Lakers had a bad game on the boards or the Suns are for real on the boards now, we'll have to wait a few games to see, but again I underestimated how Shaq will also free up Amare on the boards.
I agree with GTS, I'm glad we got the Suns with Shaq on his 1st game rather than when he is in full swing with the Suns.
So many storylines in this game:
-Kobe scores 40+ for the 90th time and with that bad pinkie
-Shaq debuts and really turns it on in the 4th quarter
-Amare goes off for 37 and 15
-1st place at stake for the pacific div.
....we got killed on the glass (Gasol, 3 rebounds?).....
Yea Pau's weakness was definately exposed in last nights game with Shaq and Amare abusing him on the glass. He doesn't box out that well and can't hold his ground against stronger guys when he does box out. There were a few times where he had Amare and Shaq boxed out but they were able to "gently" push him under the hoop and get the rebounds away from him.
I hope he can improve on that part of his game come playoff time. I'd also hope he can affect a few more shots on the defense end as well.
I absolutely love his offensive game, the guy is so efficient, he's shooting almost 65% from the floor! He plays great within the offense too.
Robster is right that Bynum will definately make a huge impact on both rebounding and defense. Not to mention in a PHX mathup he'll guard Shaq and move Gasol to Amare. That will free up Odom to help out on the glass as well. Is it March 9th yet????? I hope the kid comes back on time.
Just want to say that was a VERY good game, and the Lakers proved their point.
Kobe goes off for 41 with the bad pinkie- hard to believe that he got booed on opening night...
Gasol- very, very impressive. The Grizzlies are truly dumber for taking Kwame as bait.
I may be a Suns fan, but i'm not a Laker hater- in fact, as long as the Suprs or Pistons are NOT in the NBA Finals, I'm happy.
You have the blessing of this Suns fan- I hope your team does well in the playoffs, and hopefully prevent any more boring Spurs/Pistons NBA Finals.
Very classy post. I too get annoyed at the trolls in the NBA forum. Most of them are just unreasobale and tash any think anyone says. It was a great game, and thats how it should be looked as. A lot of Suns and Laker fans in that forum are just plain unbearable to deal with. Just posting stupid threads about hating on another team. Its good to see there are other sane posters out there who really appreciate the game. Im sure there are threads in the NBA forum saying "if bell didnt leave the game, Suns wouldve killed the Lakers!". Im sure there are a few out there. Keep up the good posting!
ChrisKreager, You are a bigger poster than most of us out here.... A tough fought game. Give Shaq a little more time, come playoff time there will be a lot more he will be dishing out. he is already creating a defensive anchor in the middle although for short spurts. the real positive will be amare moving to the 4, look how free he looked. i also think he is going to try and prove that he didnt need shaq, because he sort of took it as an insult the shaq said the ''Amare project." There will be improvement from this team, scary to say. I also feel that if the spurs and pistons dont make it to the finals i would be happy. But wow, shaq clocking bell was viscious...
It was a very good game. Enjoyed it a lot. I am not so sure Shaq is really the answer. It really depends on if he can stay on the floor. He has not done much of that in the past few years. I was afraid Gasol might be pushed around a lot underneath by the bigger centers and forwards in the league. Perhaps Kareem can work with him because he was pretty good at rebounding although he was slight of build as well. All in all, I am very happy with the progress made with Gasol. We seem to keep clicking on all cylinders. The bench has to be one of the best in the league. It will get even stronger when Bynum and Ariza get back. Should be an interesting run to the playoffs in the West with how close the 1-10 teams are.
I am not so worried about that. Yes, Pau is not one of the best defenders, but come on, ¿who can defend Amare AND Shaq in a paint being alone? Shaq let Amare play free, and Amare is a ****ing beast. Odom can't guard him, Gasol will make a better work having Bynum to defend Shaq.
Remember, Pau is a PF. Just we are lucky having a PF that can offer 20-8 playing as a center.
Great Win, Guys
Hope big daddy (Shaq) stays heathly for you.
