It might be a boring playoff season

I didn't get the chance to watch this afternoon's Spurs vs Lakers. But to me, Kobe was the reason that LA is in playoffs now, how would you expect them to be "blackhorse" without Kobe? This Lakers team has so many problems to be expected to make any kind of noise in the post season. The whole team is banged up - Nash, Pau, MWP, and DH12. Yes, they all came back to play, but the difference is just how close to 80 percent. D'Antoni is better than Mike-just-give-the-ball-to-LeBron-oops-Kobe-Brown, but he needs a healthy and effective Steve Nash, and doesn't know how to use DH12. So he closed the season with the only strategy "give the ball to Kobe". Stan Van Gundy used Howard the best way: dead-eye 3-pointer shooters bomb away, DH12 collects rebound and putbacks, plus occasional alley-oops. Lakers doesn't have those shooters.

Kobe is out, now what? No offense to 3peat, but post game/entry is not easy, you can't just turn it on during playoffs. You need Howard to go deep in the paint, and someone like MWP to make the post entry pass from the side, for instance. Well, RonRon is probably just going to launch a 3, be it at the elbow or corner, and Howard isn't any good at posting up. Give the ball to Howard 18 feet away from the basket? He doesn't know what to do with it, when his life is dependent on it. Is Pau healthy at all? Nash, as professional and as tough as he is, he's not in game shape, not to mention playoff shape.

I don't get all the hype about "黑七", yes, Spurs isn't the Spurs we know. No offense to 板凳, they are no longer a deep playoff team, but more like a regular season team, unless TD and Manu can turn the clock back. But still, GDP may be banged up as well, without Kobe, current Lakers is no match to them. To me, neither team would really challenge OKC, if they are lucky to pass Denver (not very likely). Those old bodies can't handle the intense playoffs, while younger ones on their teams are not prime time ready.

I said 3 years ago, it was the best time for someone to steal one from the Heat, and Mavs did take that opportunity. This year, Heat is clearly above everyone else in its own class, after taking a noticeable step forward. There are teams improved this year, like Rockets, Pacers, and Clippers, but they are not ready to be contenders. Last year's contenders all took a step back, be it roster change or age/injury impacted. So, there really isn't anyone who can challenge Heat this year.

If it's a cake walk for the Heat (except for Pacers making 2-3 games more interesting), it could be a boring playoff season.

所有跟帖： 

• agree with most part, but, while everyone says OKC steps back, I -一分錢- ♀ (128 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 16:52:17

• 威少和一把卡進步不少，但是我覺得少了胡子對他們影響還是蠻大的， -Warsteiner- ♂ (14 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 16:53:45

• 哈燈救不了雷霆. 從雷霆角度出發,他們需要利用包夾傳球把伊巴卡、科裏森和破金斯 -Net-A-Porter- ♀ (391 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:27:07

• 要對熱火有真正威脅，隻有內線打爆他們，所以Pacers被寄予厚望， -Warsteiner- ♂ (317 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:35:36

• 靠碰瓷治不了“本”，這個你也會同意。是吧？ -Net-A-Porter- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:50:59

• P! -Redcheetah- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 16:54:26

• who is RonRon? -longhair- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 16:57:23

• Got it. Thanks. -longhair- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:04:24

• Posting Gasol was actually fine. Posting Howard was not effecti -過- ♂ (369 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:08:55

• I haven't followed Lakers too much this year, -Warsteiner- ♂ (386 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:14:37

• If Kobe was there, and they played a slow Paul posting -過- ♂ (176 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:20:21

• Watching last quarter of the season, I asked myself why fire Bro -Warsteiner- ♂ (345 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:25:16

• 本來希望麵包走人給十三爺騰地兒，可小JB不幹，跟你說的一樣，蛋痛還不如麵包。 -LakersFan- ♂ (47 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:32:39

• As 老球迷 as you are, you know it's gonna happen, right?:) -Warsteiner- ♂ (338 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:42:37

• 嗬嗬，今年就看最後誰代表西部，跟南沙灘可以幹幾場。 -LakersFan- ♂ (68 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:20:28

• 哈哈，頑固不化啊。。 -過- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:31:16

• That's quite informative, as I missed the game today. -Warsteiner- ♂ (119 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:38:52

• Feeding the post isn't easy. -Net-A-Porter- ♀ (166 bytes) () 04/21/2013 postreply 17:44:01