Actually LO played mostly 4 on this series.

Which was why he was a monster on the boards...as a 3 he gets pushed out too much and tends to settle for jumpers and is usually out of place for rebounds.

Contrary to popular belief...I think it's LO that won the series for us. Sure Kobe's Kob. Pau's Pau-Wow. And Da Fish is just gold, purple and gold lol....but LO really didn't have anyone to cancel him out. He literally took off Boozer in this series, and AK47 at times. There was just no one to cover him, and an aggressive LO always bodes well for us.

On the defensive side of the ball...simply brilliant. Every shot challenged (way to pick it up Pau!), and every drive met...first rule of defense is stop the ball and I felt like Fish was huge in fighting through picks and challenging shots. In his spare time, he got steals...and disrupts the bigs.

When we play D like we did last night, and with 5+ in double figures we're just tough to beat. I'm loving it.

Go Lakers!

Atlast ESPN showed the game live in India, and I was glued in front of the TV set, just to see the Lakers make it quite a game in the 4th.

But the Lakers have the "MAMBA" and others don't. Clutch trey and deuce on with the Defender fouling him. Fish added a couple when Utah was chipping the lead down to 2.

8 more wins to go....

Last night's game left me a bit worry as an ex-BB player and coach. If we do play New Orleans, and although I grew up in LA and I am a loyal fan of our lakers I do live in Louisiana, I have failed so far to see professional players and coaches, Dallas as an example, that have not been able to figure how to stop Paul & Chandler on the most basic of BB plays, the pcik and roll. Chandler has a "great" FG percentage figure. Why? All he does is pick & Roll and hang around he basket for high passing. And that cannot be stopped? Give me a break. Elementary Dr. Watson. Call the pick to your teammate, follow it, and block aroudn the basket. No switch...still hand into the basket. Chandler is making it a career of doing this and tghe opposition does not grasp it. Paul cannot compare to Koby.

Now, if it is San An we have a better chance as they are not asx physical. But they are very discipline and we will have to contain a better and methodical team.

Go Lakers....

Good morning Laker family around the Globe,

It is a glorious day to be a Laker fan. Our team is going to the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers closed out Round 2 in six games, by establishing their turf early on Utah's floor. The Jazz couldn't recover until it was far too late.

Before I go any further, my compliments to Laker Tom for an absolutely brilliant post.

My thoughts: We won both games on the road in Round 1. We won one game on the road in Round 2. The Lakers have proved that they are a team that can win on the road in the Playoffs.

The Lakers have home court advantage in the Western Conference Finals. They are also a team that can win on the road. Whether the Lakers face the Spurs or the Hornets, it is advantage Lakers.

The Lakers are a team with five or six players in double figures almost every game. This makes the Lakers difficult to defend, no matter who they are playing.

Even though Kobe and Fish are the only Laker players to have played this deep into the Playoffs, the rest of the team now has impressive experience and confidence after winning Round 1 and Round 2. While the San Antonio players have been together longer as a unit and are Playoff tested, the Lakers after tonight have shown they have Playoff Poise, and are worthy opponents if it is the Spurs who go to the finals. If the Hornets move to the finals, they lack tested leaders like Kobe and Fish.

This is our year. This is our team. Go Lakers!

WCF!!!

i like the Lakers to play the Hornets!!! Nobody can guard Kobe in their lineup.

GO LAKERS!

Random thoughts:

For those of you complaining about Fisher a couple of months ago, aren't you glad he is here? He had a great series! Can you imagine Smush running the point, or even worse, Jordan starting? Yikes! I hope Farmar gets out of his funk.

LO's coming out party.

Kobe is the MVP hands down. Absolutely no argument can be raised against him contrary to the last three league MVPs.

Will any of you experience withdrawls for the next 5 days like I will.

Can you imagine what this team would be like with AB17? All i can say is WOW. Let's hope that knee is OK.

Even though he fustrates me a lot of the time, I'm very glad PJ is our coach.

Thanks G.D. for that stat on Radman and Sasha last night. That my friends was the X factor last night. I loved Sasha in Korver's face all night long. Amazing energy. Korver went 1-4!

Luke was back to his normal regular-season self in this series.

I love that we got Gasol, but it seems he gets intimidated around the rim. Finish it Gasol!

I LOVE THIS TEAM! One of my all-time favorite Laker teams, maybe tied with the 85 Lakers. They were pretty good too. Kareem, Magic, Byron, Wilkes, Worthy, Coop, McAdoo, Rambis. Oh and don't forget Chuck Nevitt and Mitch Kupchak.

GO LAKERS

8 to 15

For those who are lamenting the final surge as a proof of weakness in the Lakers, I come back to what I posted during the game: Phil's insistance on benching Kobe and most of the first unit at the start of the fourth quarter was an invitation to the Jazz to make their comeback. I understand the wisdom of this in regular season games and in most playoff games, but in a closeout game, with a big lead and momentum, where the reward for victory is a five day rest, I think it's risky to break the rhythm just to rest the starters.

We saw the result: Walton and co. letting the lead slip to the point where it was necessary to call a time-out and put the first unit in again to save the otherwise safe winning margin. And of course, not only had their momentum disappeared, but they needed a couple of minutes to get back in the rhythm, with the lead dropping yet again. That's when Kobe came back with his daggers. And in some sense you can count on him. But all that could have been avoided by letting the first unit consolidate the lead and then put Newble and Mbenga on the floor for garbage time.

Phil's "system" is just a bit too systematic at times.

Here is a really good post from a Jazz blogger:

"As a life-long Utah fan; I have to give major kudos to the Lakers. They overcame injuries all year long with Kobe carrying the weight. Deservingly he was rewarded with the Pau Gasol trade which made the Lakers immediate contenders and not pretenders like all the other "hopeful" trades made at the end of the season.

How could anyone count the Lakers out with Phil at the helm, the best pure basketball player in the league if not in the history of the game (Kobe), a championship veteran and class-act point guard (D-Fish), a swing-man that can do it all (Gasol), a HEALTHY and extremely athletic big man that does all the dirty work with both power and speed (Odom), and a supporting cast of teammates that can feed off of the confidence and experience of their starting five? Come on please! I am the truest of true Jazz fans, but the reality is we made it a series, but got beat by a better TEAM! D-Will is the ONLY constant in our game and is undoubtedly the only one with the H.O.C. (Heart of a Champion) hopefully he will be rewarded for his efforts the near future in or most likely, out of Utah.

As for the officiating, the refs did a GREAT job in this series. Consider the fact that my boys in Utah put a lot of pressure on the refs to make good judgment calls based upon their well-known physical-type of play. Utah relied on getting to the line throughout the season and the playoffs as a large part of their scoring game. When that plan went by the wayside because your opponents are much more athletic and can actually FINISH their shots after the contact; a part of your game plan is suddenly non-existent.

So to my fellow Jazz fans; QUIT WHINNING ABOUT THE REFS! If Boozer, Okur, and AK-47 would have played every quarter as if it was the 4th quarter in an elimination game, then the series may have taken a different turn if not forced a Game 7 in L.A. As for you "low-life" Utah fans that act like idiots on national TV and BOO one of the best class-act players in the league (D-Fish) for leaving Utah to ensure the LONGTERM well-being of his child; TO HELL WITH YOU ALL!!! Our Utah citizens have always praised the importance of family and to so distastefully disrespect and dishonor Derek and Larry Miller for making the RIGHT decision is inhumane, selfish, and for those Utah fans like myself who only have a tidbit of pride left; down right EMBARRASSING! Thanks again for making everyone associated to the Jazz including our great team, look like a bunch of classless idiots. I'm sure Adrian, Karl, John, and Jeff are glad to have retired when they did with at least a bit of pride left in their fans.

Good luck Lakers! GO HORNETS!!!""

Wow, a Jazz fan with class. Who'd thunk it?
(Actually, most of the jazz fans I know personally are overall classy individuals. This guy exemplifies the truer Jazz fan -- Not the idiots you see at ESA)

Lakers move on to WCF, that's first time in 4 years. Many of our traditional homers here downplayed the Jazz at the start of the series predicting sweep, well it was 4-2 which is attributed to Jazz defense and a well coached team. The Western Conference will be tougher as years go by when players mature in the playoffs. It's hard to predict any kind of dynasty. I love the Lakers chances but these are not the eighties. Judging from this series, we saw here new names: Miles, Brewer, Millsap and Korver they are good role players. Okur, AK and Harpring will continue to supply the Jazz while Deron and Boozer bloom into 1-2 punch.

With our Lakers, this is a night and day comparison to our previous playoffs visit. What a difference a year makes with the addition of Derek Fisher in the point, Bynum in the first half of the season, the addition of Trevor as power forward and Pau as the post/pivot player expert. They all complimented with Kobe and LO. Then we add the complimentary players like Sasha and Vlad as perimeter producers, Luke and Jordan as fascilitators, Turiaf and Mbenga as energy blockers and rebounders. This is the total package for the Lakers being coached by the hall of famer, founder of the triangle and dynasty creators. They are the team to beat for many years to come as long as the camaraderie continues to grow and will not swell their heads. If Mitch Kupchak could find a way to maintain the whole unit at a tolerable luxury tax penalty that's will be an EOY type of job plus of course, the coming of Coby Karl and Sun Yue next season. This will be an exciting team to watch with added entertainment from the one and only one Kobe Bean. Again I'll shy from dynastic predictions, you have to respect the advent of the Blazers, the maturity of the Hornets and Jazz and the traditional contenders like Spurs, Rockets, Suns and Mavericks. We don't know yet how the Kings and Clippers as well as Nuggets develop after the trading days.. All of these team will be competing in a thoroughbred horse race known as the Churchill Downs of the NBA in the future.

The Western Finals, well if it's the Spurs, Lakers will go for 7 games unless the old knees of the Spurs buckled down in a transition game. I say 7 because of their experience as a team and the four time winner Popovich. Don't underestimate their imports compliment with the old reliable Duncan. If Hornets wins the 2nd round, I say 4-1 or maybe 4-2 because of Byron's experience in the playoffs. I fear most - Peja and CP3 as the usual Laker tormentors. West and Chandler are dependent on CP3, when Wasp is checked the other two buds starve to death. Hornets will have a hard time to win the WCF series because their bench is not as good as the Lakers. Watch Ariza shine in this series, Mbenga and Turiaf will go force by force against Tyson. The sudden rise of the Hornets this year is too abrupt from 10th seed last year to 2nd this year and a possible WCF contender, somehow the lack experience will manifest as the competitions becomes tougher where it will be a game of inches. There are always two seasons in NBA, the 82 games are for rookies and home team advantage during playoffs while the playoffs is reserved for veterans and superstars whether speaking of players or coaches. With regards to our eastern shamrock lephrachauns, indeed they play like lephrachauns, chest thomping at their best when they're in front of fellow lephrachauns in the bleachers. One of these days, the law of probabilty of frequent 7 games will strike at these pretenders and new gatecrushers. haha!

Ken,

“where is Andrew Z?”

Hell with Andrew Z (jk). Where is Andrew B? LOL.

Tom

Tim,

You may be on to something. I have been thinking of Andrew a lot lately, especially with reminders that several prognosticators, including Charles Barkley, have dropped that this may be the best chance teams will have to beat the Lakers since Bynum is out.

In fact, there has been a bandwagon oriented consensus developing in the national sports media that the Lakers may be on the brink of another dynasty. Of course, we have been saying the same thing on the blog well before the team even traded for Pau Gasol.

The Lakers, even without Andrew Bynum, are clearly the team to beat to win the NBA championship this year. The key is their great repertoire of offensive weapons headed by KB24 and deeply talented and versatile bench that is very long and athletic.

I may be the craze optimist but something down deep tells me that Drew will play in the NBA Finals. Laker karma demands that Drew get a chance to share the glory since his emergence was the catalyst that ignited this perfect storm of a season for the Lakers.

I am still hoping that we face the Spurs although I do not really fear the Hornets. In the end, neither team have the talent or depth to hang with us. Lakers in 6 versus either.

Tom

Whats up Laker fan's question I have is I know Bynum is hurt and is not going to return but has anybody seen him at any of the home games? I 'm not in LA so the coverage I get out here in FL. is kind of weak. I saw Trevor the other night , I was just wondering why he wasn't at the home games supporting the team?

Posted by: LAKERJUNKIE | May 17, 2008 at 08:01 AM

Maybe he is getting treatment but whatever, if the FO is not worried, or team mates, or coaching staff, then what is your point or concern?