2017-2018 NBA Regular Season Thread

[Bolts]

Good job Jazz.

 

[Bolts]

aww, stop hatin' and let us enjoy our little streak...

damn Kings fans...

That doesn't sound fun at all though.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

aww, stop hatin' and let us enjoy our little streak...

damn Kings fans...

They are just jealous - and they never did get over Robert Horry - or should I call him Robber Horry?

 

[True Lakers Fan]

10 of those wins(and 3 of the losses) were against bottom 9 teams who are mostly tanking. A couple nice wins against OKC, Boston, SA(although they are crap without LMA and Kawhi), and even Indy but a lot of that is based off horrible competition. Not to say the Lakers aren't playing better and it's a step in the right direction but it's not overly impressive either.

At one point in the season, the Lakers were dead last as in last place, so to go from dead last to where they are now - I don't care who they beat - that was impressive. The Lakers true enough won some games they were supposed to win - but they also went on the road and won 4-0 on the road - that as well was impressive. Now what the Lakers do with the last 20 games of the season will say more about who they are and where they are at, but if they continue winning at 70% - It still wouldn't be enough to make the playoffs, but as a team - it would indicate to me - that they are ready to win and make the playoffs next year without any free agent

Next year without any new free agents

Lonzo Ball - PG
Isaiah Thomas - SG?
Brandon Ingram - F
Kyle Kuzma - F
Julius Randle - C

That wouldn't be that bad of a line up
And for the reserves

Josh Hart
Thomas Bryant
Ivica Zubac
?
?

This would be the worst case scenario in the event that the Lakers hit a big zero in free agents.

 

[Bolts]

They are just jealous - and they never did get over Robert Horry - or should I call him Robber Horry?

If anyone should be called "Robber" from that series it's the refs, that game 6 officiating was pathetic.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

If anyone should be called "Robber" from that series it's the refs, that game 6 officiating was pathetic.

That was the Adelman's fault for poor coaching - in game 5, Shaq fouled out or close to it - Phil Jackson told Shaq to back off knocking the players on their asses and play a finesse game for a change. The Kings team kept hammering him and kept sending Shaq to the free throw line. Adelman - never recognized the change in the Lakers strategy and didn't back off the hard fouls and that is also the reason he has never won a title

 

[Bolts]

At one point in the season, the Lakers were dead last as in last place, so to go from dead last to where they are now - I don't care who they beat - that was impressive. The Lakers true enough won some games they were supposed to win - but they also went on the road and won 4-0 on the road - that as well was impressive. Now what the Lakers do with the last 20 games of the season will say more about who they are and where they are at, but if they continue winning at 70% - It still wouldn't be enough to make the playoffs, but as a team - it would indicate to me - that they are ready to win and make the playoffs next year without any free agent

Next year without any new free agents

Lonzo Ball - PG
Isaiah Thomas - SG?
Brandon Ingram - F
Kyle Kuzma - F
Julius Randle - C

That wouldn't be that bad of a line up
And for the reserves

Josh Hart
Thomas Bryant
Ivica Zubac
?
?

This would be the worst case scenario in the event that the Lakers hit a big zero in free agents.

I just wanted to point out that a lot of their success was because of really bad teams, but yes it shows improvement and having a good 2nd half can help them going into next year. That said I'm not ready to call them a playoff team with the team they have now + a few minor offseason changes. They could make it but there's at least 6-8 teams I would have ahead of them for 2018-2019 as of now. Time will tell.

 

[Bolts]

That was the Adelman's fault for poor coaching - in game 5, Shaq fouled out or close to it - Phil Jackson told Shaq to back off knocking the players on their asses and play a finesse game for a change. The Kings team kept hammering him and kept sending Shaq to the free throw line. Adelman - never recognized the change in the Lakers strategy and didn't back off the hard fouls and that is also the reason he has never won a title

It was not all because the Kings kept hammering Shaq and giving him FT's, but whatever. It doesn't matter now anyway.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

It was not all because the Kings kept hammering Shaq and giving him FT's, but whatever. It doesn't matter now anyway.

Yes it was - He got fouled a lot because he had a reputation of being a poor free throw shooter and - it was a good strategy except for one thing - in some or many cases, he tightened up the free throws and made them down the stretch -

 

[Bolts]

Yes it was - He got fouled a lot because he had a reputation of being a poor free throw shooter and - it was a good strategy except for one thing - in some or many cases, he tightened up the free throws and made them down the stretch -

I guess Kobe elbowing Bibby in the nose with no foul called was just Bibby trying to foul like his teammates were doing to Shaq except the ref didn't call it.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

I just wanted to point out that a lot of their success was because of really bad teams, but yes it shows improvement and having a good 2nd half can help them going into next year. That said I'm not ready to call them a playoff team with the team they have now + a few minor offseason changes. They could make it but there's at least 6-8 teams I would have ahead of them for 2018-2019 as of now. Time will tell.

That's not a legitimate answer though and not the truth either because we both know that the worst team in the NBA can beat the best team on any given night - and the refs do call the games in favor of the home team - so for the Lakers to go 4-0 on the road - that was considerable. Just consider that the Lakers are 28-34, so deduct the Lakers 17 wins in the last 24 games and they were 11-27 and went to 28-24 - I don't care what any one says - for any team to do that - is impressive

 

[True Lakers Fan]

I guess Kobe elbowing Bibby in the nose with no foul called was just Bibby trying to foul like his teammates were doing to Shaq except the ref didn't call it.

Kobe got hit in the face a lot too and the ref's ignored it, so Kobe used his elbows to protect his face. It happens

 

[Bolts]

That's not a legitimate answer though and not the truth either because we both know that the worst team in the NBA can beat the best team on any given night - and the refs do call the games in favor of the home team - so for the Lakers to go 4-0 on the road - that was considerable. Just consider that the Lakers are 28-34, so deduct the Lakers 17 wins in the last 24 games and they were 11-27 and went to 28-24 - I don't care what any one says - for any team to do that - is impressive

I didn't see a question from your post so there's nothing for me to answer. And yes it's impressive no matter the competition I said it shows improvement and can help them for next year.

 

[Bolts]

Kobe got hit in the face a lot too and the ref's ignored it, so Kobe used his elbows to protect his face. It happens

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Are you arguing over events from 16 years ago?

 

[Lakers+USC=#1]

Queens

 

[Bolts]

Are you arguing over events from 16 years ago?

TLF referenced something from that series so I made a comment about it too and that's how it started. I guess you could say it's arguing, but I'm also not trying to convince any Lakers fans to agree with my thoughts/opinions of those events so I stopped discussing it.

 

[tlance]

Having watched every single Lakers game. I disagree. Kuzma is essentially Nance with a 3 point shot. They are both athletic, energy guys who defend, get rebounds and can finish at the rim. The ability to stretch the floor is mainly what makes Kuzma the better player and why the Lakers traded Nance instead of Kuzma.

But that is a huge difference and literally the thing that allows you to play the 2 at the same time. Nance and Randle more difficult to play together.

 

[tlance]

Magic, Bird, 'Nique, Kareem, Worthy, McHale, Dr. J, Moses, MJ and Sir Charles (to name a few) all say from the 80's.

Worthy and McHale were great players. Don't think they were ever superstars though. At least I would not classify them in that way. Most of those other players definitely were, but not at the same time. Their primes didn't overlap. J, Moses and Kareem had faded enough by the time the younger guys reached that status.

Also, not sure Nique was a superstar either. Again, really good scorer/player. But not transcendent. Obviously his playing style was different, but he was a lot like DeMar DeRozan today in terms of status. Top 10 player for sure, but there was a very clear gap between him and the super elites. Barkley reached superstar status, but maybe not until the early 90s.

So yeah, I don't think there were as many superstars in any single year back then as there are today. I would say early to mid 90s might have actually come closer with MJ, Barkley, Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, Malone all essentially in their primes.

 

[tlance]

If anyone should be called "Robber" from that series it's the refs, that game 6 officiating was pathetic.

I was a neutral observer of that game. That was one of the games that led many to believe NBA games were fixed. Rick Fox was playing linebacker in the 4th quarter basically tackling Kings players with no call while the Lakers paraded to the FT line. It was awful.

Not saying the Lakers didn't play well enough or deserve to win, but that game was a black mark on the NBA.