Why am I so upset ?

1. Coming into this game, the biggest game of the season, we just knew that we were going to have a poor start. Early start was part of the reason why, but it was an early start for the Blazers as well. If we knew we are going to have a poor start, why couldnt Phil ? In those surcenstances I would chalange to win the 1 st quater, never mind the game. And lets face it, 1 st quater is where we lost the game.


2. Like so many times before, our offence in the 1 st half was all Shaq. You cant forget Kobe who mite just be the best player in the NBA right now. And when Phil finaly figured it wasent working he thurned to Kobe in the 2 nd half but it was to late. Obviously I blame that tactics for loss of the game but think beond the game - are you still sure Kobe will resighn with the Lakers ? He must be the most underated superstar by his own team.

To be honest, after all we have bean trew, 4 th sead looked to good to be tru. But since it was within our grasp we should have got it. Lets face it, Blazers have bean playing teribale basketball lately without Pippen losing at Memphisand home Vs Wolves and Jazz. So thay were there for the takeing.to

So, where to now ? Forget about the 4 th sead. But if we are lucky, we can still finish 5 th. All we nead to do is win both of our games and weit for ether Portland ( H Suns A Clippers ) or Wolves ( A Grizzlies ) to lose a game. Our chances mite be slim, but it could still happend. Hell we mite even get up to 4 th if both Wolves and Blazers lose but thats a sience fiction.

Geting up to 5 th would be very important for the Lakers cose if we do so, we will avoid Mavs in the 1 st round and even more important avoid Kings in the 2 nd witch could be the difference to winning it all or going outs where we lost the game.

GO SUNS!
GO CLIPPERS!
GO GRIZZLIES!
AND OF COURSE GO LAKERS!

Dragan, while it might not be a pleasant thought I suppose Kobe might be wondering what it would be like to be the first option during the entire game.

Magic had the same philosophy that Kobe has adopted (getting teammates going first, then getting his). Kobe says he enjoys setting up his teammates in the first half, then getting his in the second half. I believe it, but there will soon come a time (next season) when the team will be missing shots and Shaq will be out of shape and frustration will again set in.

After this miserable season I'll take the 6th seed against Dallas. The Mavs might win a game or two, but they don't have the ability to defend anyone in the post. Perhaps an early exit from the playoffs will inspire Cuban to move LaFrentz and Nick to Miami for BGrant and EJ. If that happens, I would just assume avoid them next season.

I am a little disapointed you bot that explenation. You have to realise that most of the time players are just being politicly corect and are trying to sey what the fans wanna hear. Kobe game is defenetly suffering from being in shadow of Shaw and even Phil`s ego. Kobe is a scorer. Probebly the best one in the league. And aldough he does other things well as well, you have to let him do what he does best in the league. And that is score. Magic you se was never that kind of a player. He was just not a big time scorer.

I would take 5 th. But not 6 th. I feel that 6 th would be very upseting. Sure we are likely to beat the Mavs, but its going to be mutch tougher than most of you think. And than we will be very tired playing the Kings who will have easy time Vs the Jazz. And I dont even wanna think how tired we would be for San Antonio. Playing best 3 teams in the league ( other than us ) in the 1 st 3 rounds of the playofs is just not the way to do it. Even when we were at our best, we were never tested as mutch as that.

Magic might not have been a scorer, but he always said that Kareem, Worthy, and himself would be able to get their shots whenever they wanted, so they collectively worked to get another player or two involved earlier, particularly Byron Scott or A.C.

I think Kobe buys into this, but Shaq certainly doesn't.

I don't think the Mavs in round one will be easy by any means, but I wouldn't say we have had it easier in past years. Portland is a team that only the Lakers could make look bad in a first round series, and I think they have been better in past years when the Lakers got them in the first rounds.

What happened to the good ol days when we could beat up on Seattle for 3 games then relax until the 2nd round? Heck, if we saw Seattle this year we would never see the next round.

Magic was not a scorer. Mot of his baskets came on tricking opposition. Using his brain, using mismatches, exspecting him to pass and so on. But he alwayes had to outthink opponent to score witch makes him so special. Kobe just has the skill Magic was never close to having.

We nead an easy early round. Mavs in the 1 st and Kings in the 2 nd will take a lot out of us for Spurs series in the finals and we will nead energy for that series.

We nead an easy early round. Mavs in the 1 st and Kings in the 2 nd will take a lot out of us for Spurs series in the finals and we will nead energy for that series.

True it will take a lot out of us, but at least Shaq didn't play during the first 50 games of the season. Dude is rested.

I was just reminded when playing Playstation II how ugly Magic's jump/set shot was. Thank goodness he was... uhh... magic.

Magic could score when he had to. Gliding down the lane, swooping to the hoop in order to lay it in softly off the fingertips. These are the images that I recall from the "Magic days".

Magic was special. But lets face it, he was slow and not mutch of a shooter. He make up all of that with his brain.