Kings will give the Lakers some problems!!!!

[John Corn]

Kings are the #1 offensive team at home!!
They have lots of weapons and clutch players...
so don't expect the Kings to beat themselves in the 4th quarter like the pathetic Spurs. and I don't think the Lakers want to get in a fast pace game with the Kings, the Lakers will try to slow down the tempo and force the Kings to play half-court...

Kings with strong homecourt, 39-7 at home this season..
they will give the Lakers some serious threats!!!

[Chris Blount]

It will be interesting to see what happens in the series. I think Sacramento can beat the Lakers. Shaq and Kobe need a wakeup call.

[James_F]

I'll believe it when I see it. The Lakers are still the best team in the NBA and the Kings are missing Peja Stojakovic. I don't think the Kings have a chance...

I'm also sure that NBC is looking for a Lakers/Celtics matchup....

[Mark Holtz]

We'll see what happens. Sacramento also has a deeper team. You're forgetting about Bibby who has been a strong player in the playoffs, not to mention Vlade and C-Webb. It will be interesting to watch... if it weren't for finals.

BTW: The Kings are the most popular NBA team in Serbia (http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/2634203p-3255474c.html), even through the games, when carried live, air at 3:30 AM over there. Over here, the playoff fever have caused an interesting economic twist (http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/2715639p-3437074c.html): Trade and commerce business are very quiet during the games.

[John Corn]

Kings defensively are getting a bad rap.........why?
I'm tired of hearing that the Kings are a poor defensive team. They're not. Numbers don't lie, so let's look at the Kings' defensive statistics.

Opponent FG% - .439 (9th in NBA)
Opponent 3pt% - .337 (3rd)
Opponent TO/game - 15.4 (5th)
Point Differential - +7.6 (1st)
Defensive Efficiency (derived statistic based on pts. per possession ratio - from alleyoop.com ( http://www.alleyoop.com/ftb/110101.htm ) - (6th)

Notice I didn't include scoring defense; that's because scoring defense is a poor measurement of defensive effectiveness. Scoring defense is skewed towards 'walk it up' teams that play at a slow pace on the offensive end; the Lakers, considered the best defensive team by most are only tied for 9th in scoring defense.

Phil Jackson said himself in the Lakers press conference that he thinks the Kings defense has been underrated all year (saw it on ESPNNEWS). Everyone who thinks the Lakers will destroy the Kings because 'the Kings' defense sucks' had better come up with a more valid argument.

[James_F]

Well we'll see... The Lakers are the champs and they have had no sign of letting down this year, lately. They win when the have to and the have a NBA records for wins on the road. I just don't think they match up with the lakers...

[Mike]

No one is more diehard Laker blue and gold then me, but this is the one team I didn't want to play. I still don't want to play them. This will go 6 maybe 7 games. Nothing shorter. I know the Kings defense is tough. They played and beat a pretty good Dallas team. We could lose both in Sacramento this weekend. Those darn cow bells are distracting. It throws the Lakers off. It's psychological. They bug me. I'm worried. Lakers play bad after a long stretch off. Lakers will have 3 days off and they haven't played well in a 1st half since the Portland series and that's suspect too. I'm worried. I just hope 4 games get put in the frig or deep freeze (Al McCoyism) as Chick almost said the other night :) Whatever team wins this series plays New Jersey in the finals and it's a cakewalk for the West to the title.

[James_F]

One game down, three to go! :righton:

[Mike]

Yep! WOW!!! What an easy victory! I'm stoked. If we win game 2 then it's over sooner than I thought. Where were the cow bells? Fans were silent from the get-go. What an awesome 1st quarter!!!!

[James_F]

Originally posted by Mike
Where were the cow bells? Fans were silent from the get-go.

Thats because they were thinking, "Here we go again..."

[John Corn]

Congrats to the Lakers on their victory today. I loved the stat differential to when Shaq is in the game and then when he is out of the game. That was interesting.

Lakers made that game look easy, the Kings have got to play better than this. :( The pressure is all on Kings in game 2.

[Mark Holtz]

The Lakers won it in the first quarter. Scores for the second and third quarter were even, and the kings won the fourth quarter.

There was also some blantant fouls that were not called by the officials.

[James_F]

Originally posted by Z'Loth
There was also some blantant fouls that were not called by the officials.

I was waiting for the Kings fans to start this... :rolleyes:

Champions must rise above this and win. The Diamondbacks did it over the Yankees and if the Kings are really a championship type team, then they should do it over the Lakers (But I doubt it).

[John Corn]

I thought it was a good game, the Lakers just outplayed them from start to finish. As for any bad calls, I saw three. Two against the Kings and one against the Lakers. I thought the elbow from Kobe to Christie's face should of been a non-call. Also Divacs was out of the restricted area, and it should of been a charge on Kobe. Than the last bad call, was when Kobe drove to the hoop, and both Webber and Bobby Jackson got some of his arm on the way by. So all inall, i thought it was a pretty good reffed game. The kings just didn't seem to get as many loose balls as the lakers.

[Mike]

Any game that Javie does that does not involve the Lakers is a good game. Any game that Javie does that involves the Lakers means they have to work for the victory. It's been this way since 1989 against the Nets in pre-season in Calgary and hasn't changed to this day.

Well, here we go.... Game 2 is about to begin. Lakers KCAL backhaul is on SBS 6 - Tr 9 for those of you Lakers fans out there! Let's go Lakers!!

[John Corn]

The series is all tied up, this makes it much more intresting now. :)
The Kings played well and the Lakers as a team did not play well. When Shaq picked up his 4th foul after Vlade flop it was the turning point IMO. I think the foul difference early in the game was a factor as well. It really wasn't a decisive win by the Kings!

Another thing...

I find it refreshing that Kings fans like to celebrate and enjoy their victories. It's what being a fan should be about. I think the cowbells and all the noise they make is cool. It unites them. There's nothing wrong with it.

There's a lot of back and forth talk out there that's pretty funny. It's almost like saying "my dad can beat up your dad."

I'm just going to enjoy this series and watch the best team win.

[Mike]

Both teams played lousy!!!!! Kings fans/friends/family members made Kobe sick with food poisoning, so how can you root for a team that cheats? :) Vlade's flops aren't what they used to be at one time. Both teams played lousy especially in the 2nd half. What's up with all of the Kings free throws? I'm not worried. We still have home court advantage. I won't worry unless the Kings when one at Staples. What hotel are the Kings players going to be staying in on Thursday night? Series is just beginning. Lakers in 6 now.

[Mark Holtz]

The health department is investigating. It's entirely possible that Kobe let the cheeseburger sit there when it got delivered, thus allowing bacteria to grow, causing food poisoning.

As for Shaq, he had sour grapes, and everyone had fun today figuring which words begin with a "C" and end in a "T" that wasn't cheat. My two favorites were "coit" (as in the carpet cleaners) and "clarvoyant" (and they played the The X Files theme). Someone actually did a dictionary search

Still, the officiating and the teams must improve. I still say Kings in six.

[Chris Blount]

I'm tired of Shaq's arrogance. He basically accused Sacramento of cheating. I hope the Lakers go down in flames.

[Mark Holtz]

The latest word is that Peja will probably be out games 3 and four.

[Mark Holtz]

And now Kobe is questionable for game three.

[Mike]

That's just peachy! That's because of the cheating and the food poisoning. Thanks Kings fans/friends/employees. That will really stink knowing that Kobe is out because of something non basketball related that was caused by a chef or whomever. This stinks! I think there really needs to be investigation into this matter. Shaq is right. They did cheat!

[Mark Holtz]

Destiny unknown for Bryant's burger, hotel's GM says (http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/2840695p-3632244c.html)

[James_F]

No one in SoCal believes what some hick in Sacramento thinks. :evilgrin:

[Karl Foster]

Originally posted by Mike
That's just peachy! That's because of the cheating and the food poisoning. Thanks Kings fans/friends/employees. That will really stink knowing that Kobe is out because of something non basketball related that was caused by a chef or whomever. This stinks! I think there really needs to be investigation into this matter. Shaq is right. They did cheat!

give me a break. Michael Jordan got sick in Salt Lake from food poisoning during the finals the year the Lakers were in the lottery and people said the same thing. Turned out to be nonsense. Nobody poisoned Kobe on purpose. Tough break for the Lakers. S**t happens!

[Mark Holtz]

What an interesting game. The Lakers played some sloppy ball in the third quarter, and lead as much as 27 points! But, that 11-0 run in ONE minute at the five minute point could have cost the game. And, the Laker's fans were leaving at that point. :lol:

The Kings have pulled off the impossible.... beating the Lakers two times in a row, and in tough Staples center as well.

One thing is for certain.... whoever wins the Western crown, it will be a hard fought victory.