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NBA 2004 Finals: Lakers or Spurs
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| Nautilus |
There are 8 teams remaining in the NBA playoff picture, among them the two teams who combined have won the last 5 NBA championship titles: the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs.
Oldly enough these two teams find themselves facing each other in the Western Conference Semi-finals yet again. And like last year each team has held its home court advantage for the first 4 games of the series giving us a 2-2 game tie, with the series being pretty much narrowed down to a best of 3 games match-up.
The winner of this match-up will be considered the hands down favorite to win it all again this year.
So who do you think will want this series more? The Spurs are the defending Champs, are considered to be a more energetic and fundamentally sound team, and have home court advantage for the remainder of the series. On the other hand, the Lakers are determined to get retribution for last year's defeat to the Spurs, are considered to be the most dominant team in the NBA (when they want to be), and are facing an uncertain future with retirements, free agencies, aging, and Kobe's legal troubles sure to change the makeup of the Lakers come this fall, thus most likely see this opportunity their last best shot at winning a championship for awhile to come. |
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| slim |
| i hate both teams, but i think San Antonio will pull it out. |
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| rounder19 |
hate both too but lakers more
go spurs |
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| Nautilus |
Well, yesterday pivotal game 5 took place between the Lakers and the Spurs in San Antonio. With the series tied two games a piece this game pretty much dictates who would go on and win the series – since 85% of the teams who win game 5 usually go on to win a fourth and final game.
Lakers dominated the entire game until the final 8-10 minutes of the fourth quarter, when the Spurs were able to charge back despite being down 16 in the third quarter.
The final three possessions were amazing. With the score 71-70 in favor of the Spurs, Kobe Byrant pulled off one of his signature backbreaking shoots, which put the Lakers up 72-71 with about 12 seconds to play. The Spurs responded with an inbounds pass to Tim Duncan who, despite heavy pressure coming from Shaq, sank a prayer of a shot over the giant to regain the lead for the Spurs at 73-72 with only 0.4 seconds left.
It looked as if this game was in the books with San Antonio the victor and I was close to turning off the TV in disgust. But I decided to remain in my seat and see if Kobe could pull off another buzzer beater. After three time outs Gary Payton was ready to dish the inbounds pass to either Kobe or lob it to Shaq. But the Spurs weren’t about to let either one have a shot at touching the ball, so they were molested by awesome defense. However, that left Derrick Fisher practically alone and open to take the shot. With 0.4 seconds left Payton inbounds to Fisher who barely and I mean barely has time to attempt a shot. Fisher catches and shoots a turn around jumper with Manu Ginobli in his face and silences the San Antonio crowd. It was awesome! The play stood after a referee review and the Lakers could claim game 5 as theirs.
So, with the Lakers leading the series 3-2, clearly owning the momentum, and the next game being this Saturday in Los Angeles, it seems like a forgone conclusion that the Lakers will advance to the Western Conference Finals on their road to the NBA Finals. |
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| st3nc |
| kobe bryant is just too good. go lakers. |
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