| 25 February 2009
February 24th - LA Lakers (46-10) at Oklahoma City Thunder (13-43)
Had the fortuitous opportunity to chat with Zeb from BlueBlitz.Net (of OKC Thunder fame), and given that the Lakers play the Thunder, I asked him a few Qs...
Behind Enemy Lines
With Malice (Don): So, nearly landed Tyson Chandler, huh? How would that have impacted the Thunder, if he'd joined?
BlueBlitz.Net (Zeb): I'm probably alone in this assessment, but I think the move was better for PR than it was for our personnel. I mean, sure, he's probably better than all of our current big men, but is he that much better? It's hard to tell when all of a players success has been on the same team as Chris Paul. Nevertheless, that doesn't take anything away from him defensively, and we'd probably have a much easier time against teams that just try to outscore you (Warriors, Clippers, Kings, Knicks, Suns) and it would equate to more wins. But, we might have a bit more of a problem against traditional teams, as we'd probably have to move Durant to SG and start Nick Collison at PF, and as a result, we'd be much more slow, plodding, and P.J. Carlesimo-esque.WM: Do you believe the reasons given, or is it just a case of second-thoughts winning out?
BBN: Well, I'm probably the wrong guy to ask. Honestly, the day this trade went through, I was planning on going to the arena that night to get a jersey of my favourite player, Joe Smith. Needless to say, I had mixed emotions, but I thought it was a universally good move, and I was just being stupid about it. But, if the team doctors say a guy is going to have injury problems, my second-thoughts take over, and I think of it in more of a negative aspect.
At the end of the day, this trade was a good move, and it's a shame that the doctors voided it. Now, instead of having Tyson Chandler, we have Malik Rose and Joe Smith....for the rest of this season. A shame, to say the least.
WM: I'm betting that given the constant woes Greg Oden's being facing, you guys are breathing a sigh of relief that Portland picked him, huh?
BBN: Absolutely. Honestly, looking back, it's hard to even imagine that they were both being touted as All-Stars. I wasn't directly involved with the deal (I was a fan of the Warriors and Hornets) but I was still paying attention, and I didn't think much of either player. Oden was warshipped like a god in Portland and then he got injured getting up off of a couch? Durant was supposed to be a great scorer, but all I saw from him was trying to get bogus phantom foul calls. I'm glad that at least one of them turned out to be good.
WM: Tell me any one player you'd swap for Durant, excluding LeBron/Kobe.BBN: Dwight Howard, young Shaq, or young Tim Duncan. That's about it. Durant is as good as it gets for his position, and we already have a more than solid point guard. I'm a firm believer in the bigs trump smalls philosophy, so if we could get a franchise big man (re: not someone like Amare Stoudamire, Chris Bosh, or Jermaine O'Neal) than I'd do it in a heart beat. If we had one of those 3 guys I mentioned instead of Kevin Durant, we'd probably have at least 10 more wins. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't trade him at all no matter how insane the offer. No, I wouldn't trade him for Chris Paul, either.
WM: What do the Lakers need to do to come into Oklahoma, and beat the Thunder?
BBN: Exist?
Step on to the floor and attempt to play basketball?
Half the arena is going to be cheering for the Lakers anyway. I'll do everything in my power to stop the Lakers from winning, but there's not much even I can do. Pau Gasol will eat Krstic and Collison alive, while Durant will be matched up evenly with Kobe. The only possible advantage we might have is in the Westbrook-Fisher matchup, and even then I think that Fisher will guard Weaver/Sefolosha, so we don't have much of a shot there.
All of that aside, I'm extremely pissed at the Lakers for going into Oracle Arena last week, having the refs foul them back into the game, and then having the Lakers fans take over the Arena and start chanting "Let's go Lakers!" and "MVP!". So, I've got a vendetta to carry out against them tonight.
With all due respect, I hope and believe that you will lose by 40.
*****
Ouch. By 40?
Ok, back from that 'alternate reality', and here on solid earth I cannot see the Lakers losing this one. Sure, and all humor aside, LA do tend to play a little bit loose and easy against lower teams, but this is a team that's amassed a 20-6 road record thus far this season (best in the association). They bring a 4 game win-streak in, and match that up against OKC's 5 game losing streak. LA'll be fine.
Why will they win?
Well, Zeb pointed out that Gasol'll eat the Krstic/Collison tandem alive (he will - the last half dozen or so games he's been huge), and he generously gave the Durant/Kobe match-up a wash (really? "...matched up evenly..."???)... but even then he neglected to mention Lamar Odom.
And quite simply, Odom's been on fire recently. He's been a beast.
3 of the last 4 games he's had a double/double. Since Andrew Bynum went down, Odom's been hitting 52.3 percent and averaging 17.2 points and 13.8 rebounds. Unlikely that OKC can slow him or Gasol down.
And Kobe? Don't fear there. Kobe'll get his. And if 'his' amounts to 14 points or more, he'll pass Adrian Dantley for 19th all time scorer.
LA have to stop Durant, and rookie Russell Westbrook to win in Oklahoma City, but they have the tools to make them work for their points.
LA by 9.
