Hey, Lakers fans, let's make a bet...

I hereby propose a wager:

Any Lakerfans that want to take me up on it, post in this thread. If the Spurs win, you have to change your avatar to the Spurs logo for one month. If the Lakers win, I will don a Lakers avatar for one month. That's the series, of course, not just the first game.

Any takers?
:evilgrin:

but seeing as how I won't have to, you're on.

But you should use your new Lakers avatar for one month for each Lakers fan that takes you up on the bet. I can understand your wanting to hedge your bet, but make it an even bet in terms of avatar-months at risk.

We need Tony to get off to a good start.

I doubt I'll get many. Most Lakerfans on the board are fairly smart.

Yahoo.....This is gonna be one hell of a series.

That was, what, a 16-2 run to finish out the quarter?

Looks like the rust got worked out nicely, doesn't it?

Shaq just missed 4 consecutive shots in the lane!

If not, and if the Lakers somehow win game 1, I foresee a rash of "brave" Lakerfans coming out of the woodwork to accept your wager. It's the Phil Jackson philosophy: only accept a "challenge" if you're almost guaranteed success.

That fourth quarter was just a taste of things to come.

Welcome to the clampdown, LA. :evilgrin:

LA had 0, that's zero, fast break points.

PLAYER POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
· K. Malone PF 43 3-10 0-0 4-4 1 11 5 0 0 3 3 10
· G. Payton PG 38 1-8 0-0 2-2 1 4 3 0 0 2 3 4

The two new Hall of Famers managed, in 81 minutes, to combine for 14 points on 4 of 18 shooting. Yeah, that'll help. :D

And the bench scoring was another huge disparity. LA got 6 points off the bench, while San Antonio got 23.

Plus, we did this with Hedo Turkoglu laying a goose egg and scoring no points, down from his 10 ppg average in the first round and regular season.

Three, maybe four games to go.

And yet they won on the strength of their defensive system, which keeps them in a position to win most games.

Neither Manu, Hedo, nor Horry did much on the offensive end. That won't continue. At some point in this series, one or two of those guys will explode (in a good way).

Manu didn't have a horrible game, but it wasn't great. Ten points on 40% shooting, six rebounds, and a couple each of assists and steals. But only getting to the line once, as often as he drives, is rather strange.

Horry definitely was quiet, but he did some stuff that doesn't go in the box score that really helped, picking up some loose balls, etc.

I was tickled to see KWill in the game.

After he shot 4 of 5 on threes in one of those games (and something like 60% on threes for the series), I expect him to go wild from behind the arc in at least one game vs. the Lakers. I can think of no better way to break the dessicated, black hearts of Lakerfans than for Horry to send their team packing. :evilgrin:

I can't watch Spurs games alone - not good for my heart! :D

:hi:

Saw some of his postgame remarks, and he was whining about a couple of bad calls! Holy smokes -- I mean, words fail me. The Lakers complaining about the officiating? I figure Phil could just order the Palace Guards beheaded?

You know summer is coming when Phil is complaining about the refs. It's just his schtick.

He knows that the Lakers can't win without help, so he's trying to influence the refs.

All in all, I thought it was not a well-officiated game, but the bad calls went both ways. It seemed they'd call it for LA for a while, then SA for a while.

But LA shot 12 more free throws, while San Antonio was called for 6 more fouls.

It didn't work then, either.

I think it was about par for the course for an NBA game, which is to say the officiating stunk out loud all around.

Despite the Spurs' aggressiveness in driving to the basket, they went to the line only 21 times to the Lakers' 33 times. In other words, the Lakers took over 50% more free throws than the Spurs.

Box score:
http://www.nba.com/games/20040502/LALSAS/boxscore.html