11 years since the game 7 vs Boston
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GOODRICH25
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 6:28 pm    Post subject:

Legendary. I thought after 2-3 it's over, that they are too mentally tough to not take advantage, but we stepped up with everything on the line for two straight games. I felt empty in 08, I didn't think we will win before the series but I was hoping, but first that comeback they made killed my hope, and then game 6 made me feel miserable. Thank God for 2010 though, revenge is sweet
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nevitt_smrek
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 5:26 pm    Post subject:

1995Lakers wrote:
We should have faced Boston in 2008-2009. That NBA Finals meeting is peak Kobe-Gasol Lakers vs peak big 4 Celtics. The regular season meetings between the 2 teams was absolute gold - the Christmas day game to snap their 19 game winning streak capped off by the Ariza reverse dunk and halt their starting record at 27-2 and the overtime game in February 110-109 where Pau blocks Ray Allen at the end.

TBH, I always felt the 2009 Celtics WAS the strongest team in the NBA that year (barely above the Lakers with the 66-16 Cavs clearly behind both of them) but Garnett's knee injury completely derailed their season and between 2 very close teams like these two and with the Lakers motivation for revenge, this is a 50-50 pick'em series and would have been the greatest NBA Finals in history.

By 2010, both teams were clearly not at their very best shown the year prior. This year, I thought the Cavs were clearly the best team in the league and how they choked away the series with Boston after absolutely massacring them at the Garden in Game 3 is still beyond me. Garnett being outplayed by Gasol was the key to winning the Finals this year. This would not have been the case the year prior and the battle would have been a lot closer between these two.


Orlando played a quality final, but it was a shame that the 2009 Lakers didn't get to play either Clev or Bos. It lowered some of the title's credibility in some circles. It took the 2010 title to validate 2009 and stamp that squad as top dog in that mini-era.

It would have been very tough to recover had the Lakers lost game 7. But I will choose to enjoy "what is" and not worry about "what could have been." The 2010 title is etched in stone and beat the C's to do it. Simply awesome.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:30 pm    Post subject:

nevitt_smrek wrote:
1995Lakers wrote:
We should have faced Boston in 2008-2009. That NBA Finals meeting is peak Kobe-Gasol Lakers vs peak big 4 Celtics. The regular season meetings between the 2 teams was absolute gold - the Christmas day game to snap their 19 game winning streak capped off by the Ariza reverse dunk and halt their starting record at 27-2 and the overtime game in February 110-109 where Pau blocks Ray Allen at the end.

TBH, I always felt the 2009 Celtics WAS the strongest team in the NBA that year (barely above the Lakers with the 66-16 Cavs clearly behind both of them) but Garnett's knee injury completely derailed their season and between 2 very close teams like these two and with the Lakers motivation for revenge, this is a 50-50 pick'em series and would have been the greatest NBA Finals in history.

By 2010, both teams were clearly not at their very best shown the year prior. This year, I thought the Cavs were clearly the best team in the league and how they choked away the series with Boston after absolutely massacring them at the Garden in Game 3 is still beyond me. Garnett being outplayed by Gasol was the key to winning the Finals this year. This would not have been the case the year prior and the battle would have been a lot closer between these two.


Orlando played a quality final, but it was a shame that the 2009 Lakers didn't get to play either Clev or Bos. It lowered some of the title's credibility in some circles. It took the 2010 title to validate 2009 and stamp that squad as top dog in that mini-era.

It would have been very tough to recover had the Lakers lost game 7. But I will choose to enjoy "what is" and not worry about "what could have been." The 2010 title is etched in stone and beat the C's to do it. Simply awesome.


I was OK w/ avoiding Cleveland as we always played like ass against them regardless of it even being a holiday national game (and by ass, I mean more Joe McDonnell than quarter bouncer J-Lo). They knew no level of shame against the Cavs performance and effortwise for some reason. Staples fans would be booin n throwing stuff on Xmas while down by 20. Now, you could say, Finals would be different, but if I had my druthers, I wouldn't have taken that chance. We may have lost to them all the time simply for not matching up well against them. And against the Smelts, we were pullin out 1 pt wins and the like for a few years. Margin of error was razor thin. Again, druthers? I'll take Orlando and get the first sure one in the bag and then play either one in 2010 and take my chances.
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nevitt_smrek
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:17 pm    Post subject:

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I was OK w/ avoiding Cleveland as we always played like ass against them regardless of it even being a holiday national game (and by ass, I mean more Joe McDonnell than quarter bouncer J-Lo). They knew no level of shame against the Cavs performance and effortwise for some reason. Staples fans would be booin n throwing stuff on Xmas while down by 20. Now, you could say, Finals would be different, but if I had my druthers, I wouldn't have taken that chance. We may have lost to them all the time simply for not matching up well against them. And against the Smelts, we were pullin out 1 pt wins and the like for a few years. Margin of error was razor thin. Again, druthers? I'll take Orlando and get the first sure one in the bag and then play either one in 2010 and take my chances.


Fair enough, Cavs were a tough matchup most of the time. In 2009, the Lakers played with an extra edge where I don't think the Cavs could overcome. Although Cavs would have had the homecourt advantage in the Finals that year. Lakers can only play the teams in front of them, so can't be faulted if Smelts or Cavs faltered.

Revisiting that Orlando roster, they had a really good players. But they lacked an all-star level wing player. Dwight really covered up a lot of their holes and was a monster on D.

Lakers had their faults too. I'll never forget James Worthy calling them out during the Rockets series. So yeah, who knows what happens in a series vs. Cavs. Glad everything worked out in the end.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 11:01 am    Post subject:

I was privileged to be at that game, as a season ticket holder. I had an extra ticket, and sold it for over $2,000 (I seem to recall it being something like $2300.00)

When the game began, I talked with the buyer, and he was a Michigan resident who had flown in that day. As the game went along, of course I was worried about the Lakers, but I also was feeling really bad for the guy who spent so much to come here and cheer for the Lakers.

As we all recall, it was a nail biter, but in the end they pulled it out. What a celebration! BTW, at Game 6, Bill Russell was sitting right in front of us. It didn't dawn on me why until I saw him awarding the trophy for the Playoffs MVP to Kobe.
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Steve007
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:14 am    Post subject:

non-player zealot wrote:
nevitt_smrek wrote:
1995Lakers wrote:
We should have faced Boston in 2008-2009. That NBA Finals meeting is peak Kobe-Gasol Lakers vs peak big 4 Celtics. The regular season meetings between the 2 teams was absolute gold - the Christmas day game to snap their 19 game winning streak capped off by the Ariza reverse dunk and halt their starting record at 27-2 and the overtime game in February 110-109 where Pau blocks Ray Allen at the end.

TBH, I always felt the 2009 Celtics WAS the strongest team in the NBA that year (barely above the Lakers with the 66-16 Cavs clearly behind both of them) but Garnett's knee injury completely derailed their season and between 2 very close teams like these two and with the Lakers motivation for revenge, this is a 50-50 pick'em series and would have been the greatest NBA Finals in history.

By 2010, both teams were clearly not at their very best shown the year prior. This year, I thought the Cavs were clearly the best team in the league and how they choked away the series with Boston after absolutely massacring them at the Garden in Game 3 is still beyond me. Garnett being outplayed by Gasol was the key to winning the Finals this year. This would not have been the case the year prior and the battle would have been a lot closer between these two.


Orlando played a quality final, but it was a shame that the 2009 Lakers didn't get to play either Clev or Bos. It lowered some of the title's credibility in some circles. It took the 2010 title to validate 2009 and stamp that squad as top dog in that mini-era.

It would have been very tough to recover had the Lakers lost game 7. But I will choose to enjoy "what is" and not worry about "what could have been." The 2010 title is etched in stone and beat the C's to do it. Simply awesome.


I was OK w/ avoiding Cleveland as we always played like ass against them regardless of it even being a holiday national game (and by ass, I mean more Joe McDonnell than quarter bouncer J-Lo). They knew no level of shame against the Cavs performance and effortwise for some reason. Staples fans would be booin n throwing stuff on Xmas while down by 20. Now, you could say, Finals would be different, but if I had my druthers, I wouldn't have taken that chance. We may have lost to them all the time simply for not matching up well against them. And against the Smelts, we were pullin out 1 pt wins and the like for a few years. Margin of error was razor thin. Again, druthers? I'll take Orlando and get the first sure one in the bag and then play either one in 2010 and take my chances.


You are right that Cleveland normally did well in the regular season matchups, but the 2009 Laker team was an exception and swept the Cavs, winning both games by double digits. The Cavs simply had no answer for Gasol, Odom and Bynum. It’s probably a reason they decided to pick up Shaq (Dwight Howard was obviously the biggest reason). The next season, the Cavs returned the favor and swept our team.

The 2009 Magic swept the 2009 Lakers which concerned me. Jameer Nelson dominated in both games, and those Laker teams struggled with some of the smaller, quicker guards, but Nelson got injured. He tried coming back but was nowhere close to his normal self. Doesn’t mean he would have given the Magic a title though. I wouldn’t want to bet against that Laker team.

Those Orlando teams did win 59 games two years in a row. If they won the 2009 Finals people would have called them a great team that beat a 66 win Cavs team and a 65 win Lakers team. One thing that sucks is if you beat them, then people say they weren’t that good. If you lose to them, people say you are a pretender that can’t beat the great teams when it matters. Either way you can’t win with the critics.
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Steve007
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:17 am    Post subject: Re: 11 years since the game 7 vs Boston

ingle wrote:
That was the last beautiful moment for me as a Laker fan, been following the Lakers since I was old enough to remember and it all built up to that point - we shouldn't have won that game, but we did and damn that redemption felt good. Kobe made sure we found a way, he always did.

Been 11 years to the day, and to me sports fandom peaked on that day.


I thought our team was the better team and should have won, especially when playing at home.
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lakerhalo
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:12 am    Post subject:

what i wouldn't give to go back in time and watch the 07-08 team play them with a healthy Ariza & Bynum.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:05 pm    Post subject:

I remember I was in Vancouver then watching the game. California probably heard my screaming all the way from Canada.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:23 pm    Post subject:

I remember being pissed I was out of town but luckily found a decent bar where I ended up being 1 of maybe 3-4 Laker fans out of 50+ with the majority either hating the Lakers or being huge supposed Celtics fans.. I was going hard against them the entire time but not gonna lie I was getting worried asf when we got down 16 in a massive defensive battle but damnnnn that comeback and being one of the only people cheering in the entire bar was epic

Far and away my favorite experience as a Lakers fan.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 7:52 am    Post subject:

Remember being so nervous because lal couldn’t buy a bucket. BUT being supremely confident in their team defense and knowing Kob wouldn’t lose to those fools twice in 3 years
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LakerLanny
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:19 pm    Post subject:

Kobe had 15 rebounds in that game and was fouled numerous times on his "misses" with no whistle to be had.

83-79 Final Score...that game was high stress all the way through.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:29 pm    Post subject:

what a memory!

mostly Celtic crowd at a bar in Ocean Beach. Packed place, we had the front row spot and were getting yelled at all game.

Made 5-6 bets with Celtic fans, all but one left before I could claim... It was a great night from then on out though.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:54 pm    Post subject:

LakerLanny wrote:
Kobe had 15 rebounds in that game and was fouled numerous times on his "misses" with no whistle to be had.

83-79 Final Score...that game was high stress all the way through.


Not only that but he manufactured one of the greatest plays in NBA Finals history when he drew the double team and kicked it out to Artest for the DAGGER 3. Jonathan Abrams of TNT likened it to "Kobe securing his own Jordan-to-Kerr moment". I truly believe had that been MJ or LeBron making that exact same play it would be way more heralded and celebrated instead of how it's framed against Kobe as Artest "bailing him out".

Honestly, that play should be on every Kobe Top 10 Moments list and should be included in the NBA Finals opening montages. Every year I watch those (this year they had Spike Lee direct them) and Kobe's Finals moments never seem to get their due as much as other players.

Here's KG's recollection of that moment:

"And then came the 2010 championship, when Bean beat us with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. That was real beast mode.

We told ourselves in that Game 7 that we were gonna stop Kob. That was our strategy. But Kob found a way to win anyway. While he was struggling, he was quick to see who wasn't. Metta Sandiford-Artest, still called Ron back then, had a hot hand. He scored 20. The last three were the most important.

We played that critical possession perfectly. Fourth quarter. Minute left on the clock. Lakers up three. Bean has the ball on the wing. Ray is playing him straight-up. Everybody in the building knows he wants to take that shot. F--k no, we ain't gonna let him. Rasheed comes over to double, and Kob drives right. But Ray cuts him off, doesn't let him in the lane. So Bean goes up in the air and gets off a tough pass to Metta behind the arc. Paul [Pierce] has already rotated over and gets a hand in his face, makes a nice contest. We do everything we're supposed to do. Ball just goes in.

There were a lot of tears in the locker room after the game. A lot of hugs. More than 10 years later, that loss is still hard to accept. That C's team was too good to only get one ring. But Bean's brilliant pass and Metta's three did us in."
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lakersken80
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:09 pm    Post subject:

Time flies....doesn't seem that long ago.
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slavavov
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 9:44 pm    Post subject:

Batguano wrote:
LakerLanny wrote:
Kobe had 15 rebounds in that game and was fouled numerous times on his "misses" with no whistle to be had.

83-79 Final Score...that game was high stress all the way through.


Not only that but he manufactured one of the greatest plays in NBA Finals history when he drew the double team and kicked it out to Artest for the DAGGER 3. Jonathan Abrams of TNT likened it to "Kobe securing his own Jordan-to-Kerr moment". I truly believe had that been MJ or LeBron making that exact same play it would be way more heralded and celebrated instead of how it's framed against Kobe as Artest "bailing him out".

Honestly, that play should be on every Kobe Top 10 Moments list and should be included in the NBA Finals opening montages. Every year I watch those (this year they had Spike Lee direct them) and Kobe's Finals moments never seem to get their due as much as other players.

Here's KG's recollection of that moment:

"And then came the 2010 championship, when Bean beat us with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. That was real beast mode.

We told ourselves in that Game 7 that we were gonna stop Kob. That was our strategy. But Kob found a way to win anyway. While he was struggling, he was quick to see who wasn't. Metta Sandiford-Artest, still called Ron back then, had a hot hand. He scored 20. The last three were the most important.

We played that critical possession perfectly. Fourth quarter. Minute left on the clock. Lakers up three. Bean has the ball on the wing. Ray is playing him straight-up. Everybody in the building knows he wants to take that shot. F--k no, we ain't gonna let him. Rasheed comes over to double, and Kob drives right. But Ray cuts him off, doesn't let him in the lane. So Bean goes up in the air and gets off a tough pass to Metta behind the arc. Paul [Pierce] has already rotated over and gets a hand in his face, makes a nice contest. We do everything we're supposed to do. Ball just goes in.

There were a lot of tears in the locker room after the game. A lot of hugs. More than 10 years later, that loss is still hard to accept. That C's team was too good to only get one ring. But Bean's brilliant pass and Metta's three did us in."

The one difference between that play and Jordan to Kerr was that we were up by 3 already. But it was a courageous play, as Artest sucked at 3s, yet Kobe had the courage to trust him and Artest had the courage to take the shot.

Overall Kobe played really well offensively for most of the 2nd half. His shot selection got much better, he drew lots of fouls and he made almost all of his FTs.

His overall efficiency, after we fell behind by 13 early in the 3rd quarter, was really high.

To me, it was the crown jewel of Kobe's legacy, even though he played like S in the first half.
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