our team was injury riddled last year lets get real. you laker fans act like bynum is the most important piece of that team. dude isnt great at all get off his nuts. you put him on the nets or the t wolves and you would never hear about his ass because he's overrated.
like i said before, if we put that 18th banner up this year you have to wonder if the lakers would have stood a chance against a healthy boston team last season. boston is hungry for this one in case you havent noticed. hungrier than 08.
lmao at laker fans chanting "we want boston"
well that's what youre going to get.
Had to come back to this one.
Bynum IS still in his developmental stages (as per his potential) but there is no arguing that he is an intricate part of our team, both offensively and defensively. A few important things happen when he is out:
1. First and foremost, we lose one of our starters. His absence under the rim automatically creates problems for the Lakers with scoring & defense (especially rebounding).
2. They have to shift Gasol over to Center because no one else is capable of playing that position. This creates matchup problems.
3. Odom must come in to the starting lineup to play PF. This is critical because not only does this create matchup problemes as well, but now our bench is dramatically less valuable as he was our best player.
Then you have
Ariza who was hurt most of the season because of a bad injury. He is not a FORCE on the offensive end but he was a big part of our defense.
So yes the health of our team was NOT GOOD and
the injuries played a big role in the way we matched up against the Celtics, and the way we ultimately played against them. I am not attempting to make comparisons to the Celtics injury problems the following year. I'm talking about 2007-2008.