In case you haven't heard, the Heat have had some issues lately with winning close games, winning not close games, crying in the locker room, players questioning their roles, etc. Meanwhile, it's been smooth sailing for Kobe and friends since the all-star break. Ha, silly bloggers. (It gets boring reminding everyone that the Lakers are going to turn it on at some point every season. My bad). All these two teams have had in common over the last couple of weeks is loads of hot women and botoxed oldsters attend their home games. Besides that, it's been like night and day for the 2 squads that everyone loves to hate.
Tonight, the Lakers will look to avenge that Christmas beatdown at the hands of Peppino and co. as well as extend their 8 game winning streak, while the Heat need a win of any kind in the worst way right now. A win over the champs would silence the Hater Js of the world for at least a night and maybe could grant a short reprieve from loud mouths like myself who have been throwing around their record vs. the cream of the NBA crop thus far this season (it's really bad).
I've seen a lot of these sorts of statement games throughout the years and it could really go either way. The Heat need this game way more than the Lakers do, not only for their own collective psyches but also to keep pace with the Celtics and Bulls for the top 2 seeds in the Eastern conference. (At this point, getting the Sixers or whatever CYO level team is in 8th place in the east over the Knicks has to be the goal for all of the top 3 teams). Conventional wisdom would say that the Lakers should stomp all over the NBA's version of Two and a Half Men, but of course sports aren't that easy to predict.
Home court advantage should be a wash seeing as how this is a 7 p.m start in Miami; it will probably look like a Nets game for the first quarter and a half, and even after that it will be 60% Lakers fans. Still, the Heat need it more and the Lakers are due for a crap performance. I have a feeling Miami wins this one.
The Heat certainly need this one more but that doesn't mean that the Lakers don't want this one more. I remember Kobe talking trash at the end of the game and giving that have a smile sending the, "You got us today...but we still play again suckers."
ReplyDeleteIf the Lakers lose this one its a result of Kobe going into "It's My Time" mode, playing all that one on one ball, not playing in proper triangle sets, and forcing shots as opposed to them playing the great team ball they've played recently.
This game comes down to the first quarter. If the Lakers team is in full sync and has an early lead, Kobe will most likely chill and facilitate his team to a win. If it's close, he may try to do too much, and that will not end well for the Lakers.
If the Lakers lose, I don't want to hear Laker fans making excuses like, "It meant more to the Heat." It means a lot to the Lakers too and I'm sure the Lakers aren't taking tonight off.
ReplyDeleteAs for the night cap...I see the Knicks playing a totally unfocused game against a very good Mavs team and losing night 2 of back-to-back road games.
With 1:27 Left in the game LeBron James makes the game winning basket.
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