JR
Well-Known Member
man I was in L.A. during a lot of the 3-peat. Heck I was at my boy's house (SU Grad) in Compton watching game 7 against the Kings, and at ESPNZone in Anaheim watching game 4 when Horry hit the game winner. I was in the building when they beat Portland in game 1 of one of their series during that time. I think I've been around a few more Laker fans than you. :lol:
My point is... you can say AI was a better 2 guard than Kobe back then, but you can't say Miller, Allen or Vince Carter were better overall. Ray Ray didn't play defense until he got with KG and Doc Rivers. lol
Again, that Lakers team back them had multiple folks who could pull off the win. Fisher hit winning shots, Horry was Big Shot Bob. They had a great supporting cast. I am also talking the Finals. Not the road to get there. When they got to the Finals. Shaq carried them in each of those series. We all know there matchups that get exploited in the playoffs and some teams play others harder than others. But it was no doubt in most folks minds back then that the Lakers could have lined up another all-star 2 guard with the rest of that talent and won. Whether Ray Ray played defense or not, that Lakers team had other dirty work role players to do that. Phil would have also made Ray Ray play defense in that system. Ray didn't play any because he had no coaching in Seattle. I also doubt you have been around more Lakers fans than me. LOL. Too much family(not even counting the in laws) out in LA and even my Northern Cal relatives are Lakers fans, not to mention folks like JState83 and my other homeboys from the crib who are diehard old school Lakers fans. Between the Lakers and Cowboys, I know know more folks who have been fans of those teams than any other sports teams. Our smack talk go back to the late 70s and 80s. So these are very knowledgable fans of the Lakers. They are not just Kobe fans like some new school Laker fans are now. They actually could care less about him since Magic and that crew will always be their favorites. Just as long as they win. So they don't discount Shaq and talk up Kobe like he was the only 2 guard in the NBA that could have been Shaq's Robin and won those first 3 titles. I only hear that on this board. LOL.