Merry Christmas

It's been too long since I've posted something original.. With the pending Xmas match up looming, it's time to break this thing down to see who will come out on top.

L A K E R S vs heat
PG position: This particular match up is what we like to call T vs T in the SGVL.... trash on trash..
For Miami:

I post the pics because frankly.. these guys are n factors.. neither of them do much more than puppet the ball to the fro

nt court and hand it off to one of 2 people.. and they both cut more than 500K in 7 months to do that...

For LAL:

Main contingency:

#2 Derek Fisher

#5 Steve Blake

We all know I've been Fisher's biggest critic

.. but this year more than any other it's hard to deny the decay of the 2001 imag

e that has been burned into our head... not to mention Fisher can only come up with a big shot if there the game is still a game late.. Blake doesn't hurt the team but most of the time he doesn't really help either... He's just kind of there..

Advantage: EVEN

SG Position:

I've been down on 24 lately.. and rightfully so in my opinion

.. His overall effectiveness is way down.. and of course

he still thinks this is 2005. After 14 yrs he still doesn't understa

nd how effective he could be if he put his mind to distributing when

his shot isn't exactly there for h

im (almost every game). There's the Kobe that will think his greatness will be defined by him dropping 42 pts, then the media will lead off with a "despite a heroic 42 by Bryant (on 14-42 shooting), LAL loses".. or there's the 24 that realizes a triple dou

ble in a game like this could be legendary... and lead to a win...

Miami guard D Wade has had some trouble as of late. There have been a slew of poor shooting performances. At times he looks like the odd star out inst

ead of Bosh.. The one thing the Lakers

have going for them is that Wade also has seemingly developed Kobe-itis.. meaning he thinks he can shoot himself out of a bad day. Physically he's faster than 24, so we can expect there to be a rotation of people guarding him.

ADVANTAGE: DEPENDS on if 24 guards Wade.. if he does

ADVANTAGE HEAT... if he doesn't...

ADVANTAGE: L A K E R S

SF POSITION:

This isn't as clear cut as it seems. LBJ vs Ron Ron seems to be an easy pick.. and why not?

Here's why.. Ron offensively has been MIA.. but look what he did to Pierce multiple times in the finals.. He doesn't just play D, he gets into your dome and when he's right he's as good at makin

g others nuts as nuts as he's perceived to be. Don't get me wrong, LBJ will s

core at will because the LAL help defense is trash, but it will not be easy.

LBJ is starting to find his rhythm, but his turnovers are at an all time high.. I believe he's been averaging between 4-5 a night lately. He's a crybaby.. (already in shower before Wade dribbled out the clock v Dallas).. and in his constant search for public approval he's consumed with trying to be mr. perfect..

he wants to hog the ball but he knows he can't... Looking at what he has done in a CLE uniform at Staples.. it may seem stupid to do this, but I'm going to say.

ADVANTAGE: L A K E R S

PF POSITION:

This is an interesting one.. When Bynum is in, you have 16 at PF, but to start its going to be 7.

I was really hoping for some press about how soft Gasol is.. seems like when he gets some heat IE before finals v ORL he toughens up, but lets talk #7.. I think he's been one of the most consistent players out there. What the Lakers need from him is the Feb 09 Lamar that was drop

ping 19 and 17 a night and laughing at heads.. All Lamar needs to do is watch some video of any BOS v MIA matchup for an idea of what to do.. Run the floor.. foul Bosh hard a couple of times.. and some cheap shots and Bosh will be 8 and 4....

Not so fast buddy

ADVANTAGE: L A K E R S

CENTER POSITION:

This one is fairly simple: Gasol will start for LAL and ilagaskis manaharis for MIA. Z is capable of stretching Gasol out to about 18 feet which is ok because Gasol has never been a fan of interior defense to begin with.. He was kind of in a slump while PJ was playing him 46 minutes a game but since the return of Drew he has been able to rest a bit and should win this matchup easily.

Let's hope we get the 2009 Gasol and not the 2008 mutilation Gasol.

ADVANTAGE: L A K E R S

RESERVES:

This is where the damage needs to be done.. LAL has Bynum, Barnes, Blake, Brown.. Miami comes hard with J Anthony, Skippy Pittman, J Move Howard, E House, J Magloire and his walking stick... if there was ever a time for the Killer B's to come correct it would be this game.. Hopefully someone has read the stat that James Jones shoots 80%+ of his FGAs behind the 3 point line.. Hopefully someone realizes Miller hasnt played since last April and probably is going to shy away from contact.. When its reserve fest 2010.. LAL should start trying to push the tempo.

ADVANTAGE: L A K E R S

Random thoughts:

I think the strategy should be as follows: at all times.. either 24 or 16 must be out with the reserves... if its 24, Barnes HAS to be out there for ball movement. Someone HAS to stay home on Miami's 3 point shooters... Since Brown has no idea how to play d and can run the floor, I vote that it be him.. Drew.. well.. I know what I want to write, but I don't think it will be a factor.. I almost want to start him so Odom comes off the bench to run the /_\. Im hoping this game will take the form of many games I've heard about this year.. Close until the 3rd quarter, then I get a txt from Mattieb saying.. K I L L E R B'S.

Projected Oz count per quarter end

1) 24

2) 36

3) 60

4) 108

Prediction:

LAL -9