2005-2006 and 2006-2007 Kobe with Pau

[PickernRoller]

Don't see them winning in 06. Mavs and Spurs would have still been better...and the Heat in the finals would have been no joke either.

07 would have been a real possibility. It would depend on how the seedings broke down...the Mavs not having to play the Warriors could have changed everything.

The 07 Spurs are also a bit under-rated here. But there were only two teams as good as the Lakers would have been in the whole league and they might have only had to play one of them...so a title in 07 was a real possibility.

06 would have been a lot tougher though...

Lol please the same Mavs that Kobe dropped 61 in three quarters sending the fake MVP packing.... I don't see any of those clowns in that team stopping him w/ Pau. The Suns couldn't stop him either....Suns just outscore the Lakers as a whole at every turn. It's a team sport after all. I mean the series with the Suns boiled down to a single f'cking rebound....which Pau could have gotten.

I'll give the Spurs a chance but given the precedent of the past - Kobe feasts on any version of the Spurs.

2 more rings, 2 more FMVPs, least 1 more League MVP.

I remember the league crying when Pau went to the Lakers. GM's comments after the trade were disgusting and cowardly....they knew what was coming.

[DMAVS41]

Lol please the same Mavs that Kobe dropped 61 in three quarters and sending the fake MVP packing....

I'll give you the Spurs having a chance but giving the precedent of the past - Kobe feasts on the Spurs.

2 more rings, 2 more FMVPs, least 1 more League MVP.

It's not just the Mavs.

The Spurs in 06 were better than the Mavs...and certainly would match up better against the Lakers than the Mavs would have.

And the Heat were no joke. Shaq was better than Gasol...and they were coached by Riley. The Lakers might have had to beat 3 teams en route to the title they would be roughly even with. That is really really hard....

07 is a much better chance. They might only have to play 1 team they are even with...I just think the Spurs would have been better in 07...and the Spurs actually had a player in Manu that could make Kobe work. And Duncan would have abused Gasol...

[BBallZen83]

agreed.

you guys...and this site overall...really need to learn that there are differences in stuff. there are varying degrees.

Cuban is neither poor nor brilliant. Overall he did a good job putting talent around Dirk...he just didn't do a good job putting championship level talent and coaching around Dirk for much of his career post the 03 season.

You mean everything isn't black and white and extreme hyperbole?

[PickernRoller]

It's not just the Mavs.

The Spurs in 06 were better than the Mavs...and certainly would match up better against the Lakers than the Mavs would have.

And the Heat were no joke. Shaq was better than Gasol...and they were coached by Riley. The Lakers might have had to beat 3 teams en route to the title they would be roughly even with. That is really really hard....

07 is a much better chance. They might only have to play 1 team they are even with...I just think the Spurs would have been better in 07...and the Spurs actually had a player in Manu that could make Kobe work. And Duncan would have abused Gasol...

Ohh I can see how 07 would be easier I agree. I just don't think competition in 06 would have prevented a Kobe/Gasol combo from trashing the West.

The Mavs/Heat series came down to Wade's FT's which was disgusting so I am not sure he would have been a problem. Moreso when Wade is Kobe's pigeon - that is, Kobe locks him up if he really wants to.

Actually Bowen would be guarding Kobe , most of the time. Reason being that Manu was half the defender Bowen was....so that idea is flawed. Bowen couldn't stop him, much less Manu.

Duncan abused Gasol in 08 per say....didn't change the outcome of the series now did it?

[ImKobe]

It's not just the Mavs.

The Spurs in 06 were better than the Mavs...and certainly would match up better against the Lakers than the Mavs would have.

And the Heat were no joke. Shaq was better than Gasol...and they were coached by Riley. The Lakers might have had to beat 3 teams en route to the title they would be roughly even with. That is really really hard....

07 is a much better chance. They might only have to play 1 team they are even with...I just think the Spurs would have been better in 07...and the Spurs actually had a player in Manu that could make Kobe work. And Duncan would have abused Gasol...

Duncan did abuse Gasol in 08, he put up some monster numbers on LA's front court (I believe something along the lines of 22 ppg 17 rpg 5 apg), Manu I think had the best regular season of his career and was decent up until the WCF, where Kobe shut his ass down. Manu probably had the worst PO series in his prime in that series.

[Ca$H]

It's not just the Mavs.

The Spurs in 06 were better than the Mavs...and certainly would match up better against the Lakers than the Mavs would have.

And the Heat were no joke. Shaq was better than Gasol...and they were coached by Riley. The Lakers might have had to beat 3 teams en route to the title they would be roughly even with. That is really really hard....

07 is a much better chance. They might only have to play 1 team they are even with...I just think the Spurs would have been better in 07...and the Spurs actually had a player in Manu that could make Kobe work. And Duncan would have abused Gasol...

He did in the 2008 WCF and the Lakers still won in five games. Gasol 13.2 and 9.6. Duncan 22.4 and 17.4. Duncan actually got more help from Parker and Ginobilli than Kobe did from pau and odom since they outperformed Gasol and Odom.

[Milbuck]

It's not just the Mavs.

The Spurs in 06 were better than the Mavs...and certainly would match up better against the Lakers than the Mavs would have.

And the Heat were no joke. Shaq was better than Gasol...and they were coached by Riley. The Lakers might have had to beat 3 teams en route to the title they would be roughly even with. That is really really hard....

07 is a much better chance. They might only have to play 1 team they are even with...I just think the Spurs would have been better in 07...and the Spurs actually had a player in Manu that could make Kobe work. And Duncan would have abused Gasol...

In 2006-07 Gasol averaged 20/5/3 against TD, TD averaged 16/9/3 against Gasol. Pau also put up 21/10/3/2/1 on 54/27/75 shooting (59% TS) with 24.1 PER in 06-07. It's no certainty that he'd get "abused"...

[DMAVS41]

Duncan did abuse Gasol in 08, he put up some monster numbers on LA's front court (I believe something along the lines of 22 ppg 17 rpg 5 apg), Manu I think had the best regular season of his career and was decent up until the WCF, where Kobe shut his ass down. Manu probably had the worst PO series in his prime in that series.

Manu was hurt in the 08 WCF...and the Spurs were just a worse team overall that year in the playoffs that year in my opinion.

But you can't ignore Manu being hobbled in the WCF...

[Ca$H]

Duncan did abuse Gasol in 08, he put up some monster numbers on LA's front court (I believe something along the lines of 22 ppg 17 rpg 5 apg), Manu I think had the best regular season of his career and was decent up until the WCF, where Kobe shut his ass down. Manu probably had the worst PO series in his prime in that series.

LOL. I pretty much posted the same thing. Duncan mythologists/Kobe haters just refuse to accept the facts. Kobe beats Duncan's A$$ in the playoffs.

[DMAVS41]

In 2006-07 Gasol averaged 20/5/3 against TD, TD averaged 16/9/3 against Gasol. Pau also put up 21/10/3/2/1 on 54/27/75 shooting (59% TS) with 24.1 PER in 06-07. I find it hard to believe that coached under PJax and playing in the triangle, Pau would get "abused" by Duncan..

Actually, part of the reason would be the triangle and PJ...they asked a lot of Gasol in that system and playing with kobe...going against Duncan.

I think the 08 playoffs is a much better indication of how they would play against each other considering they had similar teams and Gasol was playing the role he would have in 07

Gasol - 13/10/4

Duncan - 22/17/5

Don't you think that series is more relevant here than what they did against each other in 07 with Gasol on a different team entirely?

[DMAVS41]

He did in the 2008 WCF and the Lakers still won in five games. Gasol 13.2 and 9.6. Duncan 22.4 and 17.4. Duncan actually got more help from Parker and Ginobilli than Kobe did from pau and odom since they outperformed Gasol and Odom.

Did you guys start watching ball in 2011 or something? Do you guys realize that Manu was hurt in that series?

They were playing the corpses of Brent Barry and Michael Finley like 40 minutes per game.

[Ca$H]

Manu was hurt in the 08 WCF...and the Spurs were just a worse team overall that year in the playoffs that year in my opinion.

But you can't ignore Manu being hobbled in the WCF...

You can't ignore that the combo of Parker and Ginobilli outperformed Gasol and Odom in the 2008 WCF but the Lakers still won in five games. Kobe and Phil just owns Duncan and POP in the playoffs. Just accept that fact. BTW Gino played 160 min. while Odom played 168 min.

[Jlamb47]

You can't ignore that the combo of Parker and Ginobilli outperformed Gasol and Odom in the 2008 WCF but the Lakers still won in five games. Kobe and Phil just owns Duncan and POP in the playoffs. Just accept that fact.

They dont own duncan and Pop
if so they wouldnt have won 4 rings together

[DMAVS41]

You can't ignore that the combo of Parker and Ginobilli outperformed Gasol and Odom in the 2008 WCF but the Lakers still won in five games. Kobe and Phil just owns Duncan and POP in the playoffs. Just accept that fact.

Can't ignore it? If Manu had been healthy...it would have been by much more. That is the point.

You make it sound like I'm saying the Lakers couldn't win. I just merely said I would favor the 07 Spurs. They were healthy and just better in 07 than they were in 08.

Also, the Lakers won the majority of their series against the Spurs with Shaq.

Kobe is 18-12 against Duncan in the playoffs for his career. And 25 of those games came with Shaq...and in the 5 without him...Manu was injured.

I don't think that is honestly enough information to just assume the Lakers win...

[PickernRoller]

Can't ignore it? If Manu had been healthy...it would have been by much more. That is the point.

You make it sound like I'm saying the Lakers couldn't win. I just merely said I would favor the 07 Spurs. They were healthy and just better in 07 than they were in 08.

Also, the Lakers won the majority of their series against the Spurs with Shaq.

Kobe is 18-12 against Duncan in the playoffs for his career. And 25 of those games came with Shaq...and in the 5 without him...Manu was injured.

I don't think that is honestly enough information to just assume the Lakers win...

Obviously we are talking hypotheticals here.

I will still take Kobe, Pau, Odom and Fisher from 06-10 over Duncan, Manu, Parker and Bowen any day of the week.

Specially when you consider we are talking about 06-07 Kobe here. The human torch.