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Snipes
Star Player
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6026
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 Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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Malone was good - and more than anything an alienated Kobe's only ally at that time it seemed. Along with Slava of course...
Kobe went straight renegade mode..SHAQ and Phil couldn't control him and the chemistry was off. Shaq and Phil for sure mailed it in and were ready to move on..I think Malone could have bridged that gap a bit so who knows.
Doesn't change the fact that Detroit punched us in the face and that Tayshaun was fouling Kobe on every jumper. |
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yinoma2001
Retired Number
Joined: 19 Jun 2010
Posts: 119487
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| Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2020 9:39 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I think Malone makes it a more competitive series but we were running on fumes, both physically and mentally.
They just had a lot of answers for our squad at that time. And Shaq was no longer his dominant self in the playoffs. Went from 28/13 and 27/15 the two playoffs before to 21/13, but you could see Shaq was fading.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals |
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Steve007
Franchise Player
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 13221
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| Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2020 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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It wasn’t just Malone being injured. Grant was injured too and the team even started Slava. If you don’t think that’s a big deal, put a healthy Malone/Grant on the Lakers, take Rasheed off the Pistons and see how the rosters match up. Suddenly the Lakers frontcourt looks dominant and the Pistons frontcourt looks much weaker while “just missing a starting PF.” Where are the offensive threats in the Pistons frontcourt without Rasheed? Ben Wallace? 
If you don’t like hypotheticals, Shaq/Kobe/Malone were the only team to beat the Spurs from 2003-2005 and they beat the Spurs 4 times in a row. From 2003-2007, a 60 win Dallas team was the only other team to beat the Spurs. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili didn’t lose much when they were in their prime.
For all we know the Spurs possibly 3-peat in 2003-2005 if it wasn’t for Malone being a Laker. |
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Joe Pesci
Star Player
Joined: 15 Oct 2017
Posts: 3885
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| Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:00 am Post subject: |
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Kupchak made a lot of mistakes, but his greatest mistake was letting Horry walk to San Antonio the year the Lakers got Payton/Malone.
Going into the year with Medvedenko was the primary reason they didn't win a ring that year.
They would have definitely beaten the Pistons with Malone. They would've beaten the Pistons with Horry, imo.
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