Yet ANOTHER Hollywood Sequal

Don’t you just get sick of the fact that there are hardly any new idea’s in Hollywood anymore?  I didn’t see the latest Spiderman movie, I seen it 10 years previous.  Like at least when they remade Ocean’s 11 they had waited a while.  And the sequals are even worse.  Hangover 3?  Another Top Gun movie?  Sure we can all agree that Slap Shot 2 and 3 were great, but classics like those straight to DVD greats are few and far between!  God forbid they make Wayne’s World 3 showing us Wayne and Garth doing the show from a rehab center.  “Party on Garth”, “Not in 23 days Wayne”.

Well another sequal is being made in Hollywood right now.  They’ll be releasing it at the end of April and it’ll be played until the middle of June, at least that’s how long I’m projecting it to be running.  Low seed title run 2: The Lakers take back the town.  Just an AWFUL title I know, but the creators of this sequal are tired and don’t feel like being anymore witty than that….

Ok, the cheekiness has run its course for now.  The Lakers are coming on STRONG.  Ignore last night’s set back in Phoenix, this team is finally coming together.  While the Heat have been setting records with their win streak, the Lakers have somewhat subtly just worked their way back into the playoff picture in the Western Conference.  And I think it is lost on a lot of pundits still that all this team has to do is get in the dance.  I know that’s not the way the NBA has been over the years, but this team is an exception.

Now the 1 difference from the Kings that hasn’t happened yet (but I believe it will) is that the Lakers will likely end up with the 6th seed, not 8.  But weather they’re 6th, 7th or 8th I’m calling my shot right now: the Lakers will win the West.  The road won’t be easy, they’ll likely have to go through the Clippers, Thunder and Spurs to get there.  But the thing is….they’re better than all 3 teams.

The Clippers are younger and more athletic, but young and athletic RARELY ever wins in the NBA playoffs.  The Spurs aren’t young and athletic, they’re quite the opposite.  But while older and experienced is what you want in the NBA playoffs, the Spurs are too old.  Everyone forgets the Spurs run last year through the first 10 games of the playoffs, and then they lost 4 straight and they were done.  It really appeared the Spurs ran out of gas in the end.  The Lakers have more talent, almost as much experience and are just a big younger.

Which brings me to their biggest threat, the OKC Thunder.  They’re young and athletic.  They’re experienced.  And they beat the Lakers last year in just 5 games.  Now obviously the Lakers brought in Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, that helps my opinion on this.  But more so for me its about who the Thunder don’t have.  James Harden was cold blooded last year against the Lakers.  Kevin Martin has fit in great with the Thunder so far this season, but he hasn’t proven it in the playoffs and until he does I just like the Lakers better.  They have more big time players.  I know Dwight Howard is an enigma, but when he turns it on he is unstoppable.  And he can be the difference.

I joke that this will be just like the Kings, but it actually reminds me a lot of the 99 Knicks.  They were expected to be among the top teams in the Eastern Conference that season along with the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat, but they were a total train wreck all season.  They snuck into the 8 spot in the East and knocked off the Heat in a 5 game classic (of course this was back when opening round series were best of 5’s).  From that point on they rolled and became the team everyone thought they would be.  Even after Patrick Ewing went down in the Eastern Conference finals with an Achilles tendon injury.  That team was so loaded and it came together at the right time, just like I believe is happening for this Lakers team.

Now I started raving about the Raptors a few weeks back, and they proceeded to fall apart as soon as that was posted.  I wrote about how the Oilers were doomed, and they’ve gone 3-1-1 since.  I seem to have a knack to get the opposite out of my predictions lately.  I couldn’t miss during the NFL season weather it be with pre season rankings or picking games, and now I’m ice cold.  But I’m still calling it.  We will have a Lakers vs Heat finals, just like everyone figured in August (whatever day Howard was traded).  But they will be 2 VERY different paths travelled.

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