Upon his immediate departure, as a Los Angeles Lakers fan, it was tough to dislike Shaquille O’Neal. The dude changed the franchise, brought home some championships, and was downright enjoyable. I had no qualms rocking my replica jersey from the summer we picked him up.
But that was then and this is now.
Whether or not it was just an attempt to distance himself and assimilate away from Los Angeles, Shaq decided it was a good idea to blast the L.A. fans, Kobe Bryant, and Phil Jackson. The fans? Fine - there are many a bandwagoner. Kobe? Also warranted at the time. Phil? This was a roundabout one, but saying Pat Riley was the best coach you ever had when Phil was the one to mold you into who you are now and who you looked up to, well, that’s a bit excessive.
Now, tack on something new to the resume.
O’Neal, ever the epitome of maturity, unleashed an unnecessary, downright outlandish “freestyle” aimed at Kobe just recently:
Classy.
Really Shaq? I mean I understand the beef and all, but you can’t turn around and shit on a guy like this after feigning acceptance as of late.
Furthermore, can you really say anything at this point of your career? You were supposed to come to the Phoenix Suns to take them to the promised land. Instead, you’re likely to rot away on the sidelines at a much more expedited pace from here on in.
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers have once again won at Staples Center extending the NBA Finals to a minimum five games. The Boston Celtics won the first two games at home and lost last night in what was a great battle from beginning to end by both teams.
Kobe Bryant was the MVP of the night and easily the best player on the floor. He finished with 36 points and 7 rebounds in 45 minutes of play. Kobe played like a true champion from the initial tip driving to the basket time after time going into the Celtics defense and breaking down whatever stood in his way. After a pathetic game two in Boston in which the entire Lakers team shot 10 free throws, Kobe Bryant accumulated 18 free throws on his own. Of course, now that they finally had the free throws they missed a bunch of them, even Kobe managed to miss 7, but hey, it led to a 6 point win and a 2-1 series.
This series has many factors in it. The defense of Boston has been simply superb thus far and hasn’t given the Lakers any chance at easy baskets. The Celtics are a very strong team with a powerful frontline including the likes of Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, and even PJ Brown (who almost got jumped by Jordan Farmar last night). The Lakers frontline is very weak and full of finesse players that are afraid of contact. Pau Gasol has the ultimate touch in the paint and Lamar Odom’s history of injuries has turned his big body into a fragile one that is afraid of being hit too hard.
Lucky for the soft Lakers, they’ve got Kobe Bryant. The same Kobe Bryant that is known for one thing, and one thing only, that look in his eyes. If you ever get the chance to just focus in on Kobe at crunch time when the game/season is on the line, notice the look on his face and the ambition that goes into every play. You can just tell that he will do whatever it takes to get the win. Also lucky for the Lakers, the Staples Center crowd helped the bench finally contribute something of substance.
On a night when no other Lakers starter besides Kobe scored in double digits, they needed someone that would step up when it mattered from the bench. Who would that someone be? None other than The Machine himself, Sasha Vujacic. Vujacic has really developed into a superb shooter this season leading the Lakers with 44% three point shooting for the season and a stunning 55% during the Boston series. After struggling from beyond the arc against San Antonio shooting just 31%, Sasha has rebounded, as most heartless shooters do, and takes every open shot, and some contested shots, to contribute to this Lakers team.
Vujacic was the second leading scorer, and really the only other scorer on the team for this game, finishing with 20 points on 7 for 10 shooting and 4 rebounds. Not only is Sasha’s offense just amazing off the bench, but his defense is something to be discussed as well. The Lakers only have one pesky defender. That kind of guy that will get under his opponents skin and do whatever it takes to drive them absolutley insane. The kind of guy that doesn’t care how a game is being called, he’s still going to drop his croch on the offensive players thighs and give him absolutely no room to breathe. In this series, Sasha has been guarding either Paul Pierce or Ray Allen. Pau Pierce had his worst game thus far last night and we can thank Sasha and Kobe for their defensive pressure.
This game was won by a score of 87-81 by the Los Angeles Lakers. I strongly believe that this game was won before the game even started by Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson. After seeing both Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce go off for two consecutive big games in Boston, it was time for a change. What would that change be, it would be the most interesting we’ve seen so far, and it worked. It was simply brilliant.
Phil Jackson created a mismatch switch by moving Kobe Bryant over on Rondo and Derek Fisher over to Ray Allen. How did Allen do last night? Well he was the only one that played well, but even when he plays well, he’s not the type of guy that can lead a team to victory on his own. While there is lots of talk about Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett shooting a combined 8-35, Rondo being contained had a lot to do with it. After dishing out 16 assists in game two in Boston, Rondo finished game three at Staples Center, with the floating Kobe Bryant on the defensive end guarding him with a lousy 8 points on 4-8 shooting (not bad) and only 4 assists. Kobe Bryant has long been known as a great defender but his key to success is really his ability to float and recognize where the offense is going. By taking Kobe off of proven shoote Ray Allen and allowing him to float a bit more off a guy that is young and insecure about shooting much on a team with three superstars, Kobe has the ability to create problems. And he did. Boston shot a combined 35% for the game and only scored 81 points.
The 2nd and 4th quarters were the strong ones for the Lakers as they seem to finally have learned that it’s important to close out nicely. Obviously they have struggled in keeping games competitive because of their mistakes in the 3rd quarter creating too big of a deficit to overcome in the 4th.
Now that the Lakers have matured in these three games against the team with the most regular season wins and most amount of over rated players, they have a chance to win two more games at Staples Center before they head back to beantown. Going out to Boston with a 3-2 lead is essentially the Lakers only chance at winning this series and it will be interesting to see how mentally strong this Lakers team is and whether they are ready do go after the older Boston Celtics.
I have read thousands of reports on the Lakers since Thursdays game one loss in Boston and have come up with several conclusions. The first is that many reporters have no idea what they’re talking about and their opinion is ridiculously useless and should be taped off with caution in order to protect readers from wasting a single second of their life skimming an article about Paul Pierce being the best player in the NBA Finals.
With that said, and some of my anger released since the ridiculous loss, it’s time to review what needs to be done in order for the Lakers to win their first series in which they start off from behind.
Pau Gasol is key to this Lakers team. I feel like Gasol was extremely nervous during game one and didn’t contribute to his potential. Gasol has an excellent variety of moves and strengths that can drive Boston crazy. The Lakers are a team known for its effective offense and essentially it’s large amount of easy baskets (ie. layups and dunks). Game 1 was pathetic in terms of intensity around the basket. I will let analysts say whatever they want about the Celtics defense, but the bottom line is that the Lakers couldn’t be effective on the inside because they weren’t making shots on the outside.
Sasha Vujacic, Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Luke Walton are players capable of coming into the game at random times and dropping three pointers on you. The first game in Boston was an example of how road teams struggle when they shoot from the outside. Something about those rims in the Garden that didn’t let the ball just smoothly fall through the hoop, the ball would rattle in and out on every shot attempt, even most of Kobe’s.
I’ve also heard many crackheads address that Kobe Bryant played horribly. Yes, his shooting was off. But let me put it this way, had the rest of the team’s shots been going down and the Celtics really have been forced to play defense on every guy like they should have to, Kobe would have a lot more room to operate. Instead, he was constantly jammed in between a bunch of defenders and even his own players that couldn’t set a normal pick.
O yeah, the screen, or shall I say the Boston/Kevin Garnett Moving Screen. Are the officials ever going to call the moving screen on KG. This guy is constantly taking steps during the screen, bending his shoulder down into the defenders chest as they try to go above the pick, and just simply doesn’t understand the concept of a screen. Kevin: A screen is used in order to free one of your teammates by standing in ONE spot, straight up, and giving your teammate the opportunity to dribble around you to create space between himself and the defender. The screen is not designed for the screener, in this case KG, to take a defender out of a play be playing defense on the defender (if that makes sense to you).
The biggest overall problem with this game was that the Lakers couldn’t rebound. I have a real issue with the way Phil Jackson played the line ups in this game, unless of course there is an injury I am unaware of. Trevor Ariza is not only a great defender for the Lakers, but he is also a high flyer and a strong rebounder. If Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and our small forward all commit to boxing out the offensive players, then we should be able to get the rebounds and not give up so many second chance points. Kevin Garnett is constantly going over the top of our guys and simply pulling the ball into himself. I wouldn’t call the fouls against him for over the back either, well, I would on some of them, but most of them he earns by commiting to the rebound and not being lazy.
Pau Gasol: don’t use your hands to box out, use you 7′0″ frame and your butt. I’m sick of being out rebounded every game. Good rebounding is just like good defense, all it takes is heart and commitment. If you tell yourself that you will rebound, you will rebound. Of course, once in a while there is a bad bounce, but in general, you shouldn’t ever be standing to the side of the basket waiting for the ball to clank of the rim while KG is standing in the key waiting on the other side. We’re not playing this game with luck on our side, clearly with all the injuries this season, we are playing this game with hard work. Why wasn’t Gasol boxing out Garnett that play in the 4th when KG had a monster put back dunk of the James Posey missed three?
Simply put, Game 1 wasn’t all that bad for the Lakers. The box score said the lost by 10, but they were really only down by about 6 if you don’t count the fouls at the end for the purpose of hoping they miss and give you a shot at the game again. The Lakeshow had plenty of chances to put this game away and open it up, the bad shooting from all the players on the team in general is really what hurt this team. The keys for the next game won’t be Kobe shooting better, they will be Vujacic making shots he normally makes, Pau Gasol understanding his role as a dominant force in the paint with a wide variety of post moves, the front courts commitment to rebounding, and Kobe Bryant’s general ability to spread the floor as he torches the Celtics with points and assists (I suppose some rebound wouldn’t be bad either).
By the way, I apologize for the delay in my article of the three main factors that the Lakers have over the Celtics. Although the series has already begun, I will still write this article in the next few days when I have a bit more free time away from work. Also, don’t forget to tune in to LA Ball Talk for all future live blog events.
The Los Angeles Lakers have done what 15 teams hoped for in the western conference heading into the season. The Lakers have beat the San Antonio Spurs in 5 games to advance to the NBA Finals.
The Lakers last trip to the Finals was in 2004 when they lost in 5 games to the Detroit Pistons. With the Eastern Conference currently being fought out by the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons, Lakers fans are forced to sit and wait for a week until the NBA Finals begins.
The Celtics currently lead the Eastern Conference Finals 3-2 over the Pistons and are headed to the Palace for game 6. No matter which team comes out of the East, the Lakers will be playing on the road next Thursday on ABC, the home of the NBA Finals.
The Lakers started the game shooting 7-27 from the field while the Spurs came out firing at over 60%. Eventually, Kobe did his part, helped shut down the Spurs on the defensive end and brought the Lakers back. After trailing by 17 points in the first half, the Lakers closed it to 6 points at halftime.
Phil Jackson must have made some amazing half time comments and adjustments because the Lakers came out on a mission. The 3rd quarter went to the Lakers 22-15 and the 4th was the Lakers as well with a 36-29 advantage.
Kobe Bryant was the player of the game, by far, as he finished with 39 points on 16-30 shooting. Kobe also had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in the 43 minutes as he played the entire 4th quarter.
With the way this Lakers season started, surely everyone remembers Kobe’s trade demands in the offseason, no one could have expected the Lakers to be in this position. Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak pulled off the necessary moves in bringing in veteran point guard Derek Fisher and eventually pulling off a blockbuster trade in giving away Kwame Brown and Javaris Crittenton for all star Pau Gasol.
The rest of the season was history. The team has really bonded throughout the season as Kobe won his first ever MVP award and has finally been recognized for making his teammates better.
The Lakers appearance in the NBA Finals will be the 2nd great stop for Kobe Bryant as he looks for the ultimate year of perfection. Kobe Bryant has the potential to win the NBA MVP Award, NBA Championship, NBA Finals MVP Award, and the Gold Medal in the Summer Olympics.
Of course, let’s not get carried away by the achievements of the Black Mamba, for even he will admit that the credit for this year’s accomplishments are heavily due to the role players and basically everyone not named Kobe Bryant. For now, I’m overjoyed and so excited to see the Los Angeles Lakers back in the NBA Finals.
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