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.
This series can either take a turn for the best, the Lakers going up 3-1, or a turn for the worst, the Spurs tying it up at two games a piece. Game 4 is a very pivotal game in this series and can either put a team deep in the hole or revive them entirely.
The Lakers won games 1 & 2 at Staples Center in a Hollywood type of way, the first game was a 20 point comeback in the 2nd half, and the second game was a 30 point massacre. Unfortunately, game 3 was very different in San Antonio. The Lakers really struggeld and had lots of problems creating any type of offense.
The Lakers offense has been key in the team’s success against the Spurs thus far. The Spurs are well known for their lock down defense and the Lakers have been quite successful at breaking it down and making it look more like the Memphis Grizzlies defense (after losing Pau Gasol). On Sunday night at the AT&T Center, the Lakers couldn’t get a single thing going on the offensive end.
Rather than review all the mistakes the Lakers made in game 3, I’d prefer to go over some ideas for game 4 so that they can fly back to LA a bit happier about a 3-1 lead in a best of seven series.
As Phil Jackson would say, “All this loss means is that it’s become a five game series.” Let’s keep it that way.
The triangle offense is extremely complicated however very successful when ran correctly. It requires constant movement of the ball and of the players. This is obviously key in any offense, but especially in the triangle because if a player doesn’t move in the proper configuration, the triangle falls apart and you must pray that Kobe can bail you out.
The Lakers have adjusted a lot since they have acquired Pau Gasol as the addition of a center that can create his own plays, catch difficult passes, and score practically at will is something Kwame Brown was not able to do. Unfortunately, the players haven’t quite realized that Pau Gasol isn’t a physical player but instead a European mentality athlete. Pau is a soft finesse type player that relies on his soft hands and play making ability rather than dominating another players space. When the Lakers start looking for the smart passes, they tend to find plenty of alley oops and easy baskets for Pau. This will be great for the teams offensive efficiency and energy.
Another key to the Lakers offense will be the play of Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher. Fisher is a crafty veteran that knows the game, especially the San Antonio Spurs. He has played so many series against the Spurs that I wouldn’t be surprised if he scouted them instead of one of he coaches. Fisher hasn’t been shooting all that many 3’s in this series, and I’m a bit unhappy with his sudden passiveness as he leads the NBA Playoff teams in three point shooting percentage.
Lamar Odom has a unique ability to do practically whatever he wants when he wants to. His enormous 6′10″ frame is one that is difficult to defend and the Spurs especially don’t have a player that can compete with Odom. Lamar has been aggressive at times and passive at others. I would like to see Lamar drive to the basket and draw some fouls. Lamar Odom shot the highest number of free throws for this team last game, and shot them quite poorly at that. Putting Tim Duncan in foul trouble could be a very vital part of this teams offense and could create a big advantage for LA. Since the Spurs have this gaping hole with a lack of a tall lanky and quick player, Lamar Odom should be abusing the Spurs by driving to the basket and picking up some fouls. Even if he makes 1/2 free throws, picking up 3 fouls on Timmy early in the 2nd could be very important to the result of this game.
Overall, I think the Lakers are a far superior team to the San Antonio Spurs. The teams are very similar in terms of talent, ability, knowledge, and even experience (Kobe and Derek Fisher are really all the experience you need). The difference in this series is age. The youth of the Lakers should be taking advantage of the elderly bench of the Spurs. San Antonio is simply much older than the Lakers, and using a combination of many different players (yes, I’m petitioning for Trevor Ariza to get more minutes), will give the Lakers an opportunity to take over this series and essentially win it.
Let’s get this over with and start preparing for the NBA Finals.
When Pau Gasol was first traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, everyone, including myself, was filled with joy. We now had a big man that could play big, could create his own shot with his repatoir of moves in the post, and could collect rebounds.
Pau Gasol has been great for the Lakers….on the offensive side, and to further that, when he plays against a physical defender, he cant even really do that much. His numbers in this years playoffs have been somewhat decieving. Besides his first game against the Denver Nuggets and his 18 point 10 rebound performance in one game against Utah, he has seemingly not done much in these playoffs. He isnt even converting on his freethrows, which was one of the key components to his game. But enough about offense, compared to most centers in the leauge, Pau’s offense is exceptional and I am not one to complain.
The real problem is Pau Gasol’s defense, or lack there of. Sure Andrew Bynum didnt have the offensive one on one skills that Gasol has, but he made up for that with his superb defense. If you have been watching Gasol this playoff season, you have seen some of the worst defense ever. He doesnt rotate, box out to get rebounds, and by the time he makes it to the other end of the floor the other team has already scored. Ever heard of transition defense Pau? Apparently not.
You might ask yourslef, “Well, why is one person so important? There are still 4 other guys who play good defense…” To answer that, the Lakers play a “help-style” defense. When they guard their man, they are set up so that they are below the plane and in between their man and the man dribbling the ball. This works because if you get beaten off the dribble, you will have someone “ROTATING” over and “HELPING” you out.
Pau Gasol is extremely late on his rotation’s simply because he is lazy. So what is happening? The other offensive man is getting a wide open layup, and if he misses, an offensive rebound occurs because Pau is late coming to the box.
Simply put, the Lakers can score with the best of them…but defense wins championships. The Lakers will only go as far as their defense goes, and right now, the defense is dependent upon Pau Gasol’s willingness to work hard and move his feet.
In last nights loss to the New Orleans Hornets, the Lakers lead of the western conference wasn’t the biggest loss. The biggest loss of the night came within the first three minutes of the game when Pau Gasol went down in an attempt to make a great offensive play when he landed on teammate Vladimir Radmanovic’s foot.
The incident was obviously not on purpose however it will cost the Lakers some. Allow me to quickly review the possible effects of this injury on the team’s standing in the western conference:
Lakers manage to pull out a big win in Houston, then follow it up with plenty of energy in Utah and Dallas. They return to Staples Center for some much easier competition and sit pretty as the #1 team going into the playoffs.
The Lakers can finish 2-2 on this road trip with wins in 2/3 stops, and return to LA to play an easy schedule in which they dominate and still manage to pull of the #1 spot.
If the Lakers finish this road trip with 4 losses, they will drop down only 1 1/2-2 games behind of first place. The good news is that they have the easiest remaining schedule in the west and this will allow them to stay competitive until the end. Unfortunately, in the case of a tiebreaker for the first seed, the Spurs, Rockets, and Hornets may all have us beat.
This is finally Kobe’s chance to prove his NBA MVP candidacy. He has led this team to a great record, but he has not done it himself. He has had the support of Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum at most stages of the season. Lets just say that if this team keeps the #1 seed going into the playoffs, Kobe will secure the award and will also go down in history as a much stronger player and team leader than he currently is known as.
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