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.
I’d like everyone to join me tonight in an always heated discussion during the Lakers game at 6:00 PM PT.
I stopped by to join the live blogs at FanHouse and Ball Don’t Lie and let me tell you, the moderation is poor as the host continues to write comments without allowing guest to have their thoughts on certain topics posted. The conversation was way behind the game and was a one sided biased review. It might as well have been a single blog post.
I will be here shortly before tip off tonight and look forward to the Lakers closing out this series early in the game.
Derek Fisher has 4 fouls… Sasha Vujacic has 4 fouls… Jordan Farmar has 3 fouls… Pau Gasol has 3 fouls…
THATS ONLY THE END OF THE 3RD QUARTER.
At the end of the 3rd qaurter of game four in San Antonio at the AT&T Center, the Los Angeles Lakers led the San Antonio Spurs by 7 points with a score of 77-70.
How they managed to pull that off is beyond me based on one simple fact: Through three quarters, the Spurs shot 26 free throws and the Lakers shot 12, each team missing two shots.
Allow me to break down what happens throughout the game if the whistle doesn’t blow:
Lamar Odom plays more than 31 minutes. He’s averaging 38 minutes per game this season and even more in the playoffs with 42 minutes per game against the Utah Jazz.
Derek Fisher plays more than 24 minutes as he averages 27 minutes per game during the regular season and 32 during the playoffs.
Sasha Vujacic plays more than 19 minutes as he’s averaging almost 25 minutes per game in this series against San Antonio.
The San Antonio Spurs don’t shoot 26 free throws (+14 over the Lakers).
The Lakers go into the 4th quarter with a 21 point lead (7 + 14 = 21).
Now, I watched the entire game, from tip off to no call. Was there a foul at the end, sure. Should the foul have been called, NO. To me, there are plenty of reasons that the foul shouldn’t have been called:
The Spurs had already been favored at the line (only in the 4th quarter did the Lakers shoot 7 free throws).
The Spurs should not have had the chance to tie considering Derek Fisher’s shot with just over 5 seconds remaining grazed the rim and deflected directly down off of Robert Horry’s leg. The ball touched the rim, the shot clock should’ve been reset, the Lakers should’ve been shooting 2 free throws after the inbounds, and the game should’ve/hopefully would’ve been two possession with under 3 seconds to go.Ironically enough, the source that has made the most sense in this entire ordeal is the San-Antonio Express News. Buck Harvey has put together a great summary of game four, referencing back to the 2004 playoffs when Shaq famously said, “one lucky shot deserves another.” Well this year, one mistake by the officials deserves another, in reference to the shot clock not being reset for the Lakers.
Brent Barry took 12 3-pointers in this game and made 5. He was shooting well but we all know he’s not a catch, dribble, create, free myself up, drill a game winning three kind of guy. Barry simply doesn’t have the necessary experience to make a play in that situation. The inexperience really showed as even the analysts said it was a no call simply because Barry didn’t jump into Derek Fisher. He attempted to go around him and thus his last “shot” not “play” wasn’t affected by Fisher. Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce, they all jump into Fisher on that one, pick up the foul and go to the line for 3 shots. Had the foul even been called in this situation, it would’ve only been a two shot foul because Barry didn’t jump and wasn’t in the shooting motion.
Officials don’t make calls on the last play of the game that potentially decide the outcome of the game, it’s well known and to be expected.
Kobe Bryant shot 0 free throws on 29 shot attempts. Does anyone truly understand this? (more to come)
The game has already been labeled as controversial by so many. The Joey Crawford Controversies are popping up from all over the place. I don’t quite undersatnd why though. Let it go. The Spurs have been on top for so long and it’s now time for them to take a collective bow and step down.
I’ve heard some pretty crazy ideas on how to fix the NBA, but the following one may be by far the craziest. Basketbawful, which happens to be one of my favorite sites simply based on the content, dictionary, and comedic relief it provides me, has come up with an insanely ridiculous rule change for the NBA. Take a look for yourself. I have one response, the free throw differential was already vast enough to the point where the Spurs were only in the game because of their time at the line. Give Pop a few more chances to get an offensive play with 3 seconds on the clock and the Spurs win 99/100. How does the team that played defense all game long and got called for ticky tack fouls ever win a game?
Another interesting article came up at The West Coast Bias Sports Blog stating the following, “You know if Kobe made that pump fake, he would’ve got the call. Heck, RK’s boy Sasha Vujacic got the same call on a three-pointer toward the end of the third quarter.” I’ve got news for you, Brent Barry didn’t make the pump fake, he wasn’t in the motion of shooting when Fisher bumped him, Sasha Vujacic didn’t sell anything because he was hit as the ball left his hands, and Kobe Bryant didnt get a single call for 4 quarters. Don’t be so biased Mr. Biased Sports Blogger, Kobe Bryant shot 29 field goals and 0 free throws. What superstar in this league takes 29 shots and isn’t fouled one time? Can you honestly say that Kobe Bryant wasn’t fouled a single time during this game? Did the refs not favor the Spurs the entire first three quarters and give them a chance to even be alive going into the 4th?
As the game is over, the controversies continue to pile up, and Spurs fans are for no reason outraged over one play, the Lakers are back home in LA preparing for game five of the Western Conference Finals. The same game five that could be the end to a San Antonio Spurs dynasty. The same game five that will force RC Buford to blow apart 80% of the roster this offseason. The same game five that will act as the switching of the guard and allow the Lakers to step in as the new team to beat (for years to come).
But, again, let’s not forget. There is still plenty of work to be done before this series is over. With a 3-1 lead and 2 out of 3 remaining games to be played at Staples Center, where the Lakers are undefeated this postseason, we can’t just forget about what happened in 2006 when the Phoenix Suns came back and beat us from a 3-1 deficit. Game 5 will be huge, it will be monumental, it will be the game of the year.
As the final buzzer sounded and the last shot missed, I felt great relief on my part.
The final score, 93-91 Lakers. That didn’t tell the whole story of the game.
The late scoring flurry plus the missed shots and free throws of the Los Angeles Lakers helped the defending Champions climb back from a 7-point deficit and cut the lead to 2 with 28 seconds remaining.
The Lakers were leading the whole game thanks to a 22-8 start. But bad calls after another helped the Spurs climb back to within 5 points after the 1st quarter. Thet were playing their backs against the wall but were still up by 53-47 at the half. Anything that could possibly go wrong had happened for these young LA Squad. There were 4 offensive fouls called, 3 travels, Ticky-tack fouls that resulted to Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher having 3 fouls before halftime.
You just couldn’t stop LA.
With all these, they managed to put a dagger on the NBA’s ruling Dynasty and make a statement : We are the team to beat.
A fews days ago, these young upstarts had bowed down to the San Antonio Spurs, taking the ruthless 103-84 beating. Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher, and Pau Gasol combined for 10-for-33 shooting with a total of 24 points and 6 turnovers. Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Sasha Vujacic combined for only 18 points, attempting only 15 shots. They were waiting for Kobe Bryant to save them. They were waiting for “Mr. MVP” to bail them out of this deep hole they were in. But that has not been the case for the whole season. They were playing team basketball all year long and they were not afraid to take those “big shots” down the stretch. Their gritty D didn’t show up as it did on Games 1 & 2. They had 13 assists and 13 turnovers. Last year, these inexperienced (take away D-Fish and KB24) group of ballers would have fold after a game like this. They will let their hearts be beat by their minds and say “We can’t do it. Let’s just give up”. But, what a difference a year makes. Especially, when you get the best player in the world to trust you.
In Game 4, we saw a different Los Angeles Lakers compared to Game 3. We saw the real Lakers squad that had been playing unselfishly all year long.
They were fierce. They were outhustling their opponents and forcing them to commit turnovers. They were scoring at will and it seemed that even the Spurs’ pride couldn’t stop them from doing what they’re supposed to do : beat SA like any other team. Like any other young team in the NBA, they would have folded in Game 4 after being humiliated in the road. But unlike any other young team in the league, they have the best player on the floor today, Kobe Bryant and they have the heart of the champions.
“It is a big step for us”, said Kobe Bryant.
Yes, he’s talking about his young team, and that big step took them closer to the ultimate goal : The Larry O’Brien Trophy, otherwise known as the NBA Championship Trophy.
The Lakers currently lead the best of seven series 2-1 and look to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals. With a win tonight, the Lakers will be only one win away from the NBA Finals and 5 wins away from the NBA Championship.
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