New Album & The Beginning of Basketball Season

[rblnr]

Lakers getting all they can handle too. Is it OK to say Kobe is going to have to pull a D Rose in the last 4 min?

BS foul call on Fisher btw

 

[jadis]

Wow. Woke up reading about the Spurs losing to Memphis and now just watched the Hornets beat the Lakers. Amazing upsets.

 

[Steve Williams]

Grrr

 

[Ron Party]

How many times did Kobe have his pocket picked?

 

[rblnr]

Yep, wow's the word

 

[Steve Williams]

How many times did Kobe have his pocket picked?

too many as well as too many missed shots

NOH had only 3 turn overs the entire game

 

[jadis]

NOH had only 3 turn overs the entire game

That's a key stat in the game. And to think they missed so many foul shots in the game. Incredible how they outscored LA in the paint, 52-38, challenging the 3 seven footers of the Lakers. I'm sure Phil is going to do something about that come Game 2.

 

[jadis]

And how Boston is down 8 at near halftime.

 

[jadis]

C's escape the ax the last few seconds. When Ray Allens get to shoot 20 or more, the C's win most of the time. Tough seried and evenly matched.

 

[Steve Williams]

Kevin Durant is amazing. Makes scoring effortless and seems so easy

 

[Steve Williams]

Anyone admiring the new ink on on the Birdmans neck

 

[jadis]

I spotted his new ink on a timeout but I can't say I liked it more than his old ones. LOL

KD is one heck of a player. If one were to choose right now to get him or Rose for your franchise, that would not be an easy choice.

But what a terrific first 2 days of playoffs. No top seeded team can say they will easily beat their matched opponent.

 

[Steve Williams]

It wouldn't be an easy choice but KD doesn't get his due. He is a true superstar

 

[jadis]

It wouldn't be an easy choice but KD doesn't get his due. He is a true superstar

Yup. And still very young.

 

[Steve Williams]

watching the East playoffs I just can't imagine an East Final with other than Heat vs Bulls.

To me the West is up for grabs with too many good teams in the West

 

[FrantzM]

watching the East playoffs I just can't imagine an East Final with other than Heat vs Bulls.

To me the West is up for grabs with too many good teams in the West

i am not sure about that ... .. The Heat didn't look that great playing the Sixers and they may have the Celtics or Orlando in their road to the championship, both are teams with a ton of playoff experience and great coaches ... beating all of these great teams who have proven a thorn for them during the regular season, is far from a given ... I am waiting to see the second games of the playoff it'll let me see where the players are so far not sure ..

On the Lakers , Derek Fisher looks like a 20 years old kid: He came to play. No one expects Gasol expect Gasol to play so poorly during the whole series or the iLakers defense to be so poor .. Did you see how many times they ended up with Gasol guarding CP3!?! Talk about mismatch ! As for Kobe he looked good although he had too many turnovers ... My single worry is the disappearance of my vaunted depth .. My bench is not scoring (aside from Lamar Odam)

 

[Steve Williams]

I couldn't understand as well how Gasol was guarding Chris Paul as he got burned on every possession by CP3

 

[FrantzM]

I couldn't understand as well how Gasol was guarding Chris Paul as he got burned on every possession by CP3

As weel as he should .. The team defense was atrocious.. No one was rotating .. In that sense Kobe was as responsible as Artest was ... When a screen would free CP3 one of the guard or the small forward should rotate to cover CP3 no one did and Gasol had to move to do that with the results we had ... meanwhile too many turnovers from Kobe and Gasol deciding to take a vacation on the Mediterranean coast that day ...

 

[Ron Party]

I couldn't understand as well how Gasol was guarding Chris Paul as he got burned on every possession by CP3

Lazy defense. Instead of fighting through the screen they switched, leaving Gasol to guard CP3. It's just plain and simple lazy defense. It's the same defense the Warriors use, and the Warriors every year are in the bottom 5 of defensive teams. Somewhere back in this thread, I posted that the Lakers have 3 major shortcomings: (1) no bench scoring, aside from Odom; (2) no one other than Kobe who can penetrate or otherwise break down the defense; and (3) pick and roll defense.

This last shortcoming has been their bugaboo for years. I had posted that if one wants to look at the best pick and roll defense in the league, one would look to the Celtics. The Lakers will continue to be victimized by quick point guards and the pick and roll. It is a coaching problem.

That is why it is far easier for the Lakers to handle Dallas. Dallas has no quick point guard to run the pick and roll. But come the Western Conference finals, if it does turn out to be the Lakers & Thunder, we will see the Lakers victimized by Westbrook.

 

[Ron Party]

As weel as he should .. The team defense was atrocious.. No one was rotating .. In that sense Kobe was as responsible as Artest was ... When a screen would free CP3 one of the guard or the small forward should rotate to cover CP3 no one did and Gasol had to move to do that with the results we had ... meanwhile too many turnovers from Kobe and Gasol deciding to take a vacation on the Mediterranean coast that day ...

This is not the way to defend the pick and roll. Rotating just leaves another player wide open, and the Lakers are not quick enough to scramble to continue the rotating defense. The player guarding CP3 has to fight through the screen, and the player guarding the picking player has to step forward and trap CP3. Watch how Kevin Garnett steps out to trap the point guard on a pick and roll. That is how it is properly done.