Let's not overreact to the moment. It's just one game. If the Suns wake up (esp. Shawn Marion), they could win the next 3 in a row. This Laker team could crumble. I do agree with your #1 and expect LeBron to pass Kobe next season.
when they were weren't posting him up, he did and has for about 2 months. otherwise it was turnover after turnover.
Kobe Slams-it-home-with-authority-over-Steve-"MVP"-Nash Video http://beta.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=35D4983C1D5A6482 w00t! (sorry if this has been posted b4)
I have to give credit to PJ for making the Suns play a half court game and limit their transition baskets. I also hope that those Marion lovers will STFU and realize that he is just a complementary player who routinely disappears in the playoffs.
LOL. Someone should make a music video AND remix to that song. That would be SO good. Sadly I have no skills with computer editing and that sort.
Marion has been absolutely pathetic! He's pulling off his usual 'disappearing act' in the playoffs. I think the Suns have been in every game so far in SPITE of how badly he's played, the guy can't create his own offense, he either gets a nice pass from Nash or someone else for an open shot or he scores off rebounds.
I said it before and I am saying it again: Phil Jackson is the best coach of the NBA. Les is such a moron.
If anything, this entire series helps to dispel the myth that Kobe's teammates are "not up to it", or "crappy" or whatever else people wanted to call them. Kobe scores over 40ppg and they lose every single game, now he's playing like he's just "one of the guys" and his teammates have delivered for him very nicely. The Pacers and Lakers are making me look good (as far as my predictions are concerned)
that has a lot to do with it. there aren't many teams where odom has his PF counterpart completely outsized (both in height and weight) like he has marion. and part of the reason marion's speed doesn't offset that is the way odom posts up. he doesn't face up and drive on quicker players and he doesn't really overpower them like a strong post player. but he gets the ball and just kind of rolls back and forth across the defender and suddenly he's 5 feet from the basket and he uses his long arms to just flip it up there for an easy shot. marion is the type of guy he can do that to. odom can't always do that. as for the others, they're playing well and not playing well. smush balances good plays with bad plays. walton had some nice plays today and missed about 10 open shots. vuljacic is hitting right now but his fg% isn't that good. kwame has been growing for a while and this is the first time i've ever seen him make nice passes. the lakers players aren't complete scrubs, but they're still doing a lot of this only b/c the suns are focusing so much on kobe (trapping every pick and roll) and even when kobe doesn't get the assist the ball starts moving b/c they doubled kobe. and the lakers aren't really doing all that much better on offense. they scored 99 ppg this year (100 this series i think) and the suns suck at defense. they're playing nicely and kobe is helping them play nicely. i think they could probably have the same or even more with kobe going crazy. but maybe that would hurt the D... which has been great. maybe kobe taking more shots would leave them unbalanced for transition (since kobe, a guard, would be in the paint instead of outside and back on D) and make kobe more tired for D. but two things they have done so well this series that always kills me about teams defending the suns is 1) they actually understand that steve nash wants to pass and 2) they switch a lot. so many teams collapse all over nash when he drives and just leave player after player open for 3's. this is stupid. the lakers are doing a good job of faking like they're coming over to help and then start backing off to the 3 point line. all of a sudden nash is in the air and no one is wide open and he just kind of lofts it up. some times its stolen, other times it just gives the D the time it needs to recover even more. the risk is nash might start looking for his shot more and you might start giving up layups. but until he does, play the pass. switching. teams get so off balance by the suns many picks and just give up wide open 3's. they trap or kind of stagger themselves where the big guy tries to play nash while back way up and the little guy guards the picker while angling toward nash. this lets nash have easy jumpers as the big guy backs off. or the picker just cuts and there's a great passing angle for the dish. or someone else shades over and leaves someone open. the lakers are mostly just switching and the big guys are backing off nash just enough to make him uncomfortable shooting while not giving up an obvious drive (whereas too many big guys get right up on a guard or back so far off it's ridiculous). then since the suns don't have a power post up guy, the pg who switched can't really be posted up. these two things are making them very effective (along with a slower offense and making sure they get back). phil has played this very well.
Yeah. That's true. In the regular season, Kobe didn't share the ball enough and didn't pass enough. He didn't create for his teammates like he did today the way people (including me) thought he couldn't. Had he played this way all season (barring his sub-par shooting performance), imagine how good the Lakers would have been. Just as long as they aren't better than the Rockets...
Yet another choke job in playoffs by Shawn marion. Countless blown layups and missed jumpers with game closing down. Heartless!
