They lost the Finals because the Lakers frontcourt completely shutdown Howard. Kobe had a great series and rightly deserved the FMVP that year, but his frontcourt was the difference. The way we know this is to look at the previous series the Magic was in, vs the Cavs. LeBron had perhaps the greatest playoff series ever yet the Magic won rather easily because Howard could do whatever he wanted. Not so in the Laker series. That's thanks to the best frontcourt in the NBA.
Dwight, Rashard, Hedo and Pietrus outplayed Gasol, Odom, Bynum and Ariza that series ... it was the Lakers' backcourt domination of the Magic backcourt that was the deciding factor Yes, they made Dwight's job of scoring in the post a nightmare in that series, but he is only 1/3 of the Magic frontcourt, he has never been a dominant go-to post scorer, and he still managed to average 15 RPG and 4 BPG For a guy who's calling card as an elite NBA big man has always been rebounding and paint protection, he wasn't exactly 'shut-down' in the series putting up those dominant defensive numbers against 'the NBA's best frontcourt' As far as offense goes, focusing on Dwight with repeated double teams in the post to 'shut him down' only opened up perimeter opportunities for the the other 2/3 of the frontcourt, and they played pretty well: Hedo: 18 PPG 4.6 RPG 3.8 APG 0.4 BPG Rashard: 17.4 7.6 4 0 Dwight: 15.4 15.2 2.2 4 Pietrus: 10.6 2 0.4 0.2 Let's compare that with what the Lakers' frontcourt did in the series: Pau: 18.6 9.2 2.2 1.8 Odom: 13.4 7.8 0.8 1 Bynum: 6 4.2 0.6 0.6 Ariza: 11 6 1.6 0.2 Comparing just the 4 primary frontcourt players from the teams in the series, a few conclusions can be made: A - Center Matchup: Bynum vs Dwight Contrary to your assumption, it appears Andrew Bynum is the center in this matchup who was 'completely shutdown' ... couldn't even stay on the court for 20 MPG, and was dominated individually in his matchup with Dwight (a 'top 5' center can't do better than 6&4 in the Finals ... what a joke) B - Wing SF Matchup: Ariza vs Pietrus Essentially a wash as Pietrus put up almost identical numbers in almost 10 fewer MPG C - PF/SF Matchup: Gasol+Odom vs Hedo+Rashard Another essential wash, as the Magic duo's damage from the outside basically equaled the interior contributions from the Lakers duo Overall, when isolating the frontcourt players, I would say the only clear domination in the series was what Dwight did to Bynum ... again, how did the Lakers frontcourt have a better series? To look for the clear Lakers advantage in the series, I'd probably look to the backcourt, where the Lakers had Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, who single-handedly nearly DOUBLED the production of the entire starting backcourt of the Magic: Bryant: 32.6 PPG 5.6 RPG 7.4 APG 1.4 SPG 1.4 BPG Alston + Lee: 16.4 3.6 3.2 1.4 0 Again ... just looking at the individual results from that series, I don't see how any rational person can still make the case that the Lakers 2009 championship was more attributable to the Lakers frontcourt domination, rather than their backcourt domination
If you want to expand the list to all 30 NBA teams' frontcourts during those 3 seasons and include the regular seasons, please, take the time and show us the results ... again I thought I was being generous by only looking at the 16 playoff teams But I'm sure you're right, and look forward to all the other frontcourts you uncover that were better or comparable to the Lakers' from 2008-2010 ... I've already found the Magic, and someone else already mentioned the Nuggets Melo/Nene/KMart frontcourt ... could be a good place to start As for Bynum in 2009 ... well, check my previous post ... 20 minutes, 6 points and 4 rebounds a game from a 'top 5' center in a Finals series is pathetic for anybody ... Bill Cartwright thinks Bynum was embarrassed ... And yes, 50 games out of 82 in 2009 averaging 29 MPG is 'barely playing' for a starter In 2008, he only played in 35 games out of 82, and only started 25 (7th-most on the team btw), averaging 29 MPG ... mostly a backup, and still 'barely' playing In 2010, Bynum actually started 65 games (iron-man season for him) and finally managed to bump his MPG above 30 in his 6th NBA season ... congrats, I guess 15 & 8 is the new threshold for a 'top 5' NBA center So overall, from 2008-2010, there were a total of 11808 (82*48*3) minutes logged by a Laker playing the C position in the regular season Bynum only played 4415 of those minutes, or about 37.4% ... to me, that is 'barely' playing
Sorry, but the Magic frontcourt was easily inferior to the Lakers. It's not even debatable. Look at their finals stats compared to the regular season stats. Dwight's offensive production and efficiency dropped tremendously while Gasol and Odom became more efficient. Nene (PER 18.8), Martin (13.6) and Carmelo (19) was a better frontcourt than Gasol (22.2), Odom (16.6) and Bynum (20)? Are you not aware that Bynum tore his MCL earlier in the season and wasn't fully recovered by the time the playoffs rolled around? Who cares about 2008? We've only been talking about Laker title seasons. 2008 is irrelevant.
No they didn't. This is the furthest thing from the truth. Gasol was able to neutralize Howard 1-1, with Bynum also being able to defend him. Ariza and Odom were able to defend Shard and Turk 1-1 because both were long and could move. Orlando made the Finals behind Howard dominating inside and shooters getting open looks. LA didn't have to double Howard and their long wings were able to stay on Shard/Hedo, as opposed to them shooting over short guards in the previous rounds. Kobe has a strong enough resume. You don't have to recreate history for him.
Correct. If it were due to playing with Kobe, their regular season numbers would've matched their finals' numbers. Do you also think that Kobe is the reason Dwight played poorly in the finals?
How can playing with Kobe make the front court more efficient? Kobe doesn't make plays for others like Harden, all he does is iso and attack. Also saying the Lakers front court wasn't good is pretty funny, LA beat an East team that had KG and boasted one of the top defense in the history of the NBA. You think a front court of Gasol, Odom and Bynum had nothing to do with that? Kobe won a ring shooting 40% in a series, how is that even possible unless he had a major assist from his front court and miracle performances from Artest/Ariza.
-Kobe attracted triple and double teams every nite, which pulls attention AWAY from Gasol & Bynum (like any superstar player would) - Assuming teams would consider doubling Gasol, it's ALOT harder to do it w/ Kobe out there on the perimeter Your quest to give Kobe no credit for anything has backfired. The hatred has become apparent I'm sure had he had the opportunity to play with 2 HOF caliber superstars, like Wade & Bosh, his percentages will probably be better across the board.
I don't care about yalls argument but the part that i'm bolding had me dying. Please stop the stupidity.
Lol. So Lebron wins a ring with 2 superstars and arguably the best 3 point shooter of all time, and gets ALL the credit for making them better. But Kobe gets NO CREDIT? lol. Spoke like a true Kobe Bryant hater
Wade and Bosh averaged 28 between them in the playoffs last year, Wade was injured, Bosh was crap (lol 0 points in game 7), Lebron carried them. Whilst the Laker front court was good enough to greatly reduce the effectiveness of opposition front courts, for Miami's opponents, it was a feast up front. There's also a fairly solid argument that Gasol was the Lakers best player in the 2009-10 playoffs (since he was ahead in literally every advanced stat), and he was most definitely the best player in that game 7. Lebron has been better than Kobe ever was for years, but any semblance of possibility set sail last year when Lebron carried them to a title, this is about Durant.
