Playoff Matchup Round 2: Lakers (2) vs Mavericks (3)

If Gasol helped us to win 2 titles. We the Rockets fans will at least appreciate him. Though we will bash him for his poor plays.

Gasol simply doesnt get any respect in LA. That's the problem.

 

Im most certain he's not the only problem

Matter of fact, they dont even care about the dude... Phil just humiliated the guy

How about the poor play of the other guys?

 

the thing is gasol isn't considered the best player in LA. they consider kobe the best player and one who brought the championships to LA. and fans usually adore the player who got them there and will give them a pass. and that applies generally to most fanbases.

but gasol isn't the only problem/reason why the lakers are losing.

kobe isn't the same player. he isn't able to penetrate at will and put pressure on the defense in this series AT ALL. it's absolutely stunning to me that this hasn't been discussed. they literally have ZERO paint penetration outside of post ups to bynum. kobe's perimeter game allows him to still score points, but his lack of dribble penetration is making it hard for him to dominate in ways that a prime kobe could.

i think this reason is just as big as pau under-performing. it's amazing how much kobe has dropped off in this post-season.

 

Without Gasol, 2 lottery and a first round exit.

With Gasol, 2 rings and so far this year he got you further than you ever got without him.

 

Most Kobe fans like goodbug and redalertz, treat him like GOAT and dont dare to question him.

Not only kobe inability to penetrate, he didn't play with much fire himself except whining at referees and showing sour face to his teammates after every poor plays. Kobe just not the same player this playoffs both physically and mentally. Sign of age? Injuries? Both?

 

I am completely happy

 

If Mavericks can pull of a sweep against the defending champions, then I'm going to say that they have a shot at winning it all....

 

Where did you get that number? Jordan shot 46% from the field in the '98 playoffs.

 

The point is that, despite Kobe's numbers, he's done as little as Gasol to affect winning. Kobe's stats are as empty as the mind of a crack w**** right now.

 

He had Peja on him, they should've exploited that match-up all day every day. The NBA playoffs are about match-ups, the teams that better exploit their advantages end up advancing. If the Lakers are going to go big and give up open jumpers to Dirk and Peja, you have to PUNISH those guys on the other end. Gasol/Bynum and Odom should be ISO'd on those dudes all day and make them work on defense or put them in foul trouble.

Game 3 set up perfectly for the Lakers. They're at their most lethal when everyone is involved and contributing. No one was standing around watching "Kobe do work." I'm utterly amazed at how they've blown both Games 1 and 3 with piss poor execution down the stretch in both games.

God help me if the Mavs make it to the Finals and actually win it this time

 

Fans are knee jerk. This is a what have you done for me lately type sportsworld so the fans are bashing him. I guess it's easy for them to do so since he has a reputation for being soft.

I agree with "what" though if they are going to bash Pau they should also bash Kobe.

 

gasol is not the only reason the lakers are going ape**** right now

 

when all goes good it's Kobe, when all goes bad it's Pau. I can't blame Pau, he got booed by those ******* fans that think they deserve everything (just like Kobe).They got ****ing Bynum,Odom,Artest,Kobe,fisher,and coach Phil, they should'nt skip a heartbeat without Gasol.

 

Gasol is averaging 13 pts while only shooting 43% from the field. That is the reason those ******* fans are booing him. Them booing him is no excuse for them to be playing this terrible.

Pau Gasol is more important to that team than Ron Artest and Fisher. That right there isn't even debatable. When Pau is playing like he is capable of the Lakers are an elite team. When he is in a funk like he is now this Lakers team is not dangerous.

 

You are right. I didn't look up the numbers. I just remembered he took a ton of shots and shot a low percentage in that run, but apparently it was only for a few games in the process. The point I tried to make is that Jordan was 35 at the time and he still got it done. Age is not an execuse for Kobe.

 

Thanks for bringing this up.
Folks here are trying to throw everyone in with Pau but thing is Pau is more important to the team than Artest, Fisher, Blake, etc.
He is in a heckuva funk right now and ANY sports fan in ANY city would dish out most of the blame to him if he played for their team.

 

BUT he's a big reason!!!
There's tons of reasons the Lakers are down 3-0 and no one is saying he is the only reason but his play is a big part of it and thats why he is getting stick.

 

No one has *****ing said he's the only problem!(sorry for the cussing).
He's a major piece of the problem pie.
How do you know they don't care about the dude???? I think they all do. They realize how important he is to their team. Tell me when last you saw Phil get in the face of one of his players like that, TWICE in a game! That's the level of pisstivity Phil was at with Pau last night and if I were a Lakers fan I would have no problem at all with that. Pau humiliated himself all series and especially last night with his lapses on defense (not even talking about his play offensively).
They don't care about the dude! Seriously!

 

Um. He did twist his ankle over a week ago, has played 6 games since then. He this after a few weeks having a HUGE sprain on the dallas floor. I don't care if you think your the GOAT, if you literally have no lift in your ankle, how can you penetrate with dirk sliding over. your not going to get superstar treatment on ANOTHER superstar. kobe has no choice, the bigs won't clear out. And his role isnt to go out and score 40, its clear hes trying to get gasol going because he knows gasol works perfectly with his offense.

anywho, i admit kobe isn't closing out games anymore, but from what I'm seeing, hes def. trying to get to his spots his own teammates aren't allowing him to.

they are beating themselves