is phil going to start bynum or odom? because this is the most enormous decision that their coach will make. i'm really hoping that he starts bynum, because the defensive matchup of yao on gasol will cause the rockets nightmares. seeing how spencer hawes took advantage of yao's reluctance to step out to contest his jump shots in the kings game i saw, i'm anticipating that gasol will do the same. yao was stellar in this series against the blazers because he could roam in the paint and challenge penetration. the refs did not treat him too unfairly this round, and battier, artest, and brooks relied on him when they lost roy and blake off of screens. yao had an enormous impact defensively, but i'm afraid he might not have the same impact this series. scola is not the ideal defender, aldridge would bait him into fouls on fadeaways, but he is solid and will step out on gasol. does anyone remember what kind of defensive strategy used on yao during the last 2 meetings with the lakers? did gasol front him? if gasol doesn't front him, then what i hope yao will do is abuse gasol on the other end to make up for the points gasol might score on him.
bynum is not very good.. but will still help on defense like oden did.. i think we match up with the lakers perfect, except for the fact that kobe can take over games.. this is how they won 2 of the 4 games against the rockets this season.. kobe.. gasol, odom.. et all can strut all they want.. they go nowhere w/o kobe and the calls he gets from refs.
I'm also hoping he starts Bynum. My problem with the series is going to be that, in my opinion, Yao will not be treated as fairly by the refs. In the Blazers series, Yao was the biggest star in the series. In the Lakers series, you've got Kobe, who will not only get the calls because he's Kobe, but he'll also drive the lane and take the ball right at Yao. That doesn't bode well for us. As far as the keys to the series, I would say that our keys are the defensive play of Battier and Ron. And also, the ability for Yao to stay out of foul trouble and give us some good, quality minutes. We need Ron and Battier to keep Kobe's penetration down, and make him settle for jump shots. On top of that, we need good rotations going on the other jump shooters that the Lakers have. This seems to be our major downfall over the past few years against the Lakers. This is the exact reason why people like Derek Fisher and other good, spot shooters have torched us. We've got to keep those guys defended.
If he's smart, he starts Odom. That would put the mismatch in favor of them both in their first unit and second unit. Gasol will front Yao. Without Mutombo, the Rockets don't have anyone off the bench who can deal with Bynum. He's too big, and too talented.
i am hoping for bynum to start. Odom would be a bad matchup but who knows. Phil is the master of mind games.
Bynum will start...he had match up problems with utah, but yao being a real center, he will start against yao
If Bynum plays in the second unit, I expect Hayes to get quite a few minutes at backup center. If it's Odom, Landry will need to step up his defense. Ahh, if only we still had Mutombo. He'd go "ESPN Classic" on Bynum.
They might go with starting Gasol and bringing in Bynum off the bench, in order to constantly have the height advantage and fresher center, since our two tallest players in rotation are both starters. That statement makes very little sense. Usually when you use the phrase "light", it refers to either out scoring. Fisher isn't known for any of that. Fisher may draw Brooks into making mistakes thanks to his experience but Fisher is pretty much the Rafer Alston of the Lakers, he runs the offense and knows how to defend his position but if Fisher is the difference maker in this series, either he is shooting lights out or no one is defending the basket.
HaHa, I like this comment, the lakers could be rusty due to too much rest, if Yao is hot like the game 1 in the last series because the single coverage, the rockets could win the game 1.
no Phil does double team Yao, but he has the weakside defender coming in so Yao can't see it and usually gets a good amount of TO's
Lakers Starting Lineup change Who will the lakers play?? Mainly for the Yao-Scola frontcourt. Against a very different frontcourt than ours (Okur-Boozer) they changed the lineup. In the first 3 games they played Bynum-Gasol, and in the last two they played Gasol-Odom. The rest of the lineup was always been Fisher-Bryant-Ariza. I am honestly not sure what i prefer. I think the Slower lineup with Gasol and Bynum will help us more, cause Yao will be covered one on one by bynum, but i am not sure how this will work. I think the smaller lineup will force Yao out of the paint with the obvious liabilities produced with this. Anyway, yesterday Portland played small and failed completelly.
The key will be Bynum playing thereby sliding Gasol back to the four. The fact of the matter is when matched up against Yao, Gasol either outplayed or canceled him out. With Bynum out there this now becomes Scola/Landry/Hayes' problem. That, and we need them to keep starting and giving heavy minutes to Ariza. The Lakers are nearly impossible to beat whenever Odom is playing well. Bynum returning has knocked Odom backed to the bench and reduced his minutes somewhat. That's a good thing for our cause.
I think Ariza is the worst matchup for us. he is a hustler on both ends of the floor and causes too many turnovers.
