Second half Duncan played like Yao did. Just set a few picks nothing else. There's no play designed for him and nobody passes to him either. Spurs are just burning Parker, dude runs a lot for the whole night, he's not going to carry them for the win. Ginoboli doesn't seem to be in rythmn either. Duncan got to step up.
Total collapse by the Spurs toinght. Spurs are so good on the offensive rebound. But they just can't put the ball through the hoop. Funny how last week everyone was kissing Parker's butt. All the threads about how he is better than SF etc. he has a better core of players around him. Parker looks terrible, in the 2nd straight game.
Parker is tired, nobody passes to Duncan, they are done. The positive thing is I see Duncan is shooting a different style at the ft line, a pretty high release which is quite good. Hope he perfect that free throw shot it will be useful down the stretch.
kobe went bananas today..that's the straight honest fact. but i still think the Spurs can beat them. they simply ran out of gas.
I think that the Lakers did a great job defending Duncan and Tim really wasn't very aggressive. The Spurs can't win if they don't get Duncan involved more. And they need to use Horry more. And I think that we should really appreciate the defensive job that the Rockets did on Shaq and Kobe in our series. They never went off in any of the games against us like they did against the Spurs tonight.
The Spurs lack the physical muscle to stop them and don't have true shooters which is hurting them. Last year Speedy Claxton helped them when Parker struggled as well. The momentum has changed. The Lakers can win game 5 and that could result in a finish in the following game as well.
Either Bruce Bowen's defense is highly overrated, or Cuttino Mobley doesn't get enough credit for his D. I'm thinking both. Kobe is just killing the Spurs.
When on his game, Kobe Bryant is the best player in basketball. He's not always on his game, though, so there are 3 or 4 better. You see Kobe play like this - and you wonder why the hell Shaq is still considered teh most dominant player on the team (let alone in the league). Tonight Kobe played like nobody in the league has since Jordan retired the 2nd time around. Kobe did not have a turnover. Playing against one of the top 2-3 swingman defenders in the league, he didn't lose the ball once. He "only" had 5 assists. What an amazing performance.
If Lakers don't have Shaq, oppenents can easily double-team Kobe, just like they did to T-Mac, let him work on his shot every possession, make him tired, wear him down. I don't think Kobe can do anything better than T-Mac if he plays without Shaq. But with that said, I don't think either of them can win a title now without each other.
When I see the Lakers, specifically Kobe and Shaq, play like this, I only wonder how in the hell did the Rox lose to them when they did a wonderful job on both defensively.
Tonight, at least, it would not have mattered. That's why I said "when on top of his game." Bryant used that defense - they couldn't stop him, no matter what. Besides, you don't really have to have Shaq - just someone to punish a double team. Sure, McGrady's in a terrible situation. But that's not realy a useful analogy (I honestly don't think he's quite as good as Kobe, but that's irrelevant here). I've never seen a player, when surrounded by utter crap, win a championship. You at the minimum, need complementary roleplayers. A big man needs 3 point shooters, a PG needs guys who slash with good hands, etc. The question isn't: "if you took Shaq off the Lakers, would Kobe do anything?" but rather "if you put Kobe on a team with a bunch of role players geared to his talents, would he do anything?" I think the answer is yes. But regardless, the "Kobe wouldn't win without Shaq" response is a red herring.
To me Shaq was as every bit as instrumental in this win as Kobe. Kobe was basically roaming around on defense all night leaving Bruce wide open. He wasn't really guarding anyway. Then in the third Shaq imposes his will, Kobe just follows suit, takes it a little futher, and the game is over. Duncan simply did not display the fire or the neccesary will to compete in this game, thats what lost the game. I don't think it had anything to do with not passing it to him. After all the guy got one rebound the entire half!
I can't stand the Lakers and I can't stand the way the league treats them. Kobe's 13 free throw attempts were BS. TD going 5-13 while Karla Maflop is charged with only 2 fouls in 42 minutes is also BS. But aside from that, on the Spurs side, Nesterovic shooting outside shots all game is just plain dumb. Still, how can you win when every game in Los Angeles is 5-on-8?
This is what I don't get. Towards the end of the 2nd quarter (about 2 minutes left I think) they did this analysis on Karla MaFlop defending Tim Duncan. They went into how he pushes off with the "arm bar" and then "pulls the chair" to get Duncan off balance. I'm sorry, but last I heard, the "arm bar" was illegal in the NBA, right? You can only put 1 hand on the guy's back, right?? And here's this TV analysis of how Karla's doing a great defensive job by shoving Duncan (illegally) in the back and then moving away, calling that good defense. I call it a foul.
For some reason, for the past two games, Spurs did not display the passion they have in game 1 and 2. It seems that they are just sleep walking. I don't know. I just hate it so much when Lakers win. I am so tired of the analyst i.e. Doug Collins kissing Kobe's ass when he scores. I live in Los Angeles, but I hate the Lakers with passion. I can't stand the drama and the egos of the players.
Yep, then why does everyone complain that Yao was not aggressive in the PO against Shaq? LA did exactly what they did to Yao in the last two games against Duncan. Rotating Shaq/Marlone on Duncan, quick double team whenever Duncan caught the ball, and a quick hand from Kobe/GP to try to strip the ball off Duncan's hand, and the results: Duncan Shooting about 40% from the floor while averaging 14.5 ppg in the last 2 games. If Duncan cannot perform against Shaq/Marlone, why are we so hard on Yao against the same defense????? At least, Yao helped neutralizing Shaq while Shaq just flatly out dominated Spurs frontcourt. It's not even funny.
