Gasol is one of the reasons the Lakers were in the Finals. Now both him and Odom are the scapegoats of Kobe's failure!
Agreed. I'm so sick of hearing about how bad a coach Doc is. It's like every single thing he does is considered so horrible and every thing Phil Jackson does wrong is the players' fault. Bottom line is that not only have the Celtics players outplayed the Lakers, but Glenn Rivers has outcoached Mr. Jackson. And not just by motivating players, either- his Xs and Os have been just as good as Phil's. Watch- Doc is now going to be given credit for his "motivational" coaching rather than Phil's "strategic" approach- an assumption that's incorrect and borderline racist (here come the flames). Doc Rivers was a class-act player, won Coach of the Year in Orlando, and deserves to be acknowledged for the "strategic" job he has done.
Well, it's the same thing Sly Stone had to deal with when he released "There's a Riot Going On," or Marvin Gaye with "What's Going On," or Stevie Wonder with "Innervisions." Don't get me wrong, I love "Tommy" from The Who, "The Village Green Preservation Society" from The Kinks, and "Blood on the Tracks" from Bob Dylan. But how come those albums are always praised for their "intellectual" excellence and Stone, Gaye, and Wonder are lauded for their "emotion"? I'm just saying this because I read a lot of music criticism, and I just feel that African-American artists don't always get equal credit for their lyrics, which is considered the "intellectual" aspect of songwriting and thus the one that is held in higher esteem. I mean, even Bob Dylan said that Smokey Robinson was the greatest lyricist ever, and if you read Smokey's lyrics, he's very close to being right. Sorry to digress- how many championships since 1995 have involved a former member of the championship rockets? 1999- Spurs 2000- Lakers 2001- Lakers 2002- Lakers 2005- Spurs 2007- Spurs 2008- Celtics (OK, I'm supposing this, but what the hey). Wow, the legacy lives on.
why so many of the experts picked against the celtics coming into this series i will never understand....
I remember the above quite well. That was illustrative of the poor moves from that era that impacted the Rockets for years.
Wow, first of all I cant belive Lakers did build 20 points lead without Kobe (didn't have a field goal). And than how can you lose that big lead at this level...I don't even wanna think how Lakers' players should feel right now.
to be an expert, you have to be good at pretending you know what you are talking about. matchup wise, this is a nightmare for lakers. celtcis have been playing below their potential all playoff long
CD seems like a very nice man, and he appeared to be an excellent assistant coach, but under his watch as GM, the Rockets made some of the stupidest moves in the history of the team with few exceptions (Yao, TMac): bad drafts, bad trades, bad contracts. They may not have been entirely his fault, we will probably never know, but those moves, nonetheless, are still impacting the team. You are dead on, though few fans seem to realize this. Hopefully the team will "catch up" under Morey, but I still suspect that our owner is a major problem, and the "Yao/TMac" era is winding down. As to the Lakers/Celtics series, short of making history, the Lakers are toast. Look for Kobe to try and take over, which will be a mistake because the Celtics will continue to throw multiple players at him.
I know, the Rockets are turning into the Chicago Cubs of the NBA And yes, I agree with your musical aside 110%
Gasol has stunk it up in the post all series. He has been completely ineffective against Perkins 1 on 1. He is best when he plays facing the defender rather than backing. Plus last night he fumbled so many passes and missed gimmes. Not to mention his terrible pick and roll defense. He doesn't push out the man with the ball and as a result defense cannot recover and forced help means open 3s on the wings. Plus it doesn't help that KG goes baseline on him every time and gets an easy bucket.
