Question why is everyone quick to call Melo or Jr Smith lazy defenders, but wont say the same thing about Nash, Dirk, Redick,etc. Particularly using the word lazy. ....moving along.... Kobe understands what the stage he his playing on. I liked how he was coaching his teammates during timeouts . He gets a bad rap on here sometimes. Phil Jackson 43-0 when he wins game 1. Remarkable.
Are people ever going to learn that regular season h2h records mean nothing in the playoffs? See: Rockets/Lakers.
Can Michael Heisley and Chris Wallace get championship rings if the Lakers win championship? I think they contributed greatly for these Lakers by giving PauGasol4free. Just wondering.
I dont recall people complaining to often about Carmelo, jr smith being lazy defenders as i havent watch the nuggets play much, but from this series alone it is there are glaring examples of bad defense by Melo due simply to being lazy. Unlike Nash, reddick and to a lesser extent Dirk, both Melo and Jrsmith possess all the physical attributes to be good defenders, but because of their offensive burden or lack of focus or effort or awareness, both are not achieving their defensive potential. While i think Carmelo did a good job when he was guarding Kobe or odom throughout the series, he was horribly deficient in effort and awareness when his responsibilities were Walton or Ariza. Furthermore, his efforts at help defense, rotating and running back were often times lacking as pointed out by JVG and Mark Jackson. Simply put, Carmelo's failures on the defensive end were due primarily to the lack of effort and focus. Jr Smith on the other hand had few instances that i can recall where he was failing primarily do to lack of effort. A lack of focus or awareness on the other hand was a regular culprit. On the whole i thought JR smith was solid defensive, with good effort and tenacity but lacking in focus. In regards to Nash reddick or Dirk being called lazy defenders, perhaps the reason they arent called that, is simply because they ARE NOT lazy. While they definitely are not candidates for all nba defensive teams it is not due to their lack of effort. I could be wrong but from what i've seen of dirk, Nash and of Reddick, not running back or not trying isnt the problem, but rather it is their physical limitations, ie speed, quickness, strength and size. Perhaps they do not try as hard as say a bruce bowen or shane battier but their effort is far from being lazy. Dirk despite not being the strongest or toughest of interior players gets his share of rebounds. Nash is always a leader among charges taken despite being a bad defender and slow, while Reddick as a player fighting for minutes im sure would not see the court if he was being lazy in ANY manner offensively or defensively. As a side note, I dont think Dirk hurts his team defensively as much as Nash or Reddick does or as much as his reputation seems to imply. Dirk usually guards the other teams opposing center or pf, (whichever is less offensively gifted) and aside from providing another big body to clog the lane or double team, is also usually very effective at it.
Rockets didn't win after all. Regular season games means Orlando is not an easy match up for Lakers. It will not be a surprise if they meet and go to 7 games.
I think this is something you need to take on a case by case basis. In this case it's probably not wise to look at Orlando sweeping the Lakers in the regular season as a barometer for how well they'll do against LA if they play them in the Finals. Nelson played extremely well in both of those games and he's out for the playoffs. While Rafer and A. Johnson have done an adequate job as his replacements, I don't think they can replicate his production. Also, I think this might've been pointed out before, but the Lakers still had Radmanovich starting with Ariza coming off the bench. Vladimir is no longer there and Ariza has been playing real well this post-season. In general, Orlando has been playing pretty well this post-season too and they might be able to present some matchup problems and other difficulties for LA if they're hitting their outside shots, but in the end I think the Lakers will outlast them in 6 games at most.
Yeah but both games were both close and were won in the finals minutes. Most of Lakers/Hou games weren't as close.
WHY DID DENVER START DOUBLING BRYANT THE LAST TWO GAMES? Did they not watch the Finals last year, or LA's series with the Rockets, or even the first four games of THIS SERIES? This stupid strategy gave them no chance. You double him, and he just sits back, conserves energy, and finds wide open guys, who are allowed to get in a rhythm that carries over all game. Then he's fresh later on to take over. It's a complete dead end strategy. What the hell were they thinking? Idiots.
They had noone to guard Kobe 1 on 1 unlike teams like Houston who has Battier-Artest tandem to wear him down and Celtics have a decent enough defender in Pierce/Allen + their interior. Denver just had no answers for the Mamba.
Pretty much sums up what battier brings to the table. It didn't even go to 7 with this talented Denver team.
BARF! What a disappointing end to this series. The Nuggets had every reason in the world to come out swinging in Game 6 yet fell apart miserably. Oh well, hopefully Orlando or Cleveland will get the job done and send these soft jokers home packing. P.S. How long before the Lakers realize Gasol is hitting nearly 70% of his shots and start giving him the ball more?
You're damn right they should. I have been preaching for over a year now how the Lakers would be complete garbage without Gasol. Stealing Gasol changed EVERYTHING for LA -- if they go on to win people can have fun slurping off Kobe, just so long as a few people like you & me "get it" and recognize where the real credit is due.
I can only say that Chris Wallace has gotten better after he joined Grizzlies. When he was in EC, he only screwed the team which employed him. Now, he has screwed 14 WC teams at once. Chris Wallace is a household name.
Everyone knows the Lakers would be garbage without Gasol... but Pau is nothing in the playoffs without Kobe Bryant riding him hard. He gets plenty of touches but not many shots because he lacks the motor to be a high FGA guy. That trade was ludicrous though. [youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RYFNhjVWQKk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RYFNhjVWQKk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]
Disagreed with everything except the last sentence. Gasol is entirely capable of handling 15+ touches/shots a game. He's just very Yao-like in demeanor. People are always begging for Yao to start demanding the ball yet it never happens due to Yao's nature and disregard for the "IMMA GIT MINE" mentality plenty of NBA stars carry. Gasol is the same way. Kobe "riding him hard" has nothing to do with it. I'm not even sure what that means anyway -- how to do you "ride hard" a player that's clearly your best interior player that gets the most out of what little shot attempts he gets? We seem to agree Gasol is the farthest thing from the problem so what does that mean for flaky idiots like Odom and Bynum? Shouldn't Kobe be getting after these guys? And since when has Gasol's motor come into question? How do you argue a player doesn't have a big enough motor to be a high FGA guy yet he plays 40 minutes per game and hits roughly 60% of shots (much higher in the Denver series)? Is that code for you just trying to say you don't feel he's aggressive enough?
surprise surprise. crawford called in for game 6 and the lakers close it out. y dont they try not letting crawford officiate any games and see how the lakers do?
Some of you just look for a reason to complain about officiating. Denver lost this game because the way they played and Odom showing up again this game like Kobe and Gasol. In fact the Nuggets shot 1 more free throw than the Lakers. At one point in the second half they shot 19 free throws while the Lakers shot 8 free throws and they still were getting blown out.
