LOL, people still don't get it. It's not about Odom, it's not about Amare, It's not about Gentry...It's not even about the Lakers and the Suns. The story here is that a good run 'n' gun team is at the mercy of a good post up oriented basketball team. It's fairly simple. The suns' style of basketball has never won a championship...it never will. I actually feel sad for Nash because he might have had a couple rings by now if he were a part of an inside-out system (of course, his stats would never have been inflated...but that's another discussion).
Just give it up, none of your theories of the Suns playing any kind of defense is going to bother the Lakers. The Suns can have an extra man on the floor, it's not going to help them play better defense. The only way the Suns can beat the Lakers is to outscore them but clearly they can't do that either.
Suns might not have been done with Game 1, but damn they're toast now. Disappointing along with the Magic as well.
Oh, come on now, ItsMyFault..... ...don't you want to at least SEE a competitive series from somebody before the Finals begin? I was wondering myself if the Suns would revert to type, or if their victory over the San Antonio Spurs had actually been a turning of the page in the Valley of the Sun. The only way to achieve your objective at this time of year is to adjust and advance. It's funny how Steve Nash (who's about the best interview in the league, besides Shaquille O'Neal) deadpanned that the Lakers weren't going to get any smaller as the series went on, as if the Suns were magically going to become some physical team that was going to push the Lakers around. Even so, I did see one of two adjustments that might give the Suns a chance to be more competitive, if the Suns are committed to it. If anybody is still wondering if Grant Hill would have forged a Hall of Fame career had he been healthy, this postseason should be the proof of that. He's 37 years old, but he's probably got 31 or 32 year-old legs basketball wise. He still moves as gracefully as I remember him back when he played with the Detroit Pistons. What's more, Hill is willing to do what's asked of him in order to give his team a chance to win. He stepped up to the table and welcomed the opportunity to try to contain Kobe Bryant. But I don't think that's where he can make the biggest difference for the Suns. Phoenix has nightmare matchups across the board in this series. I thought that the Suns were very fortunate to get Robin Lopez back in time for this series. He balances out what the Lakers can get from Andrew Bynum, to me. Lopez is one of the biggest reasons why the Suns had the success they enjoyed this season. Lopez finally allowed the Suns to stop with the silly experiment of Amare Stoudemire at the center. Stoudemire is more small forward than power forward in my opinion, but I'll come back to that.... When the Suns had Grant Hill play the power forward matched up against Lamar Odom, that was hugely successful. Hill isn't quite as big or long as Odom is, but he can and will compete with Odom. Odom isn't especially physical and is still more perimeter player than post player, so I can see the Suns trying to keep Hill matched up with Odom as often as Odom is on the floor, in order to contain somewhat the mismatch Odom creates when he's on the floor. The big problem is Pau Gasol. The closest the Suns could come to matching him is Amare Stoudemire. There have been rave reviews about Stoudemire's improved commitment to defense. The Suns have been waiting about six seasons for Stoudemire to become the same type of defensive player that he is at the offensive end. He has to do a better job against Gasol (easier said than done, I know), or the Suns are through. Even if everything went right for Phoenix, though, the Lakers would still win. They'd just win in six games instead of four, as the Lakers seem poised to do. Here's where we separate the men from the STAT......
Clearly shows you have no idea what you are talking about. Kobe always defends Rondo and plays off of him giving him the open jumper but denying penetration just like he did with Westbrook. Fisher guards Ray due to having to chase him around screens constantly.
You are correct, technically Kobe "defends" Rondo at times. But if you watched any Laker games at all, you'd realize that Kobe's position in the defense is as a roamer and he rarely sticks to any one player. Regardless, Rondo is far to quick and savvy for Kobe to deny penetration. Rondo had no problem in 2008 and he's twice the player now as he was then, while Kobe has only gotten slower. Further, Kobe's "great defense" on Westbrook was just an overblown product of the media (who keep touting him as some kind of stopper). I believe it was in game #5 when they tried that and Westbrook did play poorly, but he did just fine in #6 when they tried the same thing. Of course Kobe is going to look better when he switches on Fish's man because ANYONE is an upgrade over Fish.. he makes any marginal players look like all-stars. Speaking of which, Fish guarding Ray is just another bad matchup for the Lakers: see Allen avg 20ppg on 50% FG / 52% 3FG in 2008 after having had a dismal postseason up to then; nothing like Fish to rejuvenate a player's career!
This series is over (Suns aren't winning four straight or game 7 @LAL), but that doesn't mean the Suns won't make a fight out of it. I fully expect them to win their next two. A better effort from Frye and Amare as well as decreased production from the Lakers bench (which plays much better in LA) should be what they need, assuming they aren't completely demoralized.
Rondo did have problems in 2008. LA went on a run every time he was in the game and it forced Doc to play Eddie House at the point a lot which was actually good for Boston. Still you keep talking 2008. A lot has changed for both teams since then.
Huge misconception about House's role in that series, because all people remember is him hitting a few big shots in game 4 (which was more a Faker choke than Celtics win). The truth is he only played spotty minutes (didn't even play in a few games) and mainly because Rondo was injured. When Rondo was healthy, he gave the Lakers fits with his drive & dish. He was the MVP of the clinching game. I bring up 2008 because it's the closest thing we have to compare. Both teams are peaking & healthy. They have pretty similar squads as they did then. HCA is big-- I think enough to give the Lakers the edge-- but I wouldn't count Boston out because they are beating top teams without HCA right now. I hope it will at least be a competitive series because so far the playoffs have sucked ass.
Westbrook shot 7-20 for 21 points in game 6, if that's your "just fine" standard, I guess Lakers can accept that kind of performance from Rondo too.
The biggest difference is not HCA. But the addition of Artest and Bynum. PP abused Radman and when Kobe slipped to 3, RA abused Sasha. You can't have a big hole in defense like that. Bynum allowed Gasol to match up with KG, and Odom to match up with Rasheed. Both are better matchup than 2 years ago. Celtics no long have the same depth. Posey, House, Powe had great contributions in different games in 08 series. Rasheed, Tony, Big baby wouldn't have the same impact.
He was getting wherever he wanted on the court and had 21/9, disrupting the Lakers defense the whole time. With guys like Westbrook & Rondo, it's not about the shooting (Westbrook had many sub-40% shooting games in the regular season even against players who don't play "superstar level defense" like Kobe LOL); it's about causing the defense to alter their game plan. Casual fans and box-score watchers like yourself obviously don't get it.
WOW. You really don't watch the Celtics at all, do you? Posey was great in that series, granted, but House & Powe were limited role players (House only played in the last games because Rondo was limited by injury and Powe played well in what, one game?) The Celtics bench now is upgraded to what they had then-- Davis got huge experience last year and this year and is a real factor in the rotation and Allen is as good of a defensive bench player as there is in the league. Rasheed is a better defensive player against bigs than anyone they brought off the bench in '08-- he'll allow them to matchup when Odom comes in. The Lakers will also turn some Celtic bench scrub into an all star (like they did with Powe, who no one had heard of until that series and no one has heard from since, yet Laker fans treat him like some kind of superstar). The biggest difference IS HCA. Yes, the Lakers upgraded with Artest but honestly Ariza would have been better since athletic players give the Celtics fits (see Atlanta's ownage of them in the RS, and Cleveland's sans Shaq). I am not sold on Bynum since he looks very slow out there, nothing like he did prior to his injury. Look, obviously you are a huge Laker homer and I am a Laker hater so we are going to see things differently. But I can tell you that back in '08 people were saying the same things about how the Celtics were far too old & slow to beat the Lakers, since they weren't looking so great in the playoffs and the Lakers were blitzing through everyone. Everyone picked the Lakers, some laughably in 4 or 5. Now the Celtics are playing much, much better than they were then-- beating arguably the two best teams in the league convincingly (so far) and the Lakers are also looking very good. I think HCA is the biggest difference between the two teams.
The key word in your argument, clippy, is FIGHT. As in, Phoenix needs to put up more of one. Specifically, Amare Stoudemire. I've laughed at the thought that people around the NBA considered (or even still consider) Stoudemire to be anything remotely close to a legitimate big man. Points and rebounds are nice, and STAT can rack those up well enough. Big men need to defend the paint and rebound the basketball. Or at least, make an effort to do it. Your team's not going to win if your best big people are better on the perimeter than they are under the basket. Dirk Nowitski, I'm talking to you. I shudder to think that Phoenix' hopes rest on whether a totally perimeter-oriented 7-footer like Channing Frye (who looked like a kid in the park who'd lost his momma last game), or a 7-footer whose closer to being LeBron James than Hakeem Olajuwon, like Stoudemire. Because I'll preach the eulogy to that funeral myself. I didn't find it at all strange that the Suns looked a little tougher when Stoudemire and Frye were off the floor in the third period of game 2, when the Suns actually looked like they had a chance to win the game. Those kids Louis Amundson and Jared Dudley, along with Grant Hill, looked tougher and more willing to mix it up and get a bit physical with the Lakers than Stoudemire did in TWO GAMES. And STAT is still going to get a Brinks truck full of money from somebody in a couple months. Your big people set the tone for your team at this time of year. It's funny how soft people say Pau Gasol is, because he has so much skill and ability that he doesn't have to pull off a Shaquille O'Neal impersonation in order to score around the bucket. Gasol is physical enough. He doesn't beat you up so much as he wears you out. Phoenix can't win (much less compete) until somebody on the Suns front line decides to stop the personal escorts to the basket by the Lakers. I'm beginning to be of the mind that the Suns want to see a Celtics/Lakers final series as much as the rest of us. What's that saying about leopards not changing their spots...?
Yeah I'd say similar is being used loosely. Posey defended Kobe tight using his length to bother his jumper and Boston zoned up the floor behind him. They have no defender to do that now against Kobe. So they can still clog the lane but they cannot contest his jumper the same. They lost PJ Brown but they added Rasheed. PJ is more physical but Rasheed stretches the floor better and is no slouch defensively himself. House is gone so they lose that extra 3 point shooter off the bench. The biggest change is in LA. You can say Rondo is better but at the same time you can say the same about Gasol. He use to let physical play take him out of a game. You cannot say that anymore. Ron Artest replacing Radmanovic/Walton. Pierce flat out abused those two. This is a very big upgrade over 2008 simply due to the defensive difference. Bynum matching size against Perkins. Ronny Turiaf did nothing against Boston in the finals. LA also became smaller when he came into the game. It was so bad that Phil eventually tried putting Mihm in the game and his ankle was so bad that it ended his career. Sasha replaced by Shannon Brown. Sasha shot very good that season but stunk up the joint in the finals. He couldn't shoot and that made him a complete liability.
Well, at this point, I've realized that this won't be a competitive series. I can see Phoenix MAYBE win 1 or 2 games (they'd have to be in PHX, I just don't see how they could beat LA in LA). I agree that Grant Hill at PF was effective, but if you watched the 3rd quarter last night, the Lakers defense just completely stopped. They weren't even trying... they didn't even go out to contest the shot. They stood and watched the shooter shoot the wide open shot. Grant Hill and Jared Dudley had a field day in the 3rd quarter because Kobe was on Dudley and Odom was on Hill and neither of them were wanting to contest any of the shots. Towards the end of the quarter and the beginning of the 4th quarter (after a timeout), Odom started to stay with Hill and put a hand up and Hill couldn't buy a basket. The point I'm trying to make is that Odom can stay with Hill, but I think their game plan on defense was to give Hill the mid-range jump shot and not let him penetrate in the lane. Once he started to be effective with that shot, they switched up the D. The Lakers will always have to give up something, you can't defend the best offensive team in the league with all positions covered... so it'll be interesting to see if they have this line up to end the game in game 3 (assuming the game is close). I could see something like: Steve Nash Jason Richardson Jared Dudley Grant Hill Amare Stoudemire I would at least try it... because these last two games (other than the fact that the Suns came back in the 3rd -- I see that as a fluke because like I said, the Lakers just stopped playing D) they have been dominated. If they don't win game 3, they may even get swept, so it's really all or nothing here.
