Missed the game but caught the box score and got a good chuckle seeing Odom nearly equal Amare's point total and almost double his rebounds off the bench. Glorious self ownage by one of the dumbest, SOFTEST players in the league Is there anyone who gets more of a pass on being soft than Stoudemire?
About the offensive rebounds, I was referring to Phil's pep-talk with his own team about the Suns getting free possessions off of their own missed free throws. In the half-time coaching, if you swapped out Gentry with Jeff Van Gundy, Phil Jackson, Rick Adelman, hell, even Don Nelson drunk on whiskey, they wouldn't have said what Gentry said.
Speaking of Dallas, they might've been the only team capable of defending the Lakers this year in the West. Bad luck for them they met the Spurs first.
The Suns will take both games in Phoenix and push this baby to 7. If Dick Bavetta and that other Tim Duncan-hating douchelord aren't reffing, the Suns have a chance. I'm tired of the Lakers. Either way, the Celtics are going to beat that ass.
Wow, the Suns D is horrible, absolutely horrible...they'll never win a championship with that squad in a million years. It's hard to imagine this series going past 4 games...but it may go 5.
Yeah, this time no Vladimir on Pierce, no PJ & Posey, no Gasol playing against a 5, no mediocre LA defense, Gms 6 and 7 in LA.
Man, the Mavs are annual losers. They're going to threaten the Lakers, another team with one of the best overall defenses in the league? They wilt against teams like that. They also have won maybe 4 games in LA in 20 yrs.
The point is that the Celtics are just a tougher team hands down. Also, you forgot to mention the fact that Rondo has vastley improved since 2 years ago. This isn't the same 2008 Rondo. Rondo is know a legit triple double threat and would eat Fisher for breakfast and Farmar for lunch and Brown for dinner. The ultimate x-factor is Rasheed. If he has his head on straight and can get into the head of Gasol like he does Howard, the Celtics will win the series.
Yeah, the Lakers are just a tougher team hands down as well. Much moreso than Boston, I might add. Rondo won't be the one Phil targets, it'll be Allen and/or Pierce. I think they should play man up at every position and let Rondo become a scorer. If you converge on him, their open men trail to the basket. Ultimate x-factor is Odom off the bench. Not saying that Boston isn't a great team, but I'm defending against the supposition that LA isn't. They're the frug-gin champs, btw.
With the trades they made, they were projected by the media to be one of the few teams with the versatility and size to beat the Lakers. Now whether or not they have the balls to do it? No. But they have better match-up capabilities than the Suns do at this point in time.
I'm trying to wonder how officiating has anything to do with the wins the Lakers have had. They've clearly been the more dominant team, PHX can't play defense. I still think PHX cannot win in LA while LA has a great shot to win in PHX. I doubt Phil Jackson lets the Lakers come back empty handed in PHX coming back to game 5 if indeed there is a game 5.
They tried that in 2008 when Rondo was a lot worse, and it led to the biggest Finals defeat in history. Fisher is the worst defender in the NBA and he struggles particularly with quick guards (like Westbrook, Parker, and Rondo). The Lakers are going to have no choice but to collapse when he blows by Fisher and that is going to lead to a lot of good shots. Whether the Celtics can continue to hit those shots is not a given (they do seem to disappear for stretches), but the looks will be there. I'm curious to see how the Lakers react to a physical team for the first time since the Denver series last year (and they were far less physical than the Celtics). But the CFs aren't over yet. I fully expect Phoenix to take the next two and probably bow down in six or seven, and Orlando to likely lose in six.
I told you Artest would hit 40% 3pt if you just let him open. This series would be over in 5, if not less.
I thought it was clear that the zone bothered the Lakers (that's how Phoenix caught up), even though Artest in particular was getting open looks. That's the point. Personally I don't think he will continue to hit 3s at a good clip even if left wide open but if he does, you can live with it. Much better than Gasol and Bynum getting shots from three feet away. Notice that Fisher was 2-8 despite getting lots of clean looks himself. What is hurting the Suns is that the fronting isn't working as it did for OKC, because the Suns aren't as long & athletic. So even when they are packing the paint the Lakers have been able to go over the top.
Suns still gave up 25 points in 3rd quarter, hardly stopped Lakers. It was about Lakers not getting used to Suns all small lineup on defensive side. Hill wasn't missing any shots, some of them contested. It won't happen very often.
