By the way, in my haste to put up the Lakers' luck post last night, I completely forgot one of the biggest aspects of it. For most teams, losing a starter to ejection and suspension is a pretty scary thing - look at the outrage in Boston over losing Perkins for Game 5 and almost for Game 6. Yet when the NBA takes a stand against the Lakers... of course it works to their benefit. To this day, I still wonder what would've happened in the Rockets-Lakers series last year had Fisher not been ejected from Game 2 and suspended for Game 3. Everyone knew the matchup the Rockets would exploit, especially in Houston with balanced officiating, was Brooks' speed against Fisher. Torched him in Games 4 and 6. Game 3? Worst game of the series for Aaron. 7 points on 37% shooting and 1 assist. Farmar? 12 and 7 with strong defense and only one turnover. The Lakers had to steal a game in Houston, and that was the only one they were even able to compete in. And the biggest positive difference for them... came via a suspension. You know, typically the kind of thing that would hurt most teams. I just can't get over how fluky the past two postseasons have been for these guys. It's incredible. To say they're due for some bad breaks in the next couple weeks is the understatement of all-time.
You said it yourself, it was a matchup the Rockets wanted to exploit. In that case it was an addition because of a subtraction made. A quicker PG like Farmar was able to do a better job on Brooks so it can't be luck
But THEY didn't make the subtraction! I'd give the Lakers all the credit in the world if Phil were to yank Fisher from the lineup (what he should've done) and play Farmar 30 minutes a night. That would be a gutsy, but smart, coaching move. It's pretty damn lucky when the NBA does it for you via a suspension, a tool that typically hurts a team.
You can't blame Phil for sticking to his guns. Outside of the two threes he hit in Orlando last year, Fisher did nothing in last year's playoffs. He shot like 39% from the field and 28 percent from 3s. Phil just has much more trust in veterans
i'm guessing anyone who hated the rockets and watched our 2 title runs would probably feel the same way. john starks going 0-11 to help us in game 7, hakeem hitting a baseline fadeaway that clipped the backboard in game 5 against utah the next year, barkley missing ft's in game 5 that could have put the game away leading to a hakeem basket which then leads to a wide open 3 by person that he missed, nick anderson missing 4 ft's (!!), seemingly everyone on our team turning into the clutchest players ever. lets face it, unless you have a 2001 lakers run or some of those 90's bulls runs, the champion usually gets some lucky breaks. and your star airballing by 3 feet which gives you a chance to win it definitely qualifies as a lucky break.
Don't forget KJ missing a FT after he was about to break the record for most made in a playoff game, right before the Elie 3. Maybe that sequence is different if the game isn't tied.
yeah, forgot about that one. i think he was 21-21 before that free throw. also, considering it was a tie game mario probably shouldn't have been shooting with 9 seconds to go (like drexler shooting early versus utah a few years later) but it was our year and things like that were going our way.
Something tells me that PHX is going to come out with a lot of heart and win this game... LA has to have their bench for this game. I'm not expecting the Suns bench to perform poorly in the 1st half as they did in game 5.
The question is, will Stern let this game go to Game 7 with the winner consequently having less rest than the Celtics going into the championships?
i'm sure stern planned for ron artest to hit the GW too right? make those claims in series that are just ridiculously reffed. none of the series has been badly reffed this year. if this series goes to 7 games, it's b/c these 2 teams are evenly matched.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/I0QQCtVVlFk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I0QQCtVVlFk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> Kobe Bryant's playoff highlights so far. Check it out
I must admit. Kobe has the best turnaround jumper in the league right now. He is the most complete player in the league. His back to the basket game. His midrange game His three point shot His defense. He may not be the best in each individually but he is the best combination of them in one person Rocket River
