I'm sorry, but that's just revisionist history. He doesn't have "little help", this is the same exact team that not only beat the defending champs, but did it rather convincingly. Coming into the series, everyone was having orgasms over the Lakers' offensive firepower, their ball movement and their 'chemistry'. I don't know a single so-called expert who said the Celtics had the better offense. The only thing people referenced was the Celtics' defense; that's it. So it doesn't fly this time around. What's happening is that, yet once again, great defense is beating up on great offense; it's a more proven than MJ in the clutch. Moreover, the C's offense is underrated. They're not a 'great' offensive team, but they have enough to win games. Good offense combined with great defense; that's the winning formula for the C's...it certainly beats great offense and no defense.
Posey's shooting form was so erratic and inconsistent when he was a Rocket. His skinny arms would be all over the place on his shot attempts - over his head, off to the side, both hands pushing the ball, using a lot of wrist, his body and legs not set.....now it seems he picked a shot and stuck with it, and its paying off for him. . . . . . . . Unless the Lakers pull off a stunner and force it to 7 games somehow, Boston has their number. And had the whole league and Western Conference's number this year.
He's also not getting enough touches. I know it's easy to blame Gasol and that he's a convenient scapegoat. However, the Lakers have done a terrible job establishing their inside game all series long, and they haven't exactly looked for him to score. No one every said he was a defensive menace, nor was he ever mistaken for one at any point of his career...that's not what the Lakers got him for. As you've said, he's still pretty damn efficient, he just isn't getting enough touches/shots on the one end of the court where he can help you. So much like other one-side-of-the-court type players, if he ain't scoring big then he's actually a liability. Lakers coaching and players have to be partially blamed for Gasol not being a bigger impact than he's been thus far. Sure, KG is an all-time defender, but it's not like Gasol is shooting horribly from the floor. They NEED to include him more in the offense. But it's really a moot point right now, the Celts have this series regardless of how good Gasol is from this point on. It would really take nothing short of a devastating season-ending injury to a key Celtic for the Lakers to have any hope of coming back to win it. They haven't even come close to playing up to their utmost potential. It wouldn't really be that close if they did. They haven't relinquished "best team in the league" status since the first week of the season...it's not a coincidence.
Right. I'll be happy if the Celtics win it. It seems like they deserve it more. Unlike the Lakers, the Celtic players act less cocky and more down to earth. Lakers are a bit spoiled. I'll be happy for KG and Pierce if they win.
I watched the first quarter and then I changed the channel, and start to see something else, then, when I turned back, It was the mid part of the 3rd quarter and the Celtics were down by 14, so I started to watch it again, and the celtics win! I dont think Phil Jackson is the great coach that everybody says, it just a lucky guy to have very good players on his roster. And the celtics are less arrogant people, they have the feet on the earth.
Unbelievable.... I thought there was a slim chance at half when it was 18 that boston could roar back, and when I drove to my brother in law's apt to watch the rest of the game with him(both of us going for boston) I heard it get to 11 via sirius radio. Then, we start watching and it gets to 2 points starting the 4th and I could feel it, but said nothing until allen made the layup and the lakers missed those desperation threes. I give co-mvp's to pierce(for his D on kobe) and posey(love this guy). And other than kobe and fisher the lakers are charmin soft....that was in full display in half number 2.... btw kudos to doc for getting rondo off the floor and riding posey and house.... One thing I found perplexing was jackson left farmar out there until about 2 minutes in the 4th.
He addressed that in the postgame. He thought Farmar's quickness would be more helpful in pressing against Eddie House.
this is the second time you've explained to me why the celtics are good as if it's something new to me or like i picked against them. there's a reason i picked the celtics in 5. an amazing D and the ability to score on the lakers. as for revisionist history? i'm revising nothing. yes, the rest of the lakers are big time help against the rest of the league, but they're not playing the rest of the league. they're playing the celtics and aren't doing anything. since they've come home, they've had a good game from vujacic and a good half from odom. that's not really help. it's not revising anything to say gasol has been MIA and odom basically has. and giving gasol more touches? the only reason he's shooting a good percentage is b/c he's always dunking off of passes from everyone else. as i said, good for him to use his mobility and good hands to get those opportunities, but you only get those when you get those. actually going to gasol in the post has produced almost nothing except i think in the first half of game 2. hell, he airballed a wide open jumper in the 1st quarter today and missed a dunk. there's no way around gasol not producing when he gets chances in this series. you can only go to someone who isn't stepping up so much.
I have to say it does kind of remind me of the way The Little Mermaid won the title. This should definetly end debate KG really is Duncan (or Malone or Barkley) caliber but only who hasn't had support. Now I like KG, but he isn't a legendary type player or a true dominant beast. Actually the Grizz offered market value IMO. Given his productivity and age, he was definetly an MLE level player, and that is what they offered (we initially tried to lowball him). Once Memphis offered that (which we had a right to match) we tried to replace him with Pike/Griffin at about half the cost, and got nothing from them. (though later we lucked into Jim Jackson who worked out a season or two). Myself and a sizable minority were upset we didn't keep Posey because all we had to do was match the Grizz contract and it seemed a cheapskate financial move. We had traded KT (who had some market at that time) and a pick for him and ended up with neither player, and an extra lost pick. I was pissed. Now to be some fair I won't say Posey outperformed his contract. I would say he met his contracts/fair value--unlike Cato, Mo T and Pike from that era. That said Posey will also be instrumental to 2 title runs as a hgih quality role player, sure would have been nice had he never stopped being a Rocket.
Oh, ya'll are way scapegoating Gasol, and Odom too IMO. They are playing fairly efficient (+ boarding, some assists, etc). Gasol was hanging in there and scoring in the 4th, beat KG on some 1 on 1s. I didn't think any reasonable person would expect them to do much more vs KG/Perkins/Brown than they have.
I can agree with those comments. Lakers did a good job of "finding" Gasol but a bad job at establishing him. In actuality, all the Laker starters including Gasol (& NOT Kobe) were the only good aspects for the Lakers. Kobe and the bench absolutely stunk it up and THEY'RE the scapegoats. Still gotta produce plays in the key moments, which he didnt but at least he put them in position earlier on, unlike Kobe and the bench.
I'm no Celtics fan, but how could anybody root for such an unlikable team as this Lakers team? Kobe is one the biggest a-holes this side of Bobby Knight. He's been a total cancer on his team for the last five + years and that ugly side came out when the chips were down in game one. He's the only person who could make Phil Jackson a sympathetic character. He defines arrogance. Sasha Vuicic is a complete d-bag, as well. If I were betting on which NBA player will be the first to be murdered it would be him. Odom and Gasol disgust me too. They just *exude* terror when the pressure is on. I'm surprised they weren't wearing diapers. I seriously would probably root for the Dallas Mavericks against the Lakers. The only time I did not automatically root against them was when they played the Jazz. That's like choosing between a crap malt and a turd stew. Anyway, I'll shut up now.
i agree. but pike had his first career injury shortly after he became a rocket, didn't he? after he came back, he was never the same player. i actually like him as a player. could've very well worked out here in houston.
i am happy that the lakers choked (time to change the team name to, err, la-chokers?) and are likely losing the finals. meanwhile i'm not exactly happy that a team features kg will be winning the title. not that i care so much.
I commend Doc Rivers for keeping his team motivated. Doc deserves kudos because the game changed by going with house and posey. The game was over when he put Pierce on Kobe.
