I wouldn't pass the ball either if I had Kobe's teammates. They had no heart today and didn't step up...
I'm convinced the Lakers don't know what defense is. Kwame letting Amare post him to 3 & 4 feet was inexcusable. And the Suns don't play defense to make anyone miss shots. They do a pretty good job of playing the passing lanes and defensive rebounding, but they give up really, really easy shots.
i don't think you can really say he forced much of anything until the final few minutes of the 4th when he tried to do way too much, although by that time no one else was making anything either. and... what? kobe had 28 of their 48 in the first half. if he wasn't hitting like crazy they would've had a damn crappy first half on offense. and he shot more in the 1st half than 2nd half anyway, especially discounting the late forced shots. the 3rd quarter was the only time anyone on LA did anything well offensively, and that ended up being quite short-lived.
It is true that Odom has the tendency to disappear in stretches. And the other guys are young. This is all the more important for Kobe to get them going. Kobe isn't helping by taking so many shots. When you have a guy who dominates the ball so much, you tend to just watch. I don't know if this is PJ's design. I did hear somewhere quoting PJ saying something like, "We can only win by playing 'Kobe ball'." I don't know how much truth is that quote. But if that's what PJ thinks, he bears the consequence. All in all, the Lakers are a very immature team. I don't think they can last very long against the Suns. The Suns missed a lot of open shots in the 1st half, shots they normally make. So the Lakers can't expect the Suns to have such dry spells very often. I mean, even the Rockets' league-best defense couldn't stop the Suns. What chance do the Lakers have?
and yet MJ averaged over 30 ppg in the regular and playoffs in most of the bulls title runs (hell, in the famous game 6 aganst utah he scored almost half their points) and he and kobe have almost identical assist percentages for their careers and yet everyone talks about how involved he got everyone and when kobe does it, they say how much he shoots and that everyone just starts watching. it's as if kobe is the first guy to ever score 30 ppg and his teammates have no way of adapting to that. hakeem avg'd 33 ppg in the '95 playoffs and no one would say we were just watching. it's like the most efficient guy on the team is supposed to give it to less efficient guys a lot just so they'll feel involved instead of the team doing what is best for the offense, which is sometimes being like dwade in the finals last year and just scoring like crazy and everyone else figuring out how to help as best they can. i think they said he said "if we have to play kobe ball to win, we'll play kobe ball," but not that he wanted it to have to be that way. for some reason, their crappy defense messes with the suns. even their length and athleticism doesn't really explain it. but they held them down last year, did it a few times in the regular season this year, and did it again today. i don't get it, but i'll hope that it somehow continues. giving it to odom is cool b/c he actually has an inside game (except apparently on point blank layups). and they did. he got 16 shots compared to his average of 12. it's giving it to anyone inside, just so you can say you went inside, that is a problem. last year without amare and thomas, you could try that, now it's just a waste of time.
Watching the games, it's obvious MJ was more trusting of his teammates when he had some talen on his roster. I know Kobe doesn't have a stud squad but Lamar Odom does not suck. Additionally, when MJ was jacking he was making half of his shots. He just takes better shots than Kobe does....
how much more could the lakers suck defensively. every possession you've got someone turning their heads and letting a phoenix guy just float to an open spot for a 3 where nash can find them easily. newsflash, they're trying to pass to people for 3. try paying attention to that. failing that they rotate terribly on the pnr and give up a layup. and try making a 4 footer on the post up occasionally luke.
HOLY ****, a long pass from midcourt by nash to marion for a dunk. ROFL, the laker are getting ownzed. lol
Kobe only take 8 shots at half?So does he try to prove the point that Lakers can't win if he passes,again?
It looks like the Lakers have given up. Hopefully this means Phil will leave after this season for good.
