I'd say game 1 was the best of the Lakers. I think people aren't giving the Kings enough credit, while giving the Lakers TO MUCH credit. The Kings give the Lakers matchup problems. They give them problems at the PG spot, the SG spot (Christie's defense), the SF spot, and the bench. THAT'S why the Kings are in this series. It isn't something like "Well the Lakers are sleeping, now they're awake!" It's the same reason the Pacers took the Bulls to 7 games in the Jordan's last conference finals, or why the Blazers took the Lakers to 7 games. Match-ups. Veteran teams, with benches that give the teams match-up problems. The difference between those series and these series is that the Kings had homecourt advantage. The Lakers didn't suddenly "wake up" and when this game, they played with desperation. They knew if they fell down 3-1 there was a good chance they wouldn't win this series. Remember when Eddie Johnson hit that 3 at the buzzer at home when the Jazz controlled the majority of that game to help the Rockets tie the series at 2 games a piece, and remember how the Jazz responded? That's why they play the games.
Trust me, I dislike Webber as much as the next guy. After this smart @ss comments to Francis, Mobes and the Rockets there's no love loss there. But I'm not going to let my dislike for Webber cloud my vision of this series. And the fact is this isn't the case of the Lakers "not waking up", it's the case of the Kings giving the Lakers matchup problems. You can't tell me that the Lakers were "asleep" for Game 2, Game 3, and the majority of Game 4. I just think the Kings stopped being intimidated of the Lakers and gave the Lakers fits. There's a reason the Lakers almost fell down 3-1 and it was them in a slumber. Desperation won that game for them, and it might win the series for them, the momentum may have changed. Then again maybe it didn't. Today's game may not mean a thing if the Kings come back and beat the Lakers in Sacramento in Game 5. We'll see.
I think the Lakers will go on to win this series simply because of the defensive adjustments they made in today's game. They finally starting playing the pass against the Kings. In yesterday's game, and the first half of todays, the Lakers were simply playing defense on their man, waiting for him to recieve the ball and then trying to stop him from scoring. That, combined with the overaggressive/deperate way they were D'ing their man up led to the Kings getting a lot of "drive by your man, make another defender rotate to guard you, pass to the man he left for a wide open shot." It was almost sad the way the Lakers kept succumbing to this. Sacramento scored so many points because not only was their pick and roll offense working well, it was working well as their second option. I don't know what Phil said at halftime, but the Lakers immediately came out and changed this in the 3rd quarter. They were only aggressive when needed, such as going after loose balls and trapping, and they took away passing lanes from the man with the ball, forcing him to go at a defender who could solely concentrate on him. This led to a lot of stagnancy in Sacramento's offense and made them finally resort to their normal pnr offense, which the Lakers felt more comfortable defending. I think the Kings do this to a lot of teams. In fact they depend more on this type of scoring than thier practiced offense and set plays. If the Lakers continue to take this away from Sacramento I'm not sure if they can adjust and find other schemes for high percentage scoring. I see this series turning back into a lower (high 80s-90s) scoring affair which I think works well in the favor of the Lakers. Then again, I could be wrong. But thats why I love this game! NBA Action, its faaaaaaaantastic!
yes I agree.... The Kings are really really good Christie has played outstanding D Kobe's sort of seems immune to D sometimes, very Jordan-like Vlade has been awesome against Shaq, getting him out of the paint, drawing fouls I just wonder how much the Kings have left in the tank now,stop sucking the fun out of my Kings bashing!!!
Rocks, the Lakers lost a game and had to mount a comeback because they hadn't figured out how to play the Kings. I think now they have. Both teams played well in the second half, and LA climbed the mountain and went over the top. I don't think there will be any mountains to climb at Arco. I expect the Kings to be back on their heels, crying and whining, and to lose. I really don't expect them to win another game. The last two quarters were the first two in eight quarters LA played well. I think they'll build on that and Sac-town knows it. What is Sacramento saying about the loss? Time to watch SC...
well SC showed a replay of walker's 3 and it was indeed after the buzzer. now i'm no math expert but if you subtract 3 points from a 1 point win, i think you get a 2 point loss. though the lakers would've probably gotten lucky and won somehow (that last play, not the shot, was lucky), it sucks when they not only get lucky ass 3's from 30 feet by samaki walker but on top of it get them counted even after the buzzer.
Niiice call there... Yep, it was Kobe who switched the defense, and it was Kobe who was able to get the entire team defense to turn up the notch. The Lakers didn't win today because of Kobe. Kobe made that nice spurt that brought the Lakers back. However, it was mainly the defense turning the screws. They played 4 on 5 in the 1st quarter, with their crappy rotational defense. From the 2nd quarter on, the defense was able to trap just about any King, especially Bibby, and recover in time to force contested shots. This doesn't really have much to do with MJ or Kobe. But rather, Phil getting on his player's asses for playing without effort on defense and offense. Offensively, the problem was that the role players were all taking ill-advised shots. Since when did Rick Fox have a stop and pop jumper? Since when was Fisher a great off the dribble shooter? Once the Lakers role players calmed down, and relied on Kobe and Shaq, the Lakers offense was suddenly half decent. Despite the horrible 3 pt shooting.
I'm usually not one to complain about the refs and other stuff, BUT... It seemed like the Kings got their fair share of calls, namely Divac flops. As well as the fact that LA had a crapload of "in and out" shots. In a 48 minute game, it's asinine to point out 1 play, and say that it was the deciding factor. Point is, every play during those 48 minutes effected the outcome. That is why it's crucial to play hard/well for 48 minutes. Moreover, this shouldn't be any kind of excuse for Sac to give up a 24 pt lead. Kings should have won this game by 10 points, considering the fact that they had such a huge lead. Sac lost this game because they lack the killer instinct that LA has. Moreoever, LA has proven that they are the better team. LA made the necessary adjustments to overcome the 24 pt deficit. The Kings' lack of a take charge go-to guy (Bibby would be the closest), really killed them in this game. None of the Kings players were able to beat the double teams that LA kept throwing at them in the 2nd half, which led to a ton of passes, which led to shots taken before the shot clock expired. Samaki's 3 is just 1 out of maybe 100 different plays that effected the outcome of the game.
Hey Rockets That was Samaki's SKILL baby! Skill! Horry took the Kings down! Because no one can touch the Champions! NO ONE!! 3PEAT, 3PEAT, 3PEAT, 3PEAT!!!!!
