[Eaglerock562]

Quote: Originally Posted by kobez2417

Yes, we beat them a week ago without Kobe. Yes they are injury ridden. Yes they seem puzzled with their recent waiving and signings of Jackson and Tmac. Yes they've exited the playoffs the last few years in an almost choking fashion. None of that matters. The Lakers have to come in with a force that's going to send ripples throughout the league. This L.A squad is far from done even without Kobe and all has the opportunity to claim greatness with a victory of the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers have had previous success and more or less know what San Antonio is all about: no hero-ball, disciplined defense and extraordinary ball movements. This series isn’t about X’s and O’s as much as it is about the Lakers digging deeper to tap into the potential that seemed sky high at the start of the season. Here’s how A. The Dwight-Pau Connection Coming into the playoffs, the Lakers have won 10 of 11 games and 3 straight without Kobe. Dwight and Pau, once deemed incapable of playing with each other, are playing together better than ever. Pau has used his high I.Q. to confuse and deceive defenders to make passes and break down defenses in a way that can’t be prepared against. Dwight has been the main beneficiary of such passes and coming off of a back injury, is finishing better than ever. According to Synergy Sports, Howard is converting 77.1% of his field-goal attempts off cuts. On the flip side of things, Dwight has absolutely locked things up defensively the last couple games holding the Spurs to 37% shooting and the highest offensive scoring Rockets to 90 points . (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVqM1De3T2A) Bottom line Pau and Dwight will be much more talented than any 1-2 frontline punch in any given scenario and have to use their connection to absolutely dominate. The Spurs are no exception: To counter Mr. Fundamental, the front line of L.A. has to match his discipline and focus on the defensive end and absolutely dominate on the offensive end. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD1CbToPhCk) B. Steve Nash Steve Nash has missed the third of the season with a hamstring injury, but is planning to play Game 1. Yes, he’s not going to shut down Tony Parker nor do we need him too. Yes, he’s not going to be able to play heavy minutes. Yes he’s not going to be able to run at full speed. But let’s remember why he was brought here in the first place: Steve Nash simply needs to do what he does best and that’s more of this: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpXLUm2wakI) Pau Gasol has scored on 76.7% as the roll man in the pick-and-roll and Howard is converting on 79.2%. Bottom Line: Steve Nash doesn’t need to run fast, jump high, or play shut down defense to control the game. With the ball in his hands in the minutes he plays, he just needs to do what he’s done best over the years (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ukefAz-wro) C. The X-Factor After a couple days to look at extensive tape in the lab, one thing is obvious: The bench has been inconsistent. What has been even more inconsistent is the expectations of the bench. Earl Clark, Antawn Jamison, and as of late, Steve Blake have shown flashes of what the Lakers desperately need and all deserve to make the playoff rotation. But of those, who is going to get the bulk of the minutes: The Positioner With a heavily talented roster even sans Kobe, the dirty work has to be done by someone. Someone who realizes there is going to be opportunity when playing when playing with guys with terrific passing abilities and is going to use that to his advantage. Someone who is going to read the weaknesses on the team and fill in, put his head down, and get the work done. Someone who isn’t distracted by comparisons to a glorious past and is ultimately focused on the now: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=5qeslFJRo_Q) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=fOkXbVxwXoM)

As a varsity basketball coach going on for 19 years starting next year, and the second biggest Lakers fan/supporter in Los Angeles (behind Jack Nicholson), I'm very impressed with your breakdown on the Lakers in the series overall. Everyone knew that Gasol and Howard could play along each other side by side, but it was the Head Coach's offensive philosophy and his stubbornness to and willingness to change his style to fit the team that was assembled that made it look as if Gasol and Howard could not play together or be on the court at the same time. The sad thing is it took D'Antoni nearly 4 months and constant little conversations for him with Gasol before the light finally went off over his head. My biggest criticism of Mike D'Antoni has been that when they hired him, they did so for him to coach this group of players that they assembled together, not for him to come in and clean house and hold a fire sale. In my opinion if you have a an all-star studded and probably one of the most talented starting lineups to ever step foot on an NBA court, you don't disrespect them by trying to change their style of game to your philosophy, but rather use their talents to the best of their abilities and take your philosophy and use it on the second young, the bench, because the bench is where your shooters (Blake, Meeks, Jamison and to an extent Clark) are, and if you factored in Jordan Hill when he was healthy then that was your unit that on the court that could get up and down in transition while your star studded starting five, you leave them alone, trusting them to do what they know they need to do because the point guard that you coached and that won two mvp awards with you is running the offense, and you have the most dangerous, and the most cold blooded assassin on the basketball court in Kobe, and Kobe will make sure that group takes EVERYTHING seriously, this season could've gone a much different route then it did, but the one thing that as a coach you can't prepare for and you're never able to avoid is injuries and just so happens that each starter missed at some point in the season a significant number of games, so to say that this team underachieved, or did not live up to expectations is not fair to say about them because you take those injuries out of the equation then you are looking at a much different team and the results would be complete opposite of what they were.


But great breakdown, I was not very happy with their effort to star the game today. I felt they didn't take advantage of a great opportunity to not only come out and steal a game on the road, but to steal a game on the road in a series and it be the first game would've been great and it would've increased their confidence level as a team and given them the mindset of "ok, we got what we wanted, we got one of them first two on the road, but wait, we got what we wanted, now what's stopping us from going out and getting both of these games and head home and put all the pressure on the Spurs". I think that should have been their mindset from the opening tip and it's been a problem all year long, but they have to understand the "value of the basketball and the value of possessions". The more you value the ball the better chance you have at making sure you get a shot at scoring every possession rather then making or being forced into a turnover and giving your opponent added possessions that they would never have. That's another thing I didn't quite understand when it came to D'Antoni's thinking when he was hired. He said we could have 110-120 possessions a game and we'll give ourselves a chance to win every night. Well no, actually that means that your opponents more then likely will also have 110-120 possessions not including the ones that they will get when they force you to turn the ball over you turn the ball over on your own, now it comes down to you having to match those number of possessions that are created by those turnovers and second chance opportunities and if you aren't able to match the number of your opponents then 110-120 possessions a game is not going to give you a chance to win every night. I found myself staring at the tv screen looking at him and asking myself "is this dude all there, or is he really special and not comprehend what he just said".