Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) I've been told that a few times :}] *brushes teeth with chainsaw*
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) LOL... so much for "the playoffs are a different game" and "there's nothing wrong" I won't even say anything anymore... I tried to be optimistic... but the Lakers proved us all wrong. It would take a miracle for us to defend
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) I was talking about this with a friend... Since Kobe isn't doing much... Why don't we make him the PG and insert Lamar at SF. Kobe could focus on D'ing up Westbrook and Lamar could assume PG duties alongside Kobe. Lamar could also be used to help artest defend both Durant and Green. This would create A LOT of mismatches for OKC. Fisher just sucks.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) perhaps phil is the problem. has anyone said that yet? i dont know ive been mad busy lately so havent been able to follow all of this stuff as much, but it looks to me that phil is being out-coached right now, he's getting on now (he's old), the style of play and coaching is perhaps outdated against the faster-paced style of younger teams of the nba's future. If we are going to beat this team, andrew needs to be much more creative in the way he positions himself on offense, watch game 4 and look at fisher, kobe and even pau looking for him to open up against the smaller and weaker opponents of the thunder big men. fisher took some terrible shots, but he took some of them after bynum had the ball fed to him and failed to deliver, kobe was nowhere to be seen, ron ron has made no effect on offense, and pau is playing his way into the wnba. kobe has got to pull one (actually two) out of the bag and put durant in his place, the rest of the team should follow and we'll be alright. But this wont be te case for very long. Kobe is obviously declining. His effect on games is much less felt. fisher should learn his place like many other point gaurd veterans in the league, take a step back and let the front office get some young legs into the backcourt (this by all means does not mean farmar, he is detrimental to this team, he sucks). So, Bynum needs to pull his head out of his ass and start to make a difference, Pau needs to demote to Bynum, becuase he cant win games for us, too soft. But the biggest difference I noticed the last two games was our perimeter defense, put kobe or odom on durant, because we are wasting ron on him, he's going to score no matter what, put ron on westbrook and TAKE HIM OUT! he is the nergy, the driving force of this young team and if he is contained than durant will not have nearly as many open looks.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) Uh, please don't post if you've been busy. Bynum's head hasn't been up his ass. Pau does not need to demote to Bynum. And are you really questioning Phil? The dude has 10 rings for a reason. This isn't a matter of being out-coached.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) Pau had three straight solid games and a bad one. He's still much better than Andrew. It should be no surprise, he's the other All-Star on this team and has a much more developed offensive repertoire.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) Here's what it comes down to...... -Kobes not right. Thats obvious. Injuries.... mileage.... whatever it is, and I believe it's a little bit of everything, he's just not right. One thing that scares me is, Kobe is doubting himself. His confidence just isnt there. You can see it when he catches the ball and hesitates. He can't decide whether to put it on the floor, shoot a spot up jumper, take it to the rim...... Its obvious. -The Lakers have no shooters. There is no one to spread the floor. The defense is sagging towards the paint and its just a mess around the goal. Cant finish right now, gotta run to a meeting. P.S. I would much rather have Ariza than Artest.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) A lot of Laker fans would rather have Ariza than Artest, it would have made sense for the future too.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) I prefer having Artest way more than Ariza.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) If we had Ariza instead of Artest, Durant may be averaging 50ppg for the series. I appreciate Ron Ron's defense as much as the next guy, but offensively, he infuriates me. It seems like his shooting has been getting worse over time, although some of it may be attributed to his injury. I also don't appreciate his finishing skills around the basket, although he is not quite Fisher-eque, I didn't know he would have so many problems. I just wish our team didn't have so many hand injuries. Kobe-Ron-Shannon, it's obviously effected their games.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) I think Ron is a slightly better player but he's having a rough stretch right now. I think Ariza would probably be better for us long term.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) Seems to me that all of the Lakers, except for Gasol and Bynum, are past their peaks. Artest was a fantastic defender who had an offensive game. He's the same age as Elton Brand, and it appears both their games have declined about the same from their peak levels. Kobe plays at a high level, but look at his numbers from 2 and 4 years ago. He's 31 years old and has a lot of wear on his body - about 3-4 more than a lot of guys the same age. Fisher's done. Odom's gone from a 14/10.6 player to 10/10. Losing a step everywhere in the lineup really hurts. And it shows against a really young and athletic team like OKC. Remember 2 seasons ago, Atlanta (similarly young/athletic) gave the Celtics fits as well.
Re: 1st round: OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers (Series tied 2-2) Craig Sager reports that Kobe might have a degenerative right knee that will require surgery.
