Positives for Lakers: Defensive intensity, offensive rebounding, KOBE Negatives: Kobe needs more assists and he needs to get this offense moving!
<div class="quote_poster">NBA MAN Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Positives for Lakers: Defensive intensity, offensive rebounding, KOBE Negatives: Kobe needs more assists and he needs to get this offense moving!</div> Why does Kobe need more assists? As long as he keeps shooting well his teammates shouldn't mess with his flow. Over the course of the series, he should probably get more assists when his jumper is off; but when he is on fire there is no need to pass.
Hello i come from Slovenia, the country from where Sasha Vujačić is, am a great fan of the lakers and specially Kobe!! I hope the lakers destroy the Suns!!! Goooooooooooo LAKERS!!!
Talk about on fire. Kobe is making the Suns look silly. 28 in the first half and 11 straight, including three straight from long range. If he can keep this up and the Lakers can keep playing stellar defense, the Lakers have a great chance at winning. And beyond Kobe, the rest of the Lakers are playing good enough. The offensive contributions haven't been there, but they're playing some great defense. Holding the Suns to 39 points in a half is astounding. They've been able to control the tempo of the game mostly so far. They're doing a great job at forcing Phoenix to take jumpers as well, cutting off a lot of lanes to the hoops and preventing the easy layups that the Suns are accustomed to getting. The Suns offense is stagnant because of this, as noted by the fact they only have 8 assists in the half and are shooting just 36%. Also, they did a great job controlling the boards, holding a +7 edge for the half and limiting the Suns to only 4 OREBs. If the Lakers can keep this up, this game will definitely be theirs for the taking. The only thing I'd like to see is the rest of the Lakers get the scoring going and not having to rely on Kobe as much.
<div class="quote_poster">huevonkiller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Why does Kobe need more assists? As long as he keeps shooting well his teammates shouldn't mess with his flow. Over the course of the series, he should probably get more assists when his jumper is off; but when he is on fire there is no need to pass.</div> True but you can't win the game like this. The Suns blew lots of open shots and they'll come back believe me. Kobe is doing another Superhuman effort but they can't win like that. What if Kobe goes cold for a little bit? If the offense is stagnant they can't win. The reason the Lakers are winning is because of their DEFENSE.
<div class="quote_poster">NBA MAN Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">True but you can't win the game like this. The Suns blew lots of open shots and they'll come back believe me. Kobe is doing another Superhuman effort but they can't win like that. What if Kobe goes cold for a little bit? If the offense is stagnant they can't win. The reason the Lakers are winning is because of their DEFENSE.</div> Kobe doesn't need more assists for his teammates to play good defense. Plus I already addressed that he should pass the ball when he gets cold, but he's not at that point yet.
Good half, though certainly not great. I'm satisfied with the rebounding and defensive intensity, but the Lakers are not doing a good job defending the jumpshot. If I know one thing about the Suns, I know that their jumper WILL fall and if the Lakers don't put hands up, this lead will disappear extremely fast. Moving on--I was disappointed to see Farmar twist his ankle. I hope he makes a swift recovery. Hopefully he'll be able to walk off the pain.
<div class="quote_poster">huevonkiller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe doesn't need more assists for his teammates to play good defense. Plus I already addressed that he should pass the ball when he gets cold, but he's not at that point yet.</div> It a good game for the Lakers at half. But the Lakers need to adjust more. I'm sure D'Antoni is just telling the Suns to calm down and play their game.
Farmar and Kwame - idiotic play. And what the heck is wrong with the refs!?! End of third edit: Barbosa, that swine...
Ugh, crappy ending to the quarter. Lakers turned the ball over way too much in that quarter, giving the Suns way too many opportunities. The Lakers need to turn up the defensive intensity in the 4th, but they can't get too aggressive. Kobe might have to come out firing if the rest of his teammates don't hit early on. Personally, I think the Lakers need to keep going to Odom. Marion simply cannot defend him on the block. Odom has way too much length for Marion to handle down there and I look for the Lakers to continue to exploit that. Other than that, the Lakers need to continue to get good looks, working inside-out, and they've got to control the glass. No more second chance points for the Suns cause they'll kill us with those.
And I have already seen enough of Smush this quarter. He's got to get back on defense, and if he's going to foul, foul hard, don't give him a shot at a three point play. There's a reason why Farmar ahs been playing more, and that's part of the reason. If Smush isn't hitting his jumper, he's useless, as he's proving. And now, he goes and lets Barbosa go right by him again. Please Phil, take him out.
<div class="quote_poster">Moo2K4 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">And I have already seen enough of Smush this quarter. He's got to get back on defense, and if he's going to foul, foul hard, don't give him a shot at a three point play. There's a reason why Farmar ahs been playing more, and that's part of the reason. If Smush isn't hitting his jumper, he's useless, as he's proving. And now, he goes and lets Barbosa go right by him again. Please Phil, take him out.</div> I know what sequence your talking about, and I think your being a little too hard on him for that. At least he was getting back on defense. You really can't do anything in that situation against Barbosa besides foul him, which Smush did, but unfortunetly, not hard enough.
Ugh, this agitating me. The Lakers have no flow offensively right now and aren't really stopping anyone. On a sidenote, the foul discrepinsy is ridiculous - 22 to 10.
The Lakers need to keep going to the post. They've been effective when sending Luke or Odom into the post, and I don't know why they're going away from that. If they're going to win, that's what they're going to have to do. Kobe has not had it this half so I'm thinking they're going to have to find another way to win, and that should be it.
Just wondering, but where the hell was the charge on Stoudemire? Are the refs afraid to call a foul on the Suns? This is freaking ridiculous.
<div class="quote_poster">Moo2K4 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Just wondering, but where the hell was the charge on Stoudemire? Are the refs afraid to call a foul on the Suns? This is freaking ridiculous.</div> The refs have been absolutely horrible this season. Every game of the season. Anyways, bring on game 2 because we're done. Just like the regular season, we keep it close but we still fall short. Whatever
