Shaq could've have carried the Lakers in the Finals

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post">If I was "overly biased" as you claim, I would begin my post with this:

GO KOBE

But I didn't. Now who's biased? I blame <u>both</u>...go read my posts again.

And for the stuff in red...ooh...I forgot, you're a Heat fan...so that automatically makes you a Shaq fan. That's called being biased, considering you didn't blame anything on Shaq.

I wonder how many of you would like Shaq if the Heat made the Finals last year, and the Lakers walked all over them? Haha...nevermind. I can only imagine the excuses I'd hear then. </div>

EcinPC got

 

Okay, I am a Kobe fan and I will try to keep this as real as possible and not seem BIAS, which I am not. If it's true, its true.

Truth: Shaq SHOULD have gotten the ball more.

But reality: it's easier said then done.
That Lakers team was one of the worst TEAMS ever in Finals history.
Basically, the whole series was doomed from the start as someone stated earlier. The Pistons deserve ALOT of credit. They did not stop Shaq. Nor did they try.
All they needed to do was stop Kobe. And that was pretty easy considering that the only other effective player on thier roster was Shaq.
The rest of the Lakers would miss open, easy shots.
Malone was just off and Payton played like he was a rookie.
Payton is running the plays, HE is supposed to dictate where the ball goes, not Kobe.

But what did Payton do? He passed it to Kobe. Repeatedly. Even when Kobe would pass it back to him to reset the play.
Why did Payton keep passing to Kobe and not Shaq?

It is because the Pistons perimeter defence and interior defence was so great that EVERY single entry pass could be intercepted and deflected. Payton passed it to Kobe, who would usually be on the left hand side, near the 3 point line and there would be the SF in the right corner-pocket and the PF (for some reason) in the left corner pocket.

Payton would be at the top of the 3 point line watching. Kobe would get the ball, take a couple of steps and get swarmed. He would pass it to Payton who would dribble it...or pass up a wide open shot (!) then pass it back to Kobe. By that time, the shot-clock would read 4.
Kobe would shoot, it would be a flat shot, and the blaming would start again.

They passed it to Shaq whenever they good but you have to understand the Pistons knew they would try to feed off Shaq as well and they made it as hard as possible.
The Lakers cannot win unless Kobe/Shaq BOTH click. There is no need to explain this, it has been proven in the past.
It's not just <u>one</u> of them that carried the Lakers to the past 3 championships so what makes you think that Shaq could have done it alone this time? Against the best defensive team they've ever faced in the Finals? Against the best coach they've faced in the Finals?

Fact: Kobe was stopped.
Shaq did not need to be stopped because only he and Kobe were effectively playing for the Lakers and as long as one of them were stopped, the Pistons knew they could beat this team.

Fact: The other teams the Lakers faced (in the Finals) would concentrate more on SHAQ then Kobe, which would free up Kobe and he could score or drive and dish and will (To Shaq and other role players who could actually HIT a shot for god's sake).

This is why I think Larry Brown is a better coach then Phil. Phil saw this strategy from LB coming since Game 1 yet did not adjust to it and let it carry on. Nor did he make any adjustments to the offense. Or, Larry Brown was just so damn good that whatever adjustments Phil was making was useless cause he'd stop them anyways.

....Thank you for your time.

 

Hey spawn...I said nearly the exact same thing on the first page, but I don't think anyone was listening lol...

 

Brilliant assessment Spawn. The two best players on the court were Lakers,
but the third, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th best players were Pistons.

Your point about Brown outcoaching Phil is right. Although I wouldn't say it makes
Brown a better coach. He just won this battle. He was brilliant. I especially liked
how he held a really tight reign on the Pistons for the first game, and slowly unleashed
it. Yes, the Pistons had great defense, but their offense, especially late in the
series was very impressive. The thing about Phil, he coaches his team to win, and
at a certain point, if his team doesn't follow his plan, he'll just let them lose to prove
a point. The way he handled Payton was a reflection on how disappointed he was
in the job. By the end of the series, it was like, "Fine, you guys wanna play that way,
go ahead, I'm done."

 

Realbneal said the almost exact thing as me...THREE times. Yet it was ignored. You guys need to read all of the posts before jumping to a conclusion that's already been proved otherwise.
Don't judge a poster by what his avatar or signature, read the quality of his post and don't judge it on quantity. If what you're reading makes sense, read it carefully.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
By the end of the series, it was like, "Fine, you guys wanna play that way,
go ahead, I'm done."
</div>

But is that how one of the greatest coaches of all time should react though? His team's down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, he has a chance to surpass Red Aurbach for the most championships and capture his 10th championship which would basically him make him the greatest coach ever in many people's eyes yet he just folds in.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting spawn:</div><div class="quote_post">
But is that how one of the greatest coaches of all time should react though? His team's down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, he has a chance to surpass Red Aurbach for the most championships and capture his 10th championship which would basically him make him the greatest coach ever in many people's eyes yet he just folds in.</div>

Apparently it is how he would react. It's just my perception of the way
Phil coached the last two games. Do you agree? Seems like he knew that
he didn't have the better players, and the ones he had weren't playing together.
Seems like he kinda gave up.

Oh yeh, props to realdeal for another good analysis. I'm glad some of you
Laker fans know something about hoops. Hehe, just kidding, just kidding....

 

Shaq needs a partner. Bottomliine. It doesnt matter where he goes. Could he have done it on his own. Simple answer, is "NO". He couldn't. Dominant players never win championships without someone to compliment them.

 

It wasnt all Kobe's fault. What about Gary Payton fomally known as "The Glove?" He was a non-factor and everybody else besides Kobe & Shaq. Yeah Kobe took a lot of shots, but if kobe didnt take his shots and get his 22 points people would've have been talking about him saying he was wack and didnt do enough for his team to pull out a victory. Come on the Pistons were basically saying let Shaq score all he wants, but make it hard for everybody else. So it was a miracle that Kobe was able to average 22 points against a double & triple team Piston defense. Oh yeah, and the Heat r going to be sorry. All somebody has to do is step on Shaq's big toe and their season is over with. And also, did you notice how Shaq was able to lose weight in months to prove he can win w/o Kobe? But the Lakers have been trying to get him to lose weight for years and he couldnt do it!

 

The point of my post was just to say that the Lakers needed to find a better way to get the ball to Shaq. And along the way I discovered that Kobe was making about 60ppg worth of attempts and only came up with 22ppg, an unexplained 38ppg went missing.

And while everyone was singing Kobe's praises for winning one game, no one had realized that he had made so many attempts and didn't land enough of them that he had cost the Lakers so many points; if Kobe had landed half of the attempts he made, the Lakers stood a real good chance at winning the championship.

Now, the way that shaq was scoring, if he would've switched attempts with Kobe, he would've scored about 40+ppg because he was 63% from the field, and the Lakers could've won the championship.

Basically this post was to add some credit to Shaq that a lot of Lakers and Kobe fans had stripped away from him.