Not starting a ruckus cause everyhting is pretty positive so far but honestly Manu cannot guard Kobe bryant, he just can't. And I doubt that Bruce Bowen will be very succesful guarding him either. Now before you say anything let me explain why. This is not the same Kobe Bryant. This is a suped up Kobe a bigger, stronger Kobe. If Kobe keeps throwing up jumpers then Bruce will be able to frustrate him...a little. But if he starts bodying him up taking him into the post bruce is in trouble becuase Kobe is just to big and atheletic. And for that same reason I say manu just can't hang with him Kobe has become too big. I'll also be looking for Kobe's impressive new shot the "foul jumper" it's what has gotten him to the line so much lately. Now the lakers have come off a big loss and will be looking to get things stable again. There success will depend on their reconigtion of kobe being single or double teamed. And just making an assertive effort to get lamar Odom the ball to get him on track. Like I said before he showed signs last night in the post, and he was just a few roll ins away from going 6-10. Don't forget he also got to the line and shot ten times hitting 80%. As for the Spurs I expect them to play a very sound defensive game with Duncan scoring 30 to 35 pulling down 13 boards. I expect this game to not be very pretty. And although i'm leaning towards the Spurs to win it I think that if the lakers can hit 90 they will win the game.
Two things...Odom needs to come out and play, and the Lakers need to avoid a first quarter blowout. If the Lakers can establish either a lead or tie...or even being down by a bucket at halftime...then that should give them enough time to work the most effective defensive strategy they have and take it back into the locker room and talk about it. This win for the Lakers will be big if it goes down. If not, it'll be just another day of criticism and defining "failure" to all of the analysts and critics that the Lakers face everyday...although I won't be as disappointed, because I for one wouldn't bet for or against the Lakers in this one. I'm still sticking by my word, however. The Lakers will play zone defense, and intercept the passing lane between the guards and Duncan...and will win this game, but it'll be the toughest win of the season, also.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post">Two things...Odom needs to come out and play, and the Lakers need to avoid a first quarter blowout. If the Lakers can establish either a lead or tie...or even being down by a bucket at halftime...then that should give them enough time to work the most effective defensive strategy they have and take it back into the locker room and talk about it. This win for the Lakers will be big if it goes down. If not, it'll be just another day of criticism and defining "failure" to all of the analysts and critics that the Lakers face everyday...although I won't be as disappointed, because I for one wouldn't bet for or against the Lakers in this one. I'm still sticking by my word, however. The Lakers will play zone defense, and intercept the passing lane between the guards and Duncan...and will win this game, but it'll be the toughest win of the season, also.</div> If the lakers put on the zone d all game, hopefully the spurs wont spread the floor letting duncan isolate odom 1 on1, you know the you have to be able to reach a player rule with the zone. i think you should start kobe at point, odom at sg, butler at sf, grant at pf and mihm at c. mihm can take on vasho no prob. grant can try and play aggresive while having odom-kobe-butler(whoever is on duncan's side double team him from up top, maybe steal a couple from him not lookin on his post up. i think that would work great for the lakers. i think also dont let duncan get in any kind of runs at all, he makes like 2-3 in a row foul him next time and maybe that will get him out of sink. also foul him hard, not some tic tac foul.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Billa_Bong:</div><div class="quote_post">If the lakers put on the zone d all game, hopefully the spurs wont spread the floor letting duncan isolate odom 1 on1, you know the you have to be able to reach a player rule with the zone. i think you should start kobe at point, odom at sg, butler at sf, grant at pf and mihm at c. mihm can take on vasho no prob. grant can try and play aggresive while having odom-kobe-butler(whoever is on duncan's side double team him from up top, maybe steal a couple from him not lookin on his post up. i think that would work great for the lakers. i think also dont let duncan get in any kind of runs at all, he makes like 2-3 in a row foul him next time and maybe that will get him out of sink. also foul him hard, not some tic tac foul.</div> That's why I really don't want the Lakers to play the zone defense against the Spurs...but it's the most effective for this squad IMO. When they switched to zone against the Jazz, they ended up winning the 3rd quarter and trying to pull to within 10, after being down by as much as 26 or so (I believe). I don't know yet. I need to see the Spurs play before I make the decision, because I don't know how they use Barry when he's out shooting. I don't know if Manu is trying to pull up for more shots this year or anything...because I've yet to see the Spurs play.
Not saying its u guys but its funny how many LA fans think they actually hung with the Spurs "wire-to-wire" , and that in the end the refs cost them a shot at coming back...when in reality the Lakers were fighting to prevent it from becoming a blowout all game long and only until the last 3 minutes did they cut it below double-digits , and their horrendous defense was the reason they had no shot not the refs. and just an observation I made , Kobe and the rest of the Lakers have just as much trouble defending and staying in front of Manu...as Bowen and the Spurs have with Kobe.I'm calling it right now , Manu will be a reserve for the West in the all-star game.
I'm the first to admit that we made alot of mistakes in that game...but we won the last two quarters, also. We were only blown away in the second, and it's because we couldn't defend the penetration, and I for one was really pissed off because of it. The only thing that bothers me about this is that the Spurs fans are quick to say that we were blown out...when you guys have been a team for 5 years or so, and we've got 4 of our 5 starters gone and have only played 3 games TOTAL as a team...yet we won two of those quarters, and broke even in the first quarter with the Spurs, who are predicted to win it all this year (yes, even I believe they will). Give LA some credit.
Good point and get used to it , ur Lakers werent guarding the penetration and with their undersized big-men dont expect it to be much better. And LA won the last two quarter by like what?2 points each?...so what u guys still never really had a chance , even when Timmy sat down with foul trouble in the 3rd and 4th qtr u guys didnt cut into the lead...the lead consistently stayed in the 10-15 area.Only until the last few minutes did it drop into single digits...but if u want to keep on being an optimist then go ahead. You want props?...your guys played allright on offense which is somewhat expected , but on D it was sad--thats really as much props as I can give LA cause they didnt play all that well , definitely not as good as most LA fans claim they did.
The Spurs played beautiful basketball in the first half of this game. Unfortunately it was against my favorite team, but I watched in awe how smooth they passed the ball and executed. Two plays that stood out to me was the pick and roll pass from Barry to Duncan between two Laker defenders and that sweet pass from Horry at the top of the key to Duncan. The only stand out for the Lakers was Odom on offense. The Lakers had a nice comeback and made the score respectable at the end, but they still got dominated in this game despite the final boxscore. I didn't the Lakers to win, and I'm still confident they will hit their stride by the 20th game of the season. They just need time to learn and get comfortable with Rudy T's system. Also getting back Vlade and possibly Malone will be a huge plus for the team.
The lakers lost. I think they'll do okay once Malone and divac get back though. They might even make the playoffs.
That dunk by Manu on two Laker defenders was the highlight of this game, the actual game was never in doubt and you could tell S.A wanted revenge after what happened in the playoffs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AA13:</div><div class="quote_post">The lakers lost. I think they'll do okay once Malone and divac get back though. They might even make the playoffs.</div> Yha man if Shaq stays healthy you guys might make the playoffs too.
Haha, nextjordan your a funny man. We might make teh playoffs haha... same goes for your team, except you wont. We have a better team, in a easier conference, easier division. Good luck with Kobe!
