If the Lakers open up the offense more for Odom, I think that would give them a better chance to win, having said that, I am glad Phoenix won even though they didn't play there best ball. Barbosa saved there ass this game, now if the rest of the team plays to there abilities like they should, this series shouldn't go past 5.
Originally posted by Myth
Almost any other situation, its lose Lakers lose.
Traitor.
All Kobe needs to do is make a simple swing pass to either wing then set up in the post, if the offense is gonna run through him then he is much more effective operating down low. Then lets get some off ball screens and cuts happening, its one of the most simple triangle strategies from the Shaq era - work from the post instead of out by the 3pt line.
Well on any given situation Kobe should have the ball in his hands on the last possesions, I'm just saying if Odom got more touches before than, that could open up more oppurtinites for everyones else, and give Kobe more options.
Originally posted by RecSpecs110
^ Barbosa went nuts. It was like a marathon for him.
That 3 he hit at the buzzer was awesome 🙂
You could hear a pen drop at my buddies house when Barbosa hit that 3. I swear it is like death himself came and sucked the life out of the room....except for the lone Suns fan. I agree with Wuta, we were doing our best when the offense ran through Odom, we should definitely do more of that.
But we of all people kow it isn't over, they won last year in game 1 and we then proceeded to win 3 in a row. All we need to do know is steal this last game in Phoenix before heading to LA.
We have a great chance to take the next game but we have to learn from our mistakes, no point making mistakes if you dont learn from them.
All the reports i read leading up to this game was that we would pound the ball inside and use our advantage, to keep that up for a whole game takes discipline and we showed that we struggle in that area.
I've been watching alot of old Bulls game recently and the main difference in Jordan and Kobe offensively is the kind of shots they take (i realise that Jordan was surrounded by good players that got him the ball in his sweet spots), Jordan was great at giving the ball up and working off the ball to get to where he was comfortable knowing that 80% of the time the ball would be coming back to him. Kobe tends to settle for tougher shots, i dont know if thats because his range is greater than Jordans or if its because of the semi-zones he faces but i would love to see him work more off the ball to get better shots. Of course it takes smart teammates to run the offense to get him those shots but the rewards are much higher percentage shots which is what Kobe needs right now. He has been singlehandedly carrying the Lakers for the past few months now and it shows towards the end of games, now is the time to trust your team and the offense to get you easier shots than fadeaway 3's while being double teamed. Especially against a team like the Suns who have no shotblocking presence.
As much as it looked like he was ball hogging I can't pin this on Kobe. He did what was necessary. Those shots were going in in the first half, can't blame him for trying to bring his team back and taking shots when they really needed him to with teammates standing on the perimeter with a bag of popcorn and a coke, watching the show. Like I said before back when we played them during the regular season, I like it when Kobe is on the wing and he waits for the double to come, if it does then he passes the ball to a non stationary teammate and eventually they end up getting a good look at the basket. If the double didn't come he simply took his defender to the basket and scored.
But overall I liked how we played up until the 3rd, which has been our weakness seemingly since Shaq left. For some reason we come out of the locker room and end up plying worse than when we did going in. Game 1 is over, focus on game 2 and getting a steal and taking home court advantage away from these bitches. We do that and we have got a shot to finish this in 6 games. I don't like our chances if we end up going back to phoenix for a game 7.
Denver has been clicking for the last month or so, I think out of every team in the playoffs they had the most momentum going into the postseason, but I still don't think they are going to beat S.A. They're too deep, and to experienced, plus I don't see Duncan struggle the whole series like he did in game 1.
Originally posted by Lord Evolution
. I agree with Wuta
Thats the 1st.
Denver could upset the Spurs, Camby always plays Duncan well and AI should cancel Parker out. Melo should get his against Bowen, he's a bit bigger and posts up better than the other players that Bowen has success against. I see this one going the distance, Popovich is too good a coach to let the Spurs lose confidence from one game.
Denver definetly has a chance to upset the Spurs, but like I said, I just think S.A is too deep, and too experienced to lose this series. Duncan played below his standards, don't expect that to happen again, even with a defender like Camby on him. I think for the next game Pop will have more Parker/Duncan pick and rolls, espicially early on to get Duncan going. They get that working, than that will setup some Barry/Horry 3 pointers. That and some defensive adjustments should do the trick for a game 2 victory.
Denver's inconsistency and defensive lapses at times could come back on them later on. Although they did play decent defense tonight, San Antonio played into their defense by not converting.
I want Denver to win, but this victory only brings memories of 2 years ago when they won the first game, but then lost 4 in a row.
Nah, there's no blueprint. Even Nelly admitted to it in the press conference. This loss was more Avery's fault than anything else by going with that small lineup instead of sticking with his bigs, so in essence by doing that you're playing right into the Warriors strength and not exploiting their weekness, much like they did with Phoenix last year as well until they figured out they had no defense or size without Amare and started attacking them inside. Look for Avery to remind them of this and look for him to go big next game and look for Dirk to attack the basket more.
Positives to take away from this loss, the Warriors only shot like 40% for the game and were held to 38pts in the 1st half. The Mavs shot 35% and Nowitzki had a pretty shit game and they were still in the game late until B Diddy started going ape shit. This wont stay true throughout the series so even with the loss I still feel pretty good about the series.
Golden State is the most dangerous team in the playoffs, they come in having won 5 str8 to close out the regular season and have absolutely nothing to lose. And I've been saying for awhile now that they are a pretty talented team. Chris Mullen has been doing an excellent job in rebuilding that team by adding all that right pieces with Nellie being the best addition yet. If there is an Exec of the year award it should definitely go to him.
Originally posted by Smasandian
I know my Raptors are going to lose, but hell, we had the first round pick last year, and now we're third in the division...****, thats damn good for one year turnaround.And think, Bosh, Ford and Bargnani are still bloody ****ing young. I think we might surpraise a few teams, hopefully.
Colongelo for Exec of the Year, and Mitchell for coach. Has to be.
You should be proud, even if they lose this series it really doesn't matter they've already accomplished a lot by being the #3 seed in the East. No one at the beginning of the season could have predicted that. And yes they are still a very young team and this will all serve as much needed experience for them.
Originally posted by koolruningz
RZA - Mavs (but pretty neutral)
This is true ✅ It's only fitting that this season I'll be watching the playoffs from a neutral place as well.
I'd like to add that Dan is only a Sixers fan when they win. So, pretty much he's been a Heat fan for like the past 3yrs now. Until they lose and then I'm not quite sure who he roots for after that.
Oh and Wuta even tho he's primarily a Pistons fan always roots against the team that beat his Pistons last and whatever team he seems to hate for whatever his reasons are for hating that team.
Anyway whatever, just thought I'd throw in my 2 pennies...
Yeah, I am proud.
I was at a Chapters today and I saw preview magazines for the basketball season. First I thought it was funny because the season is almost over, but I decided to check out what they're predictions were for the the Atlantic Division.
1. Nets
2. Celtics
3.Philly
4. Knicks
5. Raptors.
I thought it was funny because they had the projected number of wins to 22 for the Raptors, which would make that the third worst record in the history of the Raptors. I understand it might be hard to think they would become first in the division, but 5th over Philly, Knicks and the Celtics? Come on...thats not very good, I thought we improved significantly from last year's team.
I kinda of wish that they might get the first pick this year again from that prediction. Oden Or Durant with Bosh and Ford and Bargnani would be a pretty impressive team a few years from now...if they could afford them.
For the Mavs fan, that game must have been brutal to watch last night. That didn't even look close to the Dallas team from the past two years. I figured G.S would take atleast one game in the series., it's going to be interesting to see if they can steal another.
Chris Mullen has been doing an excellent job in rebuilding that team by adding all that right pieces with Nellie being the best addition yet. If there is an Exec of the year award it should definitely go to him. [/B]
There is an award for the execs.
[i]Originally posted by RZA
Oh and Wuta even tho he's primarily a Pistons fan always roots against the team that beat his Pistons last and whatever team he seems to hate for whatever his reasons are for hating that team.
The only team I really hate is the Lakers, but that goes into what you said about teams beating the Pistons because of there rivarly they had over the years in the Finals. For the other teams I passionalty root against its because I don't like the players they have, or vice versa. If I'm neutral towards a series I'll normally root for the underdog. Ocassionaly there will be a series that I'm neutral in, but find out some deuche likes one team, so I'll root for the other. I'd rather root for a team than be neutral, but sometimes I really have to reach for a reason to root for a team.
The refs are really starting to piss me off. I only saw one call on Shaq that he actually deserved in that game 1 against the Bulls and that was him trying to move in position for a charge will still moving. That Nocini call in the 4th was some incredible BS. I'm not even a Shaw fan but I want good basketball!
And if I see Devin Harris carry the basketball and jump all into the chest of a defender or just fall all over himself when he runs into a player I'm going to just stop watching period. He got what he deserved on that block by J Rich though because he was trying to get contact instead of make the basket and got hurt for it. *******