LAKERS -at- CELTICS - 6/10 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[WestwoodOne]

My reollection of the final play of the 1st quarter was that Farmar switched to cut off Pierce off the pick and roll, forcing Pierce to reverse the ball back to Robinson who just set the pick on Artest (or Brown). It was Artest (or Brown) who made the mistake of trailing Pierce and leaving Robinson open for the three at the buzzer. Can you verify this, DB?

[Klone_dd]

Unfortunate that the Lakers had control of the game and really could've opened it up mid-3rd. KG, Ray & Rondo were very tentative and forcing stuff, looked like they were ready to pack it in. They effectively shut out Drama Queen on their own. The Lakers, however, couldn't take advantage, going scoreless themselves during the same period.

And then the 4th.

LO was way too passive and got absolutely worked. Kobe was gassed and Pau allowed himself to be bodied up and out. Add in the TOs, and lack of rebounding and we just let the Celts back in the series.

Wish Phil would use DJ against the Celts 2nd unit with Pau. Can't use DJ vs the 1st unit because they'll sluff off him and load up one side of the floor, but against the 2nd unit, his job would be to neutralize Baby with his size and strength. Hate to say it, but the fat guy has been a factor the last 2 games.

Well, no one said it would be easy. It would be impressive to come back to LA up 3-2.

[Conker]

Thanks for the insight.

The 4th Qtr. sure did hurt us. Lamar Odom just played terrible.

[Vadorojo]

I'm terrified at the thought that our championship hopes rest on Andrew Bynum's knee ... c'mon Lake Show ...
_________________
"I like looking at a guy's face when he realizes that even his best moves aren't going to work on me all night. They look depressed." - Ron Artest

[Rodman28]

[ElginWorthy]

I think the Boston series points to a serious problem the Lakers have failed to address for years.

They need some real bangers at power forward and center. They need to have bench players the coach is NOT afraid to use.

What good is a backup center or forward if you never see them?

Through the draft and/or free agency, the Lakers desperately need to find bigs who are wide-bodies, strong, tough space-eaters and can D-up and rebound. They don't need to score, necessarily. They just need to be able to make it tough to go up the gut of the defense.

While I do agree the Lakers also need help in the back court, I think the Boston series, yet again, is showing the real weakness of this team.

The Lakers need their own version of Big Baby Davis, etc. Pau is a great offensive player but he is simply not big enough to go up against wide-bodies. The Lakers need to have that flexibility. Bring the beef off the bench.

That should be THE priority this offseason.

[JTS1]

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Sister Golden Hair]

[RCS926]

^^^
LO walking the ball up has been an issue all series long. I can't believe that Phil and the coaching staff haven't identified this as an issue yet. Then again, it seems like Phil hasn't really done anything to fix LA's offensive woes in the 2nd half.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

^ Just look at his body language. He drags himself on the floor, looking completely lazy and confused. Why is he bringing up the ball up the floor anyway? He's terrible, just dribbles around and wastes half the shot clock and Boston just has to play about 10sec of defense ending up in a terrible shot for the Lakers every time. I don't know how Kobe puts up with this clown.

Lazy (bleep).
_________________
Winning recipe: Effort, Intensity, Focus, Composure, Patience, Execution, Attention to detail, Discipline & Persistence

[DancingBarry]

He's bringing the ball up because we don't want Fish to do that against Rondo's pressure as much or Kobe to do it as much because of wear. And, obviously, not Ron.

LO gets no pressure...which is good. But initiating the offense 4 or 5 seconds later than it should is causing a lot of problems. Things were much more fluid when Kobe was pushing it up court in the first half and the first passes were made with around 19 seconds on the clock. After we cycle through our first options we have 10-13 seconds instead of 5-8...that's when we often default into iso ball out of necessity.

Need to start his butt up court.

[PopcornMachine]

Last game is was Pau as the scapegoat, even though they won, and this time it's Lamar.

Yeah, he didn't get a single board in the 4th. Not good. Can definitely play better than that, and I know he can rebound with the best of them. So I take as a sign the that the Lakers have no where to go but up.

Big effort from them in game 5. Of course, that will be easier if Andrew can make a game 1-3 type effort.
_________________

I'm with COCO!

[Luca Brasi]

^ who won game 5? please tell us the lakers won.
_________________
"i was born down in the valley where the sun refused to shine, but i'm climbin' up to the highlands, goin' to make that mountain mine" ~ Lakers, 2011

[PopcornMachine]

[ssiknick833]

[67ShelbyGT]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[davidse]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Let's see, you are comparing somebody who won two championship to somebody who has gone to the Finals 13 times in 20 years while judging him before the end of the series? One wonders who you would rather have coaching to win a ring? (Larry Brown - no ring, BScott - no ring, Pop - didn't go deep into the playoffs, Brown - got fired, Stan Van Gundy - didn't get back to the Finals, Doc - he will lose this year's Finals, Coach K - doesn't want to coach in the NBA, Izzo - will he even be a winning coach, Rambis - great guy, etc.)

Everyone has the right to criticize Phil, since it comes with the job. Phil dares to be great while risking to fail. Phil is not perfect and (obvioiusly) won't win all the game - but he was hired to win a ring.

Rings = Great Coaching.

Phil did make adjustments.

As the axiom goes, there is a reason why certain players get good looks, just like there is a reason why Artest get better looks than Kobe. There is a reason why Rondo will bet open jump shots, why LO will get open outside shot, why KG will get open outside shot because they don't want him to drive to the hole, etc. If one reviews the team's shooting percentage, one will get a better gauge of success. This is the reality.

In Game 4, the Lakers played poorly - yet still had a chance to win the game. Phil has LO, who basically has been MIA, allowing Boston's bigs gang up on Pau. Phil provided LO the opportunity to step up that provides him the ability to try other alternatives. Phil basically severly limit Drew's minutes to get LO in sync while also giving Drew more rest to get ready for Game 5.

Do you thiink that Phil want the following to happen:
* ball not be passed into the post
* players just watch Kobe do his thing
* double on Perkins while leaving a red-hot Ray Allen free
* Artest dribble the ball for 10 seconds
* LO scared of Baby
* Celtics constantly knocking the ball out of LO/Pau's hands
* Farmar inability to stay in front of Robinson

It is noteworthy that only one of Boston's "Big Three" has been successful per each past game., It will be interesting to note your specific things that Phil didn't adjust to - noting that he is at the mercy of the players to follow Phil's instructions.

Can Phil do better, of course. Can Doc to better, of course. Phil was brought in to win the war, not every battle. Your views are understandable, especially if you think/expect the Lakers to win every playoff game in a rout. I don't share your "reality" and trust Phil to make the right decision to win the series.

Lakers will win Game 5

[davidse]

do you not read, or just dont' get what you're reading ?

what does winning the game have to do with anything ?
my critisizm was after game 3, not 4.
game 4 was simply a direct continuation of what has been going on in games 2 and 3.

how blind are you that you're willing to list YOURSELF so many things that are wrong with what our players are doing without realizing it's the COACH'S job to make sure those things doesn't happen ?
- especially at this time of the season ???

whether it's those individual actions, or general team play - where our opponents get good looks offensively, and we can't do the same - it all comes back to coaching.

nothing you've said has shown any good coaching or adjustments by phil so far.

by all means - list the proof you see on the floor of this being a well coached team........

(because you haven't listed a single thing other than the fact we "won" games, as if fisher taking those shots was something phil wanted, etc)

this looks like a team who's coach barely has any controll over it, and if he does - that's even worse because they're playing dumb basketball, being outmatched in terms of being able to get what they want offensively, and a large percentage of our offensive success has to do with miracle shots - where boston barely has any of those in the series - because the looks they're getting are actually GOOD LOOKS that come from discipline and offensive strategy.
- and i haven't even talked about the rotations and terrible use of the bench.

you are fooling yourself and playing ostrich.
you don't have a single basketball arguement that shows that this team is well coached.
and guess what - we are actually talented enough to be able to win despite this bad coaching. you're simply unable to look past this if and when it happens - automaticaly assuming that phil is doing a good job - without any evidence on the floor.
that's like saying that all of our players played well if we win the title - without actually looking and evaluating every individual performance.

[NupeWD1993]

Personally speaking, if Drew is that hurt, I would start DJ as the 5 and allow Lamar to come off of the bench as he normally does....We have very little to bring in off of the bench as is......If they let Perkins bang, most likely, they will let DJ bang as well....

[bloxheads]

Odom always ruins it for me, on a serious note