LAKERS -at- JAZZ - 4/25 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Stranger Throws Down... Your first foray on the road ended poorly for you, getting jumped by those little Damiens and taking some lumps. You believe in the Four Horsemen, so you happily take those lumps and return for more. You make an effort to be a little more mobile today and are jumpy, shadow boxing with anything that moves.

This time, you walk along the ridge overlooking the lake, sticking to the perimeter and keeping your eyes peeled for the little Damiens that thrashed you. A creepy giggle freezes you in your tracks, which then give way with the hillside. You grab a thick tree branch, it breaks off in your hands, and you are swallowed up in a mini-mudslide. You slide down the hill, fly off the edge of a small cliff and are deposited unceremoniously on your rear in the middle of a pool off brown water.

Wiping the mud from your eyes, you see the same group of hell-suckled younglings. It appears you interrupted a little feast they were planning. They pick up their utensils and edge toward you. Suddenly you feel like a plump foreigner crossing paths with a of gaggle emaciated cannibals. "Put down the basting brush, little Damiens," you say. "Drop the 'Lord of the Flies' pig's head and conch shell if you've got those, too."

Hidden underneath the muddy water, your fist tightens around the hefty tree branch that you carried down the water slide. "Stranger must die," the little black-haired she-Damien says again, point at you. You rise from the water with your branch and begin to circle. Their eyes widen and they start to run in all directions. "That's right," you say, holding up your stick. Then, you hear a low whinny over your shoulder. The Four Horsemen and Death Riders are standing right behind you. Death, himself, motions for you to move aside.

You hear canine howls in the distance. The Damiens have called for their hell hounds. You sheepishly step out of the Horsemen's path, and they immediately ride. Just moments later, you hear the bells...eleven, twelve, thirteen... and they stop. The Horsemen have won.

Your cell phone makes an odd noise in your pocket and then dies. You fish it out and let it drip from your fingertips. On your way home hours later, it comes to life again. You answer and hear a recording repeating over and over from DancingBarry:

The Four Horsemen were here. They were not to be denied twice in their opponent's backyard. The came with focus and intent. They chased their opponent down, overran them and never gave up ground. Death led the attack with aggression. He would not be denied.

They will fight again. I will continue to track them...

Chewing gum and spitting fire from the perimeter, Kobe Bryant bounced back from last game's poor shooting affair to cut down the Jazz on their home floor, 108-94.

He opened the game scoring the Lakers first 11 points. You get any kind of decent shooting from him in the last game and this series is over. "I was kind of sensing that the team wanted me to get it going a little bit," Kobe said afterward.

With Mehmet Okur back in the lineup, Phil started LO over Bynum. Although, we saw this in the second half of the last game, the real key is getting Lamar extended minutes on the floor. His mobility and rebounding continues to make a positive impact for the team. Combine that with the bench stepping up and the Lakers had some dominating stretches.

"This is as good as we can play on the road," Phil said.

Make a note, the Lakers pushed out to a 20+ point lead and held on tight. Their attention span didn't fade until the game was essentially over. Now, they need to keep their focus with the 3-1 series lead.


Kobe -- -- Mamba on the loose! The ball looked like money the moment it came off Kobe's fingertips tonight. Perhaps, the law of averages came to play for Kobe on the road. As bad as his shot was in the last game, No. 24 was golden tonight. He killed the Jazz from the perimeter, starting each half of Laker offense with a jumper. The Lakers had a huge second-quarter run, but when Kobe came out the second half and drilled several straight shots, he put the Jazz on their heels. After a poor close to the first half by the Lakers, this helped the team impose their will at that key juncture instead of vice versa. This was one of those demoralizing offensive games. No matter what the Jazz tried to throw at him or how tightly they covered him, he still sank shot after shot. At the end of the game, Energy Solutions was quiet. "It's just noise" can be changed to "just the noise of the Laker fans" as all that was left were those who represented the purple and gold. The Stats: He scored 38 points on 16-24 shooting (1-2 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He sank a face-up wing jumper on the Lakers first shot. He swiped a pass on the other end, but was stripped trying to attack. He picked up a foul when we failed to secure the defensive boards. He sank a top-of-the-key jumper getting space away from his man. He attacked, pulled up from 16 feet at the elbow and banked in a hanging And-1 jumper, he made the FT. He swished a long baseline turnaround. He missed a leaning wing jumper next time down. He sank a pull-up elbow jumper, getting hit with no call. He attacked off the screen from the wing for a layup. He missed a flat pull-up jumper. He drained an elbow jumper, spinning and drilling over Brewer. He and Sasha deflected a pass, chased it down together and Kobe beat him to it for the layup. He missed a face-up over AK. He sank a baseline jumper coming off the screens out of a timeout. He swished a quick chuck from three with the shotclock low and AK challenging. He attacked an open lane, got clipped on the legs and arms for FTs, he made both. He had 24 points on 10-13 shooting in the first half. Second Half: He sank a difficult baseline fallaway to start the half. He sank a 22-footer with a man on and the shotclock buzzer going off. He sank a wing jumper over Brewer. He hit a 19-footer over Okur on the next trip down. He changed directions with a behind-the-back dribble, attacked and drew FTs over Okur, he made both. He was stripped and didn't get back on D, giving up a dunk. He was late to spot Boozer cutting in our wing zone and fouled him for FTs. He somehow escaped a double team with the dribble and set up LO for FTs. He hit rim on a chuck from 20 feet with a second on the shotclock off an inbounds pass. He missed a bank trying to beat the shotclock. He drilled a face-up elbow jumper over his man. Nice challenge on Boozer in the post to get a miss. He missed a 21-footer. He pumped several times, then swished the fallaway as the shotclock went off. He attacked, over-powered Deron, but missed the one-hander, LO easily tipped it in. He missed a heave from three after running clock.

Gasol -- -- Pau moved over to the starting C spot. The move coincided with Okur's return, but seemed to be decided in the last game without Okur. Defensively, the Lakers gave up 3 less offensive boards and 7 less to the Boozer/Millsap combo, but actually the Lakers didn't play all that differently. The Jazz made 34 shots instead of 33 in the last game and had 4 more FTs in this game. The difference was our offense just didn't stink as badly. Pau had a crowd around him often tonight offensively. When he didn't, he had a couple nice post sequences. Still, the crowd seemed to cause him some problems and a few of his passes were swiped. Boozer still seems to continue root him out of position a bit too much. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-8 shooting (5-7 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He gave up an offensive board to Okur after Okur missed his three shot. He airballed a turnaround in the post. He was stripped with no call on an attack (looked like a foul). He drop-stepped Millsap and scored an easy layup. He missed a layup, but got it back. He was swatted from behind by Boozer. He drew the D and kicked out to Brown for the three. He posted up Millsap in early offense and drew FTs, he made both. He faced up and hit the midrange wing jumper over Boozer. Second Half: His interior feed was deflected. Poor read when Fish had to switch on AK and Pau let AK dunk easily. He pulled down Trevor's bricked floater and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He drew FTs in a crowd after pulling down the LO miss, he made both. He spun to lose Millsap, gathered himself and dunked. He hit Brown cutting baseline for FTs. He threw away a bounce pass trying to force it to Kobe who was cutting. He was fouled on the face-up jumper over Boozer for FTs, he missed both short. He rejected Millsap under the basket.

Lamar -- -- LO played 29 minutes in the last game and led the Lakers with a +7. You have got to get him big minutes in this series. You can't afford to keep him on the bench as much as Phil did last game. He's the x-factor. He was moved to the starting lineup tonight and more minutes for LO meant improved results for the Lakers. Rebounding, rotating, attacking, dishing throughout the game from Lamar an once again he led the Lakers with a +22, this time in 40 minutes. The Lakers have to find minutes for him. Bynum may be more effective in another series, but I still think at some point you really need to put LO in at SF in place of Luke to maximize your impact player minutes. Two-way players are the key to playoff basketball. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-10 shooting (2-5 from the line) to go with 15 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a +22. The Action: He missed a pull-up from 17 feet out. He posted up Harpring and was tripped as he attacked across the lane, he made one FT. He curled off a screen, took the inbounds and scored the layup. He missed a pull-up jumper. Second Half: He stepped quickly past Boozer to his left and scored a layup around him. Kobe set him up off the drive and dish for FTs, he made one. He missed a layup attacking to his left. Next time down, he faced up Millsap at the top of the key, attacked left and scored an And-1 layup, he missed the FT (Lakers need to spread the floor more like that for him). He missed a one-hander in the middle of the lane. He roofed Harpring and ripped the ball from him. He blocked AK under the hoop. He tipped in a Kobe miss. Soft layup attempt and he came up short.

Ariza -- -- He sprained his ankle in the pregame warmups stepping on Powell's foot. He still played on it, although the Lakers worked hard to keep it from tightening up. If he can play and rest intermittently on that ankle like he did tonight, it's probably not too bad a sprain. The Lakers ran a little more of Kobe at the SF with Sasha in at SG to make up for Trevor's reduced minutes. Trevor played a fairly average game while dealing with the ankle, but the Lakers didn't hurt from it. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He missed an open three. He drew a charge on Boozer in semi-transition. He missed a wide open baseline jumper. He picked up back-to-back fouls with under 4 minutes left in the first quarter and sat for Luke. He reinjured his right ankle during that stint had to go to the locker room. Second Half: His post entry pass was picked off by AK. He scored a layup over AK. He blindsided Boozer on one end to steal a ball, then swished a sideline three on the other. Great hustle in transition to beat Deron to an outlet pass and stop the break.

Fisher -- -- Despite not always making the smartest of plays, DFish seemed to still be effective on some of those sequences. Just getting a little more production from the PG spot and our role players in general helped make a big difference in this game. Deron Williams played all but 2 minutes of this game and put together good numbers, but nothing ridiculous. Look for Deron to go out guns blazing in the next one. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-8 shooting (1-4 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 1 steal and 5 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He missed a wide open three straight away. He missed an open wing three. He swished a wing jumper working off the screens. He went under the screen on Williams with Bynum behind him, wide open three (flashbacks to the Shaq/Fisher screen-roll D). He attacked a seam and drew FTs on Millsap in the paint, he nearly airballed the first, made the second. He swished a pull-up from the right side on the break (should have given it to Ariza in the middle on the 3-on-2). He drained a top-of-the-key jumper with the shotclock low. He attacked off the wing and biffed the easy And-1 layup, he made both FTs, though. Second Half: He stripped Brewer in the paint. He took a pass three feet from the hoop and shot the ball just two feet, wow. He swished a corner three. He airballed a heave from three trying to beat the shotclock.

Bynum -- -- He came off the bench for Pau with 5 minutes left in the first quarter. He'd rarely see minutes after that. Bynum played just 7 minutes in the last one because of foul trouble. He played just 7 tonight because of Phil trouble. This game wasn't quite the paint wrestling match of the last one. Phil was quick with the hook on Bynum. I think he may be convinced that the Jazz guards and bigs are just too quick for Bynum to manage. Offensively, Drew needs to concentrate on getting himself that early low position that he had in the first few games of his return. That's what causes opponents so much trouble. On the other end, he has got to control the boards. He can't be pushed around, can't give up FT missed rebounds. He's got to own the glass. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting to go wtih 1 board, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 7 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He had his post entry tipped away, then was called for a travel trying to shoot a jumper with the shotclock low. Nice challenge on Millsap to force an airball. He dunked off the over-the-shoulder feed from Luke. In to rebound on the FT line, he gave up the offensive board and a layup to Boozer (Boozer's only offensive board of the night). Second Half: He threw an inbounds pass away, then fouled Boozer trying to block his shot.

Luke -- -- Luke's boneheadery on one, single play will overshadow a very good game from him. At the end of the half with 3.9 seconds left, he tried to through the hail mary inbounds pass to Kobe 50 feet away. It was stolen, and then Luke compounded the mistake by giving up the And-1 layup. That lack of hoop IQ is something a vet like Luke should know better. The problem is, who didn't see it coming? Stu was practically cringing before the Lakers grabbed the ball from the hoop because it's happened too many times. Moving past that play, as I said, Luke had a very good game. He made some excellent passes, he stole the ball a number of times, he hit from the perimeter. Getting that kind of production off the bench is what you need from your vets. Just don't kill us with the end of quarter boneheaded plays. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-6 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: Sweet over-the-shoulder, no-looker practically on the touch to Bynum in the lane for a dunk. He walled off AK, swiped the ball from him and was fouled, he made both FTs. He ball-watched and gave up a layup to Harpring. Harpring hit a jumper on him next time down. He drained a corner three on the kickout from Sasha. Ridiculously stupid pass at the end of the first half, as mentioned, trying to force an inbounds to Kobe at midcourt instead of hitting Brown running in front of him with 3.9 seconds left, he then fouled to give up an And-1 to close the half...so stupid. Second Half: He deflected a pass, busted out and scored the layup. He choked a layup in the paint. He swiped a pass from Boozer. He knocked down another Boozer pass. He missed a runner from the wing, got it back and scored the putback layup. He pulled down an offensive board and reset the offense. He had the ball stolen and it led to FTs the other way.

Brown -- -- After a weak game last time out, ShanWow was back with the spark off the bench. Think about this: With Drew really not having an impact in this game and Trevor slowed, how much trouble would the Lakers have been in if Farmar was out there in Brown's place? You very well might have the same result we saw last year in this fourth game of the series. Deron would have gone at Farmar and smacked the Lakers around. Instead, you see a +14 from our backup guard...precisely as many points as the Lakers won by. We didn't get torched on the defensive end, and we actually got some strong production on the other end. Brown hit a three, got out on the break and got to the line. The Laker bench outscored the Jazz bench 30-24. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-5 shooting (1-1 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 18 minutes. He as a +14. The Action: He was charged for a clear-out foul on a drive. Nice challenge on Knight's drive to force a miss. He exploded in transition from the wing, took contact and concentrated to finish the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He drained a wing three on the kickout from Pau. He deflected a backdoor lob, then missed a pull-up jumper in transition. Second Half: He cut behind Williams baseline and drew FTs on the Pau pass, he made both. He attacked quickly from the corner, missed the layup, but tapped it back in. He swiped the ball on the subsequent inbounds and was fouled on a layup, he made one FT.

Vujacic -- -- Finally some better production on both ends from Sasha. He hit some threes and was called for just one foul. He probably should have moved off that three line a little more to get in closer for midrange after letting defenders fly by. His game was a bit one-dimensional in that regard. Just mix it up a little more by moving in for some midrange sniping. Sasha ran some minutes at SG along with Kobe at the SF. Just getting a little shooting and some reasonable D from him makes our bench much more productive. Let's hope he can string some games together. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting (3-8 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 17 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He deflected a pass to force a turnover. He got tapped on an open corner three to end the first quarter. He gave up a layup to Korver off the curl getting pinched on a screen. He was blocked on a drive, but should have been to the line (got body checked to the floor). He attacked and kicked out to Luke for the three. He swished a long three from the top of the arc. He fouled Korver on a reach 30 feet from the hoop. He bolted to the three line in transition and sank the pull-up three. He and Kobe deflected a pass, both chased it down and Kobe scooped it up for the layup. Second Half: He got tapped on a corner three. Nice defensive tap on a rebound to keep it away from a Jazz player. He missed a three wide left. He missed a wing three on the same possession. He sank a corner three in transition. Extra pass to Ariza in the paint to get a layup. Next time down, he missed the open three.

Powell -- -- He came for LO to close the final minute of the first half. Nothing to report. The Stats: He was a -1. The Action: Nothing to report. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- Tex Winter, 87, suffered an apparent stroke while getting ready for a college hoops reunion. How is this guy not in the Hall of Fame? The architect of the triple post offense, which has won a number of rings. He's one of the great minds of the game. This has to be his year. Best wishes to Tex... On to the game. Phil put Bynum on the bench and didn't use him in combination with Pau... Phil called a timeout trailing 14-9 after the Lakers gave up back-to-back dunks (a high screen set up one, offensive board on the other)... With 5 minutes left in the first, Phil brought in Bynum for Pau... The Lakers trailed 25-20 after the first quarter... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Luke, Sasha, Brown unit to open the second quarter... The Lakers fell back by 7, but drained three straight from beyond the arc to force a Jazz timeout... They forced another timeout a few minutes later after another three straight hoops... The Lakers went on a 20-2 run to turn the tables on the Jazz... They led by 12, but gave away 5 points in the final 4 seconds of the half when Luke made a dumb inbounds pass and then gave up a the And-1 layup... The Lakers won the second quarter, 40-28... The Lakers led 60-53 at the half. They shot 58 percent to the Jazz 47 percent. The Jazz had 28 points in the paint to the Lakers 14. The Lakers lost the battle on the offensive glass 8-1. (The would win it 7-3 in the second half)... Ireland reported that the Lakers coaches were furious with the Lakers hoop IQ. Luke set the tone with that horrible play... Phil brought in Luke for Ariza midway through the third... The Lakers pulled out to a 19-point lead with 2 minutes left in the third... The Lakers led 88-69 going into the fourth... The Lakers pushed out the lead a little further, but Phil called a timeout with 7 minutes left leading by 20 when the Jazz scored back-to-back layups... There would be no coughing up the lead, although you could see the Lakers put it in cruise control to try to run down some clock near the end... The Lakers shot 52 percent, the Jazz 44 percent. The Lakers out-rebounded the Jazz 46-39...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The huge 20-2 run in the second quarter turned the game. The 12-2 run in the third buried the Jazz.

[DrumR]

Hurray! Finally got one! Thanks DB I can never wait too late for these!

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks again for the recap DB! Great win by the Lakers. Now to finish it up on Monday.

Edit to say 'Second'.
_________________
"Just show up ready to work, ready to play, Have your big boy pants on, leave your diaper at home." Kobe Bryant
Anything less than a championship is a failure. Period.

[Vishnu]

thanks DB

[ecksor]

awesome.. thanks, DB
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We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire... Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
- Winston Churchill

Who is my avatar? Kharunisia

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!!! Great recap!

Great game Lakers! Time to show these thugs who's boss and end this series in LA.

[lalaloo]

thanks db!

[limchrc]

Nice win.

[fsc401]

Thx

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB Questions

Luke's bonehead pass at the end of the 2nd quarter from somebody with a "high" basketball IQ is surprising. I understand Luke trying to get a charge - how could he have done it better since he was outside the "zone?" Luke did make other surprising mistakes of not protecting his dribble a couple times resulting in several fastbreaks - wassup wit dat!

Ariza lost AK47 a couple times resulting in a free lane to the hole or caused a switch with DFish where AK47 "sealed" DFish for another clear lane to the basket. Were they just "zoning up" on the weakside that caused this?

It was interesting seeing Korver blocking out Pau and other similar situations. Once the Lakers started getting control of the boards (defensive and offensive), the Lakers were in good shape. How can the Lakers with much greater length get outboarded (rooted out) by the shorter (though admittedly stronger) Jazz players?

[LAkers 4 Life]

WTF is up with Lakers injuring one another? Last year it was Bynum and Ariza. Now it's Bynum and Ariza again! And during warmups?! These guys need to keep their distance from each other.

[jmnluvr]

Thanks DB. I think we need a new emoticon showing Mr. Banana breathing into a paper bag to treat a case of hyperventilation. That would be just the ticket and save some bandwidth to boot.

[IPK]

DB FTW!!!!!


almost inspired a "T&R" pt2. ..."hell-suckled younglings..."
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Our tribute to Phil, the man behind LG

[golakersgo121]

Thanks, DB.

I honestly didn't like the way we started the game - "Redemption Mamba" one-on-five. It didn't make me feel comfortable to the extent of thinking "thanks - we still got the bench" in the secdond quarter.

Starters simply stopped cutting and moving after several possessions in the first. They watched Kobe (it was woth it though ).

You can flame me for this all you want - but I like our game that much better when Kobe does mix it up: not just passing and not just "get it going himself".

Great and convincing win, needless to say. Lets' close the deal on Monday and get Drew ready for next round.

And, BTW - congratulations to Kobe Bean: #7 All-Time scorer in the NBA playoffs. Larry-the-Legend is next to go down. Sweet...
_________________
Major bullets dodged: DH12 - twice, LMA, Melo - twice, PG-13, DeMar DeRozan. Hit jackpot with DH-12 at the right time

[yanyon]

awesome write as always DB..

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

-kobe bean bryant way to bounce back
-props to the back2back2back 3's by luke,sasha, and shannon to ignite that 20-2 run in the 2nd qtr
-"sashas gotta get him some kobe shoes" -stu
-why does jim goldstein come to all of our games to root against us?
-what the hell is wrong with andrew?
-im so proud of phil for calling a timeout when our 24 point lead was cut to 20
-pau still needs to stop getting stripped in the post so much
-still bad officiating (deron running into drews back and they call him for travelling,derons shouldnt have gotten an and-1 to end the half. luke was set. should have been a no-call, boozers airball FT, etc)
-trev:no more low top kobes!
-"UTAH SUCKS" CHANTS DURING WARMUPS = PRICELESS
-still puzzled with d-fish's offense
-how did we get stuck with that espn crew?
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[MIMLaker]

DB -- As always (or at least as you've been doing this for years) THANK YOU for putting up the Smiley Report.

Back during the 3peat Era, I would get mad if Iw as stuck in traffic during a game... until I realized, after Chick died, that I still got to 'see' the games because I heard Chick on the radio broadcast and never missed a thing.

NO ONE can ever replace Chick... but I've had to miss a lot of games in recent years, but I feel like I still know what I need to know about how each player is doing, THANKS TO YOUR REPORT.

Bravo, my friend.

And no, this is not just because you picked up my ShanWow nickname.

MIM
_________________
Keep or Dump Power Rankings (4/12/23):
1 - Bron; 1a - AD; 2 - Reaves; 2a - DLo; 3 - Vando; 4 - Rui; 5 - Shroo; 6 - Christie; 7- Brown; 8 - Gabriel; 9 - Beas; 10 - Bamba; 11- Lonnie

[targetman]

Maybe you should add another section for the refs because this crew would have gotten a -15. All three saw the ball hit the rim on that air ball? The only 3 people in the world who did I guess.
_________________
Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

[Big Drew 17]

nice job as always DB
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Bleed Purple and Gold

[WestwoodOne]

DB

Thanks. Looking forward to your recap after every game, win or lose.

However, I have a bone to pick with you. While singing your praise of Shannon's play, I get the feeling that you try to throw Farmar under the bus, who has played a combined of 8 minutes in the series and none in the last 2 games. But it's not necessary to speculate what Deron could have done to Farmar and the Lakers if they mached up this year. Deron still got his numbers, still has had his way with our guards (Derek and Shannon). Stopping him is a team effort. I am pleasantly surprised by Shannon's offensive contributions thus far and Farmar's minutes have been reduced to minimum or zero and deservedly so. But to say that Shannon has done a job on Deron defensively in this series is a reach. No one should expect Shannon (or anyone) to stop Deron. The best we can hope for is to contain him and neutralize his impact. I feel Shannon and Fisher have done that by getting back at him on the offensive end.

I also think it's ridiculous for some LG posters to blame Farmar for the Lakers giving up big leads in the first three games.

Again, great job as always, DB.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB.

Kobe was in assasin mode all night

glad to see the bench show up and contribute

3-1
_________________
"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

^deron slid to his right to avoid the contact. should have been a no call. not an and-1
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Addicus]

Thank you DB. As a writer myself, there are few allow me to visually enjoy the scene they set. You are one of the few and I appreciate it.
-
^
The difference between Shannon and Farmar is two fold. First Shannon is going to force Derron to play defense and Shannon can handle the physical play and still remain effective. Second, Shannon stays in front of Derron more often forcing Derron to actually give up the ball so other players are making the passes. With Farmar Derron is attacking the hoop in a near straight line all the time.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[mefor3]

very nice win!! Kobe had the poised swager since the start of the game. Like Stu said he was in the ZOOOONE