***LAKERS -vs- MAGIC 6/7 NBA Finals Game 2 Thread***

Vishnu · Franchise Player Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 16558

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Username · Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:15 pm Post subject:

Re-watching Game 1 tonight after getting home, I'm seeing a lot of things I didn't see when watching it at the bar tonight. Mainly, we HAVE to step up our defensive intensity. HAVE to defend the perimeter better. A lot of the time out there, I didn't think we were moving around any better on D than we did in those blowouts against Houston or game 5 in Denver

I know it may sound ridiculous to say since we held them to 75 points on really terrible shooting, but from re-watching this game, the Magic missed A LOT of wide open shots. I mean, a whole freaking bunch of them. I'm not trying to bag the defensive effort, because we definitely played good defense tonight, but the Magic are NOT going to shoot this bad all series long. We can't expect Alston/Nelson/Turk/Pietrus will just continue to brick all the open jumpers they missed tonight.

Lakers For Life · Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:23 pm Post subject:

Kobe had 40 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and only 1 turnover. He can't play a better all around game that. Great performance.

And only the 4th player to score 40 in the Finals.

tenike1 · Star Player Joined: 03 Oct 2008 Posts: 2465

Lakers will not lose in white.
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Lakers For Life · Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:51 pm Post subject:

I'll be very content with the Kobe era Lakers if they win it all this year.

But would be super satisfied if Kobe won another title to one up Shaq. That would be great if Shaq had nothing on Kobe, that would completely shut his a$$ up for good.

TobiasBeecher · Star Player Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 3647

Even though the Lakers whipped on Orlando, they can play a little better. I wouldn't be at all shocked to see Kobe be a decoy in Game 2 and make it a point to get Pau, Trevor and Fish (along with Drew) more involved in the offense. Trevor didn't have a good Game 1 and I expect him to play better. It was very nice to see Luke come off the bench and help Lamar out with bench scoring since Phil clearly doesn't trust Sasha. Orlando will play a lot better in Game 2, but the Lakers are still going to win.
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danish87 · Star Player Joined: 18 May 2009 Posts: 1869

yeah so we'll see what happens in game 2 - orlando is the best road team in the league after us. And we clearly don't have homecourt advantage since the refs were sucking big time.

we know that at close to our potential combined with the magic playing poorly we are 20 times superior. what will happen if they play better and we play a little worse? i have a feeling we'll find out in game 2.
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kakkara · Starting Rotation Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 118

danish87 · Star Player Joined: 18 May 2009 Posts: 1869

cant believe people are saying this thing is over!

we're supposed to win these first 2 games! the dominant fashion only shows me that orlando isn't as mentally tough as I thought. thats it - doesn't mean we will play that better in the following games.

that said, them trapping/doubling kobe is exactly what denver did in games 5/6 so I hope we can adapt and do it quickly. i am sure howard will go harder at gasol the next game and I am sure lewis/turkoglu will make a lot more 3's.

things we did excellent (aside from kobe dominating) that we need to sustain if we have any prayer of winning the whole thing:

a) key bench role guys, doesn't matter who, playing above their average (tonight, luke. maybe shannon/sasha next?

b) bynum playing like a (bleep) man, no fear of howard. getting boards, not letting him dunk, using those fouls like a man, blocking their weak ass guard's shots

c) fisher hitting his shots, LAMAR coming up big with energy and rebounding on both ends. he can own rashard lewis 1 on 1, we will have to exploit that more in the next few games if they try to take out kobe.

things we need to improve on or we're cooked:

a) gasol (and bynum to a lesser degree) needs more production against Gortat - that mofo should not be able to stifle Gasol like he did several times. Pau needs to look at some film and figure out what moves work. they need to pay when Howard comes out.

b) penetrate and kick it out/swing it out to Ariza for 3's. He was open a few times, but Kobe went bezerk and made the shot anyway.

c) Kobe to take it at Howard - if we can get some pick n roll situations and Howard comes out to him, Kobe has to run right into and over him. This game he did the right thing and shoot over him, but i have a feeling this will change.

A blowout, from an adjustment standpoint, favors the losing team big time. lets see what SVG and those clowns bring on sunday - i hope we're ready
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"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." - Jack Handey

The_Dyn@sty · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:16 am Post subject:

danish87 · Star Player Joined: 18 May 2009 Posts: 1869

Corto Maltese · Starting Rotation Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 757

I don't think Lakers lost one game in white this year. We got this. 2-0 and it's all but over. It would take a miracle for Orlando to win 4 of 5 games after that.

projectsoul · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:47 am Post subject:

bring it magic

sunday white jerseys!

srm90 · Franchise Player Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 10662

ofwgkta · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 3:04 am Post subject:

Lakers couldn't have caught momentum at a better time. Starting from game 5 against Denver, the Lakers have played beautiful basketball for 3 straight games. Let's continue riding this out and take game 2 on Sunday! Be aggressive and focused! LAKERS!

limchrc · Franchise Player Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 11477

Let's get the win. Go LA!

tenike1 · Star Player Joined: 03 Oct 2008 Posts: 2465

Didn't kevin durant say the cavaliers would win the title?

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"Experience is the best teacher of them all." - Lamar Odom (after Game 6 @ DEN, 2009 WCF)

I am an irrational and pathetic poster.

Rsxtreme415 · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 8:52 am Post subject:

Must win on Sunday. No more let ups if they dont double Kobe they will get burned. I Look for Gastrong to have a monster game. Bynum needs to stay on the floor longer he is due for a 20 point game.

ahyiah · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:42 am Post subject:

RCS926 · Franchise Player Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 16824

The Lakers just need to stay disciplined on the defensive end because I just don't see how Orlando can prevent the Lakers from scoring 100+ ppg.

SP_Fever · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 11:10 am Post subject:

Just Win.

KOBEGASOL · Star Player Joined: 01 Mar 2008 Posts: 2676

http://thelakersnation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/youcant.jpg

swcom120 · Star Player Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 1429

I know a lot of people talk about experience in the playoffs, and it was always one of those things you agree with but you never really think about.

After watching last nights game I got to thinking about that issue. Watching the Magic play last night I realized that they dont really have one of those experienced, savvy, vet type of players. Like an Artest or a Billups. I think this is going to be the biggest advantage for the Lakers in these games to come.

For example those base line inbound plays. IIRC we had 2 easy buckets off of those imbounds plays last night. Kobe came around for a steal on one of those plays where everyone is running up the floor to get set. A couple of good drawn up plays coming out of timeouts. (alley--oop to lamar) Guys like Pau causing offensive fouls.

On several occassions I saw our guys tipping rebounds when they were out of reach and the hustle on the defensive end with weak side help and players coming from behind to block shots was great.

My point is that the Magic dont really have those type of players and it cost them big time last night. And I believe that players like Artest and Battier and Anderson were the reason why the lakers struggled against those teams. I just dont see anything like that from this Magic team. Some of them hustle, some of them are great shooters, and some of them can dominate if you allow them to play their game.

But against this laker team, I believe you need one of those savvy vet type players to put you in position to win. This was something I didnt really think about and one of the reasons why I was suprised about the outcome last night.

Lets hope our guys keep it up and continue to play that way.

RCS926 · Franchise Player Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 16824

jordanplusone · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:47 pm Post subject: