On June 09 2009 03:51 CTStalker wrote: howard only had 1 dunk that whole game, didn't he? and that was his first dunk of the series so far. he needs to be holding the ball higher, like jibba said, and start throwing the damn thing down
Umm, its not that simple, Lakers aren't giving him the deep post, and the double/triple almost comes immediately (thanks to shitty shooting on Orlando's part), Howard did the one thing he could do in that situation (pretty well in the 2nd half) and passed it out. The guy isn't Shaq where he could just bull his way into a better post, even Shaq passed out of the good doubles and triples.
It doesn't help your center when your team is shooting 32% for the 1st half, the Lakers could have parked 2 people next to D12 the entire game and the Magic still wouldn't be able to score, like the kids' quips at the playground, it was a brickyard.
Game 2 was a shitty game where the only good thing about it was that it was close, both teams played multiple stretches of atrocious basketball.
Dwight is smaller, but I don't think Shaq got 320+ until he went to the Lakers. I can't find that information though and there's not many great pictures.
It's not like we're even talking about complex post technique though. I know Dwight can't shoot a baby hook but if he gets the ball within 3 ft, that should be an automatic 2pts and a brand new trading card for Topps, every single time. He's still going up with the ball weak and getting it stripped or blocked when he's in dunking range.
EDIT: It's almost like watching Big Baby at times. Instead of a powerful slam, we get a lay in. Wow, I didn't realize his first dunk of the series came in the 3rd quarter, game 2. Sorry, but that's just not right. The Lakers bigs are good, but it's not like they've got the Admiral and Zo out there in their prime blocking shots.
yep. it was a lucky dunk too. lucky in the sense that it was one of the Laker's worst defensive plays of the game where they totally fell asleep and literally NOBODY was in the middle on Dwight so he pretty much got free points
i honestly think that dwight is just a much bigger/stronger/more athletic darvin ham...he's got really limited moves down low...the lakers' size and collective effort on defense is really exposing him right now...although i am aware that the defense always collapses on him because the shooters aren't getting jack in from the perimeter which doesn't help dwight's cause on the block.
orlando wasnt shooting well the first 2 games, if they made one more shot in the perimeter in game 2 they would have won it
if orlando gets their shooting rhythm back at home then the lakers would be in trouble. orlando have been getting better quality looks than the lakers so far, and it will always be hard for the lakers to both double team dwight and defend the perimeter well
Maybe Phil Jackson channeled his inner Batman and took out his plans to take out Justice League members. As in, he used his coaching knowledge of what Shaq's weaknesses were and applied them to counter Howard.
But seriously, magic have to play like a different team if they want to go 4-1. The sad thing is that in game 1, they had a great game plan that created a lot of wide open shots, in game 2, they did a better job on the boards. The magic are getting open shots, but they need open and extremely dangerous shots like wide open lewis/turkoglu 3's. They need more plays like in to Howard, lewis uses screens. If Howard can dunk on a 12 foot net, maybe he could pass in mid air instead of shoot to get the ball over to the weak side, though I doubt this would ever happen.
Pietrus's defense creates too many fouls. Against lebron, it was decent at deterring dunks and layups, and lebron's not exactly ray allen at the line. But there was a game stat that said Kobe was shooting 90% in the playoffs, and for some reason Kobe isn't shooting a great percentage on floaters close to the rim. Ray Allen was far more effective at guarding Kobe. He didn't have the elevation to seal off Kobe's shooting angle, but it was enough to limit Kobe's shot selection to lower percentage shots.
1) Dwight and Shaq have different offensive games. The Lakers are giving him single coverage, doubles really deep, and sometimes going for a late double.. this throws off Dwight. Shaq actually has an offensive game so you NEED to double him every single time he touches it or he'll score.
2) They're already 0-2 so going 4-1 is impossible.
3) The next paragraph doesn't make sense. The only shot's they're getting are open. They're just not hitting them. Saying "they are getting open shots but they need open shots like wide open 3's" doesn't mean anything... that's EXACTLY what they got.
4) The "plays" you mentioned are basically the ONLY plays they run. Inside-Out game with Dwight... Running Lewis off screens, Turkoglu ISO's, or PG penetration -> kick are pretty much their 4 bread and butter plays.
5) Pietrus can't guard Kobe. Ray Allen couldn't guard Kobe. Boston used their whole team to guard Kobe, Orlando is trying to give him single coverage. Boston sealed the paint with their bigs (KG, Perkins, Davis) and doubled him at the perimeter. They switched and helped on the screen and roll... Orlando is just getting lost on the screens and aren't helping.
The only thing you said that was correct was Kobe shooting 90%
They really SHOULD have won... they blew it, and it wasn't really SVG's fault. Well ok, I think fucking with the rotations in the Finals is his fault, can't excuse that. But really, he drew up really great plays, he's been saying all the right things, came up with a solid game plan, etc. Everything he did (except fucking with the rotation) has been very solid. That game was lost by the players - SVG basically did what he had to do, and the game was in their hands and they lost it.
HOWEVER I will say this.. now the onus is on SVG to make the proper adjustments to put his team in an ever better situation to win the game. So we'll see how well he adjusts to the Lakers, he needs to think of a way to start getting Dwight better looks at scoring. The argument in the Clevland series was "well Dwight can't beat Clevland himself, other people need to do big scoring", but the counter is ... if he's not doing ANYTHING offensively, there's 0 chance for them to win.
Honestly I think a good strategy might be to have him forcing the offense a little in the beginning. Maybe he needs to take 30 shots tonight and try to force his way to 20-30 points. Perhaps he'll be more effective that way. And if he does that he can draw fouls, make FT's, and possibly get in a good rhythm.
"There's no such thing as coulda, shoulda, or woulda. If you shoulda and coulda, you woulda done it." - Pat Riley
The truth is that good teams find a way to win regardless of the circumstance. They're usually the ones making the big plays down the stretch and executing. I guess you can make the case for Orlando "blowing" it, but games aren't won by accident. And neither are championships.
Heh, given the way the Magic were shooting, I would have resorted to trying any one on my roster to get some offense. I mean letting players trying to shoot out of the slump is fine, except NOBODY save Lewis was playing well.
Plus with Kobe going through guards like a hobo through bread, it kind of makes sense what SVG is doing. SVG isn't screwing up for once, the Magic all in all have played sub-par basketball and not catching any breaks. The only problem tonight is that I don't see the Lakers letting up, not with Kobe in the locker room. He wasn't happy years ago when they lost to Indiana in Indiana (a win would have given them the championship but they ended winning at LA), and I don't think he would be here either. Somebody said, Game 2 was the worst possible game for Orlando, cause it gave a heads up to the Lakers but they still let LA win.
On June 10 2009 03:17 Xeris wrote: Here's what's wrong with your post:
1) Dwight and Shaq have different offensive games. The Lakers are giving him single coverage, doubles really deep, and sometimes going for a late double.. this throws off Dwight. Shaq actually has an offensive game so you NEED to double him every single time he touches it or he'll score.
2) They're already 0-2 so going 4-1 is impossible.
3) The next paragraph doesn't make sense. The only shot's they're getting are open. They're just not hitting them. Saying "they are getting open shots but they need open shots like wide open 3's" doesn't mean anything... that's EXACTLY what they got.
4) The "plays" you mentioned are basically the ONLY plays they run. Inside-Out game with Dwight... Running Lewis off screens, Turkoglu ISO's, or PG penetration -> kick are pretty much their 4 bread and butter plays.
5) Pietrus can't guard Kobe. Ray Allen couldn't guard Kobe. Boston used their whole team to guard Kobe, Orlando is trying to give him single coverage. Boston sealed the paint with their bigs (KG, Perkins, Davis) and doubled him at the perimeter. They switched and helped on the screen and roll... Orlando is just getting lost on the screens and aren't helping.
The only thing you said that was correct was Kobe shooting 90%
I'm going to keep this civil.
Think harder about your point #2.
Lakers only consider single covering when Bynum's covering. I dare you to say that the Lakers aren't swarming him once he starts making his move inside or outside. Give me a game stat of single coverage plays sans bynum. They'll soft double whenever he touches it (2 players), send another defender baseline if he tries that counter move, and if he goes middle they have the weakside player try to strip him. 3 to 4 players.
Play I stated: Howard to screening Rashard Lewis. Here's what does not qualify: Howard taking a shot. Guard from perimeter passing to Howard, passing to guard who shoots. Perimeter screen for 3 point shooter. Guard penetration. Yes, the play I mentioned is the only plays [sic] they use.
Celtics doubled Kobe in the finals? So you're counting switches when Kobe calls for a screen a double team? The celtic's most notable double team on the perimeter was in game 3 when garnett came out to double, and Kobe passed it to Vujacic. That was the exception that proved the rule.
A highly biased video of Kobe's game 6 possessions.
And some quotes from basketball prospectus' analysis of the nba finals + Show Spoiler +
The key to Boston's defense wasn't necessarily neutralizing Bryant, but being able to do it without having to over-help and open things up for the Lakers' role players.
In particular, Jackson would be well served to find ways to get Bryant to be a factor away from the ball. He was at his worst in this game when the Lakers simply isolated him and had him try to create his own offense, something Bryant was able to do against the Spurs. The Lakers found more success out of pick-and-rolls, and I'd like to see them use Bryant more frequently catching the ball off of screens and shooting or driving from there, where the Boston defense is not nearly as well prepared to stop him as when the entire defense knows where he is throughout the possession.
On offense, the Lakers also need to get back to basics in terms of ball movement and executing out of the triangle. Bryant had a better game last night, particularly in the fourth quarter, but he's having to work too hard for his points without being able to create easy looks for his teammates.
'With the Lakers' lead a precarious two points and the clock ticking under the two-minute mark, the Boston Celtics trapped Kobe Bryant and took the ball out of the MVP's hands. The Lakers worked the ball to the corner and Sasha Vujacic, nicknamed "The Machine."' I remember this. Celtics decided to try something different and Garnett came upcourt to double Kobe. "Vujacic's make got the Celtics out of trap mode and left Ray Allen matched one-on-one against Bryant on the game's final possessions. First, with 1:06 left on the clock, Bryant made an impossible jumper with Allen's hand in his face. On the next Lakers possession, Bryant up-faked Allen out of position, giving himself an open look from the free-throw line that he knocked down, sealing the victory." Didn't double team
That left the Lakers looking to create one-on-one or out of pick-and-rolls, which Boston defended splendidly. Things improved when Phil Jackson benched Odom in favor of Vladimir Radmanovic and went to a 1-4 flat set with Bryant isolated at the top of the key and the other four Lakers along the baseline, making it difficult for Boston to help.
"Increasingly over the course of this series, I've begun to believe the Lakers ought to go to Gasol in the post more frequently as opposed to letting Bryant operate one-on-one on the perimeter. "
Even more than they did earlier in the series, Boston packed the lane and dared Bryant to be a jumpshooter. He shot 7-for-22 from the field for the game and had 11 points over his final 37 minutes.
It would be one thing if, in stopping Bryant, the Celtics sold out defensively and gave the Lakers all sorts of other opportunities. That was not the case.
Please check your facts before masquerading your biases as the truth.
Lol at the video title. Interesting, funny, and ugly video all in one! But completely meaningless since it's one game. I'm a huge huge MJ fan, but even I could put together one game where MJ makes terrible decisions and bricks a load of jumpshots. But we all know Kobe doesn't compare to MJ
On June 10 2009 12:30 tiffany wrote: refs doing their best to gift the lakers the game once again
fortunately the magic cannot miss today
lol are you serious? the reffing for this game is pretty good. the only real bad call they made against orlando was when they called out of bounds on dwights leg when it was odom's.
EPT
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