really impressed with kobe's play. he even unselfishly gave it up to gasol near the end, when normally he would have tried to his little one on one hero thing.

lakers and celts are picking up steam for an epic finals clash

LunarDestiny

United States4177 Posts

May 20 2010 04:00 GMT

#1487

The fact that Kobe didn't need to take over Lakers' offense is a sign that Lakers are never in the desperate zone.

holy_war

United States3590 Posts

May 20 2010 04:11 GMT

#1488

If Kobe distributed the ball like this a few years back, he would've gotten ripped for being selfish and not shooting the ball much. Oh how the times have changed with Gasol/Odom/Bynum.

bearbuddy

3442 Posts

May 20 2010 04:19 GMT

#1489

I don't think it's as much as a change in time as it is the end result.

Win = unselfish
Lose = selfish

iLoveKT

Philippines3615 Posts

May 20 2010 04:49 GMT

#1490

Amare is the worst defender in all of basketball.

Servolisk

United States5241 Posts

May 20 2010 05:00 GMT

#1491

Amare has been off but it is ridiculous how little respect he gets.

On May 20 2010 12:32 Judicator wrote:

Show nested quote +

Glad Odom and Gasol are just clowning him this quarter. Retard calls out both of them in practice interviews.

Amare has earned the right to say that as he has proven he is much better than them throughout his career.

XaI)CyRiC

United States4471 Posts

May 20 2010 05:22 GMT

#1492

On May 20 2010 14:00 Servolisk wrote:
Amare has been off but it is ridiculous how little respect he gets.

Show nested quote +

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/postmessage.php?quote=1491&topic_id=119772
Amare has earned the right to say that as he has proven he is much better than them throughout his career.

I don't know that he can. You can say that he's a much better offensive talent than Odom, but Odom is a much better player in all other facets, i.e. defense, rebounding, and passing. Sure Odom doesn't score 30 ppg, but he also doesn't play in the PHO system with Nash serving him up easy baskets as the #1 scoring option. However, I'll concede that most people think that Amare is a better player, so I'll give you that.

However, arguing that Amare is better than Gasol throughout his career just doesn't hold up in my eyes. One of the two has led a team to multiple gold and silver medal finishes. One of the two has an NBA championship ring. One of the two is actually a two-way player that excels in more than just scoring. One of the two can creating offense for his teammates, dominate the boards, and be a defensive presence in the paint that can deter or block shots in the paint. I think you can figure out which is which.

You can't even say that Amare is clearly better by looking at their career stats (particularly since these stats ignore pace and the fact that one is the first option on offense paired with one of the best PGs the game has ever seen while the other has to share the ball with one of the best scorers the game has ever seen):
18.8 ppg 9.0 rpg 3.2 apg 0.5 spg 1.7 bpg 52.1 FG% 74.3 FT%
21.4 ppg 8.9 rpg 1.0 apg 0.9 spg 1.4 bpg 54.4 FG% 75.8 FT%

holyhalo5

United States187 Posts

May 20 2010 05:23 GMT

#1493

On May 20 2010 14:00 Servolisk wrote:
Amare has been off but it is ridiculous how little respect he gets.

Show nested quote +

Amare has earned the right to say that as he has proven he is much better than them throughout his career.

amare may be better than odom but DEFINITELY not gasol.

BlueRoyaL

United States2493 Posts

May 20 2010 06:04 GMT

#1494

On May 20 2010 14:23 holyhalo5 wrote:

Show nested quote +

amare may be better than odom but DEFINITELY not gasol.

agreed, completely.

bellweather

United States404 Posts

May 20 2010 06:06 GMT

#1495

I'm still holding out for a Magic/Lakers final, although it would seem the Celtics would give the Lakers a better run for their money.

igotmyown

United States4291 Posts

May 20 2010 06:44 GMT

#1496

The Suns fronting Bynum/Gasol is a huge mistake. Two passes within the triangle and they've reversed the ball to them, giving them an easy layup/dunk/foul. Second, it's letting the bigs get great position for offensive rebounds. Gasol's over 7' and has like a 90" wingspan, you can't stop him from getting rebounds when he's that close. It also doesn't help that those fronting defenders seem to lose track of the lakers bigs every other possession.

Yes, Gasol and Bynum are great at shooting over smaller defenders, so you're not going to stop them. But you've got to play get physical and try to keep them as far away from the basket as you can, a la PJ Brown.

And Kobe has to stop trying to get off last second shots to end quarters. There was that shot at the end of the 2nd or 3rd where Gasol got the rebound, only time had run out. If he had done that in the Utah series, they would have lost the game.

CSN

United States175 Posts

May 20 2010 07:09 GMT

#1497

On May 20 2010 15:44 igotmyown wrote:

And Kobe has to stop trying to get off last second shots to end quarters. There was that shot at the end of the 2nd or 3rd where Gasol got the rebound, only time had run out. If he had done that in the Utah series, they would have lost the game.

i dont think they really care about getting a second chance to do a put back, they just want to have the last possession of the quarter.

Judicator

United States7270 Posts

May 20 2010 11:43 GMT

#1498

On May 20 2010 14:00 Servolisk wrote:
Amare has been off but it is ridiculous how little respect he gets.

Show nested quote +

Amare has earned the right to say that as he has proven he is much better than them throughout his career.

You don't have a right to say anything regarding the players you're playing against when they put up those numbers and you are putting up pedestrian numbers with 40 mins of play.