Kobe's T rescinded, plus a few comments about offense
REMINDER: Chat at 5:30 pm today.
There was a little bit of good news this afternoon: The LAT's Mike Bresnahan reports that the technical foul assessed to Kobe Bryant for doing.... well, something to Ron Artest (nobody could really tell what, exactly, beyond a relatively tame bump to the chest) in Thursday's Game 6 loss to the Rockets has been rescinded by the league.
That leaves Kobe with four postseason T's. Seven means an automatic one-game suspension.
Clearly the league made the right decision in overturning the on-court ruling, as it was by any stretch a wretched and panicky call.
In other news, ESPN.com has surveyed their phalanx of hoops personalities about the series, looking ahead to Game 7 and analyzing what has happened thus far, including the question "What is the most surprising thing about this series?" John Hollinger responds with a comment that gets to the heart of LA's offensive struggles Thursday night:
Throughout the season, what has made the Lakers such a special offensive unit, aside from the skills of players like Kobe and Pau Gasol, is a phenomenal ability to move the ball and create quality, efficient looks at the basket. 23.5 assists a night, accounting for 58.3% of their field goals. In this series, that number is down to 17.1, or 52.1% In the losses, that number falls even more, to 14.3 apg, or 41.6% of total field goals. No question the Rockets are a smart, aggressive, talented defensive team. But they're not that smart, aggressive, and talented, especially now that they're without a shot blocking presence in the middle.
I've written about LA's inability to embrace the path of least resistance, maintaining the discipline to do the same thing repeatedly when it can be effective. We saw more of that last night and against a confident Rockets squad that won't fly, especially now that the Lakers have allowed them to embrace their own "little team that could" identity.
The Defense Wins Championships! mantra comes with a caveat, namely that points still need to be scored. And while some will harp on deficiencies for the Lakers on their own end- no question they exist- the Lakers have failed repeatedly on the other side of the ball. Thursday night, only once did the Lakers crack the 25 point barrier in a quarter, and were twice held to 15. In the fourth last night, LA limited the Rockets to 15 points over the first 10 minutes. That's pretty good. Except they only scored 12 points over the same span.
80 points isn't going to get it done, nor the garbage time aided 87 they notched on Mother's Day. For the Lakers to win Sunday, a game in which every available ounce of pressure will be squarely upon them, they'll have to exhale on the offensive end, as they did in Game 5. Find a little fun and creativity, tapping into that highly skilled brand of ball they can play.
What they can't display, though, to use Hollinger's word, is "selfishness."
BK
1. Get Thibodeau
2. I couldn't care less, at this point in time playing against the cavs really seems like a far fetched idea
Posted by: getHIBODEAU | May 15, 2009 at 04:58 PM
Good.
Now can they please get Bynum involved early?
Wes
Posted by: wesjoenixon | May 15, 2009 at 05:00 PM
There was a comment from JA Adande's chat on ESPN that really
made me laugh. They were discussing the commercials where
the players fade in one by one and someone made this comment:
Greg (NY): Hey JA, how about a commercial showing Kwame Brown airballing a free throw?
SportsNation J.A. Adande: With the sound up as the ball lands harmlessly on the baseline with a thud?
Verrrry nice.
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | May 15, 2009 at 05:21 PM
Dominiwue Wilkens, for all his mad skills, couldn't defeat Larry Bird and his Celtics. Yet Lowry, he of the questionble 6' height, is battling Kobe and his Lakers to a 3-3 series?
I lay it all to the overhyped beach mob. Sasha in particular. Maybe if he stops fixing his dang hairband he can get some shots to go in.
Ah, no. Maybe its due to the collective Rocket's fan base wishful thinking and prayers (If the allstar voting is an indication, Yao's alone is huge).
But then again, 9 could be the maximum rings the almighty allows a coach to win hence no way he'll win another one.
Or this being Hollywood, Laker's are just matching the drama the Celtics are going thru. Game for Game.
Or the team read LakerTom and believed Bynum will carry them. Except for Bynum who didn't and when told of it said " Say what?". (peace Tom, all in jest)
Dang, who thought Scola was that good?
Posted by: p ang | May 15, 2009 at 05:27 PM
Yes I believe the Lakers are playing selfish basketball. But, the difference this year as opposed to last year is that you have several players undergoing horrible shooting slumps. Sasha has not had a good stretch all year long. Fish has been cold since the end of the regular season. Ariza hasn't consistently hit open threes all postseason. Farmar is showing signs of coming out of his shooting slump, but he needs more minutes to get a solid rhythm. The Lakers aren't hitting shots! I do honestly believe they miss Radmonovic. He may have been a space cadet, but he sure was great at pushing an 11 point lead to 14 and 17 with those backbreaking threes. The Lakers need to go inside more. Pau's another one who can't hit a jumper. Pau has to establish deeper post position and stop opting for jumpers over a dude that's 6'6". He can get way easier shots down low.
Posted by: Ben | May 15, 2009 at 05:31 PM
Sunday = Troll-B-Gone.
Go Lake Show!
Posted by: The Outlaw | May 15, 2009 at 05:35 PM
I wholeheartedly concur - with BK and with John Hollinger. I wasn't as ticked off about the lack of effort, energy and passion as I was on Sunday. But I was astonished by the lack of teamwork through most of the game.
One of the most outstanding features about this team all season has been the passing ability of just about everyone on the floor at a given time. Commentators have spoken time and again about how the Lakers big men are superb passers - Gasol, Odum, Walton and even Bynum is learning the art.
But the whole team just put their heads down and blundered forward on seemingly every possession. This team is built around passing.
Guess they didn't pass the test.
Unless something changes permanently - not just for one game - the Lakers might stumble into the Western finals and find themselves losing in six games to an inferior Denver team.
(Forget about Cleveland or Boston ... if they make it that far.)
Posted by: Zingaro | May 15, 2009 at 05:41 PM
u all know l.a gonna take game 7 in a heart beat...i see a lot of frustration and nervousness in a lot of comments people have posted, especially laker fans, but just relax fellas...we will be fine...at the end of the day in june, its gonna be lakers....
we don't know what's going on behind every lakers' series...lakers has been and was number 1 team in the league in terms of merchandise sale and stuff...kobe's jersey is top in sale in the world...with that said, the longer the lakers play, more money for the nba and the organization...last night ESPN had seen his highest rating in watch-playoffs-game ever...7.35 million ppl watched the game last night...no matter how much ppl hate the lakers, they love watching them...
in post game interview, kobe was talking like game 7 is nothing...he is about to go off, scoring like 50 on sunday...SC is our house...but we need to give credit and thank houston...this team is preparing for success later in the playoffs...
Posted by: junior | May 15, 2009 at 06:05 PM
p ang,
>>> Dang, who thought Scola was that good?
Obviously, not San Antonio, who traded his rights.
Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | May 15, 2009 at 06:41 PM
I hope PJ decides to start with Farmar instead of Fisher. I think it s obvious that with Fish starting, it give Houston the edga with his slow pace. Lakers need to start strong and should be running more. Being slow in offense will cerainly not help the Lakers. Farmar allows more faster pace which the Lakers have been successful. Did you see how Farmar played during the time Fisher was suspended. Awesome. I think it was a blessing in disguise that Fish was suspended.
Lakers need to be more quicker so that Houston defense cannot react quickly. Being slow will kill the Lakers. lets get some showtime in the court.
Posted by: miguel hernandez | May 15, 2009 at 06:51 PM
ANd the two most experienced (Bryant and FIsher) Lakers are the "selfishest."
Posted by: exhelodrvr | May 15, 2009 at 07:37 PM
I'm not sure I agree with the "selfish" angle at all.
Houston plays GREAT team defense which, by most metrics, is even better *without* Yao.
Ergo, team assist totals and assist/TO ratios invariably suffer when opponents know how & when to cut off angles, disrupt passing lanes, switch in almost perfect synchronicity, stymie pick-and-rolls, give-and-goes, close out seeming open Js -- and do.
Kobe, I felt, did *not* play selfish basketball Thursday. Contra Hollinger, I thought Kobe was "pressing", albeit unsuccessfully, to make things -- anything -- happen on offense. Why? Gasol started, played and mostly stayed in a please-throw-sand-in-my-face shell. Drew was not assertive with the minutes he had. Odom, although willing, was unable to get his body/back/game in a groove. And Fisher did absolutely nothing to lead or help the offense out of its rut.
No, the Lakers MUST focus on defense to get their offense on track. Cf. Game 5.
LA's offense is BEST when it musters downhill momentum distilled from stops (6th in defensive rating) and boards (1st in total rebounding). [1]
[1] http://tinyurl.com/6wks3f.
Posted by: latopia | May 15, 2009 at 08:43 PM
I think Houston coach is a great coach, when you don't have 2 best players on the team, and can win at home that's a great job. Before game 5 in LA, he said,"...If Lakers get any bigger, we're in trouble". He is a sincere man.There is no secret way to beat Houston, you don't have to be a genius to figure it out. Before game 6, he also said, "the key for Houston in game 6 is the ball movement", that's also a good move because the weakness of Lakers is defense, Lakers have biggers players but Houston will play quicker. If Gasol and Kobe out, can Phil win 2 playoff games at home ? Never.
When Vlad left LA, he said," Phil's offense is great for super star like Gasol, Kobe, not for role player". It explained why Farmar playing well but still sitting on the bench. In Phil's eye, if you are role player, you have 10,15 minutes that's it. That is why i don't like Phil's style, this is playoff games, a coach does whatever he can to win a serie, i don't like the attitude, don't worry, we still have game 7 at home. You have the best coach and the best player, but you have to play game 7 at home, that is ashamed.
People used to say in the 7 games series best team wins serie, but in this case, home team wins serie. I disagree when people compare this Lakers team with Boston last year. Boston had first round playoff coach, Paul Pierce did not win anything yet. This year Lakers already have NBA Final experience, and Phil won championship with 2 teams.
Posted by: bluesky | May 15, 2009 at 08:48 PM
Wow. What a lame move. I've never been on the conspiracy bandwagon, but this one makes you wonder. That foul deserved a T if anything did. Artest's overreacting may have hurt him, but it was still T-worthy nonetheless. Foul calls are rarely reversed. Why did they do it?? -- because they didn't want to see a Koby-less LA team down the road if the Lakers beat the Rockets. Just the facts, maam.
Posted by: gavion | May 15, 2009 at 09:48 PM
Did Artest's suspension for getting in Kobe's face in game 2 ever get rescinded? It's a pretty interesting comparison because the amont of contact was about the same.
Posted by: Jonathan | May 15, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Jonathan-
You're not comparing apples to apples. Artest wasn't suspended, he was T'd up. No, his wasn't rescinded, but that's likely because he ran across the court and got in the face of another player. That'll get guys t'd up every day of the week. The better comparison would be the Flagrant Two on Gasol that was reviewed and reduced to a F1.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | May 15, 2009 at 10:53 PM
I don't know why people find solace in the Celtic's run from last year and to the Laker's run this year. Yeah, the Celtic's had to go through 2 7-game series, BUT they did it against 2 teams at FULL STRENGTH not a team that has 40% (60% if you count Alson) of it's starting line up wearing suits on the sideline.
Posted by: veelo73 | May 16, 2009 at 08:05 AM
As a Lakers fan, I just hope that they will not prematurely elated if they win 45 minutes of the game and then lose the last 3 minutes including the game losing shot at the buzzer. This is another bad play that Lakers has not yet displayed in this playoff!
I still think that Lakers will win game 7. However, I believe by being forced to play Game 7 by a depleted Houston team, we have finally see what Phil Jackson really is – not a championship coach anymore. I have been saying this for 2 years. He is a senile (physically and mentally) wash-up with old idea and methodology that is not working in today NBA. We need a workhorse coach that will hand-hold each player in every possession to ensure a win in every game. Today most NBA players are either unproven high-school kids like Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum, or immature college-trained kids like Jordan Farmar that needed nurturing. Kobe is an experienced player but he cannot organize the other 4 players on the floor to devise and execute a game plan. It is a job for a coach. If we look at Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, we see the coaches have to step in to explain what goes wrong and what they have to do, what attitude the players to carry.
When there is a foul to give, why make a non-conseqential, general statement. Why not make it a specific statement like “Trevor, we have one foul to give. Give a foul before your guy attempts the shot.” Trevor was a new starter playing the big final seconds. That ws an occasion for a very specific instruction for a very specific moment, it should leave no ambiguity for Trevor. This is part of the nurturing for Trevor. At the end, Phil blamed Trevor for the mis-communication and everyone (almost all the bloggers here) accept Trevor's inexperience as the answer.
Today I watched what Robert Horry said in an interview. He said it was like Lakers standing back and wait for the Houston's attack. The observation is so obvious that it baffles all of us why Lakers themselves don't see it. Let's stop talking about lack of passion or lack of desire in this Lakers team. They have passion and desire for the championship. They just don't know how to use them.
My theory of what went wrong is like this. Phil devised defense assignment to each player. So, when the actual game went wrong, the instinct of each player was that his primary objective was to cover his man. Then 2 scenerios occur. Either they were not willing to help or they over-rotate leaving their men wide open. Kobe, being the leader, over-rotated more than others because he thought it was his job to help his team. When no coaching coming from the bench, their collective thought was to go on the offense to catch-up. It snowballs into rush shots, taking bad jumpers, one-on-one dribbling, no ball-movement.
I want to make another speculation on Phil Jackson. I cannot pin-point what is exactly wrong with him. He may be arrogant refusing to accept his errors and make changes. He may be lazy. Once the match-up or starters determined (Fisher or Walton), he just continue with the game plan, hoping the players will carry out his decisions regardless of the consequence. But, I speculate that Phil Jackson is slow-witted. He is covering up his slow learning by pretending to be cerebral. He catches up with his learning but reading books – the best way for a slow-wit to learn things that his own pace. I believe that Phil prepares his team well before each game, but is just what we can expect from a slow-wit. Slow-wits plan well so they can avoid making quick decision. That may explain why he refuses to take timeout. If he cannot give quick game-time decisions, what is the point of a timeout except a general remarks like move the balls, play harder for the next 5 minutes, …
Otherwise, can someone explain why Phil continues to use Fisher when Jordan is obvious a better match-up. (If starter is an honor in Phil's old mind, Fisher can start and be taken out after 5 possessions and never come back)? Why Phil uses Walton before Shannon when Shannon can do everything that Walton does and better? Shannon has proven to be a good defender on Devon Williams, who is as physically as the fragrant-fouled-acting Ron Artest. Why he was not use?
Posted by: PJDoubter | May 16, 2009 at 09:04 AM
---">>> Dang, who thought Scola was that good?"---
Anyone who wasn't surprised by Scola's monster game Thursday won't be surprised on Sunday if he doesn't even show up.
He is like their L.O..
Flashes of brilliance followed by a couple of dud games and I don't believe that he will be much of a factor on Sunday.
Besides, even if he does have a great game, so what??
If we would have made just a couple of more shots, we would have won Game 6.
I'm not too worried, honestly.
hog
Posted by: the canibus hog | May 16, 2009 at 09:14 AM
PJDoubter,
Your comments make sense for the most part but I think you are not giving PJ any credit whatsoever for his coaching skills. You totally blame him for coaching the team inappropriately:
**" When no coaching coming from the bench, their collective thought was to go on the offense to catch-up. It snowballs into rush shots, taking bad jumpers, one-on-one dribbling, no ball-movement.**
Give PJ and me a break! Anything that the coach has to teach his players is done during practice... @ the game, the player(s) NEED TO EXECUTE AND FOLLOW THE GAME PLAN. I don't believe PJ told them the game plan was to 'rush shots, taking bad jumpers, one-on-one dribbling, no ball-movement'. Anybody will tell you that if you fall behind in the score board the logical thing to do would be ' to go on the offense to catch-up'. We all agree on that I believe... and it should go - without saying - that players need to avoid turnovers, move the ball, share the ball, attack the rim, make high % shots and on the opposite end: rebound the ball and contest every shot (PLAY D). Even I know that much about this game!!! And I must admit I sucked @ basketball every time I attempted to play it. Our guys are professional players and they should know better!!!!!
As the ol' saying goes: 'You can lead a horse to water BUT you can't make it drink...'
It's TOTALLY unfair to blame the coach for not calling a time out when all a player needs to do is play common sense basketball. The coach cannot FORCE a player to play common sense basketball.
That being said, It IS the coach's responsibility to REPLACE the players that are not following the COMMON SENSE GAME PLAN (assuming there is one). I don't usually question my coach's decisions but PJ FAILED TO DO THAT.
PJ has said that some players are more useful/valuable than others depending on match ups. Farmar PROVED to be a better match up against Aaron Buttler but he STILL started Fisher over Farmar and Brown. He also feels 'safe' with Walton and Sasha - both playing below standard and Bynum not 1000% yet as well as LO being w/ a sore back... BUT in all fairness.... THIS IS ALL HE'S GOT AND HE'S GOT TO MAKE DO WITH THIS CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT TEAM.
However, I'm sure they'll figure it out and move on to the next phase with Denver and Cleveland.
Let's STOP POINTING FINGERS, enjoy the inconsistencies and keep rooting for our beloved team!!!!!
GOOOOOOOLAKERS!!!!!!
Posted by: Carlos DeeP | May 16, 2009 at 01:43 PM
PJ's got to start Farmar. Fisher has provided the wrong tempo in every game that where he has started.Brooks just ate him alive. Lakers, there is no tomorrow! Don't be pathetic in Game 7.
Posted by: miguel hernandez | May 16, 2009 at 07:37 PM