Odd game last night, but I'll take it! Lakers did a much better job of taking the ball out of Paul's hands and forcing others to make plays. I LOVED the energy off the bench, particularly from LO, Barnes and Blake - Steve's energy in particular was infectious without necessarily scoring - he was decisive and quick.
The Defense was awesome.
Something is still obviously not quite right with Pau - hard to put a finger on what exactly is ailing him...it's a confidence problem, which I think is correctable - you can see it in his footwork, he's a step slow - I'd love to see him demand the ball once or twice in succession.
The good news is that the Lakers won in spite of a hugely subpar effort from our top 2 guys. Drew's performance was borderline revelatory - he's showing a new level of confidence and aggressiveness out there that I had not seen before - he was orchestrating things out there.
I think the Lakers are well on their way towards rounding into playoff form - I'm not worried.

KOBE - What does Kobe have to do to get a frickin' foul call? He went hard to the basket on several occasions, get's him on the arm, banged on the body, but NO WHISTLE. Every replay showed he was continually hacked on his drives. Phil had a good explanation, "The refs are basing the calls on how hard someone falls". In other words, floppers like Manu and Wade will get those calls, but Kobe will not because he is better at absorbing contact. These refs seem unable to see the contact, and instead, base their calls on the reaction to the contact! Just ridiculous! These NBA refs have blown call after call in the other playoff series as well, especially in crunch time. Something needs to be done to hold these refs accountable. Or perhaps, they are simply following Darth Stern's orders? The refs called ticky tack fouls all night on the big men for both teams, but allowed the Hornets to be as physical as they wanted with Kobe. NBA refs SUCK.

- GASOL - I watched Pau closely last night, and I am CONVINCED that he is still having knee issues. He seems afraid to put pressure on his knee, and seems content to play the decoy and drop the ball off to his teammates, even in the few instances where he had good position down low. He is also getting pushed off his spots with EASE without a fight. If that's the case, Phil should limit his minutes and give them to Bynum and Lamar until he heals up. The team is going to need him healthy in the second round.

- BYNUM - The beast is emerging, and it couldn't have come at a better time, with Pau dealing with his knee issues. Stay healthy my friend!

- LAMAR - Awesome!

- BLAKE and FISH - Nice to have Blake back to organize the offense for the second unit. The team started clicking as soon as he entered the game. He lost some serious weight the past couple weeks, but was still effective in his first game back. Nobody can guard Chris Paul, but at least Blake was able to go through some picks and bother him a bit, while staying in his vicinity. I can't say the same for Fish. I would love to see Blake come in earlier, especially if Fish continues to struggle on both ends. More minutes for Blake also equals LESS minutes for Kobe chasing Chris Paul around all game. ...and I'm not sure why Fish thought he was the first option on offense in the first quarter, but that needs to stop.

- ARTEST - The team got Artest for his defense, but he's slowly turning into Robert Horry 2.0 on offense with his clutch shot making.

Mornin’ CRUE!

Solid effort last night for the most part.

LOVED the energy and excitement that Drew provided!

Pau was aggressive but his shots didn’t fall – that’ll work itself out.

Kobe was orchestrating a grand concerto – he’s amazing. Now if he could only get a foul call...

LO – what can you say about the 6th Man of the Year other than how glad we are he’s on our team! He’s quite the nightmare matchup fo shizzle.

And how about them Killer B’s?? Nice solid effort. Good to have them back.

Can’t wait for Friday. I want those little Bumblebees to understand that they have NO HOPE of winning this thing. NONE whatsoever.

Oh – almost forgot – WTH is up with CP3 being allowed to carry the ball?? Like ALL the time?? That’s gotta stop. And so do the moving screens. Nothing like watching Fish fight over a screen just to get the NO guy’s hind parts stuck out to knock him down. PJ needs to point this stuff out to the media – maybe even get fined – gotta take one for the team here, Phil…

GO LAKERS!!

NorCal,

feel free to genuflect in my direction anytime.

For those who watched the game, the comments by Reggie Miller during
the 3rd quarter, specifically address the issue of Pau's play.

PSP,

Thanks for belief in me. :) I will share an attitude I recently learned
during a seminar.

The class went something like this:

Their are 3 attitudes in this art.

The first is non-aggressive. He was taught to get out of the way first.

The second is that of the counter-attacker. He's waiting for you to attack,
so that he can pick it off and immediately counter-attack.

The third is that of contempt. It doesn't matter what you do. This is the end
for you.

I watched his movement in the third attitude. His moves were so simple.
So elegant. So effective.

@Lakertruth. Agree on all accounts.. That noncall on kobe at the end of first half said it all.. I'm afraid t o sat but after the fa**ot comments the refs may be out to get him.. Blake was huge for us in the 2nd qtr on both ends of the floor. He fought around picks on defense (not through picks) and made all the right passes n got the bench going with 5 assts that qtr... Starters struggled to start the game but bench took over built a nice lead and lakers never looked back

A real fun begins tonight when all of the top seeded teams start to play on the roads. See which teams will survive on the road. The Lakers will win the next 2 games on the road. 15 wins for #17!!!

yellofever,

The refs did seem like that had a vendetta against Kobe last night. Kobe wasn't getting the calls in the regular season as well, but last night was just ridiculous. I would not be surprised one bit if the f**gg** comments had something to with how Kobe is being officiated. He also got called for traveling early in the game when he drove to his right with the ball starting out near his chest. He's been doing this move all season, and continued to do so throughout the game, without a traveling call, but for some reason, the refs decided to make that call early. I hope Phil says something to the media to expose how Kobe is being treated by the refs.

This one's for "Imposter Pau:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icb_tRTnA4g

2 rings in, these guys know what to do but the hard part is knowing when and how tomove away from things that got you those rings for something new that's emerged. Hard to balance the attack with the new force that Andrew has become.

Tough to go away from Kobe in the 4th, especially on the road, but Andrew is the force they can't deal with. Lamar's their nightmare. We lost the good Kobe game.

Trevor can make it a long night for Kobe without a double team. They have no answer for Andrew or Lamar. So, who sits the end game?

Can't discount the attention Pau and Kobe get to free up guys. Wonder how, in a slowed down playoff game, any team could deal with LO, Pau, AB, Kobe and Ron. Too bad that lineup never got any regular season run.

Tom D

You're so right about Shannon. Pounding the ball is code for "I haven't studied my triangle options". It's a shame, all that athleticism and heart without a head.

@TOM DANIELS ... I was watching the game with my son last night and we both remarked almost the exact same thing as you posted about Shannon. The guy has a BBIQ problem for sure.
............................................................
@JEFE101 ... Great observation about Drew orchestrating things – and on offense as well as defense. You got to love the way Drew is playing. Drew may be the smartest player on this Lakers team.
............................................................
@LAKER TRUTH ... A second shout out for posting Les Jenkins SI article on Drew. Eric Freeman of SI had this excellent summary of some of the inside stuff in the article. Here is his list of highlights:
...1. As a kid, he took apart and reassembled telephones.
...2. Before opting to enter the draft out of high school, he only looked at colleges where he could major in mechanical engineering.
...3. He has taken car-racing courses at the Los Angeles Air Force base, although he rides shotgun instead of driving.
...4. He has seven computers in his home, many of which he has put together himself.
...5. He has assembled a remote control car that can go as fast as 100 mph.
...6. On Phil Jackson's recommendations, he has become a huge fan of the work of writer Junot Diaz.
............................................................
@HOBBITMAGE ... Good call on Reggie Miller’s comments about Pau. Pau sucked again. I am really starting to worry about the guy. Usually when a player gets outplayed, it’s due to a bad matchup. In this case, Pau owned the Hornets during the regular season but has not been punked twice in a row by them. We’re not going to three-peat without Pau playing a lot better.
...
Here is an interesting stat that I came across with respect to the number of shots Kobe takes: During this year’s regular season, when Kobe takes 25 shots or more, the Lakers are 9-9; when he take 15 shots or less, they are 15-0.
...
Now you can look at this two ways – (1) the Lakers win when Kobe shoots less and lose when he shoots more or (2) The Lakers play best when everybody on the team plays well so Kobe does not have to take over and try to shoot us to a win. It’s my opinion that what the stats are really saying is #2.
............................................................
TOM

>>>One more observation. Isolating Kobe for the last 3 minutes just doesn't work

Well, yes and no.

It works against teams that go 1-on-1 against him, never double, and don't have an outstanding, tall defender like Trevor Ariza that they can throw at him.

But when teams try to be tough and think they can just leave someone out on an island against Kobe, they're still going to get burned most of the time.

So far, the 1st round in each conference has not disappointed. Finally the Playoffs are here. Win or Go Home! Lakers in 6. NEXT!

GO LAKERS & IN BUSS WE TRUST!!

Part of the problem is that Shannon isn't that good of a passer. If he's trying to pass in to the post and his defender sags off (as New Orleans has been doing) to deny the pass, Shannon's as likely to turn it over as get the ball to Bynum or Gasol.

If Shannon was hitting 40%+ of his 3-pointers, it would be easier. When teams sag off and leave him wide open, he could shoot the 3 and burn them. But when he's hitting 34% from 3 (as he is this season), that would be playing into their hands.

Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | April 21, 2011 at 10:29 AM

****

Phil already stated that in the beginning of the season teams ignored Shannon so he got a lot more open shots from the 3-pt range. Once teams started to acknowledge/pay attention to him, they started to actually defend him. However, as the coaches stated, Shannon is also the highest scorer off the bench after Lamar, so it is key that he makes BETTER shot selections and is productive...Barnes is inconsistent (look at game 1) and Blake does not shoot at all. He does a lot better when he attacks the rim and gets foul (esp since he has the best FT % on the team)...or catch and shoot. He is a very good athlete and has heart though, so I do not fault him for that. There is potential.

(LakerTom, this one's for you...)

Weren't there also a bunch of bloggers posting that Andrew Bynum would never stay healthy and would always be injured or weak in the playoffs...

FAIL

"what Kobe needs to do to get a foul call?

stop calling refs Fag*gots"

Posted by: roni | April 21, 2011 at 10:46 AM

______________

LOL LOL

I was probably the most critical person of Lamar Odom in years past.

And I won't say that I was wrong or apologize or anything like that. I was RIGHT. His performance this season proves that I was right... I'm very proud of Lamar and extremely pleased as a fan at what he has accomplished in the last two seasons, particularly this season.

Once again, congratulations Lamar Odom for becoming the first Laker in history to win 6th man of the year!

It's proof that hard work + talent does pay huge dividends

wasn't that really nice to see drew play the way he did?

So what, the lakers have won a game is this the real Laker team that won back to back championships. This means this team is now competitive but this team has not won a series or shown enough discipline over time to be a three peat team. The desire is not present among the entire team. Please show up and prove my opinion wrong.

@LTLF ... Thanks for the shout out. Much appreciated. So far, Drew is MVP of this series with Ron not far behind. And as you so aptly pointed out, Fish played solid basketball as usual in the playoffs.
............................................................
TOM

Can't believe how many people are defending the Lakers' poor performance. Bottom line is they are playing terrible basketball.

New Orleans is a team the Lakers were supposed to sweep easily. This is an EIGHTH SEED that is missing their BEST SCORER...how are the Lakers only 1-1 and barely winning game 2? If New Orleans had hit their free throws the Lakers would be down 0-2.

If they are struggling this badly with the supposed weakest team in the playoffs, how are they going to fare against much stronger teams like the Heat or Bulls?

Paul,

You're forgetting.

This is a practice series.

Not the Finals. Not the Finals. The first round. Practice.

everyone must watch this. this is just one game. completly shocking..laker tom .. this is for you..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVTIYTSCG90&feature=player_detailpage

NBA4ever, the way the Lakers and Spurs are playing now I think any of the 3 big east teams (Boston, Chicago, Miami) would easily slay them. Both have dropped games to lesser competition and the wins haven't been convincing ones either.

On the other hand, Derrick Rose has shown he is a leader and has stepped up his game to another level, and the Heat are finally gelling as a unit as Bosh, Wade and Lebron are all playing with more swagger and intensity. Stark contrast from the landscape in the West.

I see the East taking it this year unless the Lakers and Spurs get their acts together and play how they played during their dominant periods of the season. I don't really have much faith in Dallas as any real threat.

Paul,

I once thought like you.

That was in 2008.

I no longer think like that after 2008

laker tom this one will make you sick, itsd proof though that all these no names that only show up when they have a wounded deer dont know a thing about what goes on in the games. there is more than just sportscenter, trollscenter.

justanother has given true pro-Laker comments, much like a true fan.

The no-foul calls we have experienced always, nothing new.

But yes - one thing she caught which I also wanted to say was Chris Paul carrying the ball - almost every time he has the ball!!

Refs not calling moving screens has been a staple diet - KG does it every possession!!

What I especially loved about Drew last night happened on the sidelines at the beginning of a timeout. Kobe passed the ball into Pau and he immediately passed it back out when he clearly had a one on one advantage in the post. It resulted in a rushed, missed challenged shot by Kobe. PJ called timeout.

Drew was as animated as Jared "You Don't Know" Jack was at the end of the game, but the analysts missed bringing Drew's tyrade to the audiences attention.

From what I saw, Drew was yelling something to the effect "If Pau Doesn't Want the Damn Ball, Then Get Me The F'n Ball!"

Way to go Drew! Pau needs a Tranfusion of AB17, STAT!!!!!!

"IT'S THE PLAYOFFS, NIT THE LAYOFFS!"

******REPOST******

My apologies for the very delayed response, but I was tied up with business until now. Hopefully I'm responding to all questions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@Art-- Adelman has proven what he's capable of and what his shortcomings are. I'd rather give B. Shaw the opportunity by inheriting a proven system and coaching staff than take on Adelman's coaching approach. Adelman seems to be more of a follower than a leader in coaching style.

With the success of PJ and the Bulls, Adelman hired his Yoda (Pete Carril--he developed the Princeton Offense and did well at the college level (interesting that he was being compared to Tex at the time 6 NBA rings separated the two)) to implement the Princeton Offense in Sac Town (another motion offense with some Triangle comparisons that can be made).

One difference between the two offenses is that the Triangle, when run properly, evolves based upon what the defense takes away--when the D takes something away it leaves another avenue available through the triple-post movement. Whereas, the Princeton Offense is predicated on movement and passing until a mismatch occurs (not reading the D so much as passing quickly until you get a shot).

Moreover, when things don't go right for Adelman, he gets off the bench and whines. And after the game, he cries about the lack of calls. Frankly, I respect Jerry Sloan much more because he's no nonsense and a no excuses type coach.

With that said, with no LVL 5 coaches available, I would opt for retaining the system and trusting B. Shaw to continue the tradition.

Here's a question for you. When Red Auerbach stepped down, who did he hire as coach?

Answer: William Felton Russell (Player-Coach), NOT some LVL 4 coach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@yellofever--Adelman has been to the NBA Finals twice in his career and B. Scott has back-2-back NBA Finals appearances. NJ had talent, but not the talent of Adelman's Portland Trailblazer teams or Sac Town for that point. Yes, I place B. Scott in the LVL 4 category. He's an excellent coach that has now inherited a poor team. With that said (and even though Byron is a former Laker), I would pass the reigns to B. Shaw over taking B. Scott (a LVL 4 coach).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@LRob--Thanks re the coaching levels. I actually thought about having 6 Levels (definitely if we were having a discussion about past and present coaches), with PJ a LVL 6 and Auerbach either a LVL 6 or LVL 5+.

Here's the rankings again.

LVL 1: Bad Coach. No business in the NBA.

LVL 2: Good Coach. Doesn't get in the way of upper echelon players, but rarely makes the playoffs. Cookie cutter system coach.

LVL 3: Development Coach. Excellent player development coach.

LVL 4: Excellent Coach. Coach and his system takes good players to playoff competitors and excellent/great players to championship competitors. May earn a title depending upon the level of competition in a particular season.

LVL 5: Championship Coach. Coach and System is Championship Tuned. Players are integrated to the System and the System and Players Adapt on the Fly. Exude the belief that the championship is in their hands, not in the hands of fate.

Here's something to contemplate. How would you rank each of the current Playoff coaches?

EAST

IND: Vogel--LVL
PHI: Collins--LVL
NYK: D'Antoni--LVL
ATL: Drew--LVL
ORL: Van Gundy--LVL
BOS: Rivers--LVL
MIA: Spoelstra--LVL
CHI: Thibodeau--LVL

WEST

MEM: Hollins--LVL
NOH: Williams--LVL
POR: McMillan--LVL
DEN: Karl--LVL
OKC: Brooks--LVL
DAL: Carlisle--LVL
LAL: Jackson--LVL 5
SAS: Popovich--LVL

"IT'S THE PLAYOFFS, NOT THE LAYOFFS!"

Posted by: The Triangulator | April 20, 2011 at 07:38 PM

LTLF is laying a smack-down today! Well done.

Some of the Outlaw's thoughts from last night:

1. Pau was much more aggressive. He did a good job moving across the paint from the weak side, getting into position ball side at the pinch post. He demanded the ball, and he got it. He made strong moves to the hoop, but the shots didn't fall. He shot text-book jumpers, and some didn't fall. No worries. That'll happen.

2. Kobe was a defensive freak guarding Paul last night. He harassed the hell out of him. Paul was super frustrated, and the two were talking tons of smack to each other. The refs really let Kobe hound Paul, which surprised me. But I liked it. Great defensive effort.

3. Artest has that glassy-eyed look. I call it the "stone cold killer" look. It's his playoff look. No antics. No kissing of the biceps. Just a sincere and honest effort at getting the job done, and he's doing it well.

4. Bynum? Yes, I think he's the key to a ring this year. I love that kid. He's playing exceptionally well right now, and I think he can play better. Defensively, he's moving his feet. Offensively, he's making strong moves toward the basket. Nice face-up game, too. The Beast is awakening.

5. Kobe had that game on a string last night. He was orchestrating beautifully. Sure, his shot wasn't on. Luckily, it didn't need to be.

6. Lamar killed it. That coast to coast off-the-glass shot was insane. He looks focused and hungry.

The Lakers aren't playing perfect basketball. But they're sharing the ball, moving pretty well in space, and their defensive mindset is starting to gel. I think they can, and will, play better.

Go Lake Show!

NBA4ever, after the points you make against Chicago or Boston I don't see how you can pick the Lakers...you go against your own logic.

You knock Chicago for having a tough time against Indiana who don't have Collison...well they still won both games, and Indiana is a better team than New Orleans. You say NY is 2 NBA guys and the rest D-Leaguers...who does New Orleans have besides Paul? Okafor? Ariza? Come on now.

Lakers are playing a New Orleans team (last seed in playoffs) that doesn't have their leading scorer in West. And LOST...at HOME, then struggled in game 2.

If you are putting money on them it's because you are biased as a Laker fan an not being objective.

Paul,

>>>NBA4ever, the way the Lakers and Spurs are playing now I think any of the 3
>>>big east teams (Boston, Chicago, Miami) would easily slay them. Both have
>>>dropped games to lesser competition and the wins haven't been convincing
>>>ones either.

Remember the 2008 playoffs? The Celtics went 7 games vs crappy Atlanta, 7 games vs mostly crappy Cleveland (plus LeBronze), and 6 games vs Detroit. The Lakers mowed down Denver, Utah, and San Antonio fairly easily.

Pretty much every pundit picked the Lakers to win the finals. We all know how that went.

You should know by now (and if you don't, I'm telling you):

It doesn't matter how many games you lose in the playoffs, as long as you win 16.

>>>I don't think it's a good recipe. In doing so, Kobe's stats were : minus 23
>>>points and minus 3 assists. He slowed himself down much more than he
>>>slowed Paul down.

But the difference is that the Lakers are deeper than the Hornets. Kobe has 4 or 5 quality players to pick up the slack behind him on offense. Note that the minus 23 points is because Kobe only took about half as many shots as he usually takes. Most of the time on offense, he was DELIBERATELY defferring to other players in order to conserve energy for defense. That meant more shots for Bynum, Odom, Pau, and Artest, who collectively did fine.

With New Orleans, Chris Paul is the alpha and the omega of their offense. If you let him dominate on offense, he can score a bunch of points and still manage to get Aaron Gray and Marco Belinelli and Willie Green wide open shots. If you smother him and don't let him get into the lane as much, and get him to give the ball up and make Ariza or even Jarrett Jack initiate the offense, you've just made them a MUCH worse offensive team. Witness: game 1 New Orleans shot 52% as a team. Game 2 it was 39%. Kobe wasn't entirely responsible for that (e.g. Bynum staying out of foul trouble helped too), but containing Chris Paul is a HUGE factor in that.

I don't think the Lakers could win a title with Kobe doing nothing but defense, they aren't deep enough to absorb that against deeper teams like the Celtics or the Bulls. But when absolutely necessary, Kobe can still be a top notch defender on the opposing team's star.

And if the Lakers and Bulls make it to the finals, Kobe may need to reprise this role.

NBA4ever, after the points you make against Chicago or Boston I don't see how you can pick the Lakers...you go against your own logic.

You knock Chicago for having a tough time against Indiana who don't have Collison...well they still won both games, and Indiana is a better team than New Orleans. You say NY is 2 NBA guys and the rest D-Leaguers...who does New Orleans have besides Paul? Okafor? Ariza? Come on now.

Lakers are playing a New Orleans team (last seed in playoffs) that doesn't have their leading scorer in West. And LOST...at HOME, then struggled in game 2.

If you are putting money on them it's because you are biased as a Laker fan an not being objective.

Posted by: Paul | April 21, 2011 at 12:15 PM

@Paul
I didn't realize you were a hater with no rational. Indy better than NO? Really? With that record playing vs the East you came to that conclusion how? They are so green you want to smoke them, you must be smoking something with the logic you provide. I gaurentee you that NO would handle both Indy and NY easily in a 7 game series. And NO is (not the last seed in the playoffs)no. 7 in the West and would be the no. 5 seed in the East would they not? You are new here because if you weren't you would know that I love the NBA first then the Lakers, no bias here just how I see it in my OPINION. I would never risk money with my heart.

@NBA4ever

7th seed, same record as 8th seed my mistake. Sure NO had the better regular season record but without David West it drops their stock big time imo. They really have a big hole that nobody is able to fill adequately. New Orleans already had the 4th worst offense in the NBA WITH West. Their D has been solid so far but game 2 was telling. They limited the Lakers to under 90pts but couldn't break 80 themselves. They just don't have guys who can pick up the scoring slack other than Paul, and he can't realistically play like he did in game 1 all series long.

That being said the Lakers are still split 1-1 with a low seeded team missing one of their best players. Defending champs with multiple all-star caliber players struggling to put away a crippled team.

>>>Like I said before without West NO is not the same team it was during the
>>>season.

True, but even without him, they're much better than the Pacers.

>>>They may not have made the playoffs without him, Houston may have
>>>been there instead.

True, but if Houston and New Orleans were in the East, then Philadelphia and Indiana would be fishing right now. With or without David West.

>>>CP3 is a superstar but not the Lebron type who can carry a team alone.

question #1: Wouldn't you say that CP3 carried the team in game 1 of this series?

question #2: How many rings has LeBron carried his teams to?