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Originally Posted by King Glorious
What has been interesting to me is that the Lakers still don't play really good defense. They have the athletes and for stretches, they play it as well as anyone. But they seem to get bored with it and don't know how to commit on that end of the floor. Everyone thinks that the Laker defense broke down in game three and that's why the Magic shot so well. I don't agree. The defense was the same as it was in game one. The Magic get whatever shot they want to get out on the perimeter. They were as wide open in game three as they had been in games one and two. They just made the shots this time. That's what game four will come down to. Will they make the shots or miss them. They will get them though. The Magic that is. He's got to make quicker moves once he gets the ball. He can't keep putting it on the floor and allowing the double team to get there because once he commits to a move, he's predictable. He has no counter moves. He has been effective at kicking it out to his shooters though so I give him credit there. That's the way this team has to play; inside-out. Not the other way around. They can't get too enamored with the three and forget to go inside because that's what opens up their perimeter game. I think the Lakers would be better served putting Bryant on Turkoglu and Ariza on Alston. I'd start Odom and put him on Lewis. Gasol is going to have guard Howard and that could get him in foul trouble but the same works on the other end. The reasoning is because I think you want to cut a team off at the head and having your two best defenders on their two primary ballhandlers would completely disrupt their offense. On the other end, the Laker offense has to be more diverse. I understand that Kobe Bryant is one of the great players in the history of the game. I understand that he has an ability to score that is second to none. But he's got to recognize when his teammates have it going and he doesn't HAVE to take over. It's one thing when those guys aren't on their game and Kobe has to bail them out. But that wasn't the case in the last game. Kobe took 25 shots last game. He was 8-11 at one point and finished 11-25 so he went 3 of his last 14. Meanwhile, Gasol was 9-11 and Odom was 4-6. They were a combined 13-17. Gasol is shooting 62% in this series. Odom is shooting 65%. You've got to use those guys. Gasol is a guy that should have been second-team all league and arguably could have been first team and he's getting 11 shots and only averaging 12.3 shots in the finals? That's just not enough. Kobe's had 81 shots in the series (27 a game) while those two guys have 63 (21 a game). When you have an obvious advantage and don't use it, what's the point? One thing that the Lakers are doing that I really love is getting the ball into the post on the strong side with Kobe on that side. That keeps his man from being able to drop off and double-team cause you aren't going to double off of Kobe. By doing this, you are getting great looks for Gasol down low. Use him. Make Howard work on the defensive end. Run some more isolation for Odom. Nobody on that team can come close to guarding him. The Lakers are the superior team but the way they are playing is keeping Orlando in it.
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The bottom line is that the lakers can not and will not play howard straight up the whole game. It looks that way at times but gasol (or bynum) always has help and people are going to be open on the perimeter. In game 2, Lewis kept them in the game and in game 3 alston proved again that he can hit a 17 ft jump shot...sometimes...when left wide open.
Fisher is too old to put any on the ball pressure or rotate effectively on the perimeter. The only problem is that Phil can't trust anyone else. If you run the offense though kobe, it wears him out and keeps him from doing what he does best.