First things first, congratulations to Kobe on his new daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant. I can’t imagine the emotions of his day, winning that game then later that night having his second child born. I couldn’t be happier for him. And if he needs some extra newborn diapers, the wife and I have got plenty.
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In the last couple of weeks the always-impressive commenters on this site have been in playoff form themselves. From Gatinho’s review from courtside to some great breakdowns from people like Kwame a., this site has been filled with great stuff.
So, just to shine a light on some of it (and encourage posting during the open thread for game 4 tomorrow), here are a just a smattering of highlights (I couldn’t get to all the good stuff):
• From Josh before game 4:
I actually think shooting the three is one thing Phoenix has done fairly well this series (and the Lakers are still winning!). The Suns had one off game from 3 (game 2 where they shot 9 out 27) but overall they’re shooting their season average of 40% from behind the arc.
The Suns’ rebounding, on the other hand, is atrocious. I was fiddling around with numbers over lunch today & the Suns offensive rebounding percentage during this series is 12%. That’s a steep drop-off from their regular-season average of 22.1%, which already was the worst in the league. They’re like a team of reverse Dennis Rodmans.
He’s right, and that trend continued in game 4 — the Suns grabbed 14.3% of the available boards. The good news was their three point shooting has dropped off to 33% in the last two games, still pretty good but well below their season clip. The Lakers have not made it easy on them.
• Josh also pitched in with the answer to the question: Who is that guy next to Jack Nicholson: Lou Adler, longtime record executive and also the producer of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
• The general consensus of the commenters seems to be we want the Nets to lose as soon as possible so Vince Carter can film a new commercial so we can stop watching that Verizon one.
• Deen (aka Worthytomahawk) during game 4:
Kwame is playing like Tyson Chandler – too bad there is no low post scoring threat to be guarded.
• Then, when the game got close, Deen spoke for a lot of us trying to watch at home:
My wife and 1.5 year daughter are so scared of daddy jumping up and down that they retreated into the bedroom during overtime.
• John is watching the NBA playoffs from Vancouver (while figuring out how to scam free Olympics tickets in four years) and has had some good thoughts.
There’s so much you can say about what this series is showing. You can talk about Nash and the Sun’s inability to perform when it matters. You can talk about this young Laker team playing the best ball we’ve seen them play. You can talk about how Jackson is coaching circles are D’Antoni.
But it all comes down to one man who has lift over any defender in the league. One man who makes those shots every year now, whether it’s a three to send it into OT or the game winner.
The closer.
The Mamba.
In the 4th quarter, Melo WHO?It’s all number 8 (24).
• Then, from game three, there was Craig:
People need to give Jackson a lot of credit for the ability to direct/teach/instruct his teams toward mental toughness. (What I mean by people I mean those who just say, “Anyone can win with Jordan/Pippen or Kobe/Shaqâ€) Back oh say 3 weeks ago, this team looked lost. I felt they lacked proper basketball IQ and they couldn’t close out games.
Somewhere between Mihm’s injury, the confidence of a good finish to the regular season and the confidence in the triangle, this team is COMPLETELY different from the March edition. They look relaxed and confident. Who would have ever thought that they would stick to the pound-it-inside on offense and stay-at-home when Nash drives on defense gameplan for two games?
kwame a. says
regardless of how far the lakers end up going the best part of this team evolution is the crow that all the laker haters have to eat. Some will do it with class and jump on the bandwagon (Bill Simmons), others will make up stuff to conform with their personal views (Plashcke and Stein) and some will just continue blind hate (John Hollinger). All of them have to admit that Phil is the best coach, kobe is the best player and the Lakers are legitimate peripheral title contenders, oh yeah, some laker haters will just post on this fourm under the alias of John R., he is welcome to join the bandwagon anytime, theres always room
Deen says
Many thanks Kurt for creating this community for intelligent, civilized, and joyful discussion about the team we all love.
notreallyimportant says
ahhhh Irony, it’s what I live for.
Josh says
I second Deen’s commets.
Hey – Am I the only one who finds it impossibly weird ( even creepy) that Shaq & Kobe had daughters born five minutes apart the other night? Strange…
John (Vancouver) says
The daughters thing really is weird.
I’m so glad I kept following this forum. It’s going to be a really interesting game tonight and I have a feeling the Suns are going to try and build on what they did in the 4th quarter. Let’s see what, if any, adjustments Phil makes.
It is REALLY interesting to read all of these columns though. Simmons has been pretty interesting so far – all along he’s given Kobe some respect, but now it’s more interesting. What I really love is seeing people like Stein, who had his head so far up Steve Nash’s ass he could probably guess what he had for lunch yesterday backtracking and Plashcke, who much like Shanoff and a few others who jump feet first unto whatever bandwagon is currently rolling at the moment deal with Kobe.