Forum Blue And Gold

The year was 2004, and the Lakers fell down 2-0 to the hot and rolling San Antonio Spurs. It looked bleak. It looked like a Laker team that, back before the season started, most fans thought would walk to an NBA title was going to be eliminated in the conference semifinals. But the Lakers won [...]

In those Greek tragedies we all were supposed to read in high school, there was something called Hamartia. (Apparently Gatinho read them because he pointed me to this.) What is Hamartia? The “tragic hero” attempts to do the “right thing” in a situation where the right thing cannot be done. I could see Kobe in [...]

Something to look for in this one — where are the Lakers getting the ball to Kobe and Lamar early. On the block, like early in game one, or out on the perimeter like late in that game. If the Suns are overplaying to keep the ball out of their hands in the block, there [...]

There are not many secrets left between these two teams. The Lakers (and the Suns) have played each other a lot the last couple years and know what they have to do to win. For the Lakers that means not abandoning the game plan — pound it inside, post up Odom (and Walton and Kobe [...]

There’s a reason that Kobe has long struck me as the sort of character seen in Greek mythology or classic novels — his greatest strength is also the cause of his undoing. He could not be Kobe without his supreme self-confidence, without his unshakable belief that the next shot is going to fall regardless of [...]