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Some random NBA and Finals thoughts on this Saturday morning of World Cup action. Also, check back later this afternoon for a post from Jeff who will be taking a look at the rivalry wit the C’s…
*As we’ve all read, Andrew Bynum had his knee drained for the 2nd time in two weeks on Friday. And while I’m hopeful that the relieving of the swelling will allow him to be more effective, I’m not quite banking on that and still feel the Lakers will have to find ways to be successful as a team with a limited Bynum. And over at Land O’ Lakers, BK examines the things that change for the Lakers if Bynum is unable to go in game 5.
*Adding on to the concept of dealing with a limited Bynum, I yield the floor to Zephid who made the following point in the comments in response to whether Mbenga could/should see more time:
(Phil) even says that he doesn’t think DJ is prepared to play after not having done so for so long. He does say that Josh Powell is ready, which not only indicates that he’ll probably see the floor in G5, but also speaks volumes about Powell’s work ethic that was highlighted in the McMenamin article from a while back.
I’m not sure how much I like that thought, but it’ll be interesting to see if Powell can improve our spacing and give Gasol the room he needs to operate. Also, he’ll need to battle with Big Baby on the boards (since he’ll likely get dominated by KG or Perkins, maybe even Sheed), so he’ll definitely have to show up physically because Big Baby probably has 50-60 pounds on him.
*One last point on Bynum, Matt Moore has a good read over at Pro Basketball Talk about the paradox that ‘Drew faces. I’m not sure what the best decision is for Bynum (play or sit), but I think it’s fair to say that he’s shown me a lot and made it clear how much this means to him.
*In this series, we’ve been talking about how the team that executes best down the stretch is the one that will win (that and who rebounds best). In game 4, that was Boston and over at NBA Playbook, we’re showed how they did it. Needless to say, it’s a bit painful watching the C’s bench carve up the Lakers starters. But, I think lessons can be learned here. Namely that the Lakers must also get back to running their sets with precision and dedication. Too often it’s the Lakers that are settling for isolation sets that only yield a difficult shot against a contesting defender and an expiring shot clock. The Lakers must do better than that.
*I’ve you haven’t been able to watch the Finals, I feel a bit bad for you. Sure the games have, at times, been a bit foul plagued and the rhythm of the games have been thrown off somewhat. But, the competitiveness of this series has been extremely high and there have been some great performances so far. I say all this because nba.com has been putting together these “mini movies” that summarize the action quite nicely. If you haven’t checked them out, you should. I’ve embedded the ones for games 1-4 below. Enjoy. And remember, check back this afternoon for Jeff’s post…





