Playoff Preview: If the playoffs started today, this would be your first-round match up. Turns out the playoffs don’t start for a few weeks. Right now, the Lakers are the seven seed, one game up on Sactown in eighth. The Lakers drop a few more like last night and Sacramento keeps beating the likes of San Antonio, the order could change.
But, for fun, let’s say it will be the Lakers and Suns in Round 1. I still don’t think tonight’s going to be the best playoff preview, with the Lakers in the second game of a back-to-back after an emotional loss.
Beating The Suns: Phoenix is not on the top of their game right now, they are just 4-6 in their last 10. And the Clippers the other night showed how a team can expose the holes in the Suns — the question is if the Lakers have the personnel to do it.
Kevin at Clipperblog put it very well — the Suns’ “offense†is really about having athletic guys who create match up problems because they are so quick (especially off the dribble). Combine that with a savvy point guard and you can jut let them improvise and run a bunch of pick and rolls and space the floor. But the Clippers and other teams have shown you can knock the Suns off rhythm.
First, the Clippers went tall and long. With Sam Cassell out, Shaun Livingston was at the point and his length disturbed both Nash and Raja Bell. Quinton Ross did the same thing as Livingston’s backcourt mate. Now, Smush is long, as is Kobe, but can they have that same impact? That long-on-defense thing also extended to the frontcourt — Odom, Kwame, Cook and George are going to have to deal with Boris Diaw and Marion. What the Clippers did well was limit dribble penetration — something basically every Sun player can do — and force them to beat them from the outside, with good rotations so those looks weren’t all clean (Nash is shooting 47.2% from beyond the arc in the last 10 games, so going under picks is unwise).
Second, on offense the Clippers pounded the ball inside, using Brand primarily but also Kamen and others. It forced the Suns to collapse their defense, slowing their break. More importantly, when the Suns defense did collapse, Clipper perimeter guys hit their threes.
It can be done. The question is can the Lakers do it? We’ll get into this a lot more as the playoffs near. (Of course, all that may end up having to be about how to beat the Spurs, a harder task if you ask me.)
In appreciation: Sometimes on this blog I’ve tended to focus on the play of the role players, the defense, and the other things needed to make this team good, and almost taken for granted what Kobe does.
We can’t. He’s been amazing, bringing energy and passion every night, while taking on a crazy amount of the offense (he has a usage rate of 35.5% this season, by far the highest in the league). Last night was a perfect example — people will look and say “he was just 13 of 32†and miss the 14 free throws he took or the 8 rebounds he grabbed, second highest on the team. Last night Kobe’s true shooting percentage was 55%, a great number considering the amount of offense he takes on (and has to some nights as the team just defers to him).
I don’t think he’ll win the MVP (honestly, there is no standout candidate, you can make a good case for Dirk, Wade, Nash, LeBron), but that shouldn’t take away from what may have been his best season ever.
On the other end of the spectrum: No matter how good a game he is having, there ends up being about two or three times a game I end up just yelling “damn it Kwame.”
About that loss last night: That hurt, but today I’m trying to look on the bright side of how they fought back. It would have been nice not to have had to come from way back, but that they did (using the big lineup) is a good sign.
That said, I will ask this question: On the final play in regulation, the 0.6 second shot, Kobe got a pretty good look. But Odom was wide open, alone in the corner. What would you rather have, that Kobe shot or Odom open? Walton never gave Odom (who ws waving his arms around) a glance. Should he? I think the Lakers need to get someone besides Kobe to take some of those last-second shots, and better an open Odom than Walton on a running three.
That said, Walton and Devean George gave the Lakers good minutes last night (Walton was a team high +11).
Daniel Myers says
2 things that killed me last night regarding Odom.
1) How can you miss a lay-up???
2) With 45sec. left and you have the ball, tided up, Go for the “2 for 1”. Dont shoot the ball with 24.6 sec left.
Other than that and a stupid flop, Odom played great.
SMUSH?
What can i say about Smush. Does he have a brain on defense. Andre Miller does not have the greatest jumper nor is he very fast. So why guard him close?
Lately, Smush has consistently let his opponent dribble right around him for lay-ups. Then complains about no one helping out. Give me a break, if you can’t keep Andre Miller in front of you then you can’t guard anyone.
My only thought is that he is tired and now is not the time especially if we want to make a push in the playoffs.
Kurt, it would have been nice if Luke got Odom the ball under the basket in the end of regulation. But I think they had a taller man guarding the inbound pass, so it would have been a risky pass over the defender and across the lane.
Last night Hurt but I’m feeling Good about tonight.
Odom will have a big night. Maybe a triple double.
Kobe will be Kobe.
D
WorthyTomahawk says
With approx. 45 sec before OT Odom should have gone for a 2:1 possession. Instead he held the ball for the whole shot clock. I fault Phil for not giving the heads up.
Anyway, this is a development year and i am glad role players are stepping up. I wish we could give Kobe more rest.
John R says
Don’t fault Phil. Phil is god.
We’ll ignore the fact that, before Rudy T quit, the Lakers were at a .558 clip last year which equals 45 or 46 wins. Which the Lakers can JUST BARELY achieve this year IF they win out.
Phil is perfect. Phil is infallible. If you have less than 9 rings you are in no position to question Phil Jackson.
AM says
I think Odom would’ve had an OK chance of making it if Luke had passed him the ball. I like how in OT, after he missed that easy lay-in, he came back on the next play and stepped in to that 25-foot splasher. That showed confidence!
Michael says
I agree, but I don’t completely fault Phil, or the rest of the team for that matter, because Lamar needs to be aware of the shot clock and the game clock. He is a ball handler, so that fundamental should be deeply ingrained. With 45 seconds left he had plenty of time to figure out the game situation.
These types of games are a great tool for the team to grow together. I know Lamar will get it right the next time.
AM says
If I recall correctly, on that potential 2-for-1 play, LO didn’t get the ball until 10-12 ticks had already run off the shot clock.
Michael says
With .6s left I am not certain that LO could have gotten a shot off. For some reason LO’s shot/release seems longer than Kobe’s. But LO was wide open…
Without the work that Walton and George put in of the bench last night the Lakers would have never been in it.
Michael says
About the Suns matchup – I wonder if Jim Jackson has any inside knowledge he could pass on that would give the Lakers an edge. Since he wasn’t a starter he probably had lots of scrimmage time against the startnig core. Could that help in any way? It would be sweet to see him come in a bury them with 3’s the way he has done it to the Lakers.
notreallyimportant says
Melo’s bid for the clutchest player alive continues. He really sank those fadeaways in overtime, nothing but net.
Althoguh Kobe’s 4 point play was equally impressive. However, I have to ask, when was the last time Kobe made an a game winning 3? Was it that rainbow at Dallas?
Goo says
[2] Though the Lakers 3rd quarter collapses should definitely point some blame at Phil and the coaching staff, last year’s schedule was alot easier in the 1st half than it was in the 2nd half. I remember they had some ridiculous number of road games in Feb/March and needed to be somewhere around the 6 seed to have a chance to make it out alive…
Vince says
I don’t think Melo is anywhere near Kobe in terms of clutch performers. He had 0 points in the fourth quarter. If we would have somehow won it in regulation than what would be said?
notreallyimportant says
The point is what happened happened.
Yes Kobe has way more clutch performances but he has been in the league a lot longer too.
I’m a huge Kobe fan, and I am so glad he is on our team because he just takes over games, especially fourth quarters, but Melo definitely won that round.
Goo says
Atleast we know that if the Lakers sacked it up and won half of those games against those sub 500 teams at home we would have had a hell of a series against the Nuggets…