The Suns made one key adjustment for Sunday’s game — they pushed the tempo up and forced the Lakers to make their reads and decisions more quickly. The Lakers were not athletic enough or smart enough to deal with that, and under pressure got away from what worked before. They didn’t trap on the pick […]
Archives for April 2007
Lakers/Suns Chat: Game 4
It comes down to defense. In game three not only did the Lakers switch (or occasionally trap) on the pick-and-roll, not only did they play better man defense, but they cut off diagonal and other passing lanes. They limited Suns options, and they are going to have to do that again. Thanks to Gatinho for […]
Game Four Preview
Forty-eight minutes. It’s pretty clear what the Lakers need to do to win in this series — if you have not read Nate Jones’s breakdown of game three on Fanhouse yesterday you must, it’s so good and comprehensive I’m not going to repeat it all here. But this time they need to do all that […]
Game 3 Thoughts
Finally! In the second quarter, the Lakers started playing like a desperate team, and washed in with that wave of desperation was hustle and honest-to-goodness pick-and-roll defense. Back for three quarters were the Lakers from last December, the team other squads didn’t want to see come playoff time. Keying the 21-9 second quarter run that […]
Lakers/Suns Chat: Game 3
It says a lot about this Laker team that the coaches are still tinkering with player substitution patterns and lineups well into the first round of the playoffs. They can overcome that if we see a Laker team that’s a little angry tonight, one with a little fire in its belly. They need to be […]
Game Three Preview
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 […]
Game Two Thoughts
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 […]
Lakers/Suns Chat: Game 2
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 […]
Game Two Preview
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 […]
Thoughts from Game One
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 […]