UPDATE II: Kobe is playing tonight, he says so himself on his Web site. (Thanks to Rob for the heads up.) UPDATE: If you want to read a good preview, friend of the site Kevin Pelton has his up at the Sonics Web site. Lights Out: It was such a big hit, that the throwback […]
Game Preview
Preview & Chat: The Golden State Warriors
And one more for the road: If the Lakers are going to win tonight — going 2-0 without Kobe — we need to see some of the same things we saw against the Suns, because the Warriors are Suns-lite this season. By my calculations last night, the Lakers took nearly 2/3 of their shots in […]
Preview & Chat: The Phoenix Suns
UPDATE: Kobe will be sitting this one out, he posted it on his official Web site. I’m disappointed, although it is best for him to be ready rather than come back too early and have a chronic problem all season long. Thanks to J. for posting this in the comments, via True Hoop. The Monster […]
Open Thread — Game 7
When this series started, we said Kwame Brown and Smush Parker would be the keys — could the Lakers pound the ball inside and slow Steve Nash? For three games the answer was yes, and if the Lakers are going to win game seven it won’t be because Kobe scored 63, but because Smush and […]
Open Thread — game six
Just what does the suspension of Raja Bell mean for game six? When Bell has been on the floor in this series, the Suns have had a team defensive rating of 104.7 (points per 100 possessions). When Leandro Barbosa (his replacement as a starter) is on the court, it is 113.2. That’s a massive 8.5 […]
Open Thread — game 5
First off, congratulations to the Clippers, who won their first playoff series since Rick Monday saved an American flag. I really have been rooting for this, a Laker/Clipper match up in the next round will be the biggest basketball happening in this city in a long time. Hell, Bill Simmons is excited and he’s not […]
Open Thread – game 4
Rather than me providing more comments on game three, look for a comment this morning from Gatinho, who was in Staples Center Friday night. Today may not be a classic must win but it can define this series – win and we can almost start printing “hallway series†tickets. The last two wins certainly have […]
Open Thread – game 3
The playoffs are about adjustments. In the regular season, the daily grind and travel makes altering your basic strategy from night-to-night difficult, the changes you do make tend to be minor tweaks. That gives a team like Phoenix, with it’s very different style than everyone else, and advantage. Then, add to it that three of […]
Open Thread — Game 2
Trying something new to this blog, although I bet most of you are familiar with the concept. During tonight’s game, I (and hopefully some of you) will be watching and logging in with comments. (For the record, I had wanted to do some liveblogging during the playoffs, but the changes in my home make that […]
Thoughts on the Lakers and Suns
(This was going to be a longer, several part preview with some new research, but circumstances change. So here are my notes and thoughts put together over the last few weeks, and we’ll all be watching Sunday). Traditionally, I’d like to separate out the offense and defensive ends of the floor when looking at a […]