Tough game today, but I think the refs were awful for both sides. The Lakers were able to impose their will, but doe some reason, they let off. And it had MORE to do with what L.A. wasn't doing, than what Utah was. Utah was a killer on the boards though. Almost 30 offensive rebounds is insane. If I am Kobe, I am slashing to the hoop a ton in this series as he has a ton of mismatches. Plus, if he gets inside, chances are that Boozer gets into foul trouble early and remains out of rhythem (he hasn't scored above 21 points in his last 15 games). I think Utah will probably take game 3, but I expect L.A. to close this out before game 7.
Still had some of the issues from Game 1 but otherwise a dominating performance. And Kobe put on another MVP caliber performance. You can just feel the love at Staples Center during the MVP presentation. All I know is, if the Jazz boo Fisher harder than any other Laker, expect the team to come to his defense like they did earlier in the seaosn.
Looks like Bynum's going under the knife. Pretty much will miss the playoffs, which is a shame because you just can't replace his ability to be a defensive anchor.
Did you think he was coming back at all before the surgery? I had given up hope a long ways back. With all the misinformation that L.A. was putting out there, I figured he was hurt much worse than they said. He is a defensive anchor, but L.A. has done pretty good so far in these playoffs and I can't see either the Spurs or Hornets tripping them up in the next round. The injury I can't figure out is Trevor Ariza's. He was supposed to be out roughly 8 weeks as well and has been out close to four months now. Does anyone know anything about the status of his broken foot?
I had hoped late in the regular season that he'd be available for the WCF and the Finals. Ariza's status is that he's returned to full-contact practice. I don't think he'll play that big a factor though, at least until the Finals. We haven't even gotten Newble up to speed. And we could've used his hustle in the Jazz series to match against Harpring, Boozer, etc. I can imagine Hornets being a tougher matchup with Bynum out and our inability to snag boards while they field West and Chandler. Not to mention CP3.
i like his play, but Kobe only seems to get along with others when the team is winning. he seems to forget when he loses the handle on the ball or falls down driving to the basket. i don't think the Lakers can win without him though. i think i enjoy watching fisher and odom more. Gasol is no slacker either.
Actually, as much as I like Gasol, I do note he's not the best rebounder out there for his size. Has some trouble boxing out and really fighting for it. If he had Millsap's aggressiveness, he could get 14 boards consistently. But I don't doubt his offensive capabilities and he's still a major upgrade over Kwame Brown who can't rebound or shoot.
gasol is not getting pushed around as much as i thought he would though. the Lakers looked pretty darned good against the spurs last night.
Agreed, it'll be interesting to see how the Spurs respond. Do they follow what they did against the Hornets or are they really out of gas.
Even with the Finals approaching, looks like Lakers are still looking ahead to the future. Rumor has it they're interested in a few 2nd round prospects at the pre-draft camp (Othello Hunter, Patrick Ewing Jr, Joseph Jones, AJ Abrams).
I would too. Ewing's stock is rapidly rising. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Lakers trade up a bit.
Time for the Lakers to unleash their defensive weapon at SF on Paul Pierce, Ira Newble. Pierce won't know what hit him.
