Kobe on Tony Allen's defense....

 

"I'm not really thinking about it. I am more concerned with getting rebounds and loose balls. If we need a basket I know I can get it."

 

My man, Kobe.

Come on Cats. Oklahoma was confident. Utah was(nevermind). Phoenix was confident. Boston should be confident. Doesn't mean they will win. The Lakers still haven't played a full game. The Celtics needed their bench to win this game. Their bench!!!! Championships aren't won from the bench.

 

You could pretty much use the exact same arguement in favor of the Celtics. Tonight and the two games that they lost, they didn't put together a full game.

 

I'd rather have my bench win me a game, than my starters and my bench lose me one...wouldn't you?

Doc Rivers did something that too many coaches don't do, .... left his reserves in even when a few bad things happened (2 Ts). And it paid off. When the starters came back in, they were rested and ready to finish. I was convinced that Wallace needed to be off the floor after his T, but Doc left him in and he responded by hitting a gianormous 3. I was also impressed to see the starters up off the bench cheering their teammates on. That showed me a real TEAM trying to find a way to win, ... any way they could. That was enjoyable.

 

That game was a lot of fun to watch. But if it weren't for Kobe hitting some amazing 3's, the 4th quarter could have turned into a very lopsided affair.

Come on Cats. Oklahoma was confident. Utah was(nevermind). Phoenix was confident. Boston should be confident. Doesn't mean they will win. The Lakers still haven't played a full game. The Celtics needed their bench to win this game. Their bench!!!! Championships aren't won from the bench.

 

Lakers will win game 5.

 

The bench won that game. It was team effort with nearly every player who hit the floor for the Celtics giving something they needed. The only reason the Lakers didn't get blown out in the 4th quarter was because of one of the greatest players I have ever seen, Kobe Bryant hitting some amazing 3s to keep the Celtics within striking distance.

 

Bottom line, this has been a very exciting series so far and appears that it could be a fantastic finish to the season.

Kobe on Tony Allen's defense....

 

"I'm not really thinking about it. I am more concerned with getting rebounds and loose balls. If we need a basket I know I can get it."

 

My man, Kobe.

 

Now if LeBron said something like that people would go crazy. And let's be honest, they would.

This Bynum injury is really starting to bother me. He looked like the 40 year old Robert Parrish out there. I think Jackson is going to have to start integrating Josh Powell in to the lineup. Odom and Gasol are the only two post players they have left.

 

Never could stand Nate Robinson and this series has done nothing to change that. Robinson does play a good role off the bench. The entire Celtics team is made up of a lot of emotionally unstable players if you think about it. K.G., Rondo, Big Baby, Robinson, Wallace, etc. Doc Rivers has become a heck of a coach.

This Bynum injury is really starting to bother me. He looked like the 40 year old Robert Parrish out there. I think Jackson is going to have to start integrating Josh Powell in to the lineup. Odom and Gasol are the only two post players they have left.

 

Never could stand Nate Robinson and this series has done nothing to change that. Robinson does play a good role off the bench. The entire Celtics team is made up of a lot of emotionally unstable players if you think about it. K.G., Rondo, Big Baby, Robinson, Wallace, etc. Doc Rivers has become a heck of a coach.

 

KG emotionally unstable? I know he's emotional, but I never got the impression that he was mentally weak.

Kobe has some terrible terrible turnovers tonight. I couldn't even believe it really. Was very lazy with the ball all night.

 

The Lakers seemed on the verge of taking control of the game last night, but they were very careless with the ball, IMO. I thought they all made some lazy passes, particularly Kobe. I was disappointed in that.

 

They allowed Boston to stay close and Big Baby and company made them pay. The Lakers need Bynum to be effective. The interior defense and rebounding takes a huge hit when they have to rely on Odom. There's still a chance Lamar will show up and play, but to date, he's been a huge disappointment. The Lakers cannot depend on him.

 

Odom has 30 points, 21 rebounds, 4 assists and 19 fouls in this series. He isn't physical enough to play against Boston.

 

Additionally, Kobe needs to step it up a notch.

 

The Lakers are a better team, IMO, but the difference isn't enough to guarantee victory. If Bynum can't give them quality minutes, I think the advantage in the paint shifts to Boston. That's a huge blow for LA. And, if Kobe is going to keep playing a little off, they'll be grinding out some wins...if they win.

 

Game 5 is another must-win for Boston.

This Bynum injury is really starting to bother me. He looked like the 40 year old Robert Parrish out there. I think Jackson is going to have to start integrating Josh Powell in to the lineup. Odom and Gasol are the only two post players they have left.

 

Never could stand Nate Robinson and this series has done nothing to change that. Robinson does play a good role off the bench. The entire Celtics team is made up of a lot of emotionally unstable players if you think about it. K.G., Rondo, Big Baby, Robinson, Wallace, etc. Doc Rivers has become a heck of a coach.

 

Odom is useless against Boston's bigs. If Bynum is done for this series, Kobe has to elevate his game. Hopefully, they can treat the knee with the extra day off and get him right for Game 5. I don't think Boston can win two in LA, but they can definitely get one.

Where has Ron Artest been? I think the Celtics are just saying that Kobe will get his, and they just try to shut everyone else down. Gasol had a very quiet 2nd half, I think the Celtics are finding ways to defend him better.

You could pretty much use the exact same arguement in favor of the Celtics. Tonight and the two games that they lost, they didn't put together a full game.

 

:thumb:

 

At this point, who knows what to expect. I certainly don't expect either team to click on all cylinders, because neither has come remotely close to doing that.

 

To me, as a Lakers fan, the two most disappointing things are Lamar Odom's disappearance, and Kobe Bryant.

 

I expected Kobe to play much better than he has in the finals. He shot the three well last night, but I didn't think his overall performance was that great. He was really lazy with the ball and committed a lot of careless TO's last night. He had 7 TO's. In the Game Two loss he had 21 points and 5 TO's. And, in Game Three he was 10 of 29, forced a lot of shots in the second half that took LA out of its offense and allowed Boston to nearly come back and steal that game. Fisher bailed him out.

 

If Kobe Bryant doesn't start playing like Kobe Bryant, the Lakers will be lucky to win this series. He's been about as "un-clutch" as you can get this finals, IMO.

 

If somebody wants to give him credit for hitting some threes to keep LA "in the game", have at it. I'm not. After Wallace's three put Boston up 9, the Lakers never seriously threatened to turn that game. And, Kobe's carelessness with the ball contributed to them falling behind in the first place.

 

He also gets lazy on defense a few times every game that allows Boston to get a few easy baskets. Of course, he always looks at somebody else like it's their fault.

 

Simply put, he's not impacting the game the way a player of his caliber should. He's not rising to the occasion. He's got 2, maybe three games left to do it. If not, he'll finish his career chasing Michael, because he'll never catch him.

Where has Ron Artest been? I think the Celtics are just saying that Kobe will get his, and they just try to shut everyone else down. Gasol had a very quiet 2nd half, I think the Celtics are finding ways to defend him better.

 

Artest has played excellent defense on Pierce. That's what LA needs most from him.

 

Kobe has been sub-par. If I were Boston, I'd take my chances against the Kobe Bryant that has showed up through 4 games of the finals.

 

Also, I think Gasol's production ebbs and flows with the Lakers offense. Sometimes they don't make it enough of a focal point to get him touches. He's been the one guy that's played consistently well in this series, IMO. The problem is 14, 10, 11, and 13. That's his shot attempts. Not enough, IMO. He could be more aggressive at times, so part of it could be blamed on him, but its more about the offense, especially when Kobe starts to dominate the ball.

:thumb:

 

At this point, who knows what to expect. I certainly don't expect either team to click on all cylinders, because neither has come remotely close to doing that.

 

To me, as a Lakers fan, the two most disappointing things are Lamar Odom's disappearance, and Kobe Bryant.

 

I expected Kobe to play much better than he has in the finals. He shot the three well last night, but I didn't think his overall performance was that great. He was really lazy with the ball and committed a lot of careless TO's last night. He had 7 TO's. In the Game Two loss he had 21 points and 5 TO's. And, in Game Three he was 10 of 29, forced a lot of shots in the second half that took LA out of its offense and allowed Boston to nearly come back and steal that game. Fisher bailed him out.

 

If Kobe Bryant doesn't start playing like Kobe Bryant, the Lakers will be lucky to win this series. He's been about as "un-clutch" as you can get this finals, IMO.

 

If somebody wants to give him credit for hitting some threes to keep LA "in the game", have at it. I'm not. After Wallace's three put Boston up 9, the Lakers never seriously threatened to turn that game. And, Kobe's carelessness with the ball contributed to them falling behind in the first place.

 

He also gets lazy on defense a few times every game that allows Boston to get a few easy baskets. Of course, he always looks at somebody else like it's their fault.

 

Simply put, he's not impacting the game the way a player of his caliber should. He's not rising to the occasion. He's got 2, maybe three games left to do it. If not, he'll finish his career chasing Michael, because he'll never catch him.

 

My thing is DWade, LeBron, Howard, VC, and Kobe have all had games or series against the Celtics when they weren't at their best. That credit has to go to the Celtics I think. Chalk it up to Kobe playing bad, but at some point the Celtics deserve some credit.

 

I thought they made DWade and obviously to a greater extent LeBron look like they gave up. Howard had some good games at the end of the series, but he wasn't as effective as usual. And they have made Kobe seem sloppy. The C's defense gets better as the series goes along as they start to figure out how to defend everyone. Fisher was a non-factor as the Celtics didn't let him get the kind of space that he needs to create his shot.

 

I really don't think Kobe has played that bad. He hasn't been as good as he was earlier in the playoffs, but let's face it the C's are better defensively than OKC, and infinitely better than Utah or Phoenix on defense as well.

This is the third time this post-season LA has split the first 4 games. They closed the first two out in six. Will they do it again?

 

They also did the same thing against Denver in the western finals last year.

 

They've split the first 4 games 6 times in the past three years. They won 4 of those in 6, beat Houston in 7 last year, and what happens with Boston is TBA.

 

Just a random, useless fact.

My thing is DWade, LeBron, Howard, VC, and Kobe have all had games or series against the Celtics when they weren't at their best. That credit has to go to the Celtics I think. Chalk it up to Kobe playing bad, but at some point the Celtics deserve some credit.

 

I thought they made DWade and obviously to a greater extent LeBron look like they gave up. Howard had some good games at the end of the series, but he wasn't as effective as usual. And they have made Kobe seem sloppy. The C's defense gets better as the series goes along as they start to figure out how to defend everyone. Fisher was a non-factor as the Celtics didn't let him get the kind of space that he needs to create his shot.

 

I really don't think Kobe has played that bad. He hasn't been as good as he was earlier in the playoffs, but let's face it the C's are better defensively than OKC, and infinitely better than Utah or Phoenix on defense as well.

 

I agree to an extent. Boston deserves credit. But, Kobe made some lazy plays and lazy passes that you shouldn't make against a bad team, much less Boston. He shot terrible in Game Three, but insisted on firing away to the point that he took the Lakers completely out of their offense. After they'd moved the ball well and scored well, they resorted to watching Kobe and he went 10 of 29. Of course, last night, he was shooting pretty well, but he took 7 less shots. If you're going to fire away and force things, at least do it when you're shooting well.

 

Certainly, Boston deserves some credit for their defense. But, I expect better from Kobe. I hear your comparisons with D-Wade and Lebron, but Kobe has better support to take some pressure off. Boston can focus everything on Kobe like they can the other two. He is capable of playing better and he needs to do that.