THUNDER -at- LAKERS - 4/18 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

First Blood... The only thing more difficult than obtaining Little Larry O'Brien is keeping him. Few have shown they have what it takes. After a year of punishment, it comes down to 16 victories on the field of battle -- 16 and he is yours.

The city is prepared for the worst. Windows are sandbagged, and the streets are empty. As the wind picks up and the skies swirl in gray darkness, you find yourself atop a building next the Golden Child everyone is after. As you play with the dial on a transistor radio, you are suddenly interrupted.

"They're coming!" someone screams. They crank away on what sounds like a World War II air raid siren.

Coming? They're already here. They are a blur, like human hummingbirds, as they probe the city's defenses below you. They're here one moment and with a crackle like Thunder, gone the next.

They beeline for the Horsemen, who wait knee deep in thick marshland. It's quickly apparent that this was a mistake. Their speed is neutralized in the soft mud and tall grasses, and the Horsemen close around them. Up close in hand-to-hand combat, they draw first blood.

A single bell echoes through the city. The static on your radio suddenly clears up. DancingBarry:

"The Horsemen were here. All of them. They controlled the pace of the fight, controlled the battlefield and allowed their size and muscle to overwhelm their opponent.

I will continue to track them..."

Welcome to the playoffs. Everything the Lakers struggled with in the regular season -- speedy point guards, athleticism, fronting zones -- all came to play in the opening game of the Laker title defense.

"We just grinded it out," Kobe said of the 87-79 win over the visiting Thunder. "It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it."

Andrew Bynum also came to play after sitting out for a month. His presence was immediate and with dramatic impact: blocked shots, boards and posterizing dunks. The Lakers imposed their size as their two seven-footers worked their way to double-doubles.

The Thunder fronted the post, zoned help defenders and tried to take away the first option in the Triangle at all times. This has befuddled the Lakers throughout the season. The Thunder hoped their defensive schemes would tempt the perimeter players to ignore the post, fire away and quicken the tempo. The Lakers played a more disciplined game. Although when they did miss a long jumper, it was often a layup the other way. (Westbrook was automatic in those situations.)

In the half-court settings -- where the game slowed down -- forget about it. The Lakers bogged down the Thunder offense. Ron Artest stayed on Durant like a shadow, but he had excellent help whenever the screens came. The strong-side zones were rotating like crazy -- bottom line was 24 points on 24 shots for Durant and very few easy hoops.

Despite the positives, the Lakers still had issues: Kobe Bryant's injured finger cost the team easy points from the line; Lamar Odom helped sustain the bench, but played limited minutes and fouled out; Artest's jumper picked up where it left off the final weeks of the season; and, the Lakers struggled to defend a speedy, athletic PG.

Still, when you hold a team to 79 points, you're doing a lot right. The Lakers imposed their pace on the game and played with a sense of urgency.


Kobe -- -- With a large white wrap on his index finger, Kobe enters the post season. Clearly, the injury continues to hurt his game. The 5 missed freethrows made a close game, a bit too close. The other area that hurts, especially against the Thunder, is long misses from the perimeter or turnovers. The Thunder turned those into 2 points the other way a number of times. So, Kobe worked the post and tried to attack the rim quite a bit. Although, he had just 3 assists in the game, he did a good job moving the ball to the right spots or setting up his bigs. Expect to see more of that as the he integrates back in with the two 7-footers. "I'm sure Kobe's not happy with his game," Phil said in the Times. "I don't think he likes to shoot six for 19 and I know his free-throw shooting is a consternation to him, that he's not shooting the shot the right way." Defensively, this may be the area where you really saw Kobe's legs. He was rotating and zoning. He was hustling, including a rejection on Durant in transition. Fatigue really seemed to affect his rotations and increased ball-watching in the regular season. The playoff sense of urgency helps that, but also look for the Thunder to try to set up more from Sefolosha than an 0-4 and a reluctant perimeter game. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 6-19 shooting (2-5 from three, 7-12 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 5 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He posted up, attacked, went up and under for a layup. He missed a challenged elbow jumper, got the rebound back and dunked. Bad lob pass, layup the other way on the turnover. He posted up, drew the D and kicked to Fish for a three. He posted up and swished a long turnaround. Difficult pull-up jumper from 22 feet and he missed. He up-faked, attacked off the three like, sliced past the help and drew FTs, he made one. He drained a three to save an offensive possession that stalled out. He missed a three on a kickout. He attacked off the high screen, faked the pass to Pau and hit Drew for the And-1 dunk. He drew FTs on a perimeter hold, he made both. He swiped the ball from his man on the baseline. He sank a couple more FTs. He missed a wing jumper, heels on the three line. He had 14 points and 2 assists in the first half. Second Half: He barely hit rim on a long baseline turnaround, layup the other way. He hit Bynum under the hoop for FTs. He rejected Durant on the break. He attacked and fed Drew for the short jumphook. He couldn't one hand a tough lob. He missed a long, wing turnaround, layup the other way. He missed a long pull-up jumper, layup the other way. He missed a layup on the drive. He drew back-to-back fouls working the low post on Harden, he made one FT. He was called for an offensive foul knocking down Harden under the paint. He swung through on Green to draw FTs, he missed both, however. He sank a sideline three on iso. He missed a three next time down. He missed a tough, windmilling reverse trying to spin it in around the collapsing help D. He sank a pull-up, fading bank with 4 minutes left up by 6. Close blocking foul called when he tried to take a charge on Durant (bang-bang play, advantage Durant). He missed a wing face-up jumper on the next possession. He was fouled intentionally, he made one FT.

Gasol -- -- The high post game helped get the Lakers a few points against the post-fronting D of the Thunder. Good thing Pau had dialed that in during the regular season. The Thunder send so much help when Pau does get those low-post touches that he seems to rush things or is unable to get easy looks. The versatility of his game (which is ideal for the triangle), enabled him to still get big numbers. Defensively, he and Drew combined for 7 blocked shots. Great help D, including a lot of work on the two-man game on the perimeter. Our bigmen need to hustle back as much as possible after a missed shots. The Thunder push the break with speed. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-14 shooting (5-5 from the line) to go with 13 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and just 1 foul in 39 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He swished a turnaround from the midpost to start the Laker scoring. He missed a layup off the corner entry. He was hit on a jumper with no call. He dunked off the quick hit pass from Lamar out of a timeout. He tracked down an Artest miss, kicked it back out to him and Artest sank the three. He rejected Green's drive on help D. He muscled in an And-1 jumper after swinging through with the shotclock low, he made the FT. He missed a lefty jumphook (looked rushed). He was blocked from behind and wanted the foul. He slammed off the drive and dish from Shannon. Second Half: He sank a face-up wing jumper. He interfered on a Bynum jumphook, trying to tap it in before it came off the rim. He drained a 19-footer from the wing. Good post position in early offense and it looked like he should have drawn FTs on the corner entry pass and foul. He sank a tough elbow jumper on the inbounds pass instead. He had 15 points on 7-13 shooting after three quarters. He drew FTs getting hit in the head slightly on a turnaround jumper, he made both. He missed a baseline jumper, dunk the other way. He was fouled intentionally, he made both FTs. He swatted Collison out of bounds.

Bynum -- -- The Big Question. How would Bynum look in his return to the Purple and Gold after so many games off? Drew was a massive one-man wrecking ball in 15 minutes per half. He swatted shots, threw down a posterizing dunk, secured the glass and even gave a hard foul to Durant and a forearm to Green who knocked him down from behind (Bynum: "I wasn't going to just let that happen without retaliating. That's just part of being aggressive and letting people know and having a presence out there.") This is the Bynum the Lakers want and need. His injury seemed to not be a factor, but he'll need to see how it responds. Right now, he's focused on getting back into game shape. "My conditioning was a problem out there. I got super tired, but I'm just fighting through it," Bynum said after an impressive first half. When we left the Pau/Drew combo weeks ago, they were both showing the ability to drop double-doubles in the same game. The team needs to keep working the ball to them and those numbers should hold up. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-10 shooting (1-3 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 4 blocks, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 30:28. He was a +9. The Action: He hit a jumphook on his first touch on the right block. He missed a short bank with the D collapsing on him. He cut off the Pau double team and scored a layup. He took exception to what he thought was a cheap shot from Green that landed Bynum on the floor from behind, so he got to his feet and gave Green a forearm (lucky he didn't draw a whistle). Sensational rejection on help D to save a layup a few plays later. He missed a jumphook on the right block. He blocked Durant on help D. He took the corner entry from Pau, pivoted and posterized Krstic with a monster jam that drew the bench and the rest of Staples to their feet (high fives, Thunder timeout, chest bumps...Drew is back). Hard foul on Durant's drive. He took the Kobe drive and dish and slammed over a defender, And-1. He had 9 points, 5 boards and 2 blocks in 15 minutes. Second Half: He took the high post pass, Kobe went mid post to get the ball from him, Bynum went under the hoop to take the pass and draw FTs, he missed both (might see more of this next game). Nice challenge on Westbrook's attack get a piece of the ball. His jumphook bank was interfered by Pau. He hit a short jumphook off the Kobe drive and dish. He missed a tough fade with the offense bogged down, but Ron cleaned it up. He missed trying to power up against the shotclock. He sealed the fronting defender, grabbed the miss by Shannon and dunked it back in (when the perimeter players shoot because of the fronting D, the bigs have to do precisely this). He wrapped up his man under the hoop after he couldn't recover, but no FTs given up.

Artest -- -- The Lakers neutralized the Thunder's first option -- Kevin Durant, who after the game called his performance "discouraging." It may not happen every game, but it was certainly a main factor in the Lakers win today. Durant had 10 points on 4-12 shooting in the first half and 14 points on 3-12 shooting in the second half. Consistent D and he was never able to get into any flow. Very few easy field goals. He made his living on the freethrow line. In the half-court settings, Ron and his help defenders clogged the lanes and helped off the screens. "Ron's one of the better defenders," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "If you let him stay close to your body, you're going to have trouble moving. We have to do a better job of setting better screens, and K.D.'s going to do a better job of running him off of those screens." Unfortunately, Ron matched Durant's 1-8 three shooting with an identical number. The DFish/Artest perimeter duo combined for 4-14 from three and 7-23 shooting. Poor numbers, for sure, and one of the reasons why the Lakers didn't crack 90...but Fish's three shooting saved that duo today. Ron has been making only about 25 percent of his threes the past few weeks. Despite Ron's 5 fouls, it didn't eliminate much of his playing time. The Stats: He had 7 points on 3-11 shooting (1-8 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 39:50. The Action: He posted up Durant, spun and scored a layup around the help D. Bogus foul, Durant hit Artest with the ball on his move, throwing Durant off balance. He stumbled backward and gave up the three to Durant. He missed a sideline three, Pau got it back and went right back to him and Artest sank the three from the wing. He posted up and worked the pinch post with Shannon to set him up for a jumper. His interior pass was picked off, dunk the other way. He swiped the ball from Durant from behind, saving a sure hoop off a Fisher turnover. His three was blocked. He missed a three straight away on the Kobe kickout, And-1 layup in transition the other way. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He missed a wide open three. He put back in a missed Bynum jumper. He missed a corner three left open. He picked up his fourth foul trying to slap the ball away from Durant, he didn't like the call. He tied up Durant after Drew got a nice reach in, jumpball. Near airball by Durant with Ron stayed tight on him with 3 minutes left, lead just 6. He missed a big wing three on the other end, but Pau drew a foul battling for it. He missed a wing jumper with 2 minutes left.

Fisher -- -- Phil seems to be locked in on having DFish cover Westbrook like Ron covers Durant. This is going to be a tough match-up to survive. Westbrook started taking it to Fisher at the end of the first half, scoring 8 straight points and reeling in a big Laker lead. Whenever the Lakers missed a shot, Westbrook was at the rim at the other end scoring. Somehow, they've got to get him slowed in order to get the defense set. In the half court, the Lakers wanted Westbrook to beat them from the perimeter off the screens instead of getting into the paint. They did a much better job there, although vulnerable to the mid-range game. It seemed like when Bynum was in the game, they did a better job of controlling the penetration. Offensively, the 3-6 shooting from beyond the arc is huge. The Lakers have got to have one of DFish/Artest be a threat. Hopefully, the slower schedule of the playoffs will help DFish keep his legs. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-12 shooting (3-6 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35:20. He was a +10. The Action: He missed an 18-footer. He missed a corner three in early offense, led to transition FTs the other way. He attacked and bricked badly, layup the other way. He popped out behind a screen and missed a wing jumper. He attacked in early offense and scored a layup. He swished a three when we couldn't make a post entry pass. He sank another three when Kobe drew the D and kicked. He drew a moving screen call on the other end. He was picked from behind in the backcourt but Ron swiped it back to save him. After stealing the ball, he missed a layup on the break (fed Kobe too soon and Kobe had make Fisher the finisher). He couldn't make the post entry and he missed a long three, bad possession. He didn't hit iron trying to beat the shotclock on a drive. Second Half: He picked up a couple of cheap loose-ball fouls on one possession (lame calls). He drew a moving screen call. Dagger three with 1:30 left in early offense when the D tried sag on Kobe.

Lamar -- -- With the return of Bynum, Lamar has to go back to impact ball from the bench. He struggled with that today, not finding a lot of opportunities offensively and picking up a couple of charges when he tried to use his mobility to attack. The foul troubles eventually caught up with him and he fouled out. He needs to be very selective with his perimeter game so that it doesn't turn into long boards and run-outs. He has to be careful on the drive because Collison can beat you to the spot near the hoop. That leaves his post game and passing game. Both of those should start to find some focus as the series goes on. Still, the bench today not only held leads at times, they increased them. Big minutes to hold the line by LO's second-unit squads. "There is no guy you can bring off the bench that has the versatility of Lamar Odom," said Jon Barry about LO. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 6 fouls in 25:30. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He flashed to the post, took the pass and quickly hit Pau for the dunk. Nice board between two Thunder players. He was tripped with no call and forced to burn a timeout. He was called for a charge on a drive. He couldn't power up a layup under the rim. Second Half: He attacked off the Shannon kickout and banked in the runner. He missed a corner three. He drew FTs with 2.3 left in the third, driving past Durant, he made both FTs. He sank a big three to push the lead back up to 11 with 5 minutes left. He fouled out on another drive that Collison rotated to take the charge.

Brown -- -- Very nice energy off the bench on both ends. He was more selective offensively, shooting out of the offense or when he had to create with the clock low. No quick chucks that play right into the Thunder's game plan. Defensively, he brought energy and helped the bench survive. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 2 offensive boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He sank a baseline jumper off the Artest post. He attacked and hit Pau for a dunk. Second Half: He swished a fading pull-up jumper off the two-man game. He missed a baseline jumper. He smothered his man on the sideline, then stole the ball. He missed a fading jumper against the shotclock.

Farmar -- -- He came in with a minute left in the first quarter and didn't show any signs of the tweaked hammy. Great sign. His minutes were limited, but so were his mistakes. His two fourth-quarter hoops were a big boost for the bench and one forced a Thunder timeout. The second units ran with two and three impact players today. Makes a huge difference than running the deep bench lineups. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 10 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He was called for an over-the-back foul. He was called for a charge trying scoop a layup around a defender (Phil didn't like the call), Farmar should pull up for the easy bank that he's usually money on from 12 feet out. Looked like he tried to lob to Bynum or he airballed a runner. He swiped a post entry on the other end. Second Half: He hit a baseline jumper off the split play. He drilled a wing three off the kickout from Luke, forcing a Thunder timeout. Nice challenge on Durant's jumper to help force an airball.

Luke -- -- He came in with a minute left in the third when Ron picked up his fourth foul. It will be tough for Ron to hold the line against a whistle-magnet like Durant. When Kobe can, he'll slide over, but Luke is going to have his hands full. Hopefully, he can make up for some of the potential problems with this match up by helping the offense flow. Ball movement and getting the ball to bigmen are key to how the Thunder are fronting and zoning. Luke is very good at that. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, had 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 5 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He tapped out an offensive board. He attacked the middle of the D and kicked to Farmar for the wing three. He didn't draw iron a floater, but it may have been a pass to a big. His next one-handed pass was deflected, otherwise it would have been a dunk for Drew.

Powell -- -- A brief stint for Powell when the Lakers tried to protect their bigs from some foul potential foul issues. Powell helped the Lakers regain a possession that led to a dunk. The Stats: He was a -2 in 1 minutes of action. The Action: He helped keep an offensive board alive and it led to a Pau dunk. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Phil -- -- The Lakers were ready to play today... Aside from DFish, of course, everyone else worked in the post to start the game. The Lakers pulled out to a 10-4 start after 5 minutes forcing a timeout... The Thunder were fronting the post, zoning and helping. Phil called a timeout, brought in Lamar after 8 minutes and the first play was an LO-to-Pau sequence for a dunk to exploit the situation... The Lakers led 27-13, keeping the Thunder to 5-19 shooting in the first quarter. Their lowest output all season... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Artest, Shannon, Farmar unit in the second quarter... Their lead was cut to 10 and Phil called a timeout after 2 minutes... The moment Westbrook returned to the game, Phil subbed Farmar out and Fish back in... Durant came in and Phil immediately sat Shannon for Ron... Phil sat Bynum after 7 minutes this stint... With a minute left, Phil slid Kobe onto Durant and brought in Powell and Shannon... The Lakers led by as many as 17, but the Westbrook attack at the end of the half cut the lead to 8 points (while Drew was resting, too). A 15-6 run for the Thunder to close the half... The Lakers led 47-39 at the half. The Lakers shot 41 percent (4-12 from three), the Thunder 44 percent (2-9 from three). The Lakers had 5 more rebounds. Both teams had 22 points in the paint... The Lakers struggled with Westbrook's speed in transition. Anytime the perimeter players missed a long jumper, 2 points the other way... Phil went to Shannon and Lamar for Fisher and Bynum... When Ron picked up his fourth and Kobe was resting, Phil went to Luke on Durant with a minute left in the third... The Lakers led 64-56 heading into the fourth... "They're scoring off fastbreaks -- turnovers and missed shots," Phil said. He wanted the Lakers to do a better job of walling off Westbrook in transition... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Luke, Shannon Farmar unit. Only two impact players this time... Some solid D, including forcing the Thunder's third 24-second violation... Big cheer for the bench unit after Phil brought back in Kobe and Ron, extending to an 11-point lead after 4 minutes... After 7 minutes, Phil sat Bynum for Pau... Kobe, Fish and Pau kept the Thunder at a distance. Ron missed a couple of good looks in the final minutes.. The Thunder shot 40.3 percent (29-72, 2-16 from three, 19-24 from the line). The Lakers shot 41 percent (32-78, 8-22 from three, 15-22 from the line... The Lakers had 9 blocks, the Thunder 3... Phil is 44-0 when his team wins the first game of a playoff series...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Dominating first quarter from the Lakers. The Thunder spent all game trying to recover from it.

[LakerLanny]

First!
_________________
Love, Laker Lanny

[DancingBarry]

Sorry for the delays. Traveling today and running late.

[10scott10]

It was a great game to go to. Crowd was electric and bynum was beasting. Hopefully Artest and kobe can find their shots, becuase if bynum and pau can keep up this level of play, we would be unstoppable

[LakerJosh]

Fo Sho.

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Good to see Gasol bring that mid-range game today. We desperately need some consistent perimeter shooting to help space the floor.

Would want to see a hard, playoff foul on Westbrook when he attacks the rim. Send a message somehow, someway that you can't just breeze in here anymore.

[Michlake]

Spell Check: "wand" should be want in the 4th line of the Bynum section.

[DancingBarry]

[srm90]

That one block that Bynum made in the first quarter was awesome.
_________________

[night89]

You know, people say we won in spite of Bynum last year, I'd say we'll win in spite of Phil this year(and arguably last year.) I mean, people blame Dr Buss for not spending more on a point, but really, we signed Brown to be that starting point guard. It's not his fault that Phil is misusing him(God, I wish we had fired him and hired JVG, because I feel like we can match up perfectly and have a chance against everyone. It feels like we're just giving away the championship, if we continue down this path, with Phil and Fisher.)

As far as Drew, while many people are impressed by his performance, I was actually expecting more. I was expecting 20 and 15 against a guy like Kristic, but he wasn't as big as I envisioned, so I guess 13 and 12 was the result.

I'm of the belief that we need him to be prime-Shaq to be able to overcome the Cavs and the refs, and that's not exactly close. Remember, due to Phil's misuse of our talent, it's the "difference between him and the numbers that Odom would put in his place" that will determine his impact, not his total numbers. So far, we are not better than last year at all, as evident by the fact that we only beat the Thunder by 8, despite his "great game"(by normal standards, but at this point, we simply need a lot more.) I mean, he hasn't been able to make up for Kobe's injury yet, much less Fisher.

Anyway, back to Phil, to me, we are basically paying him 12 million to play the best players as many minutes as possible, and he can't even do that right(not talking about Bynum, I can see the logic for that, but Brown and Fisher.) So far, he can't even get Artest to "raise his game"(hint hint), so right now, I would rank him in the bottom half, out of all the playoffs coaches. I mean, we can't have Artest bricking wide open shots, while JR is knocking down 35-footers without fear, if we want to win.

I will say this, Phil, you can overcome the Cavs(or the Nuggets, though let's hope that if we show it against them, the Cavs don't learn it), in spite of Fisher, as long as you can figure out certain mental tricks that'll allow your players to make more "contested shots" than the opponent(like how SVG was able to overcome the refs and the Cavs last year.) For example, take a look at Drew's game today. Out of his 4 misses, one was because he was worried about 3-sec, one was a jumper because the shot clock was winding down, one was because he was afraid to miss, none of it was actually great defense. There was no reason at all for him to panic, in any of those situations. All of it was just beating himself.

I mean, so what if a shot is "contested," as long as it's not blocked, then it can be made. Pau seems to have this philosophy down pat, as evident by how calm he is on his jumpers. And if you watch Duncan, sometimes, he doesn't even look at the basket, he just "feels" it. Basically, any shot that isn't blocked can be made, as long as you don't worry about anything.

And since most teams can only block about 10% of the shots, in theory, it's entirely possible for a team to shoot 90%, as long as one can figure out how to overcome the actual "great contests." Now I've said before that I'd save this for the Finals, but it seems that we may have trouble getting past the Nuggets, so I'll point that out now. The key, IMO, is to "expect the great defense." For example, let's say you're a "healthy Kobe," and you're dribbling with a guy in front of you, let's say that this guy is a VERY long and great defender(I'm just trying to paint a well-defended situation here, because in theory, this defender doesn't exist, probably should use Fisher instead), in other words, Kobe knows that if he goes up, he will be well-contested. And Kobe can't beat him off the dribble, because he's so long that he can keep his distance. What do you do if you're Kobe? The key, IMO, is to "welcome the challenge," instead of being "impressed" by the defender and alter your shot. In other words, shoot it like you "expect to get challenged," instead of "thinking" things like "oh no, I'm going to get well-contested," because that thought is enough to cause the miss. In fact, it may be the reason to cause most misses, as opposed to the defender's hand.

Try to envision Fisher using this "mental strategy." This goes the same for Drew as well. If and when he faces Shaq, always go towards him, if you miss, then you miss. Just don't get intimidated by his size and fall away on your hooks, or anything.

To me, there are no reasons why Pau or Bynum shouldn't shoot at least 70%. They almost always have the size advantage, which means that they rarely get blocked, which means that they should make most of their shots. I mean, if Drew gets intimidated by Nick Collison, then that isn't going to bode well against Nene and Shaq.

Finally, I would suggest this team to lock themselves in the gym, in the next couple of weeks. If we are not in prime condition, then we could be facing an unceremoneously exit in the next round, which IMO, is the real WCF(the term 2nd round has no meaning, when teams are separated by as little wins as this, it comes down to match ups), unless Phil figures out more mental tricks, as I pointed out above.

[Qsmiff]

[999]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Thanks DB for the work while traveling

Re: Phil as the coach
One will always get the naysayers on anybody, even a coach that has won ten rings. I'm waiting for the arguments, but one can't argue with the rings that he has

Re: Walling Off the Paint
Phil mentioned this phrase, could somebody probably some specific deetails on how Phil wants this to work?

Re: DFish
He is getting "old in the tooth" but with screens rubbing off DFish and no help coming - he is a little helpless. It appears that he is trying to funnel Westbrook one way but he is just driving by the bigs (especially LO) on his way to the hole. I addition, I hope that in the next game that they will give hard and clean fouls to put Westbrook on the floor to let him know the punishment he will be getting everytime he is going to the basket. (ala what happened to CP3 the last time he was in the playoffs). If they are able to make Westbrook reconsider always driving the paint, it will stall the Thunders' offense and make him concentrate on the part of the game that he is weaker in - his outside shooting.

[MedRomLaker]

Thanks DB! one down 15 to go! PS: I love that fisher had the highest +/-
_________________
11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

4/30/14 the day the ant left the building!!!!!!

[Klone_dd]

Kobe was right. It wasn't pretty. Mainly, I thought his game was not very good. Bad finger and all, his lack of efficiency really hurt the team. As he tried to close out the game, he neglected the post and he kept misfiring both on the perimeter and at the line. Pau had 4 shots in the 2nd half. Definitely not enough, expecially when he's hitting the midrange shots. OKC has no one to contain him, but the Lakers perimeter guys do a good job of keeping him uninvolved.

Pau and Bynum played big on both ends. Bynum looked beastly. If you're only going to get 30 minutes, make the most of them.

Fish got torched. Nothing new there. Westbrook always seems very confident that he can get to his spots and just rise up. Give that kid a running start and it's almost impossible to stop him. Fish, to his credit, was able to hit a big shot in the 4th.

JoFar and Shannon played under control and were key to keeping OKC at bay. They do play better at home, don't they?

[Addicus]

Nice write up DB. Thanks.
_________________
Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[limchrc]

Thanks, nice win.

[Rodman28]

Thanx!
_________________
*On Thin Ice*

I guess I am kind of injury prone.- Andrew Bynum

These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.- Kobe Bryant

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB

[RVCdesigns]

GREAT WIN, THANKS DB!

[Rick12322]

Thanks, DB. Yu da man! Even if you are feeling uʍop ǝpısdn.

[SoCaLjAy]

Thanks DB, great write-up as usual. It was a good game to start the series with the Lakers grinding out a defensive, playoff style game.

[wolfpaclaker]

Happy to see that things are going as I expected.

When in the playoff atmosphere and the pressure is there to win, the Lakers brought that intensity that was lacking most of the regular season.

The big question is can they sustain this? Will they let down once they get leads in series (Think back to the Houston series).

I think we should be back in the Finals and I've been saying this all year. We are the best team in the West ... by far. The big thing is we need to stay focused even when ahead in the series. No coasting or thinking that showing up will get it done. If they do the latter ... I expect them back in the Finals, but with a lot of Houston like series coming up. Even this series as much as it looks like in LA's favor only really starts when LA plays at OKC.

[wolfpaclaker]

As for the game - was happy to see Bynum have such a great playoff game. This was by far his best playoff game. People have been questioning his status as a starter and what his value is to the team all year ... yesterday we saw that.

His presence alone changes the depth and how big we play. It's just about focus now.

The boys need to stay motivated to win the ring. 1 down, 15 more to go. Keep it simple ... game by game. I haven't lost faith in this team all year. They have what it takes. Just bring the damn intensity/urgency.

[maddprophet]

it seems to me that shannon matches up quite well with westbrook. i think we should see alot more of this matchup as the series goes on.
_________________
Spark the ism, my expertism, is lyracism, my flow will take you over like I was hypnotism...so where's the lighter, to start the cypher....