CELTICS -at- LAKERS - 6/10 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Win No. 13 - Kobe and The Machine... The two Laker gunners threw daggers at the Celtics all night long. Good thing because we didn't get much production from anyone else. The Lakers, who are undefeated at home in the playoffs and haven't lost in Staples since March, took to the floor to defend home court for the first time in the series. They clamped down defensively, holding the Celtics to just 35 pecent shooting and taking their first win of the Finals 87-81.

"Our first half defense was exceptional," Phil said. Holding the Celtics to 37 points, the Lakers had a 6-point lead at the half behind an aggressive Kobe ... but we could have led by twice that had we hit our freethrows. Kobe and Pau struggled from the line badly. (That's actually the good news. It's doubtful the two will leave 12 points at the line again.)

The Celtics fought back in the third quarter by going into the post and they eventually took the lead. Both Lamar and Pau didn't get their first field goals of the game until late in that third quarter. Thankfully, there was help from the bench.

Sasha Vujacic had 20 points on 7-10 shooting, including a critical late-game three. He was peppered with questions afterward. "Whatever you ask me, it's a team win, the way we played," Sasha said. The Machine is programmed properly to give his teammates credit.

The game took place after the previously one-sided freethrow numbers and shortly after ex-ref Tim Donaghy accused the NBA of fixing games to extend a series. This was brought up by the ABC broadcast at halftime. "Clearly, as the date of sentencing gets closer, the things that he throws against the wall haven't stuck," David Stern said, "he's rehashing a variety of things." He called the allegations "baseless."

Not getting calls in Boston, the Lakers were hopeful that the officiating would favor them at home. Kobe attacked from the opening tip and returned to the charity stripe with more frequency in this game. This was a big change and may have a lot to do with how well we held things down on the defensive end. Freethrows allow us to set up D. Freethrows allow the team to feel it's not 8 on 5.

"Undoubtably it's the leadership of Kobe Bryant out there," Phil said about how we got the W. "He was aggressive right from the start."


Kobe -- -- Kobe went to the line 18 times. "It felt like I was in foreign territory because I hadn't been there for so long," he said after missing 7 of those attetmpts. He looked more confident from the start that he would get the calls and took it to the Celtics. Late in the game, the Celts were trapping in an effort to get the ball out of his hands. This resulted in one of the key makes when Kobe hit Lamar and Lamar found Sasha for a three. It's those kinds of extra passes that you have to make against the Celtics. Kobe can draw a crowd against them, but their rotation on help D is good. The second pass has to come quickly. Look for more aggression from Kobe in the next game, but there may be an added emphasis to get Pau going. Defensively, Phil made a key change. He started Kobe on Rondo and Fish on Allen. While Allen went off, Kobe's help D and sagging helped bog things down for the Celtics. They tried to counter with a shooter in House, but our D maintained its intensity. The switch up also allowed for some cross matches in transition and the Celtic PGs had issues dealing with Kobe. The Stats: He scored 36 points on 12-20 shooting (1-2 from three, 11-18 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 45 minutes. The Action: He was hit from behind on his first shot and airballed. He was stripped with no call and smacked his hands and stared at the refs. He spun on Rondo in the post and powered up a layup. He missed a throwdown, got it back and drew a foul under the paint, he made both FTs. He pulled up in transition and drew a foul on Rondo, he made one FT. He was fouled trying to throw down on a bustout with DFish, he missed both FTs. He was hit from behind on a jumper with no call. He hit an elbow jumper. He picked up a handcheck foul on Allen, in the bonus he shot FTs, making both. He slapped a ball from Rondo to ignite the break. He was called for a travel. He scrapped the offense, attacked the paint and scored a layup. He missed a three. He had 11 points in the first quarter (shot 5-8 from the line). He hit a pull-up in semi-transition. He posted up, took contact in a crowd and got to the line, he made both FTs. He sized up the defenders in transition, attacked and scored the layup in traffic. He sank an elbow pull-up over Allen. He tried to create off the dribble, got reached on to lose the ball and screamed at the ref for a foul and was T'd up. He attacked off the dribble with speed on the isolation clear out and drew FTs, he missed both again. Arrgh! Kobe scored 19 points on 6-10 shooting, going 7-12 from the line. Second Half: He attacked Allen with speed and banked a runner. He missed a contested jumper. He attacked, spun and hit a 10-footer in the lane. He was blocked by Perkins, but got it back. He spun and threw a pass away. He attacked and drew FTs, getting Pierce's fourth foul, he made just one. He hit Lamar cutting for a layup. He fouled Allen on a three. He probed, spun, hung and hit in the lane. He had 7 points on 3-5 shooting in the third quarter. Bad choice to go with a turnaround on the baseline with no help D behind his man. He attacked on the wing and drew FTs at the rim, he made just one. He missed a layup in the lane. He drained an open three on a kickout from Luke. He attacked in semi-transition and drew FTs, going back to the line with 6 minutes left and a 3-point lead, he made both and pumped his fist. He got caught on some moving screens by KG with no call to free up Pierce. He and Salvatore had a heated discussion about a perimeter touch foul on Pierce. Kobe then went for the kill down the stretch. He worked the clock down and hit a top-of-the-key jumper. He got Allen into the popcorn machine on an up-fake and hit the short leaner with 38 seconds left to lead by 6. Excellent job closing the game.

Gasol -- -- Horrible first half from Pau. He couldn't hit layups or freethrows. He struggled again in the third on both ends, getting posted up by the Celts. He finally stepped up in the final 7 minutes of the game, pulling down 6 boards and scoring 5 points in that stretch. A couple of those scores were putbacks off Lamar misses. Big plays. It was a miserable game, but Pau finally made an impact. So while the Celtics will focus on KG and Pierce not having big games, the Lakers will look for a bounceback game Pau, as well. KG, again, stuggled in this game...but I'm going to give a lot of that credit to Ronny's defensive work tonight. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting (3-8 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 39 minutes. The Action: He missed an open 12-footer. He scooped up a loose ball and drew a foul in the paint, he made one FT. He was swatted on a point-blank finish at the rim. He posted up Perkins and drew FT, he missed both. Back in the post on the next possession and he drew a reach foul on Pierce to get back to the line, he made only one. Horrible pass out of the post and it was easily picked off. He choked a point-blank layup off the two-man game with Fisher. He then bricked a high arching turnaround. He had 2 points on 0-4 shooting and 2-6 from the line to go with 4 boards. Second Half: He lost the dribble on a drive for a turnover. He finally scored his first field goal with under a minute left in the third, spinning and hitting a jumphook in the lane. He tipped in a Lamar missed reverse. He cleaned up a Lamar drive and miss out of a timeout. He sealed his man and took an entry from Fish and drew FTs, he made one with 3:37 left.

Lamar -- -- While we can be more confident that Pau will have a bounceback game, Lamar is another story. He struggled badly in this game, once again. More foul trouble sidelining him and more inability to take it to the Celtic's D. I think we need to use Lamar more as the set-up man. The guy who Kobe dumps it to, who draws a rotation defender and makes that extra pass to the open man. His best plays in this series have been looks to others off of those sequences. He had a big one late in the game to hit Sasha for that open three. Lamar had difficulty attacking with speed and finishing. That's a problem if we can't get that part of his game going. We can draw help defenders if he attacks Perkins with speed, so we will need to set up more sequences like that to get some fouls on Perkins. If he can't attack with speed, his next advantage is in the post against smaller or slower players. Defensively, I felt much more confident with Ronny out there tonight than Lamar. Phil made that switch to match up against Perkins when Lamar went out early and that worked out well. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-9 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 9 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 5 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He picked up his first foul a minute into the game. He missed a layup in transition. He attacked and dished to Vlad for three. He picked up his second foul and sat for Ronny midway through the first. Back in for a possession and he picked up his third foul on the defensive glass with 11:37 left in the half and sat. He didn't score on 0-1 shooting and had 4 boards in 7 first-half minutes. Second Half: He was stripped in the lane. He was blocked on the next possession. Good clock recognition off a tipped pass, he hit the rim on a three and we got it back. He finally scored, hitting a jumphook over KG in the lane. Perkins backed him down for an easy score. He missed a jumper. He sealed KG, took the pass from Kobe and scored a layup. He bricked a layup in transition. He was called for a charge on a spin move, and Phil sat him a couple minutes into the fourth. He swiped a pass in the lane. He missed a reverse, but Pau tipped it in. He got stripped on a drive. Out of a timeout, he attacked with speed off the handoff and missed a dunk, but Pau cleaned it up. He hit Sasha for the open three when the Celts trapped Kobe. He was called for a clear-out foul with 6 seconds left trying to attack.

Fisher -- -- He started out on Allen defensively, allowing Kobe to go on Rondo and play off him. Allen was able to hit a number of shots, but the celtics offense bogged down. Fish struggled with his shot, but he did manage to come up with a few key plays down the stretch to manufacture points at the line for himself and Pau. Farmar played a pretty strong game, but Phil went to DFish down the stretch and it worked out for us. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 1-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 28 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup. He swiped a pass, pushed it out and hit Kobe for FTs. He hit a wing jumper in transition off the Kobe steal. Second Half: He missed a jumper short. He missed a long contested jumper. He attacked in transition and nearly hit an And-1 off the glass, he made both FTs. He missed a big three, but got his own rebound back and fed Pau for FTs. He attacked in transition with 1:33 left and drew FTs, he made both.

Radmanovic -- -- More foul issues from Vlad and he was clearly frustrated. His foul troubles and Lamar's foul troubles made for some different lineups out there. Luke, Ronny and Ariza all picked up some minutes because of it. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board and 4 fouls in 13 minutes. The Action: He drained a sideline three on a kickout from Lamar. He missed a kickout three. He missed a runner in the lane. Vlad picked up three fouls in the first quarter, a couple cheap ones and sat. Second Half: He gave up an And-1 to Perkins, picking up his fourth on a long continuation call...pretty weak And-1.

Luke -- -- Doc said the drive and kick Luke made to Kobe for an open three was the play of the game. I don't know about that, but it was a big sequence. Luke struggled again with finishing layups and scoring, but something we didn't see this time was a Leon Powe scoring spree. Thank goodness. Luke got some key minutes in this game and the team actually played well while he was on the court. I'm going to say that was a coincidence, but he does defend better than Vlad at times. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting, grabbed 3 boards, dished 2 assists, had 1 block and 1 foul in 11 minutes. The Action: He drew a travel on Powe in the post. He choked a layup after a good ball fake and attack. He found Farmar cutting baseline for a reverse. He airballed trying to create over KG with the shotclock low. He missed with his left in the paint. He swatted Pierce's jumper, but got beat off the dribble for a layup. Second Half: He kicked out to Kobe for a three after Luke drew the D on a baseline attack.

Turiaf -- -- Some great D on KG, sitting tight on his turnaround and contesting it well. That may go unnoticed with all the other stuff going on, but the KG/Ronny matchup went in our favor. I want to see more, especially when the Celtics were intent on feeding the post. KG ended up shooting 6-21 for 13 points. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, didn't grab a board, but blocked 2 shots and had 3 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He missed a turnaround in the post. He roofed his man to force a miss in the paint. He played 11 minutes in the first half, defending KG well (KG shot 1-9 for 2 points in the first half). Second Half: Back in on KG and he blocked his turnaround in the post.

Farmar -- -- Excellent two-way game from Jordan. He was active offensively, but more importantly, he was active on the D end, too. He had a Fisher-esque charge late in the game on Pierce that was big. That needs to be part of his game. I stress it all the time, but with DFish as a mentor and with Farmar's speed, he needs to make that a trademark of his game. It will make such a big impact for his team. The coaches have been reluctant to let Farmar go up against Cassell, but they let him at it this time after Farmar had shown a few good possession in the previous game. Farmar stood ground and played him well. Once again, Farmar also got in on a blocked shot. Offensively, no big mistakes from Farmar and he moved the ball well. Keep it up. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 1 block and no turnovers or fouls in 20 minutes. The Action: He swatted Powe from behind on a switch under the hoop. Cassell tried to go at him, but Farmar held his own on the matchup early on. He scored a reverse off a nice Tri pass from Luke. Great effort for a defensive board, Brown hacked him and tried to stare him down. They picked up double techs. He missed a layup, too strong in the paint. He swished a wing three with a man rushing at him. Second Half: He missed a three on a kickout. He drew Pierce's fifth foul on a charge (Farmar's fifth charge all season, I believe), great job.

Vujacic -- -- If Sasha misses a shot, it's not going to affect his decision to shoot the next open one. "He's a little bit of a rock head," Phil said, talking about Sasha's trigger on his jumper. This rock-head-ness or confidence played into a key sequence where Sasha missed a three and then buried an open corner three on the next possession with 2 minutes remaining in the game. Huge make. Yes, the Sick Jumpers of Death were sick and deadly throughout the night. The Lakers just got 20 points from Sasha as well as scrappy D in the NBA Finals. That is insanely good production off the bench when we needed it in a bad way. "I thought Vujacic was the key to the game," Rivers said afterword. The Celtics will try to key in on him in the next game. The Lakers can use it to our advantage to open the floor. Afterward, Sasha put the focus on team play and his D. He wasn't happy with it and wanted to improve on it in the next game. Got to love The Machine. He and Kobe were offensive assassins. Hopefully, Sasha can continue to feed off the home crowd and connect like he did tonight. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 7-10 shooting (3-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He forced up a jumper on tight D and missed badly on his first attempt. He picked up an away-from-the-ball foul on Pierce and got to the line, he made just one FT. He was fouled trying to finish on the break, he made both FTs. Good challenge on Posey at the end of the quarter to force a miss. He drained an open three off some great ball movement that had the D scrambling. He drew a moving pick on Brown (second one of that defensive sequence...the Celtics did this all night). He sank a wing jumper out of a timeout after losing his man on a rush out. The Machine on iso on the next possession and he drained a step-back wing jumper. He sank a step-back corner jumper. He had 12 points on 4-5 shooting in the first half. Second Half: He swished a wing three on a set play to start the fourth quarter. He missed a good look at a three off a back screen set up out of a timeout. He swished a long wing two to tie the game up. He missed a big three with over 2 minutes left. He swished a huge three out of the corner when the Celts trapped Kobe...huge, huge make.

Ariza -- -- The Celtics tried to sag off him as soon as he entered the game. He promptly knocked down the jumper. Good to see. Unfortunately, the Lakers were a -6 when Ariza was in the game. Still, his athleticism can give the Celtics some issues. The Stats: He had 4 points on 2-3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and no fouls in 9 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: In for Vlad early in the third. The D sagged off him from the wing and he swished a jumper with his heels on the three line. He missed an open three. He slapped down a pass, attacked and scored the layup.

Phil -- -- The Lakers started off to a 9-2 start. Kobe was relentless in trying to get to the rim. He wanted to rock the house with a dunk, but was getting to the freethrow line... Lamar picked up a second foul midway through the first and Phil went with Ronny to match up with Perkins... The Celtics went on a 13-3 run and we were tied 20-20. We shot 5-18 in the first, the Celtics 8-25. The Celtics were credited with 5 blocks in the quarter, Kobe thought a couple of those were fouls... Phil left Kobe in with the second unit to start the second quarter. (He did that to start the fourth, too)... The Lakers pulled out to a 9-point lead after Farmar drained a three midway through the second quarter... Some bad play by Pau in the second quarter, missing layups and freethrows and the Celtics cut the lead. None of the Lakers could hit from the line and our lead was only 43-37. We shot just 12-22 from the line in the first half. Huge number of points left there. The Celtics shot 7 FTs. Defensively, Ronny did a great job on KG, helping keep him to 2 points on 1-9 shooting. We held the Celtics to 32 percent shooting... Rondo twisted an ankle early in the second half. Eddie House replaced him. Not a great match up for Kobe to roam against. Lakers came out the half sputtering on offense to start the third... Phil brought in Ariza for Vlad after a few minutes when Vlad picked up his fourth... The Celtics tied it up 49-49 and took the lead 51-49 on a 12-2 run. Phil called a timeout after the Celtics hit a three a few seconds later... We trailed 62-60 after three, scoring just 17 points in the third. We had a total of 13 points from all four of the starters around Kobe up until this point... "Their second-chance opportunities really hurt us this quarter," Phil said. He said the Lakers were off balance in the third and he had to use his timeouts. He didn't like the match ups and was concerned we weren't getting enough people involved... To start the fourth, Phil went with a Ronny, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup... Phil sat Lamar for Luke a couple minutes later... We got into the bonus with 8:20 left in the fourth... Ronny finally matches up against KG in the post, blocks his shot and a few possessions later we pull him and Farmar to go with a Pau, Luke, Kobe, Sasha, Fisher lineup... With a frantic pace and a 5-point lead, Phil called timeout to calm us down after a turnover by Lamar. Out of the timeout, we set up Lamar for a speed attack off a handoff, he missed but Pau cleaned it up... With 3 minutes left out of a timeout, Kobe didn't touch the ball and the Celtics got away with a foul on no call on Pau. Next couple possessions we let Kobe got to work to create for others... We led by 7 with 1:33 left after a Sasha three and Fish manufacturing FTs. We gave up an uncontested dunk out of the timeout... Kobe hit two key baskets to close the game... Phil credited both Kobe and Sasha after the game. "We couldn't have won the game without his help," Phil said of the Machine... Doc on Phil: "I'm just surprised he didn't whine about fouls tonight." If the Lakers are able to get home-court advantage from the line and take the next two games, I wonder if Doc will change his tune heading back into Boston. May we be so fortunate to find out... We need to watch the turnovers. The Celtics thrived whenever they got into transition for easy looks. They had 16 points off our 13 turnovers. Still, we didn't get killed. "we did a great job defensively," Kobe said. "We limited their transition threes."... We shot 21-34 from the line. The Celtics 15-22. We were out rebounded on the offensive glass 14-9, but we got a few big ones down the stretch...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Sasha led all Lakers with a +15. Luke managed to get a +12. You can see the massive stretch of ball in the first half where we played without Lamar. Rondo twisted his ankle and played only a few minutes in the second half. He was a -9.

[Doja]

Great game in a gutty must win! Awesome contribution as usual DB.

1st..

[japanesebeef1]

First ---- oops second.

DB. What a great recap! Thanks for your hard work.

[Aces25]

one minute too late.

[Magic'sSon]

4th!

[mike_dee23]

Great game from Sasha and all, but we'll need someone else to step up in game 4. I think the first win of the season against the Celtics will take a gorilla off the backs of LO and some of the other Lakers who haven't been performing well.

DB, right on about Farmar's impact. I think Phil actually went back to Fisher a little too early... Great recap again. You should seriously start a blog and put this on there after every game so I can RSS it.
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MTFBWYA

[DancingBarry]

[_SPANISH LEGEND_]

I dont understant why in this forum always when Pau and Lamar play horrible on ofense, here all you kill them, but when Kobe and the others play horrible like in the first 2 games, nooone here critic to da MVP....

[10scott10]

only two tomatos, really. only two. he deserved atleast 4, plus a devil

[City_Dawg]

DB your analysis is always appreciated.

I think Farmar is gonna get more burn after this game, which i think helps to keep Fisher, fresher, longer(HA!).

Odom needs to step up or at least not get into foul trouble so quickly,Vlad as well. I hope Ronny and Pau can continue to check KG or at least keep him on the perimeter.
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*sighs*

!...

[IPK]

Woosh! Now I can call it a night.

Couldn't go to bed without the proper (Lakers) dosage of Thoughts and Ratings-- from none other than, Dr. DB.

What up DB!
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Our tribute to Phil, the man behind LG

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[hoopschick29]

I'm really trying to sympathize with Lamar. But this is the finals. This is for all the marbles. You gotta at least show up. And all 3 games, he has just been ghost. I see the frustration, I see he wants to do well. But he's let the refs kill his spirit. I don't see any fight in Lamar. I only see the frustration and defeat. That's the difference between him Pau right now. Pau has had some bad stretches, but he's still fighting to push through it. And he has done an excellent job defensively on KG even though his own numbers have been subpar.

Sasha....what can I say but that I am finally a believer. Kobe was looking for somebody, ANYBODY, to roll with him tonight. Sasha stood up and ran with him. And we don't win tonight without him.
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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[mike_dee23]

[DancingBarry]

[Klone_dd]

Sometimes ya gotta win ugly. This was not one of those games that draws in casual watchers.

Kobe was awesomely inspiring. Relentless in his drives to the hoop and closing out the game as only he can do.

SJOD to the rescue! As much as Sasha annoys everyone else, I am really starting to like the kid. He has the guts to take big shots even if he takes a stupid shot just before. He also has the guts to stand up to Kobe and still make the next big shot.

JoFar was huge as well, leading the team in assists. His experience in the NCAA Finals when he kept being aggressive and hitting shots while no other UCLAn was has kept him focused and ready to contribute in the NBA Finals.

Pau's game was ugly, but he came up with some huge putbacks in the 4th.

LO's game was just plain fugly. It seems like, with everybody citing how physical the Celts are, LO figures he's gotta slap, grind and body up to prove he's tough too. Maybe he's trying too hard to be a physical force. In the other series, he didn't allow fouls to take him out of the game. In this series, he is. Relax, play smart and have a good time, LO.

I think a lot of the poor FT shooting by both sides can be attributed to only 1 day off after a crosscountry flight. Thursday's game will be better played.

[Sister Golden Hair]

lmar is a lost soul right now. I doubt it happens, but if i were coach i would consider bringing him off the bench because he's almost a net detrimet out there. maybe with less pressure he'll settle down. Start Ronny instead.

At least Ronny can hit a mid-range jumper.

Also, use Mbenga (or Mihm) to give Gasol a breather. Gasol looked gassed in the first quarter, and didn't pick up his energy till halfway through the fourth.

SGH

[_SPANISH LEGEND_]

[RYZ]

Thanks, DB.

Phil really needs to consider running Pau out of the high post a lot more. I don't think the Celtics will send Garnett out with him (if they do, great, it'll finally remove some of that lengthy congestion under the basket), and Pau will essentially be shooting free throws all night. Boston doesn't, under any circumstances, seem to be willing to give up their rugby scrum under the hoop, and we see it over and over again with Lamar, but Gasol, unlike Odom, can make them pay.

[Siguy]

Great recap as always. Thank god we won.

My worry is this (yes I'm a horrible mean-spirited pessimist): This is the type of game I expect us to have IN Boston for a win, not at home with everything on the line.

Odom and Gasol were terrible. Gasol also was weak on put-backs. He got two in the clutch, but one was a veritable accident and he had many more rebounding opportunities that didn't happen because he doesn't jump or box out.

The fact that we lost convincingly in Boston twice and won not convincingly at home is a horrible, horrible omen, but there's no use worrying about it now I guess. We got a win and now our guys know they can beat this team.

Bad Stuff: Pierce and Garnett aren't going to be this bad again, so Odom and Gasol can't be this bad again. But the bad news is that Odom and Gasol haven't had a good game yet, so I'm more confident in the Celtics guys stepping up than our own dudes, and that's a bad feeling.

Oh well, despite what anyone says, if we win game four we put tremendous pressure on the Celtics and guarantee that game six. We're still up against the wall, and the next game will determine whether we need to win two out of three with only one game on our home court, or whether we should start making snowboarding trip plans for our Vlade.

[mike_dee23]

BTW, Leon Powe had 1 point.
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MTFBWYA

[Siguy]

[LakerSanity]

Most of Lamar's offense was coming in transition or playing off the attention Kobe/Gasol garnered to get some easy points off their assists. However, the Celtics have done two things to us... taken away much of our transition game and made us much more of a one on one team. Because of that, LO struggles to get his points outside of a few offensive rebounds or a few lucky jump shots.

We really need to start passing the ball more and I agree with DB that one of the ways to do that is to use LO as a set up man.

Some observations/suggestions....
*Vlad should never be guarding Pierce or Allen and should only be in the game for offensive purposes guarding either Posey or Powe. Use him at PF if need be, but keep him off Pierce.
*Luke isn't doing much offensively (which is his only real purpose) and therefore, for defensive purposes, we should put Ariza in more often.
*What about a lineup where Ariza guards KG with either Kobe on Pierce/Sasha on Allen or Kobe on Allen/LO on Pierce?
*Gasol obviously can't outphysical Perkins or KG... so stop trying. Start making those midrange jumpshots and start using your face up game to get to the rim.
*Our team as a whole needs to do better at recognizing where the doubles and rotations are coming from, then swing the ball to the open man.
*We need to play more man on man D because we're helping needlessly too much (especially on Rondo/Perkins) leaving their shooters (Ray Allen) open.
*LO needs to focus on rebounding and defense... make those two elements the priority and then let your offense come to you from there.
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[_SPANISH LEGEND_]