09 NBA Finals- Lakers Vs Magic series thread

[binkar]

Awesome play drawn up by Van Gundy at the end of the 4th. Use Howard as a decoy and give the rookie a chance to win it. Hopefully he doesn't become Nick Anderson and lose the ability to make layups.

Agreed. I can't stand Van Gundy, but that was a great play.

Man this thread makes me look like I hate everyone and everything! I promise I am not one of those toxic people with a bitter disposition.

 

[D-Dogg]

Nice. Kobe with 9.1 left on the clock takes it 1 on 4 and gets blocked from behind.

Pass it to the open guys !!!

You mean like in the OT when he makes the sick pass to Pau up the middle for the and one that effectively ended the game (and allowed me to breathe again)?

The end of regulation play was designed to have Kobe go 1-5 and get a shot off, regardless of whether it is a good call or not, it's what it is. The "open guys" weren't in the right spots, either. Why was Lamar in the corner three spot? That's not his zone...if Fish was there, yeah...pass the ball. But not LO (much as I love him, I'll take contested Kobe 2 over three in the corner from LO any day). That was the call, you deal. I didn't like the decision to take it from full court on that one either. They could have run some good stuff in the half court to get a MUCH better look for Kobe off screens for an elbow jumper instead of that ISO ball. But that's on Phil as much as Kobe. Not a lot of creativity in the endgame there.

 

[elindholm]

Bryant 1-on-5 as the clock is running down is one of the best endgame plays there is. Nothing works every time.

 

[TJ]

Agreed. I can't stand Van Gundy, but that was a great play.

Man this thread makes me look like I hate everyone and everything! I promise I am not one of those toxic people with a bitter disposition.

Dont worry, when I hear "Lakers" or "Kobe" I spit nothing but puke and vitriol. I'm not a very pleasant person to be around when the Lakers are relatively successful; just ask my wife, who happens to be a Laker fan.

 

[TJ]

Awesome play drawn up by Van Gundy at the end of the 4th. Use Howard as a decoy and give the rookie a chance to win it. Hopefully he doesn't become Nick Anderson and lose the ability to make layups.

IIRC, it was the two missed FTs at the end of game one that was his demise for the rest of the finals and his career for that matter

 

[D-Dogg]

Dont worry, when I hear "Lakers" or "Kobe" I spit nothing but puke and vitriol. I'm not a very pleasant person to be around when the Lakers are relatively successful; just ask my wife, who happens to be a Laker fan.

Your wife is AWESOME!

 

[TJ]

Your wife is AWESOME!

You want her?? I can offer her in a trade of some sort. Make me an offer.

She's a med student, and a Cards fan, so the offer has to be enticing

 

[D-Dogg]

LOL. I'm good. This isn't Big Love.

 

[binkar]

LOL. I'm good. This isn't Big Love.

While I am listing things I hate in this thread... add that show to the list.

 

[cly2tw]

Agreed! They also need Howard to be more of a scoring threat. I lost $30M on his lack of scoring tonight.

Howard is not Amare, my friend!

 

[Ronin]

 

[Russ Smith]

Awesome play drawn up by Van Gundy at the end of the 4th. Use Howard as a decoy and give the rookie a chance to win it. Hopefully he doesn't become Nick Anderson and lose the ability to make layups.

I actually think Lee is getting too much blame? Yes that's not an easy pass to make either but the pass was too low and led Lee towards going out of bounds under the backboard. If the pass was higher, Lee would have dunked the ball. It was low so he had to drop his hands to catch it, and then with momentum taking him towards under the basket he tried to turn and lay it in. Now yes it's a shot an NBA player CAN make, but I don't think it's gimme.

I just saw Avery Johnson on ESPN claim most NBA players can make that 5 out of 10 times with their eyes closed but I don't agree the problem there was his momentum took him to where he wound up overlaying the shot.

Now the shot he missed with 10 seconds left was a gimme, 2 footer going right at the rim, he saw Gasol coming and overshot the ball.

 

[mojorizen7]

Awesome play drawn up by Van Gundy at the end of the 4th. Use Howard as a decoy and give the rookie a chance to win it. Hopefully he doesn't become Nick Anderson/Dan Majerle/Jason Richardson and lose the ability to make layups.

FTFY

 

[187]

Ugh...it pains me severely to see the Lakers in great position to win a ring. I hate that team.

 

[Ronin]

Game 3
Orlando is shooting 76% from the field, but they still trail by two.
Lakers 41
Magic 39
7:43 to go in the second half

 

[D-Dogg]

magic can't keep this torrid shooting up all game. It has to cool off sometime. Lakers just need to keep hammering away.

 

[Proteus]

Game 3
Orlando is shooting 76% from the field, but they still trail by two.
Lakers 41
Magic 39
7:43 to go in the second half

How very Phoenix Sunsesque.

 

[D-Dogg]

I'm ecstatic on where the Lakers are right now. I had written this one off as a loss going in...the Magic are pumped as I expected, but they are on record FG% pace and we're within 5 points at the half. Kobe will cool off in the second probably, but they definitely will. If they don't cool off, it will be the single greatest team performance I've ever seen, and a well deserved win. I'm thinking a down to the wire game, which is all you want as a road team up 2-0..a shot to win it.

This is an incredibly exciting game.

 

[Proteus]

Lakers down 54-59 after the 2nd quarter. The Magic are shooting 75% with 4/9 3 pointers. They hit 13/16 (81%) of their shots in the 2nd quarter after hitting 11/16 shots (69%) in the 1st quarter. Wow. The Lakers are shooting a paltry 54% with 4/10 3 pointers.

The Lakers have committed 5 turnovers, Magic 6.

The Lakers have 4 offensive rebounds, Magic 1.

The Lakers have hit 6/9 free throws, Magic have hit 7/10 free throws.

 

[D-Dogg]

ariza needs to slash more...it will open up his three point looks.

 

[D-Dogg]

Kobe missing a crazy amount of free throws.

Alston is ON FIRE!!!

 

[mojorizen7]

Why do defenders constantly leave their feet when guarding Kobe? Its one thing to contest the shot of say a....Derek Fisher or 90% of the other guys in the NBA , but with Kobe its almost a waste of energy and plays right into his hands.
Dumb.

 

[D-Dogg]

they cooled a bit but gained a point....good quarter for the Magic. They came out with MUCH better defense.

Let's go Lakers...big road fourth quarter!!!

Fun game. Laker haters have their teeth bared Kobe style right now.

 

[Proteus]

Lakers down 75-81 after the 3rd quarter. The Magic shot only 47% in the 3rd quarter but the Lakers shot 39%.

 

[D-Dogg]

Why do defenders constantly leave their feet when guarding Kobe? Its one thing to contest the shot of say a....Derek Fisher or 90% of the other guys in the NBA , but with Kobe its almost a waste of energy and plays right into his hands.
Dumb.

Because he's freaking amazing offensively, and if they don't contest, he drills the J. Jump and he kills you, don't and he kills you. Just gotta try to contest and hope he misses.

Battier is so good guarding him because he doesn't contest the shot, he contests Kobe himself and he doesn't give up the pump fake. Most players won't allow him mentally to drill it over him, Shane does and overall he does a good job. Let him get them, but don't let him punk you. Must be murder guarding that guy.