I think what it comes dowm to is Kobe is an old 32. This is his 14th and the heart is still there, but I think this is the start of the decline for him. MJ played 15 seasons and took breaks twice and still was half the player in his last two with Washington.
While I'd agree in theory that Kobe is on the start of the decline, I don't think that has any impact on this series. If you watched the game last night Kobe wasn't the problem (other than twice on bad switches) and was active defensively with 3 or 4 steals. The issue in this series is a whole lot of Pau not being remotely there on either end of the court, Artest's shots looking like garbage, an ineffective bench, a lack of defensive communication, absolutely NOTHING from the PG spot from Fish or Blake, and lack of hustle and willingness to get on the ground after loose balls.
Bynum, Kobe and Lamar are bringing it. I can't name another player on the roster making a remotely positive impact. I
wish this was a "Kobe problem" right now, because he is pretty fluid and flexible and adjusts accordingly. It isn't. It's a team problem, and they have gone through it several times this season, then they right the ship. They don't have the luxury of time to right the ship right now, so either they pull it all together or I will have a relatively stress free summer (which I don't like).
It would also help if Pau put down his makeup bag and started to play some basketball. He's not being aggressive, and is not making quick decisions. He's pounding the ball, and kicking it out with no time on the shot clock. He had a few aggressive plays, such as getting great position low and going right to work, then for the next few plays he's completely disengaged.
One sequence I thought was terribly funny in a masochistic way was the announcers were praising some good ball movement and as they are saying that, the ball went in to Pau who just stopped the flow, pounded the ball, and did absolutely nothing with it passing it back out after 4 seconds or so. Now, nobody moved around him either to get a pass, but he could have realized that a hell of a lot faster and kept moving the ball. Or shot it. Or something. Kobe stagnates the offense, true, but you can't have both Kobe and Pau chewing up 3/4 of the shot clock.
Either the Lakers do something special here, or they have epic failure in Phil's last year in LA. I'm kind of Pau-ish right now (disinterested) because I don't see them winning the title this year (and haven't for awhile) so they might as well be bounced early and save me some nerve endings.
