Suns @ Lakers Thursday 5/4/2006 game thread -Insider - Yahoo previews

[jibikao]

he was making a good portion of them, but the ones he missed were huge. not simply because he missed them, but because it was a bad shot. there were quite a few times this game where kobe MADE a jumper and i was pissed off. why? because the shot didn't get other players involved, it didn't put any pressure on the suns defense, and it gave kobe more confidence to shoot even more jumpers. the lakers have not, and probably will not win if kobe takes a bunch of jumpshots.

Hey, that's why not having Raja harassing him can be a good thing because Kobe now has a legit reason to take over the game. Kobe will be presented with the opportunity to score freely on us but should he do that? That's the biggest question mark on Phil Jackson's head now. I remember several times Phil needed to yell at Kobe to throw the ball inside to Lamar/Brown. Phil needs to 'remind' Kobe to stay with the gameplan.

 

[cly2tw]

he was making a good portion of them, but the ones he missed were huge. not simply because he missed them, but because it was a bad shot. there were quite a few times this game where kobe MADE a jumper and i was pissed off. why? because the shot didn't get other players involved, it didn't put any pressure on the suns defense, and it gave kobe more confidence to shoot even more jumpers. the lakers have not, and probably will not win if kobe takes a bunch of jumpshots.

From a purely technical point of view, when someone shoots jumpers one-on-one without disrupting the opponent's defensive formation first, it's hard for them to get an offensive rebound too. With thie Suns' team, a def. reb. is equivalent to a fastbreak. That's why it's playing into Suns' hand fi Kobe take too many those jumpers.

 

[nothin' but net]

wow - I did say HATE - man, my passions run the gamut during these games.

I lvoe and hate Shawn Marion - don't know any other way to put it - hated him with 10 seconds left and loved him for the last 5:07 - make me love you more on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously - just a sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick win.

Saturday is going to be... you guessed... SICK!

Oh and just for Eric...

DB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See cheese, you can't even bring yourself to say you love him.

 

[jibikao]

KTAR post game they are saying Marion plays Kobe better than Raja. Kobe can't post up Marion like he can Raja and Marion's length forces Kobe to take bad shots. Of course Kobe still hits some bad shots, but the important thing is that he WILL miss some of them.

That's exactly my suggestion. Marion's length and speed will not allow Kobe to do easy layups and his quick hand can disrupt Kobe's passing and what's more important is if Kobe misses a jumper, Marion can sprint easily to the other side.

 

[Cheesebeef]

See cheese, you can't even bring yourself to say you love him.

I spelled it correctly the 2nd time! Funny though!

Man, my blood hasn't pumped like that since Nash and Marion wiped Cuban's ass off the floor in Game 6 in Dallas.

 

[bko32]

From a purely technical point of view, when someone shoots jumpers one-on-one without disrupting the opponent's defensive formation first, it's hard for them to get an offensive rebound too. With thie Suns' team, a def. reb. is equivalent to a fastbreak. That's why it's playing into Suns' hand fi Kobe take too many those jumpers.

this is exactly why i don't think kobe played a good game tonight.

 

[AZZenny]

Without Raja, Kobe can score easier and it puts Kobe in situation where he has to fight himself not to "take over" the game.

jibikao, very astute -- Kobe's non-stop ego is the way to go.

 

[jibikao]

this is exactly why i don't think kobe played a good game tonight.

It's hard to resist when your primary "annoying" defender (Bell) is not playing. Just like Kobe plays against Spurs and all of suddent, Bruce Bowen is not playing!! That's too much of a temptation not to seize the opportunity for such a talented scorer like Kobe.

 

[nothin' but net]

I think Kobe's increased shooting negatively effects his team in a more intangible way. It may not show on a stat sheet, but for players to hustle, they need to be involved. Kobe taking all the shots tells his teammates that he doesn't trust them with anything important. I think they lose confidence and become less of a factor.

On the other side, and why Stevie is the MVP, Nash's game is built around getting teammates involved and using his skill to empower teammates. His post-game interview was sincere, but all about the team and we and what they did together.

Kobe is truly an arrogant ass. (If I was as good as he was, you could bet I would be too.) Anytime he mentions the team, I get the gut feeling that he is just pandering to the media. He is an attention seeker while Nash is an attention deflector. It shows in their interviews and it shows in their games. I don't know that this difference can always be seen in a stat line, but if it wasn't apparent, why else would the "experts" vote him MVP again?

 

[Cheesebeef]

it's funny - just looking at the stats and seeing Kobe with 50, Lamar with 22, 11 and 10, Kwame with 17 and 9, Walton with 14 and Devan with 10, I thought, man, the Lakers just gave us their best shot - then, I looked at our scoring column and saw Nash with 32, Marion with 20 and 12, Barbs with 22, TT with 21 and Boris with 19 and 7 and thought - holy crap - we just gave OUR best shot... that game will go down as an absolute classic.

Now let's just wipe them off the floor on Saturday and give our hearts a bit of break, huh?

Man, that game was just sick.

 

[D-Dogg]

jibikao, very astute -- Kobe's non-stop ego is the way to go.

Except Jib didn't watch the game, and didn't realize that Kobe only went to his shots when the rest of the team wasn't either stepping up...bailing them out at the end of the shot clock (that ridiculous three in the 4th) or we were down and stagnant.

You can't get Kobe's ego...because you don't understand it. He really will do what it takes to win, and on a team like this one with so much youth and inexperience, that could change from quarter to quarter.

Kobe is the ONLY player in the league that can adapt his game on the fly, and has proven so over and over again, year after year. It's remarkable, and extremely underappreciated. To win tonight, the Lakers needed Kobe to score like he did, and if he had finished with 40 in regulation we won (made the last shot). Our defense didn't show up, even though offensively people were scoring it wasn't in the flow of what we wanted to do...too many early shots. And Kobe only started gunning late. If we actually were executing (and it was the other guys not executing, far too many shots early in the clock from all of them, especially Lamar and Devean), Kobe could have been more of the facilitator.

Call him smug. Arrogant. *****. Selfish. But don't ever question that he will do whatever it takes to win, shot a hundred times or 10. Doesn't matter.

 

[D-Dogg]

it's funny - just looking at the stats and seeing Kobe with 50, Lamar with 22, 11 and 10, Kwame with 17 and 9, Walton with 14 and Devan with 10, I thought, man, the Lakers just gave us their best shot - then, I looked at our scoring column and saw Nash with 32, Marion with 20 and 12, Barbs with 22, TT with 21 and Boris with 19 and 7 and thought - holy crap - we just gave OUR best shot... that game will go down as an absolute classic.

Now let's just wipe them off the floor on Saturday and give our hearts a bit of break, huh?

Man, that game was just sick.

I couldn't agree more. 1-4 quarters was pretty much both of our best. The Lakers didn't come out with heart in the OT, and you guys did. Ballgame.

This series is becoming an instant classic.

And it could tip off a real, true, actual Lakers/Suns rivalry. This is how they begin.

 

[jibikao]

Except Jib didn't watch the game, and didn't realize that Kobe only went to his shots when the rest of the team wasn't either stepping up...bailing them out at the end of the shot clock (that ridiculous three in the 4th) or we were down and stagnant.

You can't get Kobe's ego...because you don't understand it. He really will do what it takes to win, and on a team like this one with so much youth and inexperience, that could change from quarter to quarter.

Kobe is the ONLY player in the league that can adapt his game on the fly, and has proven so over and over again, year after year. It's remarkable, and extremely underappreciated. To win tonight, the Lakers needed Kobe to score like he did, and if he had finished with 40 in regulation we won (made the last shot). Our defense didn't show up, even though offensively people were scoring it wasn't in the flow of what we wanted to do...too many early shots. And Kobe only started gunning late. If we actually were executing (and it was the other guys not executing, far too many shots early in the clock from all of them, especially Lamar and Devean), Kobe could have been more of the facilitator.

Call him smug. Arrogant. *****. Selfish. But don't ever question that he will do whatever it takes to win, shot a hundred times or 10. Doesn't matter.

I didn't watch the game but the outcome is pretty much what I expected in terms of # of shots taken and point scored. Why do you think Kobe took "good" shots? Because there was no Raja harrasing him. Those are too good to pass on. I didn't say Kobe had a bad game. His % was quite high. However, we DO want Kobe to look for his shots and that has been STATED so many times even before the series starts. We WANT Kobe to score and we can't stop him. Sounds very ironic isn't it?

 

[D-Dogg]

I didn't watch the game but the outcome is pretty much what I expected in terms of # of shots taken and point scored. Why do you think Kobe took "good" shots? Because there was no Raja harrasing him. Those are too good to pass on. I didn't say Kobe had a bad game. His % was quite high. However, we DO want Kobe to look for his shots and that has been STATED so many times even before the series starts. We WANT Kobe to score and we can't stop him. Sounds very ironic isn't it?

You don't want him to take them the way he did tonight. You want him to take them all game long and dominate the offense. Not defer most game and gun late, to the tune of 50 while the rest of the team also brings the offense too.

What you do want, is the Lakers to commit tons of turnovers, as they did (and Kobe was the culprit). You want them to not play defense. You want the Suns to trap and double Lamar as well as they did.

You don't want to ask for the same Kobe you saw tonight...you want the one from the regular season. The one tonight was extremely dangerous, and is was the Lakers lack of D and Suns good D (forcing a ton of turnovers) that was the difference. Nothing more, nothing less. You ask for that Kobe again, you will likely lose the game. Trust me, you don't want that Kobe again....you want the regular season version.

 

[D-Dogg]

Go back and read my earlier posts. I've been saying this since the series started. I wasn't about to predict a sweep. I had no idea what PHX team would show up.

Fair enough.

 

[dyle_ph1]

Well...

He defended well, rebounded well, and showed a lot of heart and hustle. But he also blew several point-blank layups that nearly cost the Suns the game. Everyone always talks about how he's such a great finisher, so let's start seeing it. Layups aren't rocket science, especially when you can jump as high as Marion does.

Overall, he played a good game, but not a great one.

Yeah, I noticed Marion's layup were released way before the apex of his jump. I know that's how he's been doing it in his career but he has to try to learn to hold on to the ball a half second more, bump the opponent and bank it in. He has the hops for it...

He played a good game but nowhere near what is expected of him. It's a moot point but I was more comfortable seeing Tim Thomas hoist that three up to tie the game that I would have it it was Shawn Marion.

 

[elindholm]

It's a moot point but I was more comfortable seeing Tim Thomas hoist that three up to tie the game that I would have it it was Shawn Marion.

Definitely. Even when Marion is playing great, he shouldn't be shooting threes. Thomas has been on fire from long distance the entire series.