May 30th, 2010 by Chase

Congratulations to the L.A Lakers for advancing past the Phoenix Suns with a great game 6 in Phoenix. It was a great series and a great test for the Lakers in preparation for their second straight NBA championship. Up next, Boston! The Lakers have the opportunity of a lifetime to execute revenge on the team that beat them in the Finals two seasons ago. Let’s look at a few factors that will affect this year’s NBA Finals matchup. Oh I can’t wait!

The Pierce vs. Artest Matchup

The last time the Lakers played the Celtics in the Finals, L.A had nobody to matchup defensively with Paul Pierce. Unless you consider Luke Walton and Vladamir Radmanovic good matchups? Consequently Pierce had a huge series and was the single biggest nightmare for the Lakers in that series.

This time around it will be different with Ron Artest in the mix. His defensive assignment will be to harass Paul Pierce and keep his offensive productivity low by forcing him into contested, low percentage shots. Expect this matchup to pay huge dividends for the Lakers in this series. Artest’s combination of strength of foot speed is really going to bother Pierce.

Andrew Bynum in the Middle

This will be one of the bigger stories going into this years NBA Finals. How is Bynum’s right knee? Andrew Bynum says he will be able to contribute about 20-24 minutes a night for L.A in this series. His size and length is important to keep guys like Rondo and Tony Allen out of the paint and to help win the rebounding battle with Perkins and Garnett. Even though he’s injured, and it will only be 20 minutes per game or so, expect Andrew Bynum’s presence in the middle to change the landscape of this series and give Boston some serious problems.

The Bench Mobs For Both Teams

The Celtics have a pretty good bench. It does however pale in comparison to what the Lakers just had to deal with in the Phoenix Suns and their strong 5-man bench rotation. The Celtics have 3 players they refer to off the bench with regularity in Rasheed Wallace, Tony Allen, and Glen “Big Baby” Davis. The other 4 bench players are a little more limited in their time to play and in their impacts in the game. These being Michael Finley, Marquies Daniels, Shelden Williams, and Nate Robinson. Althought lately Nate Robinson has become more of an impact player for them.

The Lakers also have their own 3 they rely on off the bench in Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar (who’s playing great right now) and Shannon Brown. Less dependable but still available off the bench for L.A include Luke Walton, Sasha Vuyacic, and Josh Powell. These benches are quite even between the two teams as you can see. The first key will be how well Lamar Odom plays, as he is by far the most talented and skilled of the bench players on both sides and stands to have the biggest impact.

The second key is who will be the key 4th bench player. Will it be Nate Robinson for Boston? Will it be Sasha Vuyacic for L.A? Something very interesting to watch out for. My prediction is that it will be Vuyacic for L.A and that he will have a great series shooting from beyond the 3-point line.

Rondo & Allen vs. Bryant & Fisher

The battle of the backcourt. Expect to see Kobe Bryant defending Rajon Rondo at times to try and keep him out of the paint while Fisher gets busy chasing Ray Allen around screens. I think these defensive matchups favor the Lakers more than people actually think.

As far as offense goes, expect Kobe Bryant to continue his dominance. In 2008 the Celtics would throw several defenders at Kobe in a single game including Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Tony Allen, and James Posey. Posey would get most of the defensive assignment with a ton of front-court help behind him. This time around it’s different. Tony Allen is not tall enough or good enough to defend Kobe. The great defensive play of James Posey is no longer in Boston. So Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are left to do the job themselves. Expect Kobe to take full advantage of these matchups and force Allen and Pierce to spend alot of energy trying to stop him.

Garnett vs. Gasol

This should be one of the more exciting matchups to watch. Pau Gasol feels he has something to prove after being out played and out classed in 2008 by Garnett. Garnett is a little banged up and a little older, and Gasol should be able to take advantage of these two discrepancies. The key though will be whether or not Gasol who can be soft at times, can match the intensity (and sometimes insanity) of Kevin Garnett.

Home Court Advantage

The Lakers are undefeated at home in this years playoffs. And they get home court in this series unlike the 2008 series against the Celtics. This will have a huge impact in the series. The Lakers will have a chance to go up not just 1-0, but 2-0 on Boston which will put the Lakers in a great position.

I expect that the Lakers will win the first two games at home, and then still 1 game in Boston before closing it out in game 6 at home.

May 16th, 2010 by Chase

Here we go again. It’s the middle of May and Kobe and co. are in the mix again for another NBA championship. 8 more wins and Kobe Bryant wins ring number 5, placing him near the top of the all time greats with the most championships.

Up next are the Phoenix Suns who just finished a surprising sweep of Tim Duncan and the Spurs. The Phoenix Suns come into this series hot, shooting over 40% from 3-point land. The Lakers took 3 out of 4 regular season games from the Suns this season. And this didn’t happen by chance or luck. There are some specific things they did in those 4 regular season match-ups that, if they do in this series should have no problem finishing the Suns off in 5 or 6 games.

1. Control Amare Stoudamire

Much like the Lakers were able to control Carlos Boozer with their length inside, the Lakers need to be able to control Amare. And they can. With their 3 7 Footers in Gasol, Bynum, and Odom the Lakers can prevent many of the buckets in the paint that Amare lives off of. Keeping Amare out of the paint offensively is the number 1 key to the Lakers success in this series.

2. No Answer For Gasol

Just like in the last series, there is no answer for Pau Gasol inside. The Suns throw around names like Robin Lopez, Jaron Collins, and that Amundsen guy. But come on now! Expect Pau Gasol to have a huge series yet again and to pretty much get whatever he wants inside the paint.

3. Offense Against the Zone

During the Lakers 4 match-ups with Phoenix this season, the Lakers had some trouble scoring against the Suns when Phoenix would break into a zone defense. Sometimes the Lakers have a lack of outside shooting on the floor and this can hurt them against a zone. This is where Sasha Vuyacic is important in this series. If he can shoot the ball well from the outside, he can help eliminate the effects of any zone defensive strategy.

4. Fronting of the Post

Much like the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Phoenix Suns like to try and take away your inside game by constantly fronting the post and placing a help defender right behind. It will be interesting to see what the ref’s do in this series. Kobe Bryant when in the post, likes to keep his elbows up high (good fundamentals by the way) and use great body position in order to shield off the defender when he’s trying to front. Consequently Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, and Jared Dudley are going to get many elbows in the grill. While these are not offensive fouls, it will be critical to the game as to how exactly the ref’s call this situation.

5. The Bench Play

This one as it stands (before the series) is a clear advantage to the Phoenix Suns. The Suns throw at you 5 guys. Dragic, Barbosa, Dudley, Amundson, and Frye. All 5 of these guys are major contributors. The Lakers really throw 3 guys at you in Odom, Brown, and Farmar with 2 extra guys who you are not sure what you will get from in Walton and Vuyacic. Can the Lakers 3 main bench guys outplay the Suns 5? This will be the biggest key to this series.

If you want to read a very detailed and insightful breakdown of the Bench match-up, read what Darius over at Forum Blue & Gold wrote.

6. Defending the Screen Roll

The screen roll is flat out tough to defend in the NBA. Now add Steve Nash to the mix. The guy is probably the greatest of all-time at running it. How the Lakers defend this will be critical. In the last series the Spurs would try and simply switch every screen roll and it worked against them. Tim Duncan’s foot speed just couldn’t keep up. This is where I think Gasol and Odom will be critical in this series. Darius at FB&G wrote another great piece breaking down the Lakers defense of the Suns.

7. The Play of Artest and Odom

Ok here’s the deal. The Suns have nobody, and I mean nobody who can compete with these 2 players on either side of the floor. These 2 guys have their opportunity in this series to put a huge stamp of this years championship run for the Lakers. Artest can help and roam as a defender in this series. It will be critical for him to chase off 3 point shooters and go from defending a big guy like Frye on a few plays, to defending Barbosa on another.

Odom had to beef it out with Paul Milsap (who is a BEAST by the way) all of last series. That is a challenge. But Amundsen and Frye should not be. They are good players yes. But nothing compared to Milsap of the Utah Jazz. Odom should completely dominate these 2 big man bench players for the Suns . If he does it could shorten the series for the Lakers.

8. Kobe, Kobe, and More Kobe

I keep hearing all this talk about Grant Hill and Jared Dudley and how they are going to defend and bother Kobe. Let’s not be ridiculous people. The Phoenix Suns have no match-up for Kobe Bryant whatsoever. In the last series you saw what a good defender like Wesley Mathews get torched game after game. The older legs of Grant Hill and slower legs of Jared Dudley are in huge trouble. Kobe will have his way in this series! Mark my words.

If the Lakers can hold strong in these 8 areas, the Lakers will win the series in 5 games. If they struggle in these areas it could go 7. All in all expect PJ to have the Lakers fine tuned and to win this series in 6.

April 17th, 2010 by Chase

Throughout an entire NBA season there are many ups and downs. The same is especially true for defending NBA champions. Wins, injuries, buzzer beaters, offensive struggles. These are just some of the words that describe the up and down season of Kobe and the Lakers during this season 2009-10. Perhaps photos do speak louder than words. In Part I of this three part series here are the 10 best photos from this season.

Ring Time

Practice Makes Perfection

As Intense As Ever

Trickery

Trash Talking

Treatment of Many, Many Injuries

Another Buzzer Beater

Failure from Time to Time

Being a Husband

Visiting East Harlem

April 16th, 2010 by Chase

It’s playoff time NBA fans! And one of the featured 1st round match-ups is the 1st seed defending NBA champ Lakers vs. the up and coming 8th seed Oklahoma City Thunder. Because of the Lakers recent woes towards the end of the regular season, there are actually some people out there who are picking Kevin Durant and the Thunder to upset the 1st seed Lakers. But those of us who have been watching Kobe and Co. these past few years know better. The Lakers are preparing for another Title run, and the Thunder are just another victim.

Featured Matchup: Kobe Bryant vs. Kevin Durant

The young vs the old. The seasoned veteran vs the new kid on the block. Durant had a monstrous season. He led the NBA in scoring with 30.1 points per game, helping lift the Oklahoma City Thunder rise to their first ever playoff birth since their pilgrimage from Seattle. Durant’s season was so good that it began to stir up comparisons between he and Kobe and lifting him to be one of the most exciting players in the game today.

These are the two best players in this 1st round playoff match-up. So let’s take a second and look at what we are dealing with here. Here are a couple thoughts…

1. Durant is inexperienced in the Playoffs, this being his first playoff run.
2. YAPR = yet another playoff run for Kobe Bryant, this being his 13th playoff run
3. Kobe is clearly not healthy. A bad ankle, torn up knee, and some mangled fingers not to mention wear and tear from 6 NBA Finals appearances.
4. Durant is playing with a ton of confidence right now. He’s playing at an MVP type level.

Here’s my prediction..

Kevin Durant is going to put up bigger numbers than Kobe in this series simply because of the fact that Kobe is hurt and also because he has to put up insane numbers for the Thunder to even compete in this series. However Kobe Bryant’s experience, will, and skill level will control and eventually dominate this series. Lakers will win in 5 games, losing game 3 on the road in Oklahoma before closing out the next two games. So let me repeat…

Kobe Will Get The Better of Durant. Lakers in 5!

Why? Because at least 2 of these games will come down to the final seconds, and Durant simply cannot close out a game the way Kobe Bryant can. The modern day version of Mr. Clutch will show Durant how to truly close a game. And that is why you can have Durant, and I’ll take Kobe!

February 7th, 2010 by Chase

It’s not going to be a walk in the park like it was back in 2000-01. It’s going to be a grind to the end. With fellow contenders in the West Denver Nuggets and the Celtics, Cavs, and Magic all lying in the East this year will be much tougher than last year. And that is why there are 10 things the Lakers need to improve on if they want to repeat as champs this year 2010. Here they are:

1. Better Defend the Point Guards

It’s no secret to the entire NBA that the Lakers have troubles guarding quick, penetrating point guards. Derek Fisher isn’t getting any younger. And Jordan Farmar is simply incapable of shutting down the opposing teams point guard. Every contending team has a point guard that gives the Lakers trouble. Billups, Mo Williams, Rondo, and Jameer Nelson. If the Lakers don’t find a way to fix this problem, they could be going home early.

2. Trade Vuyacic and Morrison

These are two players on the roster who are not capable of helping the team at all. They are both “shooters” who can’t shoot. Morrison is tradable because of his $5 million or so expiring contract. The only way you could get rid of Vuyacic is by packaging him with Morrison’s contract. This needs to happen before the trade deadline for so many reasons. Mainly because they could bring in a PG that could help with the problem mentioned in #1 of this post.

3. Get Kobe and Artest Healthy

Pau and Bynum have had some minor injuries this year. But Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest have been playing through some serious stuff. Kobe with his knee, back spasms, broken index finger, broken pinky, and bum ankle all need to be somewhat healed to get ready for the playoffs. Artest with his busted finger, and Plantar Fasciitis in both feet need to be healed. I don’t think I really need to explain how these two guys being healthy affects the Lakers.

4. Get Bynum to Play Defense

Not sure what coach PJ and the crew need to do here to get the big man motivated defensively. But I know one thing is for sure, it cannot be offensive touches that gets him motivated to play defense. He needs to learn to bring it every night. Bynum needs to learn a few things from Kendrick Perkins on how to play defensive and make an impact on every game by doing so.

5. Integrate Ron Artest Offensively

Not sure how long this is going to take, but the Lakers don’t have but a few more months longer to figure it out. The offense struggles when he’s on the floor. And for some reason it seems like he’s always having to settle for 3’s. He’s a great post-up player. They need to look for him a little more in the post and get him a little more offensive minded.

6. More Post Up’s For Pau Gasol

Instead of feeding the ball into Bynum, the Lakers need to feed the ball into Pau more to take advantage of his size against other Power Forwards in the league. I think I speak for every Laker fan when I say I would like to see Pau be tougher inside against the smaller PF’s. When Pau has a size advantage there is nobody in the world who can guard him.

7. Need Bench To Build Leads

The Lakers bench has been inconsistent at best this year. In order to keep the starters healthy this year, the bench is going to have to step up their play and build leads so the starters can get more rest at the end of games. And in the case of the tougher matchups in the NBA, the bench needs to at least help maintain the lead built up by the Starters. This is critical to every championship team and the Lakers are currently not doing it.

8. All-Star play from Lamar Odom

Even though he comes off the bench, he’s still the 3rd best player on the entire team! When Lamar is on his game he is doing everything. He’s scoring, rebounding, and he’s even your best defender on many nights. When he is playing at an All-Star level and Kobe is feeling good, the Lakers are nearly impossible to beat.

9. Continued Great Play from Shannon Brown

The word I like to describe Shannon Brown’s play this year would be “refreshing”. He plays hard on both ends of the floor. He can finish around the rim as good as any Laker. And he’s not afraid to take a big shot when asked. If he can continue to play this way throughout the rest of the season and into the playoffs, it definitely increases the Lakers chances to repeat.

10. Home Court in the West

The Lakers need home court against the Denver Nuggets. That’s what this is all about. The Nuggets are a tough team to beat at home in the high altitude, and the Lakers are sure to meet up with them at some point during the playoffs. It wouldn’t hurt to get home court throughout by beating out the Cavs either considering the type of home team they are.

January 31st, 2010 by Chase

Thanks to some big plays down the stretch by both Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest, the Lakers were able to sneak out of Boston with a 90-89 victory over the fierce rival Boston Celtics. With under a minute to play Ron Artest makes a tough basket going to the rim with 2 defenders in his face, then follows it up with a solid defensive stance against Paul Pierce by drawing a charge. The very next possession Kobe Bryant with Ray Allen all over him manages to hit a touch fadeway from the free throw line with 7.3 seconds left in the game. Kobe providing game winning shot heroics yet again. This time against the hated team in green. Let me point out a few things that I thought were huge for the Lakers.

1. Dominance Inside by Andrew Bynum

Bynum played well. Now i’m not the typical Laker fan who jumps all over the “Bynum” thing whenever he manages to play a descent game. But for the first time since before his injury last season, Andrew Bynum actually gave the Lakers the dominance inside on both ends of the court that they needed. He matched the physical play of Perkins and Garnett inside, something the Laker big men have always had a hard time doing.

I thought the key point in the game for Bynum was during the first quarter, after KG hit a jumper over him and start barking at him all the way back down the floor. Bynum with KG defending him, caught the ball in the post, went left towards the middle, and jammed the ball right over KG posterizing him. It showed the Celtic bigs that Bynum was going to be a beast to contend with all night!

2. Physicality and Toughness of Ron Artest

More and more I am being convinced that the whole Ron Artest over Trevor Ariza thing is starting to work out. From the very beginning of the game you could see that Ron Artest was ready to play and not be pushed around. He got into a little tussle with Pierce right before tip-off, layed out KG as Garnett was trying to run back down the floor, and ultimately pestered Paul Pierce all night long not allowing him to make any kind of real impact on the game. Even though he only had 11 points in his 31 minutes of play, he came up with a couple big buckets in the 4th quarter to keep the Lakers in the game. It looks like Ron Ron is starting to get healthy after all.

3. The Lakers are the more Physical Team

Who would have thought we would ever say this? But it’s clear now after watching today’s “beatdown in beantown” that the Lakers are the tougher more physical team. They may not do as much talking as the Celtics do, but when push comes to shove the Lakers seem to have the mental and physical toughness it takes to consistently win close games on the road. The Lakers size and strength inside with Bynum, Gasol, Odom, and Artest pushed Boston around inside all night long. And when the game was on the line, the hobbled and injured Kobe Bryant found a way to win the game for his team in the end.

There is One Negative From This Game!

Not all is positive for the Lakers after watching this game. After the Lakers built a 30-17 lead late in the 1st quarter, they watched that lead squander thanks to the play of Celtics PG Rajon Rondo. The Lakers had no answer to Rondo in this game. He drove to the basket at will and made play after play building a 10 point lead for the Celtics going into the 4th quarter. Is Rondo a fantastic player? Yes! But this issue of the Lakers being able to defend and compete at the PG position is more evident than ever.

If they Lakers want to win a championship this season, they first need to stay healthy. But even more important is the fact that they need more help at the PG position, particularly on the defensive side of things. Hopefully Laker GM Mitch Kupchak will see what we all witnessed today and make that Kirk Heinrich move that is being discussed. Otherwise it could be a shortened Playoff stint this year!