duncan228
05-11-2009, 11:56 PM
Fisher needs help, and Lakers need to get mean (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Fisher_needs_help_and_Lakers_need_to_get_mean.html )
Mike Monroe - Express-News
Spurs fans' memories of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals last no more than four-tenths of a second before reality is perceived as injustice.
Then, in Game 5, Derek Fisher was an assassin in the corner.
But Fisher wasn't the point guard who deep-sixed the Spurs' hopes of defending their 2003 title.
By accepting blame for allowing Tony Parker's 50 points in Games 1 and 2, Gary Payton set the tone for the Lakers' comeback from a 2-0 series deficit.
The series outcome only seems as if it hinged on Fisher's shot with four-tenths of a second left. Payton's defiance in a “blame me” rant the day after Parker burned him and the Lakers for 30 points in the Spurs' Game 2 victory sounded an alarm that should have frightened the Spurs.
“Y'all can blame me for everything,” Payton said. “Whatever. Blame me. I could care less. I can't stop Tony Parker, OK? If I keep getting on the pick-and-roll, anybody can be like that. Anybody can beat you. Let me get on the pick-and-roll 65 times, and I can beat you, too.”
Over the next four games — all Lakers victories — Parker totaled just 50 points, because Payton got help defending the pick-and-roll.
Now, it is Fisher who needs to rant. In the Western Conference semifinals against the Rockets, he can't handle Houston's Aaron Brooks on the pick-and-roll. He can't handle him on pick-and-pop, either.
Pick your poison. Brooks picked apart Fisher in every way possible in a Game 4 the Rockets dominated.
What the Rockets have done, both with Yao Ming and without him, is expose the Lakers as a team lacking defensive malice.
Lakers center Andrew Bynum ought to be the player making Brooks think twice about driving to the rim. Instead, Bynum can't get engaged in the rough-and-tumble play of the series.
With Yao sidelined, the Rockets have no hope unless they keep the floor spread to give Brooks room to maneuver. They know they can't win unless Brooks and his teammates continue to drop 3-pointers with the same frequency as Sunday afternoon.
This isn't likely, especially if the Lakers get out on perimeter shooters after Brooks' penetrations.
Expect the Lakers to prevail, mostly because two of a potential three remaining games will be at the Staples Center. After they survive, be it in six games or seven, they will point to Game 4 as a turning point that got their minds right.
But the midpoint of the second round is too late to flip a switch. What will follow will be a Western finals series against a Nuggets team that went into its Monday night game in Dallas certain it would not become the first team in league history to blow a 3-0 lead in a best-of-7 series.
Denver will frighten the Lakers because the Nuggets are just as long along the front line, but more athletic and a whole lot meaner.
In the playoffs, amazing happens, but mean wins.
Mike Monroe - Express-News
Spurs fans' memories of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals last no more than four-tenths of a second before reality is perceived as injustice.
Then, in Game 5, Derek Fisher was an assassin in the corner.
But Fisher wasn't the point guard who deep-sixed the Spurs' hopes of defending their 2003 title.
By accepting blame for allowing Tony Parker's 50 points in Games 1 and 2, Gary Payton set the tone for the Lakers' comeback from a 2-0 series deficit.
The series outcome only seems as if it hinged on Fisher's shot with four-tenths of a second left. Payton's defiance in a “blame me” rant the day after Parker burned him and the Lakers for 30 points in the Spurs' Game 2 victory sounded an alarm that should have frightened the Spurs.
“Y'all can blame me for everything,” Payton said. “Whatever. Blame me. I could care less. I can't stop Tony Parker, OK? If I keep getting on the pick-and-roll, anybody can be like that. Anybody can beat you. Let me get on the pick-and-roll 65 times, and I can beat you, too.”
Over the next four games — all Lakers victories — Parker totaled just 50 points, because Payton got help defending the pick-and-roll.
Now, it is Fisher who needs to rant. In the Western Conference semifinals against the Rockets, he can't handle Houston's Aaron Brooks on the pick-and-roll. He can't handle him on pick-and-pop, either.
Pick your poison. Brooks picked apart Fisher in every way possible in a Game 4 the Rockets dominated.
What the Rockets have done, both with Yao Ming and without him, is expose the Lakers as a team lacking defensive malice.
Lakers center Andrew Bynum ought to be the player making Brooks think twice about driving to the rim. Instead, Bynum can't get engaged in the rough-and-tumble play of the series.
With Yao sidelined, the Rockets have no hope unless they keep the floor spread to give Brooks room to maneuver. They know they can't win unless Brooks and his teammates continue to drop 3-pointers with the same frequency as Sunday afternoon.
This isn't likely, especially if the Lakers get out on perimeter shooters after Brooks' penetrations.
Expect the Lakers to prevail, mostly because two of a potential three remaining games will be at the Staples Center. After they survive, be it in six games or seven, they will point to Game 4 as a turning point that got their minds right.
But the midpoint of the second round is too late to flip a switch. What will follow will be a Western finals series against a Nuggets team that went into its Monday night game in Dallas certain it would not become the first team in league history to blow a 3-0 lead in a best-of-7 series.
Denver will frighten the Lakers because the Nuggets are just as long along the front line, but more athletic and a whole lot meaner.
In the playoffs, amazing happens, but mean wins.