duncan228
04-14-2008, 01:26 PM
http://www.pe.com/sports/basketball/lakers/stories/PE_Sports_Local_D_patton_14.41ec02b.html
Patton: Defense Biggest Key in Lakers' Western Weekend Sweep
By GREGG PATTON
The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - If Sunday were one of those "playoff preview" things, you can ink the Lakers all the way to the Western Conference finals.
As if it were that easy.
No doubt the Lakers annihilated San Antonio. No doubt they jostled their way into great position for home-court advantage in the postseason. No doubt they finished a weekend sweep of two of the West's bigger guns with good defense, making them at least feel pretty good about the way they are playing.
But now that the big New Orleans-San Antonio challenge has been won, and the Lakers finished the day with the best record in the conference, uh, what, no party?
"It doesn't mean anything, the regular season," killjoy Kobe Bryant said after the Lakers stuffed the Spurs at Staples Center, albeit in the next breath, he conceded that it is "always good to be No. 1.
"It was a big game for us. We needed to win."
If the game felt bigger going in than it felt coming out, what else is new? This is the NBA. There's a two-month postseason still to go, involving 16 teams.
There's something else about the tightness of the West heading into the last three days of the season. If the top half of the playoff seeding is still subject to a closing scramble, it also means no one is really that much better than anyone else.
"There are eight teams that are contenders right now," Spurs forward Tim Duncan said of the Western clog, after a frustrating day trying to score against Lakers 7-footer Pau Gasol.
Duncan's coach even shrugged off the lopsided loss, in which the Lakers broke a halftime tie and blew away the defending NBA champions, 53-32, in the third and fourth quarters.
"I think, come playoff time, we'll have as good a chance as anyone to do well," said Gregg Popovich, who tried to be solicitous to the Lakers, conceding through a smile that they have "established themselves as the best.
"They are the best in the West, right? I mean, officially, they have the best record, right?"
Right, at least for a day or two.
It was an easy weekend to get lost in the numbers, with so many teams hovering around 25 or 26 losses.
More important, perhaps, than numbers was the way the Lakers beat New Orleans and San Antonio. Coach Phil Jackson's team pulled the tarp off of an energetic defense that, if sustained, will mean more than home-court advantage the next 60 days.
Friday night the Lakers pressured New Orleans star point guard Chris Paul, keeping him from dominating the ball on offense, as they opened up a 30-point, first-half lead.
Sunday against San Antonio, they remembered the strategy after halftime, swarming sparkplug point guard Tony Parker after he scored 18 points and collected five assists in the first 24 minutes. Parker had one basket and no assists in the second half.
"We've gotten more aggressive on screen-roll coverage," Jackson said, referring to his team's defense against two-man offensive plays, a problem much of the season. "Both of these guards (Paul and Parker) activated our guys."
Said Bryant: "I think we found our defensive identity. We found out we can get after guys instead of letting them come to us."
If that's a positive pattern, consider it a big deal. No matter whom the Lakers meet as they make their way through the West, dangerous point guards will be lurking. Steve Nash. Deron Williams. Baron Davis. Jason Kidd.
Heard of 'em all.
Not counting wins and losses, the other most encouraging note out of the weekend for the Lakers was the play of their midseason acquisition, Gasol. Having spent the early part of his career buried in Memphis and a stranger to the concept of the Big NBA Game, the Spanish native responded exceptionally well in the playoff atmosphere of New Orleans-San Antonio.
He followed up his 25-point, six-rebound, two-block game against the Hornets with another solid effort against the Spurs. He scored 14 points and grabbed four offensive rebounds. The bigger contribution was on defense where he took seven more misses off the glass, blocked two shots and pestered Duncan into a 6-of-19 shooting day.
"I like playing against any of the great players in the league," Gasol said, sounding like he meant it. "When the coaches give me that kind of responsibility, it feels good."
So OK, Jackson needs to see more from Gasol to proclaim him a defensive wizard. When someone led him with a question about Gasol's emergence as a defender, the coach demurred.
"I wouldn't say that," Jackson said.
Hey, the weekend at least reminded us of this: There's a whole postseason to get through before anything means anything.
Patton: Defense Biggest Key in Lakers' Western Weekend Sweep
By GREGG PATTON
The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - If Sunday were one of those "playoff preview" things, you can ink the Lakers all the way to the Western Conference finals.
As if it were that easy.
No doubt the Lakers annihilated San Antonio. No doubt they jostled their way into great position for home-court advantage in the postseason. No doubt they finished a weekend sweep of two of the West's bigger guns with good defense, making them at least feel pretty good about the way they are playing.
But now that the big New Orleans-San Antonio challenge has been won, and the Lakers finished the day with the best record in the conference, uh, what, no party?
"It doesn't mean anything, the regular season," killjoy Kobe Bryant said after the Lakers stuffed the Spurs at Staples Center, albeit in the next breath, he conceded that it is "always good to be No. 1.
"It was a big game for us. We needed to win."
If the game felt bigger going in than it felt coming out, what else is new? This is the NBA. There's a two-month postseason still to go, involving 16 teams.
There's something else about the tightness of the West heading into the last three days of the season. If the top half of the playoff seeding is still subject to a closing scramble, it also means no one is really that much better than anyone else.
"There are eight teams that are contenders right now," Spurs forward Tim Duncan said of the Western clog, after a frustrating day trying to score against Lakers 7-footer Pau Gasol.
Duncan's coach even shrugged off the lopsided loss, in which the Lakers broke a halftime tie and blew away the defending NBA champions, 53-32, in the third and fourth quarters.
"I think, come playoff time, we'll have as good a chance as anyone to do well," said Gregg Popovich, who tried to be solicitous to the Lakers, conceding through a smile that they have "established themselves as the best.
"They are the best in the West, right? I mean, officially, they have the best record, right?"
Right, at least for a day or two.
It was an easy weekend to get lost in the numbers, with so many teams hovering around 25 or 26 losses.
More important, perhaps, than numbers was the way the Lakers beat New Orleans and San Antonio. Coach Phil Jackson's team pulled the tarp off of an energetic defense that, if sustained, will mean more than home-court advantage the next 60 days.
Friday night the Lakers pressured New Orleans star point guard Chris Paul, keeping him from dominating the ball on offense, as they opened up a 30-point, first-half lead.
Sunday against San Antonio, they remembered the strategy after halftime, swarming sparkplug point guard Tony Parker after he scored 18 points and collected five assists in the first 24 minutes. Parker had one basket and no assists in the second half.
"We've gotten more aggressive on screen-roll coverage," Jackson said, referring to his team's defense against two-man offensive plays, a problem much of the season. "Both of these guards (Paul and Parker) activated our guys."
Said Bryant: "I think we found our defensive identity. We found out we can get after guys instead of letting them come to us."
If that's a positive pattern, consider it a big deal. No matter whom the Lakers meet as they make their way through the West, dangerous point guards will be lurking. Steve Nash. Deron Williams. Baron Davis. Jason Kidd.
Heard of 'em all.
Not counting wins and losses, the other most encouraging note out of the weekend for the Lakers was the play of their midseason acquisition, Gasol. Having spent the early part of his career buried in Memphis and a stranger to the concept of the Big NBA Game, the Spanish native responded exceptionally well in the playoff atmosphere of New Orleans-San Antonio.
He followed up his 25-point, six-rebound, two-block game against the Hornets with another solid effort against the Spurs. He scored 14 points and grabbed four offensive rebounds. The bigger contribution was on defense where he took seven more misses off the glass, blocked two shots and pestered Duncan into a 6-of-19 shooting day.
"I like playing against any of the great players in the league," Gasol said, sounding like he meant it. "When the coaches give me that kind of responsibility, it feels good."
So OK, Jackson needs to see more from Gasol to proclaim him a defensive wizard. When someone led him with a question about Gasol's emergence as a defender, the coach demurred.
"I wouldn't say that," Jackson said.
Hey, the weekend at least reminded us of this: There's a whole postseason to get through before anything means anything.