You won't like to hear this but...

[T Park]

Small ball is gonna rule this series.
With Gasol as pretty much the center and Odom the PF, Udoka is gonna get alot of minutes at the 4 spot.
This series might hinge on how well Ime Udoka responds to the pressure and his defense on Lamar Odom.

Go get em boys.

[MrChug]

UDOKA @ THE 4 SPOT?!!??!?!?!? :lmao

[Streakyshooter08]

We'll see. Odom really is a bad matchup for the Spurs. It will take good team defense to stop him. I agree that Udoka might see some time on him. I think Oberto will start on him... it will be interesting to see what Pop will do.

[Mister Sinister]

Let's take these bastards.

[DazedAndConfused]

The Laker offense is all predicated on ball movement. Individual player matchups don't matter so much as you might think. It's all about finding the gaps in the defense and attacking.

[K-State Spur]

i think we'll still see a lot oberto & horry. odom's presence does make it difficult to play thomas as anything other than a sub for tim. (although a duncan/thomas front line would own the Lakers on the boards on both ends)

the problem with going small ball for anything more than stretches is that the Lakers are better matched up for that than the Spurs. they would love to see a line-up where they can play Odom at the 4 without having to worry about any of his weaknesses.

in '06 & '07, small ball was the way to beat Dirk and the Mavs. ultimately, our team didn't have the personnel to pull it off. but it was a much better strategy than many on here give it credit for (as proven by the Warriors).

however, i do not see that being the case with the Lakers.

[stxspurs]

i believe ime can do it.......he is showing that he is worthy of being bowens replacement

[T Park]

The other thing that needs to be done, is the Spurs need to zone em, and zone em up good. The Lakers have trouble with the zone, and the Jazz played it well, they just don't have any good interior defenders to pull it off well. The Spurs do.

[PwrGetter]

Odom is the only hard matchup for you guys. The rest is pretty balanced.

[Southwest Texas Fan]

Udoka did do a decent job on Odom in the last couple of games.

[Rummpd]

Lakers out to be worried how they are going to stop Duncan inside and Parker and/or Manu driving at will rather than the other way around.

Don't be surprised to see Spurs win this series easily despite fact refs will steal one for Kobe.

[SpurAddict561]

That's alright

who's gonna stop Timmy?

Chandler is fishin, and Gasol is baby shit soft.

Let's get it boys!

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Udoka can do it. :tu

[Allanon]

Gasol doesn't need to stop Timmy because Timmy can't stop Gasol either. Both will get theirs but Timmy is more important to the team than Gasol is.

Gasol is quicker and longer, I'm not quite sure how Timmy's gonna guard him without fouling. In addition, Timmy can't pick up silly fouls helping out Fabricio when Odom blows by him.

I expect to see alot of Spur smallball as well.

Pop's probably going to have to draw up some miracle defense or play the zone and leave the Laker 3 pointers open.

[NRHector]

my choice
Ime, thomas and horry-Odom
bowen and ime-koby
parker and manu-fisher
tim and fab-gasol
manu-sasha
that's it we won

[honestfool84]

how tall is udoka?

[Dre_7]

What is LAs starting 5 nowadays? Gasol, Odom, Turiaf, Kobe, Fish?

[honestfool84]

What is LAs starting 5 nowadays? Gasol, Odom, Turiaf, Kobe, Fish?



i thought walton started in place of odom.
:lol


i can't stand that douche bag.

[Allanon]

Ime's 6'5

The Laker starting 5
Pau 7'
Odom 6'10
Radman 6'10
Kobe 6'6
Fisher 6'1

[Dre_7]

Oh yeah, VladRad. :lol

[FromWayDowntown]

I'll note that Pau played pretty well against the Spurs in the 2004 First Round. He had a terrible Game 1 (3-11, 14 points), but he averaged 20.0 ppg over the last 3 games of that series while shooting a ridiculous 65.8% from the field (25-38).

[boutons_]

"stop Duncan inside and Parker and/or Manu driving at will rather than the other way around."

'04, Phil/Karl/Shaq pretty much stopped Duncan, with Karl manhandling Tim out the arc to shoot bankers. If Tim got past Karl, Shaq was waiting plus other guys floating into the paint.

Phil had the perim guys slide off their man to help keep Tony and Manu from driving.

Spurs couldn't hit their jumpers, FG avg 40% or lower. 0-4 straight, Spurs gone fishing.

Phil Karl and Shaq are gone, but Phil will probably try the same formula. Close the paint, make the Spurs beat Lakers with jumpers.

The Spurs are now more dependent on 3s than ever (eg, Game7 @NO). Spurs will very probably lose every Laker game when their 3s are cold (under 30%).

Go Spurs Go

[phxspurfan]

Ime's 6'5

The Laker starting 5
Pau 7'
Odom 6'10
Radman 6'10
Kobe 6'6
Fisher 6'1

Classic Phil Jackson starting lineup. The man is tall and loves tall guys. I remember the Bulls starting

Wennington/Longley (NO SKILL AT ALL): 7'
Grant, Rodman later: 6'10"
Pippen: 6'10"
Jordan: 6'5"
Ron Harper: 6'4"

and the Lakers:
Shaq: 7'
Rick Fox (NO SKILL AT ALL): 6'10"
Devean George (NO SKILL AT ALL): 6'8"
Kobe: 6'6"
Ron Harper: 6'4"

...in fact, the only guys under 6'4" that I remember having any sort of success in a Phil-coached system were BJ Armstrong, Steve Kerr and D Fish. And they weren't that short at 6'1"...

[Dre_7]

Pip was only something like 6'8" not 6'10".

[K-State Spur]

and rick fox was 'only' 6'6/6'7