This one will be a Tony Parker series

[thiste]

He knows he had a good series vs NH but not a great one. I'm sure he wants to bounce back and have a great series next much like last year before the Cavaliers series.
And obviously he's gonna have a field day in the paint against this back court. Book it.

[raspsa]

TP would appear to have a clear advantage over anyone the lakers will pit against him. It can boil down to a game of mismatches and who exploits them best.

[naico]

No doubt Parker ll have a great series, but people really underestimate Derek Fisher as a defender. He won't stop you, but he can be a real pest..

[ElNono]

No doubt Parker ll have a great series, but people really underestimate Derek Fisher as a defender. He won't stop you, but he can be a real pest..

He's probably a top 3 flopper too.

[thiste]

No doubt Parker ll have a great series, but people really underestimate Derek Fisher as a defender. He won't stop you, but he can be a real pest..

Honestly, I don't know where you were in 2003 & 2004 but Tony totally exposed Fisher then as an old PG incapable of keeping up with the pace. And Tony wasn't half as good as he is right now in terms of skills and mental toughness.

Fisher, on the other hand, only got older.

[anakha]

In addition, Parker being assigned to defend Fisher would seem to favor the Spurs as well.

In the Spurs-Jazz WCF, one of the reasons why the Spurs could afford the luxury of assigning Bowen to Deron Williams was that Parker could more than adequately cover Fisher.

Several posters already mentioned this then, but Parker seems to be at his defensive best when assigned to cover jumpshooting guards. And as I recall, Fisher's numbers in the WCF would bear this out. Anybody with those stats care to confirm this?

[mrspurs]

fisher is a has been....the only point guard fisher might be able to guard is steve nash...CP3 would have made fisher want to quit his day time job.....go spurs go

[bdictjames]

I think Fisher does well with jumpshooting, physical guards, not fast ones like Parker.

[boutons_]

Do you really think Phil expects Derek to handle Tony by himself?

My guess is that Phil will play loose and sagging from perimeter to keep the paint crowded, trying to stop driving and entry passes to Tim, daring the Spurs to win with jumpers. Worked in 04.

Bruce usually shoots very well, fatally well against the Lakers. He hit 7 3s in the 03 playoffs @LAL, and has still scored better this season vs Lakers than vs others.

[timvp]

Parker has usually done well against Fisher on both ends of the court. But that said, Fisher is probably coming off of the best season of his career. Having a career year at age 33 is pretty damn impressive.

But yeah, for the Spurs to win the series, Parker has to vastly outplay Fisher.

[Bruno]

Parker has quite owned Fisher in the past and I expect him to do it again in this series. Vujacic and Farmar won't do a better job than Fisher on Parker.
Lakers interior defense is also quite weak what should help Parker's penetrations.
If Parker goes wild, I expect Phil to try Kobe or Ariza on him.

One of the nice thing in this series is that both Manu and Tony will be able to save their energy for the offensive end. Lakers' perimeter players outside Kobe (Fisher, Farmar, Vujacic, Radmanovic, Walton and Ariza) are quite easy to defend.
Against Hornets, defending Paul has taken a lot of energy to Parker. Against LA, he will be able to use it to attack the paint.

[thiste]

Do you really think Phil expects Derek to handle Tony by himself?

My guess is that Phil will play loose and sagging from perimeter to keep the paint crowded, trying to stop driving and entry passes to Tim, daring the Spurs to win with jumpers. Worked in 04.

Bruce usually shoot very well, fatally well against the Lakers. He hit 7 3s in the 03 playoffs @LAL, and has still scored better this season vs Lakers than vs others.

No I don't but in reality what else can he do ? Yeah, put Kobe on him like he already has but he won't resort to that for entire games. He has to put Fisher on Tony.

As for the paint, it might have worked in 04 but two things have changed since then. Tony is a lot more mature now and he doesn't crumble under the pressure when dared to shoot anymore, and secondly they had Shaq AND Malone in 04 to pack the paint. What do they have now ? Pau & Odom ? Please, seriously.

[Johnny RIngo]

Don't be surprised when the Lakers bigs hammer Parker all night long and he gets no FTAs.

[1Parker1]

Tough call. I actually think Fisher is an underrated defender, even at his age. He did a pretty decent job against DWill last series.

I think this will be a bench series. If the Spurs bench, i.e. Finley, Horry, Thomas, Udoka, and Barry can come in and give the Spurs quality time; Scoring for Finley and Barry, and Udoka, rebounding and defense for Horry and Thomas, the Spurs will be in good shape.

Lakers actually match up pretty well against the Spurs Big 3, unlike against the Hornets where they didnt' really have anyone to stop Ginobili. Lakers have Gasol/Odom to put on Duncan, Fisher/Vuijic/and even Kobe can get time on Parker and Ariza being back can be put on Ginobili. I haven't seen Ariza play so I'm just going by what I've heard that he's a good defender.

I can see Phil putting a Kobe or even Odom in the 4th quarter on Parker

[SequSpur]

Tony Parker is the best player in the NBA.

Frickin Recognize Already.

Fisher blows.

[hater]

wrong.

this will be a monster Tim Duncan Series. Jackson will not double team.

[O-Factor]

Tony is going to live in the paint in this series

[thiste]

wrong.

this will be a monster Tim Duncan Series. Jackson will not double team.

Oh he will probably have a better series than against NH no doubt about that. But parker will abuse LA's defense to no end, I'll say it again : book it.

[midgetonadonkey]

Tony Parker is the best player in the NBA.

Frickin Recognize Already.

Fisher blows.

You can't argue with that kind of logic.

[JamStone]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kobe Bryant to switch on to Parker for stretches of games. I would also assume that Phil Jackson may try to use Trevor Ariza on Parker as well at some point.

[Anti.Hero]

Just as long as Tony doesn't have to be "reminded" to play "aggressive" again after a game 1 where all he settles for is jumpers.

[Referee]

D. Fish has had his day and a new dawning awaits the glitter and papparazzi of the Staples Center... Jack 'Choke on your coke' Nicholson will be in awe as Tony Parker runs amok... Phil 'Zen Master @ $10Mil/yr' Jackson will soon have time to be with Jeannie Buss to go high into the Himalaya's very very soon... Say good night KB-24!

[Southwest Texas Fan]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kobe Bryant to switch on to Parker for stretches of games. I would also assume that Phil Jackson may try to use Trevor Ariza on Parker as well at some point.

I still like our chances though. The Matrix would defend Parker and he still had plenty of good looks.

[DazedAndConfused]

Phil will be content letting Parker and Manu shoot jumpers all day long.

Keeping these two guys out of the paint is a priority. If the Lakers can employ a similar defensive strategy as NOH they should be OK. Their offense is definitely on another level compared to NOH, it sounds simple but if the Lakers execute their offense correctly and play good enough defense it will be enough to win.

Trevor Ariza is sort of the ace in the hole. He's a wildcard at this point, nobody knows what he'll be able to give. When he was healthy he was our best perimeter defender. He played the passing lanes well, rebounded extremely well, stayed in front of his man, and was an extremely good finisher at the rim and fastbreak player. Part of the reason Farmar has struggled in the 2nd half of the season is because he lost his running mates in Ariza and Bynum.

[cash459]

Phil will be content letting Parker and Manu shoot jumpers all day long.

Keeping these two guys out of the paint is a priority. If the Lakers can employ a similar defensive strategy as NOH they should be OK. Their offense is definitely on another level compared to NOH, it sounds simple but if the Lakers execute their offense correctly and play good enough defense it will be enough to win.

Trevor Ariza is sort of the ace in the hole. He's a wildcard at this point, nobody knows what he'll be able to give. When he was healthy he was our best perimeter defender. He played the passing lanes well, rebounded extremely well, stayed in front of his man, and was an extremely good finisher at the rim and fastbreak player. Part of the reason Farmar has struggled in the 2nd half of the season is because he lost his running mates in Ariza and Bynum.

and the other players on the floor/team arent as good as them?!? c'mon...im a spurs fan & i know that the lakers have talent. The other players on the Lakers can run and score just as much as those 2.

[ducks]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kobe Bryant to switch on to Parker for stretches of games. I would also assume that Phil Jackson may try to use Trevor Ariza on Parker as well at some point.

love kobe on tp
why make kobe spend energy on d

[JamStone]

love kobe on tp
why make kobe spend energy on d

Because Kobe loves the challenge.

It wouldn't be the entire game, and probably not early on in the game. But, I can definitely see it happening if Parker is getting a lot of easy buckets inside.

[Cry Havoc]

Keeping these two guys out of the paint is a priority. If the Lakers can employ a similar defensive strategy as NOH they should be OK.

You mean play no perimeter defense and hope the Spurs miss wide open 3s and 18 footers?


Their offense is definitely on another level compared to NOH, it sounds simple but if the Lakers execute their offense correctly and play good enough defense it will be enough to win.

David West had a lights-out post-season, and Chris Paul is playing some of the best PG in the history of the league. The Lakers offense might be slightly better than NO, but to say it's on another level is just a little too much homerism.


Trevor Ariza is sort of the ace in the hole. He's a wildcard at this point, nobody knows what he'll be able to give. When he was healthy he was our best perimeter defender. He played the passing lanes well, rebounded extremely well, stayed in front of his man, and was an extremely good finisher at the rim and fastbreak player. Part of the reason Farmar has struggled in the 2nd half of the season is because he lost his running mates in Ariza and Bynum.

I would agree with this, but one of the real strengths that Pop has is that he loves to exploit weaknesses in young players. He won't waste time trying to figure out schemes to fool Kobe on that end of the floor, because Kobe's pretty much seen it all at this point.

He WILL, however, use any weakness Ariza has shown on game film. I think that's one of the reasons Pop hates younger players -- because as talented as they can be, they usually have one or two gaping holes in their game that he cannot rely on.

I really think this series (assuming Duncan returns to form) boils down to the Spurs 3 point shooting. Hit those, and the LA defense will have no answers. Miss, and it allows them to collapse on Tony and Manu and discombobulate the offense.

Spurs in 6. I see LA struggling a lot in San Antonio and the Spurs swooping up one of the first two games in LA. But I think this series will be the polar opposite of NO. Every game is going to be close and winnable by either team.

It might even come down to Robert Horry, standing alone at the top of the 3 point stripe, staring down a triple with the Spurs down 2 as time expires.

[thiste]

Haha it would be ace if Horry was to kill the Lakers at the end of the day :)

[Spurs Brazil]

I think TP will have a great series

He always plays well against Fisher and LA don't have a big guy to meet him at the rim