duncan228
05-22-2008, 11:44 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA052308_LakersSider.en.3897bbc.html
NBA: Lakers gain confidence, but don't expect an easy path
Mike Finger
LOS ANGELES — As a group, this newest version of the Los Angeles Lakers is relatively young and undeniably European, which can make for some nontraditional NBA tastes in personal style and grooming.
But after the Lakers overcame a 20-point second-half deficit to beat the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, Derek Fisher explained his still-developing team was in for some old-school changes.
“Those are the type of wins,” Fisher said, “that at least for the men in the room, put a little hair on your chest.”
Wednesday's comeback was that kind of a coming-of-age moment for a Lakers team that — outside of Fisher and Kobe Bryant — is trying to assert its postseason machismo. Now that they've proven themselves capable of escaping dire circumstances to outplay the defending champions under pressure, the Lakers have yet another reason to believe their NBA title aspirations are legitimate.
“The crew that we have here, everybody's so young,” Bryant said. “I think it's a big confidence boost for them.”
Even with that being said, the Lakers insisted Thursday they weren't quite as ready as some of the Southern California locals to start booking their trips east for the NBA Finals.
The Lakers are, after all, the same team that managed to dig itself into a huge deficit at home against the Spurs. And even though everything fell into place for them Wednesday, the Lakers said they know no team is good enough to count on monumental rallies every game.
“We can't live that way,” Fisher said. “We understand that's not the recipe for success.”
The one thing for certain is that however the Lakers decide to cook things up, Bryant will be the key ingredient. He took his time in Game 1, making only one of three shots in the first half while consistently shunning good looks at the basket in favor of passing to teammates. When he started looking for his own shot in the third quarter, he ignited a game-changing 14-0 run and pulled the Lakers back from the brink of a blowout. He scored 25 of his 27 points in the second half, but he insisted Thursday it wasn't by design.
“I'm not smart enough for that,” Bryant said. “I just go out and play.”
But wasn't getting his teammates involved early and taking over late what he wanted to do?
“Everybody's making too much of a big deal out of it,” he said. “We got back into the game because of pretty solid defense. What I did is just infuse some more energy to our ballclub.”
That energy paid off, but the Lakers aren't counting on the Spurs to lose all of theirs. They remember how bad the Spurs looked in lopsided losses in New Orleans only to win the conference semifinals, and they know something similar can happen if they aren't careful.
“We can't expect to just break those guys,” Lamar Odom said.
“I don't see Game 1 lingering into Game 2,” Bryant said. “I think they'll be ready to go.”
NBA: Lakers gain confidence, but don't expect an easy path
Mike Finger
LOS ANGELES — As a group, this newest version of the Los Angeles Lakers is relatively young and undeniably European, which can make for some nontraditional NBA tastes in personal style and grooming.
But after the Lakers overcame a 20-point second-half deficit to beat the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, Derek Fisher explained his still-developing team was in for some old-school changes.
“Those are the type of wins,” Fisher said, “that at least for the men in the room, put a little hair on your chest.”
Wednesday's comeback was that kind of a coming-of-age moment for a Lakers team that — outside of Fisher and Kobe Bryant — is trying to assert its postseason machismo. Now that they've proven themselves capable of escaping dire circumstances to outplay the defending champions under pressure, the Lakers have yet another reason to believe their NBA title aspirations are legitimate.
“The crew that we have here, everybody's so young,” Bryant said. “I think it's a big confidence boost for them.”
Even with that being said, the Lakers insisted Thursday they weren't quite as ready as some of the Southern California locals to start booking their trips east for the NBA Finals.
The Lakers are, after all, the same team that managed to dig itself into a huge deficit at home against the Spurs. And even though everything fell into place for them Wednesday, the Lakers said they know no team is good enough to count on monumental rallies every game.
“We can't live that way,” Fisher said. “We understand that's not the recipe for success.”
The one thing for certain is that however the Lakers decide to cook things up, Bryant will be the key ingredient. He took his time in Game 1, making only one of three shots in the first half while consistently shunning good looks at the basket in favor of passing to teammates. When he started looking for his own shot in the third quarter, he ignited a game-changing 14-0 run and pulled the Lakers back from the brink of a blowout. He scored 25 of his 27 points in the second half, but he insisted Thursday it wasn't by design.
“I'm not smart enough for that,” Bryant said. “I just go out and play.”
But wasn't getting his teammates involved early and taking over late what he wanted to do?
“Everybody's making too much of a big deal out of it,” he said. “We got back into the game because of pretty solid defense. What I did is just infuse some more energy to our ballclub.”
That energy paid off, but the Lakers aren't counting on the Spurs to lose all of theirs. They remember how bad the Spurs looked in lopsided losses in New Orleans only to win the conference semifinals, and they know something similar can happen if they aren't careful.
“We can't expect to just break those guys,” Lamar Odom said.
“I don't see Game 1 lingering into Game 2,” Bryant said. “I think they'll be ready to go.”