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New England patriots looked second to none, too.
In First Place, Lakers Look Second To None In West
By J.A. Adande
ESPN.com
(Archive)
LOS ANGELES -- It's foolish to draw any conclusions in the Western Conference, in which the playoff picture changes in the time it takes to click the refresh button on your browser. But as the regular season draws to a close, the Los Angeles Lakers are starting to match results to their ability, which would make them the team to beat. They're starting to think in those terms, too.
"We've put ourselves in position to firmly believe," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said.
They also put themselves atop the Western Conference with a 106-85 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Staples Center Sunday.
The strange thing was how unplayoff-like it felt at the end, with Kobe Bryant sitting out the entire fourth quarter and Tim Duncan heading to the bench for good with 6:40 remaining. But the lack of suspense at the end came about because the Lakers dominated the third quarter, playing some postseason-caliber defense, holding the Spurs to 14 points on 3-for-17 shooting. Defense has been the biggest question mark for the Lakers. They've been burned by quick point guards (Tony Parker was at it again in the first half, when he scored 18 points). They have failed to rotate out to 3-point shooters. They haven't had a full-time presence in the middle since Andrew Bynum went down in January.
Things changed in the third quarter Sunday. The Lakers stayed in front of Parker, who scored only two more points. Pau Gasol blocked a Duncan hook shot, one of 13 misses by Duncan.
"I think we've found our defensive iden y," Bryant said. "We're very aggressive. We have a tremendous amount of versatility in wings and bigs who are athletic and long. We can get after guys."
Lamar Odom continues to do work on the defensive boards. He grabbed 12 of them Sunday, his third consecutive game with double figures in that category. Ronny Turiaf provided the usual boost of energy off the bench. And Fisher's torn tendon in his foot is feeling well enough that he went to Jackson and requested more playing time last week.
The Lakers had some doubts about their playoff readiness as recently as coach Phil Jackson's pregame media session Sunday, when he lamented, "We're playing minutes well, we're not playing large segments of games well."
The second half of a nationally televised game against the defending champions should count as a large enough segment. Afterward, Jackson called it a complete victory, with Vladimir Radmanovic the only member of the Lakers' top nine players who didn't make a significant contribution.
Fisher made an interesting comparison to the Lakers' three-peat teams of the start of the decade. They were built around Shaquille O'Neal, with Bryant able to play off him, and veterans around to plug in the gaps.
Now, "We're built to play as a team and not rely on individual talents of other guys," Fisher said. "Hopefully that can carry us a long way." Bryant has been more than happy to involve everyone and not carry the load himself. As a result he'll be fresher for the playoffs, when superstars have to make the difference.
Bryant had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes Sunday, and was already icing his knees as the final minutes elapsed.
Instead of engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Bruce Bowen and then contending with Duncan at the rim, Bryant whipped passes to Fisher or dumped it inside to Gasol. Occasionally Bryant pulled up for a jumper of his own. And he capped the third quarter by gathering a lead pass from Gasol, collecting himself just behind the 3-point arc and dropping a shot through the net with 0.1 seconds left.
"Estamos aqui," he said to Gasol back on the bench ("We're here"), as Bryant gestured to their eyes.
The Spurs could have used some more Spanish in their lineup. Their star from Argentina, Manu Ginobili, sat out with what the team called a strained left abductor. In addition, Brent Barry and Robert Horry missed the game with injuries.
"I'm really concerned about Robert," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I don't know when we're going to get him back [if] at all. The knee is really bothering him.
"And Brent has been gone forever. I'm hoping I can get him some minutes either tomorrow night or the Utah game."
It's possible the Spurs could go into the playoffs banged-up and without home-court advantage. They have enough experience to win on the road, but would they wear down from the extra travel?
And can they beat anybody in the compe ive West if they don't address the offensive problems and defensive lapses they showed Sunday?
"Sometimes we get in ruts when we're not moving the ball," Bowen said. "Third quarter, it was evident today.
"We didn't do a good job on [defensive] transitions today and it's evident in a lot of 3-point shots they got in transitions or the lay-ups in transitions. Those are our areas that you can correct, fortunately. This was a game that we wanted to compete better than we did today."
They can get Ginobili back; they can get their championship ways back. The thing is, this isn't the time to go on a search-and-rescue mission. You want to have everyone and everything accounted for, peaking for the postseason. Like the Lakers.
At the end of March the Lakers lost back-to-back home games to Charlotte and Memphis. Since then they've won seven of eight, including victories over playoff-bound Washington, Dallas, New Orleans and now the Spurs.
"Going into the playoffs it's about momentum," Bryant said. "It's about who's playing well. We sure are playing good basketball right now."
J.A. Adande is the author of "The Best Los Angeles Sports Arguments." He joined ESPN.com as an NBA columnist in August 2007 after 10 years with the Los Angeles Times. Click here to e-mail J.A.
New England patriots looked second to none, too.
who wrote the article? Oh lets see its J.A. Adande who spent years covering the Lakers for the LA Times....cant get more homer than that
Lakers are still good though, not hatin on Lakers, just hatin on ESPN for choosing Adande for the article
Last edited by sribb43; 04-14-2008 at 11:00 AM.
I can't hate, the Lakers look pretty ing stout these days.
I'm sure the Lakers and Laker fans will take getting to the NBA Finals and losing over not getting to the NBA Finals at all.
they dont impress me that much. they play no defense and have too many low IQ players to be successful in the playoffs.
They have too many low IQ players? I think the Lakers as a whole are among the smarter group of players in the league. Odom makes bone-headed plays sometimes. And, Sasha takes some ill-advised shots at times. Other than that, I find the Lakers to play pretty smart basketball as a team.
They're a well-coached team. It's the Mavericks that are basketball re s.
Yeah, that's a big part of it, which is why I don't understand someone criticizing their low IQ players not being enough to be successful in the playoffs. That's what the smart players on the team and the coaching staff are there for, to lead the team in the playoffs.
Ummm you just literally described the Allas Mavericks.
Lakers don't really scare me without Bynum. I prefer them 2000000x over PHX.
No I described the Los Angeles Lakers.
Mavericks actually play defense.
Yep. As much as it pains me to say it, the Gasol trade was just as beneficial as I predicted it would be. Lakers are looking GOOD, and that's WITHOUT Bynum. A scary thought.
I disagree. Although perhaps I should have said they have a weak minded team (except for Kobe). I think that fits them more. Kobe still has a problem with bad shot selection when things get tough for the team. Fisher has been playing like a ing re . Sasha plays hard but is re ed. Walton isn't dumb, but chooses to play like a re . Get physical with Pau and he wilts. Odom is a load of talent that completely lacks consistency and heart. Can't shoot freethrows for either. Once Farmar hits a 3, he gets ing 3-point crazy and just jacks them any time he sees the slightest amount of daylight. And no one plays good defense except Kobe. Their defense was extremely reliant on Bynum, and I personally doubt he's coming back, despite all the Laker hopefulls who keep saying "oh trainers said he will be back in 2 games! WATCH OUT!!!" and then he never ing comes. Even if he does, he won't have much effect at all because if there have been this many delays, then chances are, he is much more ed up than reports were saying.
Tell that to the Lakers who can easily score at will against them. Odom, Gasol, Kobe get to the hoop with such ease. Plus Josh Howard and Jason Terry arent exactly smart players. Mavs are an okay defensive team at best but if you attack it the right way, they go from okay to downright ty.
+1
I'll take the Suns over the Lakers in a 7 game series........and I hate the suns
JA Adande is the biggest Laker homer on ESPN. Every other article he writes is about them. The Lakers are a great team now, but without Bynum they won't go very far in the playoffs. Their interior D is weak right now, so guys like Duncan and Amare should have a field day against the likes of Pau Gasol.
Besides, I'm not too impressed with a win over the Spurs sans Ginobili.
The Lakers have shown that they can beat any of the top playoff teams without Bynum. I would welcome a matchup with any team and feel confident against any coming out of the west (unless Horry makes it back for the Spurs) that the lakers would win.
I think we are seeing the wear down of the WC teams due to intense compe ion over the last month or 2 of the season. The lakers depth has kept them relatively fresh and they appear to be the freshest team out there right now.
Phoenix has scored at will against everyone for the past 4 years. Hasn't won for them.
why do you keep bringing up the Mavericks? they have absolutely nothing to do with the conversation. you are a downright ty debater.
Hi Rockets fan.
This is actually a very good point. Amare dumped 38 points against the Spurs every night back in the '05 playoffs, but they couldn't get past that round because their defense wasn't nearly on par with San Antonio's.
I wasn't trying to on the suns or anything, but its true. They have been an offensive monster, but their defense has never been consistent enough to win what matters most, and that's a le. The Lakers defense is not impressive at all and will be a problem, because they fall in love with the jumpshot WAY too easily. everyone on that team... if you give them a few feet of space, they will ALWAYS kill their dribble and take the jumpshot, and that is a big key to beating them IMO.
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