Phil is 6'8". He can guard Duncan ok.
Phill won't be able to guard Duncan like Scott was able to. Chandler is a very long player at 7'2 and a very good defensive player along with being very physical. Factor in David West who is a banger type of player that also plays rugged physical style of basketball. The Hornets had the 2 worst type of players for Duncan to deal with when he was on offense. The Lakers don't have those type of defenders.
Gasol is long but he's not physical or as good of a defender as Chandler. Odom is not physical like West and neither is Radmonovich. The only real physical player the Lakers have is Turiaf. I think Duncan will do a lot better against the Lakers frontline then he did against the Hornets. This will be the first time in a while he won't have to deal with an extremely physical frontline beating him up when he's on offense. The first two rounds he had to deal with Amare,Shaq and then West,Chandler. I like his chances against Odom,Gasol.
Phil is 6'8". He can guard Duncan ok.
Well, Timmy is going to have guard either Pau or Lamar. My bet would be Pau cuz Tim Duncan (and quite frankly, none of the Spurs) can't hang with Lamar Odom. Tim is going to have the same problem Boozer had last series. I'm telling you, the Lakers are very long and very athletic. Save for Parker, the Spurs don't have anybody who can deal with the quickness and athleticism the Lakers possess.
Boozer had issues with the Lakers length - he might be 6'8".Tim is going to have the same problem Boozer had last series.
Duncan is 6'11" with long arms. He will not have the same problems Boozer had.
Lakers got any players with back problems?![]()
Horry so wants to kill the Lakers. He never had the chance after their 2004 implosion, and the Suns doing the dirty work for us.
Spurs won't put Duncan on Gasol. I see them putting Duncan on Odom and just forcing Odom to shoot 17 foot jumpers. Oberto and Thomas will guard Gasol. Honestly I don't see Odom or Gasol having the same ability to hit midrange jumpers consistently like West was able to. It will be interesting to see because I really do believe the spurs will clog the lanes on them. We'll definitely see for sure if Odom is ready for prime time in this series.
I don't think that Odom is cut out to be a scorer!
He's like a Boris Diaw. All that talent, but he won't look for his own shot.
Odom is going to have to score for the Lakers.
I agree with daslicer about Tim against this front line.
Last series was an aberration. If teams could shut down Tim Duncan, they would have done it by now. After 4 les where he's the best player on the team (defense, rebounding, creating space, leadership ), there isn't any way to keep him at the level he played during the Hornets series.
Or if you were to do double and triple team him all the time, Manu and Tony would eat you alive.
I suspect The Lakers will employ the same defense they used against UTAH, pack in the paint and swarm anyone that tries to score inside while forcing the other team to hit outside shots.
Well Pau is a good 13 to 15 ft jump shooter. Lamar is inconsistent with his perimeter shooting but he can get to the lane with those Inspector Gadget arms. Yeah, Timmy is 6'11 but Pau is almost 7'2 and even in that last regular season game, Pau's length bothered him. Lamar is 6'10 himself.
cause that worked SO well for the hornets
Well they took you to 7 games didn't they? I'd say it worked out well enough.
We're not the Hornets. I also think having to play every other day is going to have an affect on the Spurs. Parker is the catalyst against LA, I think. Derek and Jordan are going to have to be offensive mnded to make Tony play on both sides of the court. Fisher is nowhere near the talent of Chris Paul but he has got all the mental toughness in the world.
Phil's gonna be punked if he tried NO's strategy against TD. The series with the Hornets is still fresh in their minds and they will know what to do about it. Phil's mind games will not work with CIA Pop and his troops this time.
That defensive strategy worked because Boozer really isn't a post up player and both of your bigs (Pau, Odom) are taller and longer than him. That isn't the case with Duncan, who is tall and long and has arguably the best post game on the planet. That strategy also worked because the Jazz run that motion offense (inside the paint) and don't have anyone else who can create their own shot outside of D-Will. SA either posts Duncan or runs pick-n-rolls, and they have another wing in Manu that can create his own shot. Not to mention Parker looks to score more as opposed to getting everyone involved like D-Will.
Not saying you can't defend the Spurs, but the way you defended last series won't work here. If Gasol doesn't man up it's over....
Plus the Lakers have more size so the Spurs won't have that rebounding edge the had on the Hornets.
I agree. The Lakers are going to have to make adjustments when it comes to guarding Duncan. Bench play will be significant in this series too. I am thrilled Ariza is ready to go. Another long player who can help Kobe on perimter defense.
Yeah, man. Save for Chandler, New Orleans is really small. We have four 7 footers on the team although I doubt Mihm will see time. MBenga will play sporadically if Pau gets in foul trouble. Turiaf is what, 6'10?
y mother ers who haven't done in years.
I believe the Lakers are one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the playoffs.
Yeah the Jazz owned the out of them.
Kurt Thomas, Oberto, Duncan, horry should bring their rebounding shoes, cause they should be able to bang the boards.
Pau is not a great defender and at best average but not in the league Chandler is defensively. Chandler is a beast on the defensive end and can clog the lanes along with being very physical. He's kind of like a 7foot bowen for Duncan and factor in he gave Shaq problems in Miami a few years ago. All this made it difficult for Duncan to post him up and score at will. Duncan will be able to post up Pau whenever he wants don't let arm length fool you on that. Shaq had great arm length and size and we saw how that faired against Duncan.
David west was also a problem to because he is another prototype of player Duncan doesn't do well against. The guy is physical banger ala Karl Malone who can hit the midrange jumpshot consistently to the point where its like a open layup for him. The guy could physically beat up Duncan whenever he tried to post up and then frustrate him by drilling the midrange shot 9 out of 10 times. The Lakers don't have anybody that is banger like that the close is Turiaf.
What I see happening is the Lakers double and tripple teaming Duncan and hoping their arm length will bother him. I also see the spurs daring Lamar Odom to become scorer in this series. Like I said Lakerfans are going to find out once the series is over if Odom has actually grown up as player and is ready to play in the big games. Its going to be very interesting.
Am I one of the only ones who think Gasol will disappear completely in a series against TD? I also think, if we beat LA and play the Celtics, KG will disappear as well. I've seen it too many times. TD owns those two. The only guy who has really demonstrated good defense on TD is Rasheed Wallace. So I hope the Pistons don't get to the finals :]
I give you that KG tends to go MIA in games but Wallace tends to disappear as well especially if the refs get to him.
You guys are severly underestimating both Pau and Lamar. Lamar is a lot like Kobe, he can create his own shot. Pau is going to have a difficult time with Duncan but Duncan is going to have an equally tough job dealing with Pau.
Detroit is going to take the Celtics out in 6 games.
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