Good take. Except that this is why our defensive rotations have to be so crisp, getting to shooters on the perimeter or low post players. I think our team is built to defend someone like Kobe because of Duncan, Oberto, Thomas, and Horry. Our size, at least in this series, can be our strength.
(Salivating) I remember the days of having DRob as a mistake eraser. And I agree that he was very athletic and could "double jump" like no one else.
But, I've seen someone smart like Manu, Barry, or Parker get steals in games where shooters/slashers like Kobe and LeBron get themselves in the air after being funneled away from the 3 point line and have to either brick one off the backboard from 10-12 feet, or throw a desperation pass that gets picked off.
Don't get me wrong. I'm simplifying this to the extreme. There is no way to completely shut down Kobe. He's going to get his points and is the MVP for a reason.
I just think that by keeping him off of the 3 point line, and thus avoiding what we saw in the 4th quarter last night, he has to kill us two points at a time, whether from making a high degree of difficulty shot, or at the free throw line.
Funneling the likes of Kobe and Lebron into Duncan is smart. Funneling the likes of Kobe and Lebron into Oberto is stupid. Duncan isn't in the paint as much as we would like, with Gasol hitting the 15 footer it's going to be tough to funnel Kobe into a shot blocker.
Sean Dirk_is_my_daddy_Dirk_is_my_daddy_Dirk_is_my_daddy _Dirk_is_my_daddy_Dirk_is_my_daddy_Dirk_is_my_dadd y_
AWESOME!!! I CAN MISSPELL IT TOO!!!
We need to replace more words like this.
If Finley was getting scored on like Udoka is he'd be thrown under the bus but with Udoka it's *just buying time till Bowen returns.* True, Udoka is the best option over Finley, Ginobli, or Barry but I don't see why Udoka is getting a free pass with some here.
When Bruise Bowen is out we should have Finley on Kobe. Like Udoka, he has no chance of stopping him, but the difference is that we can run consecutive plays for Finley to get him open jump shots (he been money coming off screens ala Rip Hamilton; I don't know why we don't run more of these plays for him), that way Kobe would have to chase him around. This could be our best defense on Kobe while Bruise sits.
noone can guard kobe.....but kobe.......go spurs go
You just answered your own question.
There's a difference between "getting scored on" and "played defense".
There's also a difference between letting guys like Rdamonovic, Fisher, and Odom score easily on you and "getting scored on" by a guy like Kobe Bryant.
If Finley were defending Kobe...actually that thought is so scary I don't even want to think about it. Next.
I disappointed with Udoka defense on Kobe so far.
I thought he could make Kobe work to get his pts but so far he's guarding him the same way Finley, Manu or Brent would.
When Bruce is out the only thing that may help the spurs is to make him give up the ball and double him a little bit. Just show him different Ds, one time only Udoka then the next Udoka with somebody else but before he gets to the perimeter. Just give some time for Bruce to come back in the game. There's really no easy solution.
That's how Udoka's trying to guard him but that's not what he's doing. Kobe drives around Udoka like Udoka's not even there. He also gets much more open looks off the dribble for his pull up jumper.
But yeah, the drop from Bowen to anybody is a big drop. Udoka might be the second best defender Kobe has faced in the playoffs ... and that should illustrate how good Bowen's defense has been. Udoka is unathletic to begin with but Kobe makes him look like he's in a wheelchair.
When Kobe gets switched off onto other players, the only two on the Spurs who have a prayer of staying in front of him are Parker ..... and Oberto
Oberto has pretty damn quick lateral movements for a bigman, but when Oberto is quicker than all your swingmen not named Bowen you know the Spurs swingmen have gotten even older and slower than usual.
Bowen is the only one on the Spurs who can guard Kobe, but even he really can't stop him unless he undercuts him (which he did twice in Game 3). Pop probably puts Udoka on Kobe because Ime used to be a Laker and had to guard Kobe in practice so he figures he might know some of Kobe's moves.
Can't we kidnap Battier and say he's Udoka? So Bruce can have a backup?
They might be able to get away with it, except DazedAndConfused would spot that right off.
This is what I am hoping Mahinmi develops into. Not counting on DRob like offensive production but would love to have the athletic shot blocking big there just in case.
Mr. Literacy is back. Great.
Let Kobe do his thing.....wiggle, shake, dip, fallaway, whatever. As long as he doesn't get the guys involved I'm fine. Used to work pretty well with not doubling Shaq a few years back. Nobody can stop Kobe....how do you stop a 28 ft 3 pointer?
Kobe had 1 assist because nobody was hitting their shots. Not because he was a ballhog.
He was 10-23 and scored 30 points. He had an excellent game, his teammates did not.
It was an excellent game for some players but I'll take 3 more just like that, 10-23 30 points. For Kobe, that was room temperature.
To be fair, no one on the Lakers seemed to be moving the ball, but Kobe picked the worst time to start gunning, early to mid 1st quarter with the Lakers in the lead and no one else getting any clean looks. He jacked up a couple of ill-advised 3s and let SA back into the game. Most definitely not one of those games when Kobe let the game come to him. Once the Lakers got up 8 points, he'd have been much better served to distribute instead of going for some Sunday punch. You're not going to KO a team like SA at home in the first quarter, but you can sure as shoot them back into it.
Kobe started "gunning" when it was apparent the Lakers offense was struggling. Anyhow, I think the game was lost in the 2nd quarter when Phil foolishly left Lamar in there with the 2nd unit and it was like watching a horror film with Lamar bricking shot after shot, free throw after free throw, throwing the ball away and such. The bench (save for Luke Walton who sucks balls) wasn't actually that bad.
Its no where near Kobe's fault they lost last night. Look at what Odom gave them. If Odom doesn't give them then they aren't going to win games.
I'd consider throwing a hard double at Kobe when Bowen is on the bench. He's good enough to make a quality pass out of the double but at least you're relying on the Vujacics and Farmars and Fishers to hit shots that way. Maybe you buy some time without Kobe going off.
Well, it's nice to have Splitter and Mahinmi coming in next season.
Do you see a championship team built on Gasol and Odom as 2nd and 3rd stars? I don't. I don't even see a Finals team for that matter.
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