Malik's entire career has been about him playing aggressively in the paint. Have you not been paying attention?
Did you actually watch that series? Spacing was thrown out the window once LA decided to have Shaq and Malone pack the paint. The Lakers' D was built on the other big standing at the top of the key and out of the way. The Lakers shut the Spurs penetration down and they were more than happy to see the Spurs park their other big 12 feet from the rim.
Pop done F'ed up, per his stubborn normal self.
No defensive 3-second calls either.Wow put him on the other side. That means the guy would have to go, what, a whole two steps to make life for Duncan.
Ever.
Awesome.
Yeah, ive seen him repeatedly get shot after shot reject, and fumble balls out of bounds, turn the ball over with stupid passes after getting trapped under the rim.Malik's entire career has been about him playing aggressively in the paint. Have you not been paying attention?
but, that wouldve made Hedo make his wide open threes.
Right right right.
LA was more than happy to get a couple defensive 3s in that series so long as the Spurs wanted to keep Rasho/Horry out of the way.
Once LA slowed the game down and packed the paint the Spurs did not respond. Some would call it a coaching failure, but Spurs fans can't ever see Pop failing, so obviously it was, yes of course, that old standby, "cold shooting"...
Last edited by SPARKY; 02-02-2005 at 01:13 AM.
I agree the Spurs missed many open shots -- the key word is open so don't try any of that weak "the Lakers could close out faster" crap because an OPEN SHOT IS AN OPEN SHOT.The Lakers shut the Spurs penetration down
If you try that weak , change back to your Marcus screen name and tell us why it wasn't about the contract earlier this season.
Yeah, that's been Malik in the postseason. No doubt.
The looks weren't as good as what they got in the 2003 series. Why? Again, because it gets back to the paint. The Spurs in 2003 had the best frontcourt rotation they ever had against the Lakers and LA had just about the worst, a frontcourt which featured Robert Horry starting at the 4.
Move ahead to 2004, Spurs replace Robinson, Rose, and Willis with pretty much Rasho and Horry. Lakers replace Horry with a healthy Malone. Suddenly the Spurs' shooting and penetration suffers once Shaq and Malone play the kind of interior D they are capable of.
Its been Malik from day 1 Marcus thats correct.
"Wide open shots are not open shots"
-- Sparkus
Why'd Manu and Bowen shoot much worse in 2004? Did they suddenly become worse shooters in 2004? Or perhaps maybe, just maybe, they faced a tougher defense? No, that would make sense.
They faced Kobe and Devean George, whats the excuse again??they faced a tougher defense
They didnt have a better defense, they just didnt shoot as well.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
Goddamnt they missed open in shots.
Bowen, Turkoidiot, Horry.
They just missed shots.
WIDE ING OPEN.
Malone wasnt the reason, Kobe wasnt, Payton sure as wasnt.
They missed OPEN shots, plaing and simple.
Making excuse for Malik Rose and Hedo ing Turkoglu is horse .
Why does no one shoot exactly the same every game?
Look, you're going to get 10 good minutes out of Malik vs. Shaq and Malone before he fouls out. It's just as easy to say he wouldn't have made a difference as saying he would've.
Big deal.
Why is he benched now? If it's because of the contract, why wasn't he benched all year?
Oh yes, of course. While the Lakers shut down the Spurs' offense to minimal penetration and one and done on most possessions that did not translate into any effect on the Spurs shooters. Get real.
Malik's managed to hold his own in the paint against a Shaq led frontcourt before. The Spurs clearly needed to be more physical up front in that series. You don't count on Rasho Nesterovic and Robert Horry to lead you down that path.
[QUOTE]Malik's managed to hold his own in the paint against a Shaq led frontcourt before[QUOTE]
Yup, 01 and 02 were very very successfull.
Why is he benched now? If it's because of the contract, why wasn't he benched all year?
Business as usual.
No answer. Typical.
[QUOTE=T Park][QUOTE]Malik's managed to hold his own in the paint against a Shaq led frontcourt beforeThe Spurs didn't have the guards with the ability to penetrate back then that they have now.
Yup, 01 and 02 were very very successfull.
Sparky, in your argument you basically make these 2 points:
1) If we had Malik (or any big man tougher than Rasho/Horry) inside, then LA's bigs wouldn't have the luxury to roam the paint and stop our guards penetrating
2) If we had Malik, our 3-pt shooters would have shot much better.
I agree with the first point in principle: it's one big difference between having the Twin Towers in 2003 and having Tim + Rasho now; however the difference is that DRob was regarded as a threat in the paint, although a depleted one somewhat. If defenders tried to stop our guard penetration, DRob could collect passes and finish strong inside; Rasho doesn't finish strong; but Malik on the other hand, has shown that he is turnover prone this year. (please note that I'm saying this in this year's context, not for his whole career). So I'm not sure if he's the threat upfront that'd bother opposition defenses too much.
Regarding the 2nd point, I don't think Malik would play too big a part in how our outside shooters perform. Remember, it took Steve Kerr to make some really big shots in both the WCF and the Finals. And we had SJax, who showed little fear. The Spurs' outside shooting is very much a mental thing; Hedo just couldn't get it done in crunch time; I doubt he'd have done any better if it was DRob in there instead of Rasho. This year, if Brent Barry doesn't hit the shots (he's started making them nowadays) in the playoffs, he'll have only himself to blame. Malik isn't the silver bullet here, nor is any other big man going to radically influence our 3 pt %.
In summary, your first point is valid, but I don't think Malik is the answer there (given how he's playing this season).
Pentrate in the lane, draw the bigs.The Spurs didn't have the guards with the ability to penetrate back then that they have now
what is difference about that than what happened in 04.
David Robinson was not known for finishing strong, try again.DRob could collect passes and finish strong inside
How does Malik, being on Shaq, make the offense easier.If we had Malik (or any big man tougher than Rasho/Horry) inside, then LA's bigs wouldn't have the luxury to roam the paint and stop our guards penetrating
How is he drawing Shaq and Malone out of the paint??
Please answer that.
That could be true; you've watched far more of his games than me. But I think the opposition center would be far more wary of leaving Drob alone to stop penetrating guards, than he would if it were Horry/Rasho.
Exactly my point. Although the problem exists, I don't think Malik is the solution. Malone might be, though.
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