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who would be instead? Don't tell me bonner.
Cant really wait for the playoffs so lets put some observations together;
Lakers closing five will probably be
Fisher/Bryant/Artest/Odom/Gasol vs parker/manu/jefferson/duncan/dyess
what do you guys see in each line up.
who would be instead? Don't tell me bonner.
Fisher is a huge defensive weak link in that Lakers line up and Parker is a big plus for the Spurs. Kobe and Artest don't have the speed to hang with Parker, and Fisher can't keep Parker, Ginobili, or Jefferson in front of him. Duncan and Dyess make for a more physical pair than Odom and Gasol.
Meanwhile the Spurs lack anyone that could be called a Kobe stopper. And in the event that the Lakers decided to go away from Kobe down the stretch Tim and McDyess' lack of lateral quickness on their rickety knees becomes a concern. Odom and Gasol both have the offensive skill set to cause problems. They can shoot well enough that they can draw a big away from the paint, and possibly put the ball on the floor if they are able to their man far enough out.
duncan, jefferson, manu, parker, mason
LA would put Fisher on Jefferson with Kobe on Parker late. Dare SA to run their offense through Jefferson for the win.
On the other end, no one for SA can stop anyone for the Lakers. It will be the death of SA in every matchup.
I take that back - it was overstating things.
If its one-on-one play, Duncan would give Pau fits if Pau was trying to run at him. But LA doesn't play that way.
It will be Kobe pick and roll with Pau - Artest and Fisher spotting up and LO ready to slash to the basket. Good luck Spurs, especially with no shot blockers besides Duncan and he will need to stay on Pau.
On the flip side, Pop needs to come up with some new tricks because every 4th quarter, Phil's teams have Duncan looking like Kwame Brown, Parker standing out on the perimeter and watching, and Ginobili out of gas. Every game its the same way. Even the game SA won last year it was due to other players stepping up and Fisher being stupid.
Is Jefferson really going to be the closer to knock LA out?
The Spurs biggest problem last year was when Trevor Ariza was on Tony Parker. Now that he's gone and with RJ, we'll have a better chance offensively than last year.
One key to beating LA to get Kobe tired by the 4th quarter. All the great finishers know how to pace themselves for the final kick in the end. RJ being a legitimate offensive threat will force Kobe to work harder. Against Boston, Kobe had to work overtime while covering Pierce. With our backcourt of Parker, Manu and RJ there's little chance than Kobe can relax.
It's necessary however that the pressure is there for the entire game. That's why our bench has to maul LA's bench. That hopefully is the weak link. Against Orlando, LA rarely played any bench players other than their guards (Farmar and Brown). Guys like Vujacic and Walton are too slow to be effective in playoff basketball just like Mason and Bonner are too slow.
What the Spurs needs is for guys like Hill, Blair, Haislip and Mahinmi to give them fits just like Powe, House, Posey gave them trouble.
LA can be beat, Boston showed us how. A defensive physical grind it out game is exactly what the Spurs are known for.
So how crazy will you get if manu, tim, jefferson and mcD are on the floor with Parker and Tony dribbles the ball for 15 seconds before he passes it?
LA has had TP on lock in the 4th for a long while. Kobe will take that role in the 4th this season.
Agreed but RJ isn't the type of threat that puts constant pressure and I doubt SA changes their style to do it.
Don't forget Odom off the bench for LA. LA's bench is plenty strong enough.
True, but none of those guys have proven anything in the NBA.
They used to be known for that. That defensive iden y is gone. Besides Duncan, who for SA is an above average defender?
let's see how the Spurs play first, we need to see if Manu is the same or just a spot up shooter, if the new guys will gel with the vets and is the team defense is consistentlt good all year. Lakers added Artest so they have pretty much the same team with another offensive weapon
LA Depth Chart:Don't forget Odom off the bench for LA. LA's bench is plenty strong enough.
Point Guard Derek Fisher Jordan Farmar
Shooting Guard Kobe Bryant Sasha Vujacic Shannon Brown
Small Forward Ron Artest Luke Walton Adam Morrison
Power Forward Pau Gasol Lamar Odom Josh Powell
Center Andrew Bynum D.J. Mbenga
SA Depth Chart:
Point Guard Tony Parker George Hill
Shooting Guard Roger Mason Manu Ginobili Malik Hairston
Small Forward Richard Jefferson Michael Finley Marcus Williams
Power Forward Antonio McDyess Matt Bonner DeJuan Blair Marcus Haislip
Center Tim Duncan Theo Ratliff Ian Mahinmi
Hmmm... let's put DeJuan Blair on Odom and let's see how Odom feels playing physical.
Definitely going to be fun to watch!
I hope Kobe guards Parker. Parker will still give him trouble. It might be tough in certain situations, but overall, Kobe will not be effective guarding a guy like Parker. Having a guy like Ariza who could guard quicker players really allowed Kobe to take breaks defensively. Now that he is gone and Ron cannot guard those guys, Kobe will have to the entire game. Then who guards Gino? Artest? Ginobili will murder Artest on the perimeter.
Switching Fisher onto RJ. That is a losing proposition. RJ, although he has his short comings is too athletic still and has too much range for Fisher to do well. Fisher is pretty solid in the low block, even against guys bigger than him, but I doubt he can handle RJ.
I think that is a bad strategy for the Lakers. I think you will see more traditional line ups defensively: Fisher on Parker, Kobe on Manu and Artest on RJ. Then you rely on the better match ups and funneling into the length of Bynum/Pau.
should be interesting, i dont think RJ is good enough on D to gaurd anyone but artest or fisher, the problem is gaurding odom, kobe is gunna get his, odom is the x factor for me
Well that's what bothers me about the offseason, rather than go after RJ, we could have gone after Odom.
A very dangerous strategy, but if successful it would change the balance.
How could the Spurs have gone after Odom?
i dont think you factored in foul trouble
I see us getting torched without Bruce Bowen, period.
if we had to depend on a retirement-aged bruce bowen to defend kobe for extended minutes in the playoffs, we were going to lose anyway.
RJ was a good defender before he had to become the 1st option, he will become a good defender again.
I LOVE bruce, I wish he could still play, but he just can't. Perimeter players just can not play after 36...they lose too much quickness.
btw, the only exceptions that I can think of, Nash and kidd, never were great defenders, so I guess it does not matter as much for them. Their game is predicated on passing skills, which do not deteriorate...
Kobe is great but is not gonna keep TP9 in front of him.
Lets not forget about Marcus Haislip, this guy was brought here for a reason, to match up against Odom and Dirk.
These two teams are so evenly matchup (on paper) that I think a guy like that, a wildcard can make all the difference in the world.
you guys that say TP cant be guarded by anyone, whos going to guard kobe? id take the kobe mismatch over the TP mismatch any day. with TP just give him space until he makes his jumper. if his jumper falls then the lakers have no answer. but with kobe, its pick your poison. and whos going to guard odom? dyess is too slow, jefferson is too short, finley is both short and old. if pau and bynums on the court, duncan can take one but dyess and bonner are too short to contest bynum or gasol's shot.
i think both teams have mismatches but the lakers have a better chance at countering than the spurs. just my opinion
celtics never really had spectacular defenders and they held down bryant just fine. they had an above average defender in posey but he didn't see starter minutes, with the celtics opting for allen and pierce. spurs just need to play team defense and have a pair of solid defenders to throw at bryant.
Boston's scheme was to zone up behind Kobe with the tough defender on him. Add with Bos manhandling LA physically - plus the Lakers relying on guys like Radmanovic, Vujacic, Walton and LO before he found his playoff heart and voila' - it looks easy to do.
But LA tore up that D last year when they faced it with better offensive execution. Now - they not only know the tri but have better weapons around Kobe. Most importantly - LA is full of 2-way guys, instead of just offensive or defensive only guys.
If any team wants a real shot at defending Kobe they are going to have to trade for Shane Battier. He is the lone guy who can consistently keep Kobe on the perimeter and still challenge his shot. No other scheme or player can really bother him at the level he's at now.
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