Personally, I like the 'team' concept is good! If LA can keep playing this style effectively like the last 2 games - play good d, move the ball around, getting the bigs involved and shots will come! They can keep putting pressure on the Suns!
Charlie Rosen wrote:Phil Jackson considers flexibility to be one of his defining characteristics, and his radical game plan for Game 1 of the Lakers-Suns series proved this to be true.
In reverting to his team-oriented philosophy, Jackson designed his offense to use Kobe as a decoy and to pound the ball inside to the likes of Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom, and even Luke Walton. Then, when the Lakers were still in touch in the end-game, Kobe was let loose.
And the strategy almost worked. Brown, Odom, and Walton combined to score 54 points—just about twice their collective points-per-game average during the regular season—and the Suns' vaunted running game was slowed to a crawl. Trouble was that Tim Thomas had the game of his life. Also that Kobe didn't deliver in the end-game; and that the refs, either through incompetence or bias, couldn't make a connection between Thomas' elbow and a lump on Bryant's forehead in a critical last-minute play.
Close, but no cigar.
Meanwhile, Jackson didn't seem too upset by the narrow loss. With Nash in the lineup, the Suns had downed the Lakers eight consecutive times, so PJ knew that radical adjustments had to be made. He also knew that the Lakers' task was to earn a split in Phoenix, and whether they won Game 1 or Game 2 was immaterial. Indeed, he called Game 1 a "feeling out process."
Prior to Game 2, and with two full days of practice sessions in the book, NBA-watchers were abuzz with questions: What would Jackson have up his sleeve this time? More of the same? Or a return to the Kobe-centric offense that had failed so miserably against Phoenix in the recent past? Perhaps something undreamed of by anybody except the Zen Meister?
Credit the Lakers stunning 99-93 victory to the Lakers executing Jackson's cunning game plan to perfection.
Let's go up and down the Lakers' line-up and see who did what.
As is usually the case, Kobe was The Man. His first two touches led to shots — ;a missed 19-footer, and a brilliant duck-under lefty layup. While he lifted several shots in the first half, his focus was to move the ball and make entry passes into the low-post. (Odom, Brown, Walton, and even Smush Parker took turns there.) Indeed, Kobe registered all of his five assists in the first half.
In the second-half, Kobe's role changed dramatically. He did his thing in numerous isolation situations from both the top of the circle and his favorite spot at the foul-line extended left. He also popped up off a down-screen after a time-out and rippled the net with a 17-foot jumper. But, for the most part, Kobe was involved with high screen/rolls.
Every time that Kobe ran his defender into one of these screen-and-rolls (S/Rs), the Suns abandoned the screener and aggressively doubled Bryant. Instead of trying to force his way around the corner, however, Kobe dribbled away from the double toward either the sideline or the time-line—and the two-timers hotly pursued him. If this defensive maneuver mostly prevented Kobe from taking relatively easy pot-shots at the basket, it also created a situation where the other three Suns were forced to guard the other four Lakers. Judicious passes from Kobe led to other quick reversal passes — and his teammates ended up with a bunch of uncontested shots. The assists were credited to others, but it was the Suns' attempts to quash Kobe that resulted in the Lakers shooting 50.7%, including 9-of-16 from downtown. This 4-on-3 overmatch, combined with the Suns' usual poor defense, also led to virtually all of the Lakers' weak-side to strong-side cutters being wide open.
In addition to keying the offense, Kobe was a monster on the glass — his 10 total rebounds were game-high.
Kobe also played yeoman's defense. And after being tooted for a pair of offensive fouls in the first half, a critical call went his way in the home stretch — a charge that was called a block on Steve Nash. One wonders if Tim Thomas made an egregious error by publicly announcing that, yes, he had fouled Kobe in the closing moments of Game 1. Why rile up the refs by pointing out their miscalls? Especially after only one game was done and won?
Kwame Brown made three of his field goals early — a couple of wheels and deals in the low-post, and a dunker on a successful S/Rs. Brown's other hoop came when he attacked the slow-footed Brian Grant, who was inserted into the game when Boris Diaw picked up his third foul. Otherwise, Brown had more minuses than pluses on the offensive end — mostly turnovers and bobbled passes. But his defensive hustle redeemed his overall performance. In addition to his two blocked shots, Brown repeatedly hustled to the outskirts to pressure several of the Suns' 3-point shooters. (Phoenix was only 9-27 from 3-point-land.)
Lamar Odom was quick to the basket, hit 3-of-5 valuable treys, had five assists, and a pair of steals — and he even drove right once and scored! On several occasions, Odom over-handled the ball, hence his four turnovers. On defense, Odom was quick enough (and long enough) to stymie Nash whenever a switch was called for on the Suns' numerous S/Rs. A good effort by Odom.
Luke Walton's most significant contribution was moving the ball and facilitating the offense, i.e., making the pass that enabled somebody else to make an assist pass. He took a few ill-advised shots, and two of his ugliest misses directly led to Phoenix fast breaks. His defense was earnest, but not especially effective. As ever, Walton demonstrated that intelligence came often make up for a lack of sheer athleticism.
One wonders if Walton could earn as much playing time in any other offense but the triangle.
Smush Parker had an up-and-down game. Give him three steals, three assists, and three damaging turnovers. On defense, he did a fair job of trying to force Nash right. (Why right, Nash's strong hand? To keep Nash from executing his devastating left-to-right crossover, and just to know where he was headed.) But Parker's poor decision-making caused Jackson to yank him in favor of Sasha Vujacic, who had a bang-up game.
In addition to knocking down 3-of-4 home runs, Vujacic's size gave Nash some difficulty in getting clean looks from beyond the arc. And Vujacic also successfully implemented Jackson's anti-Nash game plan: Force Nash to drive, then jump into his available passing lanes. While Nash did score 29 points and register nine assists, he also committed six turnovers.
Devean George rebounded, and played hearty defense on Shawn Marion.
Brian Cook buried 2-of-4 shots (including his only 3-ball), and made alert passes, but was too slow to adequately defend anybody.
Jim Jackson hit a shot (1-of-3) and played okay defense (although Raja Bell easily beat him on a baseline drive). JJ's major failing was to uncork a quick perimeter jumper that resulted in a long rebound, and an eventual fast-break bucket by the Suns.
Discipline and patience comprised the Lakers' recipe for victory. Except for a solitary fast-break opportunity (which they converted), they walked the ball into the attack-zone. With their 100 (plus or minus two or three) possessions, they stuffed the ball into the pivot 23 times. And, thanks to the aforementioned double-teaming of Kobe, the Lakers were able to bag 19 of the 29 mostly unguarded long-range shots they attempted.
On defense, the Lakers banged the undersized Suns at every opportunity. But they were able to thusly assault them only because their efficient offense forced the Suns to play more half-court offense than was their wont. With their running opportunities reduced (only 15 fast break points), Nash's passing angles squeezed, and their 3-point shots challenged, the Suns were frequently reduced to playing one-on-one basketball—a tactic that allowed the Lakers to load up their defense and force the prospective shooters into help spots.
Being physically harassed, having their running game hobbled, and being easily scored upon totally discombobulated the Suns. On one important fourth-quarter possession, Marion posted-up Kobe. Disregarding the fact that Kobe already had accumulated four fouls, Marion wound up taking an awkward spinning flipper instead of forcefully taking the ball to Kobe's body. A rookie move by a veteran All-Star!
For the Suns to prevail in L.A., Mike D'Antoni needs to take his entire game plan back to the drawing board. Or is it already too late for the Suns to make dramatic changes in their approach to the game?
Ah, sometimes one team's huge advantage in quickness and athleticism can be confounded by their opponents' flexibility. Score one (and maybe more) for Phil Jackson over the NBA's reigning Coach of the Year.
didn't look like it, but hell the refs missed a blatant foul in Game 1.
) even said it was a terrible call.
