will the lakers withstand

[TruSkool]

series is 2-2 and it seems like the jazz have figured out a way to handle the lakers..
i think the jazz have a good chance of upsetting the lakers in 6 games...

heres a list of things we can do to prevent this from happening:

1. box out
2. give fisher more pt (let farmar warm the bench)
3. make pau work the inside and get okur in foul trouble
4. defend the perimeter

[Gerald3Wallace]

ill correct #2 for you..

2.give the same minutes fisher been getting...but give farmars mins to sasha.

[chefy]

any update on kobe's back?

[Gerald3Wallace]

He said he "should be OK," by Wednesday and he'll "definitely play in Game 5."

[Slava]

Play Luke more?

Its eaqsy to say "Box out!" but who would do that? Pau isn't strong enough to do that and Lamar keeps roaming around for grabbing the ball.

[LAKESHOW]

first of all, it definitely looks like theres a need for andrew bynum in the middle. this is utah. thats their gameplan. just attack you down the throat.

secondly, kobes health. he needs to explode and the explosion isnt there.

tons more, but those are 2.

[LLcoleJ]

Its now a 3 game series and we have 2 at home. Both losses in UTA were winnable games for us if we didnt turn the ball over and made our free throws.

We need to come out and make a statement game on Wed. and get back to moving the ball and executing the offense. We still control the series so we need to take them out.

[magic1fan]

Its now a 3 game series and we have 2 at home. Both losses in UTA were winnable games for us if we didnt turn the ball over and made our free throws.

We need to come out and make a statement game on Wed. and get back to moving the ball and executing the offense. We still control the series so we need to take them out.

+1! We were in both games and should have atleast split. Our bench will play better at home. I think we win game 5 with a blowout and finish them in six. Also to the other poster I don't think jazz have figuered us out. They were desperate in game three,and only won by five. We missed alot of layups in that game. In this game we missed alot of freebies,and some layups. Kobe's back was messed up. Our bench was trash. Fisher was hobbled by foul trouble and they still needed overtime to get rid of us. The lakers have to feel confident about their chances in this series.

[BossPlaya]

Heres What I Think LA Need 2 Do To For The Rest Of The Series.

1) Everybody needs to stay healthy and hopefully Kobe isnt hurt too badly.

2) Gasol needs to set the pick and roll. He hasnt been doing that well on the road. Today he set picks for Kobe, and didnt run the lanes for layups/dunks which were open.

3) Gasol cant stand flat-footed. LO was shouting it out today and nobody was listening to his advice. (Fake A Pass, Pump Fake, Back Down, etc.. just dont hold the ball and look up at the rim)

4) Somebody box out Boozer, hes killing us with 15+ rebounds a game.

5) Players need to stop picking up 2 fouls in the early minutes of the game, especially 30 ft away from the basket. Puts us in a bad position and starters sit out nearly 6-8 minutes in the 1st quarter which is when LA needs to estalbish themselves.

6) Farmar needs to play D and pass the ball. Not shoot 3's and 15 foot jumpers. He has to realize that he isnt knocking down shots and is cold in this series. Faciliate the ball and Play D.

7) Cut down on the turnovers and dont scramble on D.

&&&&&&&

Ref's need to stop calling sissy fouls on the Lakers. Dont any of the refs see Boozer pushing LA players from the back or elbowing to the rebound ?? Nobody sees Kirilenko beating up on Kobe ? or Kobe getting jumped by 2-3 Jazz players everytime he drives in ? Those are hard fouls that havent been called up in Utah. Instead they call a foul on Sasha who gets all ball from the back and blocks Deron. A flagrent 2 on Ronny who just collided in the air with Price and since Price is the lighter person, he got bumped more from the collision, but Ronny didnt touch his head at all, just got 1 of Price's hand.

[The Social Misfit]

Ref's need to stop calling sissy fouls on the Lakers. Dont any of the refs see Boozer pushing LA players from the back or elbowing to the rebound ?? Nobody sees Kirilenko beating up on Kobe ? or Kobe getting jumped by 2-3 Jazz players everytime he drives in ? Those are hard fouls that havent been called up in Utah. Instead they call a foul on Sasha who gets all ball from the back and blocks Deron. A flagrent 2 on Ronny who just collided in the air with Price and since Price is the lighter person, he got bumped more from the collision, but Ronny didnt touch his head at all, just got 1 of Price's hand.

Ronny got it becuase the play was already whistled dead, and it resulted in the cut. Not saying i agreed, but that is the reason. And don't make kobe out to be the abused. He gets plenty of calls, i.e. ramming into Kirilenko on the sideline and Lenko getting the foul? The officiating has been far too lopsided in this series to have it complained about. Come up with better reasons. I liked most of the first 7 but this is a cop out.

[lakerboy]

we can't complain about the refs after games 1 and 2 [/quote]

[LLcoleJ]

-= original quote snipped =-



Ronny got it becuase the play was already whistled dead, and it resulted in the cut. Not saying i agreed, but that is the reason.

if Price was going for an and one..then how was the play whistled dead? And if not, everyone is taught to stop ball.

It was a hard foul and worthy of a F1. But Ronny did not have any intent behind it and he shouldnt have been kicked out.

And don't make kobe out to be the abused. He gets plenty of calls, i.e. ramming into Kirilenko on the sideline and Lenko getting the foul? The officiating has been far too lopsided in this series to have it complained about. Come up with better reasons. I liked most of the first 7 but this is a cop out.

Jazz fans can no longer cry the foul game.

[milesfides]

4 games, tied 2-2. Brand New series, which just became a dogfight. True, our victories were beatdowns, the Jazz's were more like escaping losses. But, momentum is on their side, and certain key points came to my mind. Please add your own.

1. Bench Radmanovic, start Walton or Sasha. This is by far the easiest and biggest positive change we can make for our team. I have a lot of words for Radmanovic, the four-letter kind. Has anybody been so terrible in the playoffs? At least Smush Parker pouted to show that he was a punk. Radmanovic? I just think he doesn't care. He must be the first guy in the history of the playoffs to not care about playing. That guy is not worthy of purple and gold. I'm ashamed of him.

2. Slap Farmar upside the head.

3. Slap him again, and tell him to find his cajones, retrieve his mojo, and wake the hell up. We need you. Where'd you go? Is this really the same player who received 6th man of the year votes?

4. Fine Gasol every time he complains to the refs. It's backfiring, Pau. And get your ass back on defense.

5. Dear Kobe: was that you or Tracy McGrady in Game 4? Grabbing your back and jacking up threes, what is that garbage?

I don't want to see any three-pointers from Kobe, because Brewer or Harpring can't guard him down low. Actually nobody can, and if they double, that's where the game opens up for everybody.

I'm fine with Kobe playing hero and all, when he's HEALTHY. But do we really need to put you down like a wounded animal when you're not playing within your current limitations?

6. Actually, yes, yes we do. Phil: take Kobe out, just for a few seconds, if only to send a message, when he's trying to do too much. Also, call some timeouts to stem the tide! Now's not the time to try to teach character!

7. Walton stop liking your damn fingers after a mistake or missed shot. Trust, it's not because your fingers were dry.

8. Odom needs to watch this game over and over to see how he CAN play aggressively and perform under adversity. This is the best, meaningful performance I've seen Odom play. Focus? Check. Clutch? Check. Rewind? You'd better.

9. Sasha needs to get a shot every 2 or 3 minutes. I'm serious. The guy was en fuego, and he doesn't even get the ball for the last 10 minutes? What the hell? This is one guy who's absolutely fearless, who wants to manhug pressure. Take those 10 three-point attempts by Kobe, give em to Sasha, and we win the game.

10. Kill that weak-ass soft zone from the Jazz. Whenever Kobe catches the ball, help defenders are immediately sagging. Where's the cuts? Where's the movement off the ball? Did his teammates really expect Kobe to bail them out one on three with a bad back? Move!!! Create a passing lane, what's with the standing around?

11. Fisher is playing out of his damned mind. I know, that's not a step. But he is, he's hitting huge shots and he's even guarding Deron Williams infinitely better than the younger, quicker Farmar. The guy has so much heart. I don't care if Fisher bricks all his shots for the rest of his Laker career. At least we know what Fisher is made of, and that's courage.

[Slava]

^^Excellent post and agree with everything except the Kobe criticism, I think Kobe played well within his game even in OT and Phil put it perfectly when he said the guys bailed on him at the end. They had Fish locked up and actively doubled up Kobe, even collapsing on him in the lane. Its just classic example of over dependance on your star player.

[milesfides]

^I can respect that view, and I'm not exculpating his teammates at all, but I think 10 three-pointers with a bad back, cold-shooting night, was a bail out on Kobe's part. Some he had to put up, but many of them, no.

I'm not putting it all on Kobe, I think he was a willing passer all night (10 assists), and certainly his teammates didn't make themselves available down the stretch...but still.

We've played too many games together for this to happen. Kobe-watching is so 2005. And I blame that OT breakdown on the entire team, including Kobe.

But criticizing Kobe is an eat-your-words thing to do, he'll be phenomenal the next game no doubt. I'm more worried about his back (is it going to be a problem?) and his teammates' regression.

[slifersd]

I don't think it is that big of a deal. They beat us twice at their home court where they only lost 5 games this entire year. If it wasn't for Kobe's back and the team's insistence on giving him the ball down the stretch while he only played at 50% every time, we would've won this game for sure. We can and will beat them at home provided Kobe is at his 100%.

Of course, there are always room for improvement. A few suggestions I have would be to shorten the guard rotation to Kobe, Fisher and Vujacic. Farmar is playing like absolute garbage right now and he needs to be frozen out of the lineup because DWill can take him at will. Secondly, Walton deserves more minutes over Radmanovich. Radmanovich is lousy on both ends of the floor while Walton is playing the best basketball of the season right now. And lastly, Gasol needs to get more touches down the post to make his moves. We didn't trade him just to set the screen for Kobe.

[milesfides]

Honestly, I don't think the answer is that Gasol needs more touches. Because Gasol hasn't been doing jack crap with post moves. Nearly all his baskets so far have come courtesy of his teammates' passes, broken plays, put backs. Essentially, baskets with no resistance.

He can't back down Okur or Boozer. So first of all, he's not getting his man pinned under the basket. He's getting the ball in the high post. And he's dumping it right back to our guards.

What Gasol needs to do is turn around, face up, hit that midrange jumper, or beat Okur off the dribble.

THIS IS HIS GAME. He's great as a face-up player. I don't know why or how he lost his natural offensive game.

He wants to get dirty and fight but 1) Okur, Boozer, and Millsap is just flat out tougher than he is 2) he's not getting any calls

So he needs to step out and play his high post game that he does so well.

Imo, I think Gasol's confidence is a bit shaken, and he only wants to take shots that are right at the rim. He's such a good passer and shooter, he doesn't need to try to muscle down low. Gasol is going about the game entirely the wrong way. And, he needs to man up.

[Slava]

Good point again that Gasol has almost forgotten his face up game this series. His mid range jumper is money and how many of those has he taken so far? May be Boozer getting away with too much contact has something to do with it. If we make adjustments with the starting line up, I expect us to go big and get Turiaf starting instead of Vlad. Move Odom to SF, which frees up Kobe as Kirilenko wouldn't be guarding him, leaving Harpring/Brewer on Odom.

But knowing Phil, he wouldn't make that adjustment and try to slug it out thinking that it'd be a morel victory for the Jazz. Starting Luke is another viable option since he excels at exploiting post up opportunities on smaller players. I wouldn't worry too much about spacing as long as Fisher is able to make open shots with the consistency he has shown so far. Our aim shouldn't be beating them from the 3 pt line, thats their game plan, we need to play smarter basketball and get back to the passing game and movement that made us so deadly.

[gkonstantas]

Cool guys... We can

[LAL4Life]

Miles just took all my anger, frustration and disappointment and turned them into a coherent, intelligent, excellent breakdown of the series.

Just outta curiosity man, have you ever considered/been involved in sports journalism?