Phil & Fish - Broke Backboard Mountain (please read)

[fareweatherfan]

Jordan-esque and Killua -- you remember when Billups picked us apart in the finals against the Pistons, right? Who was our starting PG then?

Teams have always pick-and-rolled the Lakers to death since the Shaq era until today. And you think its been successful b/c our PG's suck at defense? LOL, yeah, it has nothing to do with our bigs' lack of commitment to defense.

The pick-and-roll is guarded more by the bigs than the point guard. How they hedge and recover is the KEY to defending it.

Ever played pick up ball? I'm sure you have. When a defense player is so clearly outmatched, the ball handler waves off the screen. See Brooks going one-on-one? NO! He's using picks b/c our bigs have played ZERO defense in our losses.

[Gus McCrae]

That was a great article. What does Phil know that we don't is what I ask myself over and over?

I was not aware of how poorly he was doing % wise. is he really averaging 4 ppg, on 29% FG with 7% 3P%!!!

That is...to be honest..inexcusable. what makes even less sense is...the Rockets are winning the PG war so WE need to make the adjustments there. why the hell would you play fish against brooks, then when they sub, bring in Farmar against Lowry? You've got it backwards PHIL!!! neutralize the PG position and let the game be decided elsewhere. Why would you start Fish on brooks? So fish can back him down and score for us? We've got scoring, just stay the hell in front of brooks and let Kobe and Pau score the points.

[Killua]

Jordan-esque and Killua -- you remember when Billups picked us apart in the finals against the Pistons, right? Who was our starting PG then?

Teams have always pick-and-rolled the Lakers to death since the Shaq era until today. And you think its been successful b/c our PG's suck at defense? LOL, yeah, it has nothing to do with our bigs' lack of commitment to defense.

The pick-and-roll is guarded more by the bigs than the point guard. How they hedge and recover is the KEY to defending it.

Ever played pick up ball? I'm sure you have. When a defense player is so clearly outmatched, the ball handler waves off the screen. See Brooks going one-on-one? NO! He's using picks b/c our bigs have played ZERO defense in our losses.

I could of swore Fisher was in our PG rotation back then also.... Using 04 isnt doing you any favors seeing how fisher played on that laker team also. Lets face it fisher is DONE and is worthless. The man he plays dosnt have to do anything on def can go all out on offense cuz fisher is worthless there. Fish dosnt even pass if a player cant Pass Shoot or Defend what good dose that player do? at this point fisher is more worthless then Walton atleast walton can pass and did what was good for the team and asked to come off the bench so we could start Ariza. I have 0 respect for fisher he is a selfish player who is worthless who i wish would get a major injory ( would perfer minor but his selfish arse would want 2 be a "warrior" and play threw the pain just to take him out of the lineup.

[Jordan-esque]

Jordan-esque and Killua -- you remember when Billups picked us apart in the finals against the Pistons, right? Who was our starting PG then?

Teams have always pick-and-rolled the Lakers to death since the Shaq era until today. And you think its been successful b/c our PG's suck at defense? LOL, yeah, it has nothing to do with our bigs' lack of commitment to defense.

The pick-and-roll is guarded more by the bigs than the point guard. How they hedge and recover is the KEY to defending it.

Ever played pick up ball? I'm sure you have. When a defense player is so clearly outmatched, the ball handler waves off the screen. See Brooks going one-on-one? NO! He's using picks b/c our bigs have played ZERO defense in our losses.

It takes 2 to Tango.

You said you played pick up ball. So I hope and pray that you were not really serious about blaming our pick and roll defense SOLELY on our bigs. Wow.

Pick and Rolls: Our bigs closes off the path the opposing PG takes to the lane. Fisher on the other hand, has to also HELP out his fellow big man (let's just say Pau) by rotating over to Pau's man (or at least Odom's man when he slides over to help Pau's man when both are near the paint) and AT LEAST put a body on him so he wouldn't be wide open for a jumper (or if Fisher switches to Lamar's man, he needs to put a body on him to make it difficult to cut to the basket).

Does Fish do that? He's actually in the back still trailing the whole play. Amazing.

You CAN'T always stop it. You just have to make it DIFFICULT.

And yes, Brooks also oftens tries to take Fish one-on-one with NO screens, not just always pick and roll. When Brooks does take Fish one-on-one, Pau or Lamar has to again switch over and try to block the lane to the basket. What ends up happening is Brooks just making a pass to an open Scola already setting up for a short jumper near the paint, or a cutting Laundry ready to go to the hole.

Where is Fisher in this whole scenario again? Isn't he supposed to be in a rotation defense trying to put a body on at least ONE of his helper's man? Well, guess what? Fisher's still beside or behind Aaron Brooks.

What do you expect? Pau to guard both his man and Fisher's man? Do you expect Pau to be in 2 places at once?

There's a reason why it's called TEAM defense.

You can't solely blame our big's defense, when the man that causes the team's defense to breakdown in the first place is Fisher's own man.

[lakersdynasty]

i wonder what billups will do to fisher... he killed the best Pg in the league CP3, imagine what he will do with the worst PG starter in the PO´s...thats sad...something need to change now or we will lose the small chances of champs that we have...

[tayzer]

I like Fish, but he can't guard Brookes. It's win or go home. Farmar needs to start for match up wise. Fish can prob start next series if we have one.

[Killua]

I like Fish, but he can't guard Brookes. It's win or go home. Farmar needs to start for match up wise. Fish can prob start next series if we have one.

Lol if fish is going to start next series i would rather the lakers just lose this one that way i wont have to stay up tell 11 pm (have to be up at 4 am for work) just to watch his pathetic arse getting burned by billups making horrid passes and bricking 3's like crazy

[b shaw20]

Jordan-esque, your points are spot on on Fish . Well said...

My take is that the only reason Fish has been able to start for the Lakers is that he's been the benefactor of being on some quality squads. He's made his living by playing steady D, not turning the ball over and making uncontested 3s at a decent clip. Until now.

Now he ain't even giving any of those things. Forget asking him to set up a guy now and then fir an easy hoop as most pg tend to do. He ain't giving us zilch, nada, zero! We'd be better off playing with 4 so others can take his shots. Seriously, it's really sad when you can see what's about to happen when he is isolated. Forget Brooks, it's happened all freakn year long! Fish seems to be glued to the floor.

Ok, so maybe it's his age showing on D. But his decision making on O has been horrid considering his shot ain't falling. A 1 on 3 fast break? A pull up jumper repeatedly when it's imperative we get our bigs going? Are you kidn me?? This gets under my skin because he's supposed to be the heady veteran and one of our leaders.

And yes, shame on pjax for being so loyal to him despite his extremely sub par performance. I know it's not all Fish in this series but pg play is certainly a huge disadvantage for us now when 2 is on the floor.

Undoubtedly.

[DubaLakers]

Brokeback Mountain you saw it even once?

[fareweatherfan]

So I guess Fish somehow improved his defensive abilities drastically b/w games 6 and 7???

Since we gave him all the blame for Brooks playing well, are we going to give him all the credit for holding Brooks to 4 of 13?

Unbelievable. I'm sure glad Phil understands playoff basketball and doesn't overreact like so many of my fellow posters.

[LAKESHOW]

its really simple. how many championships combined have brown and farmar won.

how many has fish won.

like it or not, thats how jax sees it. experience first.

reason why we had ron harper, horace grant, even john salley and a few other chicago bull guys running the offense when he first got here.

he wants those guys with experience to be in because they'll carry the load and know what to do in tight situations.

[fareweatherfan]

its really simple. how many championships combined have brown and farmar won.

how many has fish won.

like it or not, thats how jax sees it. experience first.

reason why we had ron harper, horace grant, even john salley and a few other chicago bull guys running the offense when he first got here.

he wants those guys with experience to be in because they'll carry the load and know what to do in tight situations.

where was this insight before game 7? I've been getting ripped by posters in here claiming I don't know anything about bball, rofl!

Our bigs REALLY stepped up on D today and we finally defended the pick and roll the way it should be done.

[AmusingFiddle]

I have not read the all the analysis, however, come on guys we can't simply make a comparison on stats. The leadership, patience and the MATURITY Fisher brings to the court speaks volumes over any stat. Until Farmar displays he is mentally capable to handle the starting job (no question of his athletic capability) not even Phil will disagree with starting him. With that said, I feel we need a semi-star at this position, I firmly believe Farmar can/will always be a very good backup NOT a starter.

[Jordan-esque]

So I guess Fish somehow improved his defensive abilities drastically b/w games 6 and 7???

Since we gave him all the blame for Brooks playing well, are we going to give him all the credit for holding Brooks to 4 of 13?

I won't call it drastic. Statistically speaking... Brooks scored 13 points on 4-13 shooting. Brooks' Breakdown:

- Brooks (on Fisher's watch): 3-9 from the field -- 11 points.

- Brooks (on Jordy's watch): 1-4 from the field -- 2 points.

But give Fisher a lot of credit though for realizing that his team needed him to step up against a quicker guard in this game. Fisher didn't get Brooks started like he did the other games.

Fisher obviously played a bad series against the Rox, no one can deny that. But at least he had a slight redemption going to the WCF after this game. Fisher played well offensively too actually taking only 5 shots, hitting 2 of his jumpers.

Billups will be an interesting match-up against Fish. I'd want to see Fish maintain his starting rotation, since there's really no stopping Billups. But I hope Phil will still limit Fisher's minutes if need be especially if he continues to struggle offensively. His 7% 3-point shooting needs to PICK UP drastically.

[picc]

If Phil wouldnt limit Fishers minutes in a series he was helping the other team more than us, he sure as hell wont do it against finals mvp Billups.

And Brooks shot so bad last game because the help defense scheme changed to counter him like Tony Parker, not because Fisher shut him down.

[spudwebb]

I was very surprised to see Fisher inserted back into the game in the 4th for you guys. I think he was 1-8 the whole game and also couldn't defend. I thought him hitting a couple of shots in game 1 was a bad sign that more Fisher PT was to follow.

[Verbal]

Whoa.

Someone dropped the hammer on 'em hard.


"Well written" coup de grace.


It's time to switch sigs and smoke out, brb.

[Anklebreaker702]

The title alone had me interested but the faxts sold me. Good stuff!!