RealGM

I posed this question on another thread but thought maybe it deserved stand-alone, after I read this about how the Nuggets approached playing the Lakers. It seems to me that with some defensive improvement and things generally settling in with the squad - still a lot of guys new to each other and the system, RoLo being out so long, etc - we might be able to get to the WCF.
If so, we will most likely meet the Hated Ones.

Here's an excerpt about the DEN/LA game:

http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_13792789


"After a big victory Thursday night over the Phoenix Suns and an even bigger loss Friday to the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers rested Saturday afternoon. There was no practice, no drills, no running.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he would review the video of their 26-point loss to the Nuggets for clues to their many second-half breakdowns. He said it was the wise thing to do before tonight's game against the Houston Rockets at Staples Center.

"Oh, without a doubt," he said.

What can he learn from it?

"Just what guys were tentative about, how (the Nuggets') defense kept us from getting the ball into the post position," Jackson said.

"These guys have to learn things like that. The defense Denver played was effective. They high-sided


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our post players."
In other words, rather than play behind Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum in the post, the Nuggets positioned their defenders in front of them or to the side of them. The Nuggets made it more difficult to pass the ball to Bryant and/or Bynum.

The strategy was different than other Lakers opponents have tried this season. Judging by the results, more teams might try it in future games since the Nuggets were the first opponent to slow down Bryant and Bynum.

Bryant scored 19 points, a season low, on 7-for-17 shooting. He did not score in the third quarter, when the Lakers were outscored by 29-8, missing all four shots he attempted as the Nuggets clamped down on him. He didn't play in the fourth quarter.

Bynum also scored 19 points (on 8-for-13 shooting), below his season average of 20.7 points. He also grabbed 15 rebounds, above his season average of 11.9. He was the only Lakers starter to play in the fourth, scoring five points in 4 minutes, 25 seconds.
"We had to manipulate their defense to get the kind of shots we wanted and we didn't do a very good job of it," Jackson said.

As Bynum said, "I didn't get too many touches down low. We weren't swinging the ball and there was no movement on offense. A lot of it was a lack of team basketball. We would come down, dump it in the middle and everybody would stand still."


What are your thoughts on how we could ruin their year?

the way to beat the lakers is by not having a brutal road schedule off the gate and not playing them on a back2back. other than that, I think we can beat them any day.

In this day and age this is the only way you can beat a really good team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcIhHOplWws


sorry for the reminder.

It's an obvious strategy however there aren't many teams with the personnel to carry out such a defensive strategy. The difficulty with guarding Kobe is his multifaceted game. This season his goal is to try and up his FG% by taking shots closer to the basket, by way of posting up instead of shooting 3's and jumpers. Denver did a great job of denying post position forcing him out of his "hotspot."

Ball denial is probably the most energy consuming defensive tactic and there are only a handful of players in the league that can not only deny the offensive player the ball, but also still have the energy to contribute offensively. Off the top of my head, only Artest comes to mind. He's the only perimeter defender I can think of that can give 100% on defense and still be able to put up number offensively. Other perimeter defenders like Bell and Battier are not asked to be the 2nd or 3rd scoring options which means they can give more effort on the defensive end. In the Nuggets-Laker game, they put Affalo on Kobe and since Affalo isn't a major offensive contributor, they can afford to keep him on Kobe the whole game and not need his points to win games.

In the last game we put JRich on Kobe and he did his best to deny position and as a result his offense suffered because of the energy he had to expend to guard Kobe and also because he's guarding Kobe so close to the post, he doesn't get the benefit of fast breaking with the rest of the team. I propose in the next game we try to put Dudley on Kobe. He may not be as strong as JRich, but he's longer and his offensive game is not one which we rely on to win games. It'll be much tougher once Gasol comes back however. Even with Kobe forced to take contest jumpers, we still have no answers for Gasol and Bynum inside and neither Amare nor Frye are good enough defensive players to deny them the ball.

lilfishi22 wrote:In the last game we put JRich on Kobe and he did his best to deny position and as a result his offense suffered because of the energy he had to expend to guard Kobe and also because he's guarding Kobe so close to the post, he doesn't get the benefit of fast breaking with the rest of the team. I propose in the next game we try to put Dudley on Kobe.

Noooooooo, Earl (or Lou). Length and speed frustrates Kobe because he is so used to getting the jump on whoever is guarding him.

Also, don't try and play in front of Drew, just to his side and look for the pass to bolt in front to divert or grab it.

Get Nashty wrote:In this day and age this is the only way you can beat a really good team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcIhHOplWws


sorry for the reminder.

And that too.

Seems like that's the reason why we have Tucker and Brother Griffin still on the payroll.

Simple not come off a game that ended at midnight the night before. I thought about it. Suns got off the night prior at midnight. Got showered cleaned up probably got to the airport at what 2 am flew into LA at what 3:30 am Got to their rooms at what 430 am or 5 am. Had to wake up at at what 9, 10 am lastest. Thats what like 4 or 5 hours sleep. Come in practice then get ready for the game. Lets see how ready to go you are?

Note to mods - didn't see that this telegram article had been quoted in the other thread, hence the new thread. Merge, lock as you see fit.



I really have no feel for how Tucker is defensively - if we still had Strawbs, that would be nice. Run DJ, Duds, Tucker at Kobe, fresh legs on D all night long. Like the cliche says, he's going to get his, just make him work hard and with luck at the end of the game, and you've kept it close, he's tired.
Amundsen, Sideshow Rob and Collins inside to work on Bynum, Gasol and Odom - that's a killer trio LA has. And RonRon ... I'm really coming around to tsherkin's position that this is a pretty epic linuep the lakers' have assembled.

But, still .... I think we can take them. We hung close for quite a spell and then fatigue - coupled with the lakers defense - just killed us. A fresher team would have shot better and that's how we live or die. That said, let's right off the 2nd half and look at how we stayed with them in the 1st.
This team does have the 3 point shooting (again) to draw the lakers out and free up the paint. They did a good job of devilling Nash - maybe the Dragic/Nash combo could beat that?
Goran's ballhandling is still a bit suspect ...

Or another tack - if we could, for the sake of argument, pick up a player after we cut Griffin - who would be the missing piece specifically for dealing with the lakers?

Man, I so wish we had picked up Battier back when

Get Nashty wrote:In this day and age this is the only way you can beat a really good team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcIhHOplWws


sorry for the reminder.

curse you!!!

Get Andrew Bynum in foul trouble.

Mr. Sun wrote:

lilfishi22 wrote:In the last game we put JRich on Kobe and he did his best to deny position and as a result his offense suffered because of the energy he had to expend to guard Kobe and also because he's guarding Kobe so close to the post, he doesn't get the benefit of fast breaking with the rest of the team. I propose in the next game we try to put Dudley on Kobe.

Noooooooo, Earl (or Lou). Length and speed frustrates Kobe because he is so used to getting the jump on whoever is guarding him.

Also, don't try and play in front of Drew, just to his side and look for the pass to bolt in front to divert or grab it.

Earl, yes. Lou, hell no. Dudley, more likely. Dudley probably has a good 2 inches on Kobe, especially with his length, and I would expect him to do the best job of anyone on our team. He's like our Bowen, I love the guy.

Get a non playoff team to trade you their all star player for your teams scrub bench player.

ginobiliflops wrote:Get a non playoff team to trade you their all star player for your teams scrub bench player.

Seriously.

watch the Houston Lakers game going on right now, they're beating the Lakers with rebounding, hustle and defense. It also doesn't hurt that Aaron Brooks has way too much speed for any of the Lakers guards to handle.

garrick wrote:watch the Houston Lakers game going on right now, they're beating the Lakers with rebounding, hustle and defense. It also doesn't hurt that Aaron Brooks has way too much speed for any of the Lakers guards to handle.

Who do they have on Kobe to make him shoot 5-18 so far?

you guys are acting like if we never beat the Lakers. As long as I'm concerned, we've had their number in recent years including playoffs. I'm concerned about the fu##ing Spurs.

In the playoffs, the Lakers are a huge concern. Especially if they are healthy. But if the Suns continue to wreck havoc in the regular season and come out on top of the Western Conference hopefully we can see a seeding chart similar to this.
1Suns
2Lakers
3Spurs
4Denver
5Blazers
6Dallas
7Rockets
8Thunder

That would be perfect. Lakers struggle against the Rockets, Spurs struggle against Dallas, and the Thunder are inexperienced. Obviously I'm getting wayyyyy ahead of myself here, but I'm just sayin'. This would be the easiest path to the Finals.

lilfishi22 wrote:

garrick wrote:watch the Houston Lakers game going on right now, they're beating the Lakers with rebounding, hustle and defense. It also doesn't hurt that Aaron Brooks has way too much speed for any of the Lakers guards to handle.

Who do they have on Kobe to make him shoot 5-18 so far?

good point, we don't have an Ariza or Battier on our team. With the Nuggets it was Aaron Affalo who played him real well, I didn't watch enough of the Rockets game to see who was guarding Kobe the most.

I would have KILLED to get Afflalo on this team. That guy is the next Raja. And he cost a freakin' SECOND ROUND PICK to acquire!

Afflalo>>Taylor Griffin