NBA Finals: Boston vs. LA Lakers - Series BOS leads (1-0)

[TheMartian]

Lakers take game 2. That's it.

Right. And you know this because?

[BRINGTHEPAIN]

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I thought you were a Suns fan. Just a Celtics bandwagoner/Lakers hater?

No, I'm a fan of classy basketball.

[Don Draper]

The face of the matter is the Kobe Bryant really only destroys teams without good perimeter defenders. What has Kobe ever done this season vs a good perimeter defender? (Don't Bruce Bowen because he shouldn't even be starting) Look at the playoffs. The first 2 teams he played had no chance of slowing him down because they have no perimeter defenders. SA is a good defense but Udoka and Bowen are not going to cut it. I understand Kobe had been playing possessed but the band waggoning after the Lakers dispatched an unimpressive SA team was out of control. Even Vegas went crazy. How is a team who won 66 games, had statistically one of the best defenses in the history of the NBA, and had 2.5 All-Star caliber players, and home court be the underdog. And how does 9 out of 10 ESPN analysts pick the Lakers. Dean Oliver said in his book "the stats don't lie" and they don't. The Law of Averages you can call it. If you watch the games and look at the stats its obvious the Celtics were playing down to their competition. Look how easy the regular season was. I hope some of these ESPN analysts lose their jobs. I feel the Lakers had a great draw and Celtics and a worse one. This series is not over, but I always felt confident in the Celtics ability to play solid interior defense and keep Odom and co. off the glass. Even Bill Simmons said the Celtics had no chance. Wow. Talk about a bandwagon. (He has since switched back)

Kobe is great, but he is no MJ.
or Magic.
or Bird.
Yet. (that refers to Magic and Bird)

[BRINGTHEPAIN]

You're either clutch or you ain't. Bird always had it, Magic always had it, Jordan always had it, and so did Duncan. You don't acquire clutchness after your prime.

[NO-KG-AI]

You did not just lump Tim Duncan in with those 3 on clutchness.

[Kobay]

Kobe receiving his bashing as predicted. Very confident of the haters. I guess number crunching nerds are now a little hopeful of kobe failing after a month or so in the playoffs. This certainly will be an interesting finals in many ways.

[C2C]

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So you're saying that the Lakers don't have a chance to win when Kobe shoots close to 50% on all jumpers and the rest of the guys step up to contribute across the board? Because that scenario fits into your "dire straits" hypothetical, and the Lakers made that a winning formula against the San Antonio Spurs.

It's precisely that you can't differentiate a cause from a symptom that you think that the Lakers' success rides on his points per shot rate.

9 of 26 isn't even close to 50%

[BRINGTHEPAIN]

No moderator, I said Tim Duncan was "clutch".

[CB4MiamiHeat]

The Lakers are actually 1 point favorites tomorrow IN Boston..I cant remember the last time a team with HCA was not favored at home in the NBA finals.

[BRINGTHEPAIN]

The casual gambler doesn't really understand the power of defense.

[Don Draper]

Kobe receiving his bashing as predicted. Very confident of the haters. I guess number crunching nerds are now a little hopeful of kobe failing after a month or so in the playoffs. This certainly will be an interesting finals in many ways.

It is sad how some fans have their head in the sands. Just because I bring out actual proof, now I a number crunching nerd. You my friend are ignorant. Besides game footage, stats are the best way to analyze the game and support assertions. It's not my fault Kobe can do no wrong in your eyes. It's your ignorance, not mine.

Have a nice evening.

[Crooked-I]

The face of the matter is the Kobe Bryant really only destroys teams without good perimeter defenders. What has Kobe ever done this season vs a good perimeter defender? (Don't Bruce Bowen because he shouldn't even be starting) Look at the playoffs. The first 2 teams he played had no chance of slowing him down because they have no perimeter defenders. SA is a good defense but Udoka and Bowen are not going to cut it. I understand Kobe had been playing possessed but the band waggoning after the Lakers dispatched an unimpressive SA team was out of control. Even Vegas went crazy. How is a team who won 66 games, had statistically one of the best defenses in the history of the NBA, and had 2.5 All-Star caliber players, and home court be the underdog. And how does 9 out of 10 ESPN analysts pick the Lakers. Dean Oliver said in his book "the stats don't lie" and they don't. The Law of Averages you can call it. If you watch the games and look at the stats its obvious the Celtics were playing down to their competition. Look how easy the regular season was. I hope some of these ESPN analysts lose their jobs. I feel the Lakers had a great draw and Celtics and a worse one. This series is not over, but I always felt confident in the Celtics ability to play solid interior defense and keep Odom and co. off the glass. Even Bill Simmons said the Celtics had no chance. Wow. Talk about a bandwagon. (He has since switched back)

Kobe is great, but he is no MJ.
or Magic.
or Bird.
Yet. (that refers to Magic and Bird)

Quick question, who would you consider great perimeter defenders? Please give me a list so I could give you games where Kobe went off on them. Thanks

Kobe has trouble with teams with good TEAM defense, there's no one perimeter defender in the league that Kobe can't destroy on any given night. It's the rest of the team that stops Kobe, not the man defender.

[dsorc]

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Quick question, who would you consider great perimeter defenders? Please give me a list so I could give you games where Kobe went off on them. Thanks

Kobe has trouble with teams with good TEAM defense, there's no one perimeter defender in the league that Kobe can't destroy on any given night. It's the rest of the team that stops Kobe, not the man defender.

Which would explain his struggles against Boston since Boston does not have anybody that could be considered a great perimeter defender. The guy that covered him most of the time (Allen) is probably average at best.

[Miami's Finest]

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So you're saying that the Lakers don't have a chance to win when Kobe shoots close to 50% on all jumpers and the rest of the guys step up to contribute across the board? Because that scenario fits into your "dire straits" hypothetical, and the Lakers made that a winning formula against the San Antonio Spurs.

It's precisely that you can't differentiate a cause from a symptom that you think that the Lakers' success rides on his points per shot rate.

LOL 9 for 26 is 34.6% not 50% and yes shooting 34% and continuing to shoot jumper after jumper makes it very hard to win no matter how talented the rest of the team is (see Kobe's 2004 finals). Kobe lost that game plain and simple and I just think it's funny how kobe homers try to blame it on everyone else but him. If a guy is hitting them i can understand shooting jumper after jumper but he wasn't he started out 2 for 8 in the 1st quarter but he just continued to shoot and not be aggressive and at least try to drive and get contact or draw double teams and dish.

[Original Baller]

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LOL 9 for 26 is 34.6% not 50% and yes shooting 34% and continuing to shoot jumper after jumper makes it very hard to win no matter how talented the rest of the team is (see Kobe's 2004 finals). Kobe lost that game plain and simple and I just think it's funny how kobe homers try to blame it on everyone else but him. If a guy is hitting them i can understand shooting jumper after jumper but he wasn't he started out 2 for 8 in the 1st quarter but he just continued to shoot and not be aggressive and at least try to drive and get contact or draw double teams and dish.

is Wade still outta that wheelchair homey?


how bout you keep quiet till your team is playin again

[NO-KG-AI]

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is Wade still outta that wheelchair homey?


how bout you keep quiet till your team is playin again

Or

if you don't like hearing anyone but Laker or Celtic fans(since they are the only teams left) you can head on over to the Laker board?

but for the record Miami's finest, Kobe was going at the rim on plenty of those shots, it was a lot of runners and floaters mixed in...

[CB4MiamiHeat]

Kobe got stopped from getting to the rim like in the Spurs series..but he got a lot of shots that he usually makes, he even passed up on a couple of open shots...it wasnt like the Pistons series where he was forcing crazy shots, so expect him to play better from now on, it doesnt look like a trend to continue.

[BRINGTHEPAIN]

Its just the pressure of the occasion more than anything. Some players respond well to Finals, while others play well below par.

[eatyourchildren]

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LOL 9 for 26 is 34.6% not 50% and yes shooting 34% and continuing to shoot jumper after jumper makes it very hard to win no matter how talented the rest of the team is (see Kobe's 2004 finals). Kobe lost that game plain and simple and I just think it's funny how kobe homers try to blame it on everyone else but him. If a guy is hitting them i can understand shooting jumper after jumper but he wasn't he started out 2 for 8 in the 1st quarter but he just continued to shoot and not be aggressive and at least try to drive and get contact or draw double teams and dish.

Did you forget what you said already? You said 24 points on 26 shots. That's it.
And you said it's impossible to play that way and win.


Which has already been proven wrong in the last series, when Kobe shot almost no free throws and got the same amount of points on similar FGA, and the team won.

[eatyourchildren]

Kobe got stopped from getting to the rim like in the Spurs series..but he got a lot of shots that he usually makes, he even passed up on a couple of open shots...it wasnt like the Pistons series where he was forcing crazy shots, so expect him to play better from now on, it doesnt look like a trend to continue.

The difference between 35% shooting and 50% shooting for Kobe that game was 4 buckets. FOUR BUCKETS.

I easily counted 1 drive to the rim that should have been a foul + 3 rimming in and out.

If you think THAT is why the Lakers lost, then there's no reasoning with you.