JimMurray wrote:lalball81 wrote:They're good enough to stomp the Lakers at Staples.. They pretty much owned LA while LeBron was sitting on the bench to start the second.
Kobe has a "great" supporting cast. I mean, outside of the starters the bench scored all of 17 points.
Then there is this. For as much as Kobe's supporting cast has been hyped, outside of Pau, and Artest...who has shown up? When's the last time anyone saw Bynum...where the hell is that guy? I can count on one hand how many times the Lakers bench has outscored the opposing teams bench. It's starting to get embarrassing. I'm on the verge of wanting to see Adam Morrison get more minutes to see if he can do anything.
I mean, really. The Lakers starters got whipped by LeBron and his supposedly "inferior" supporting cast. The bench got whipped even more so by Cleveland's bench. So I don't know why Kobe's supporting cast gives him a supposedly huge advantage in the MVP race.
Actually, I'd argue that his supporting cast hurts him pretty badly at times. When Gasol can't score on Varejao and an old Big Z, Bynum's game falls off the face of the earth, Odom refuses to assert himself in any way on offense, and Fisher and Artest build houses with their bricklaying, Kobe is forced to take on the Cavs defense alone. Therefore, shooting 34% against a great defensive team, when your amazing supporting players disappear, shouldn't bring Kobe that far down in the MVP standings. He had 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals as well. For a guy who has been criticized for not contributing in "other ways" when his shots aren't falling, that's pretty good.
And like you said, where the hell is Bynum? I'm absolutely sick of people rating this guy based on his talent/potential. Same goes for Odom, who is overrated by the media too at times. Fans say that the Lakers are loaded, with a 20-10 C in Bynum. I agree that they are loaded, but not because of Bynum. Because of Kobe and Pau, and Artest to a lesser extent. But even Artest's contributions haven't been great. They've been good, but not All NBA level or anything like that. His shooting has been awful, as has Kobe's and all of the other Lakers "shooters". So to say that Kobe has an unbelievable supporting cast is hyperbole to say the least - they're good, but definitely not a contender without Kobe on the team.
Anybody else feel like Pau has a tendency to disappear against physical teams? He got shoved away from the block time after time on offense - rendering him pretty ineffective against Cleveland. Same goes for earlier in the year against Denver, Nene and Martin (hell, even Birdman) can push him around.
"There's nothing else I can do for them. I can give them some bulls---, and act like I'm a coach or something, but it's on them." - Popovich
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