How will Grant Hill guard Kobe?

[Dr Aki]

Who will jrich guard

Probably Artest.

this is why the lakers went out and got artest: to create mismatches

i anticipate a lot of sets involving artest posting up jrich and bullying his way to the basket after receiving the ball on the curl

[The MVPlaya]

Kobe will get whatever he wants against Hill, and he knows that. It must have made him cringe yesterday when the media forced him to say all those positive things about Hill's defense, when Kobe knows he stands no chance, but he had to show respect to a veteran.

32 ppg on 50% shooting for the series.

[supaflash]

He did a decent job on Miller and Ginobli by using his size and backing off, not sure how much that will help him on Kobe. Kobe has been playing very efficiently lately, mixing in methodical post play and attacking the paint. The rest will help Hill, but it will help Kobe more probably. His stroke has been pretty on lately so I think he'll continue the methodical picking apart the defense like he did against the Jazz.

[spudwebb]

Hill wasn't a great defender even in his heyday. It's curious that Phoenix is giving him the assignment.

Grant Hill was a great defender when he was young before injuries. He won the national defensive player of the year 2 times in college. In his early NBA years, he never got on the nba-all defensive 1st and 2nd teams because at that time it was always dominated by stellar defensive guys like Pippen, Rodman, Grant, Oakley, etc. But he has always been a good defender. Even this year, he got a few votes for all-defensive team.

[DaDragicShow]

Kobe will get whatever he wants against Hill, and he knows that. It must have made him cringe yesterday when the media forced him to say all those positive things about Hill's defense, when Kobe knows he stands no chance, but he had to show respect to a veteran.

32 ppg on 50% shooting for the series.

I don't think Kobe is gonna average 32 points a game. The Suns will double him on a lot of plays and force him to pass the ball. I see something like 24-25 ppg from Kobe in this series.

[Jose_Matador]

Grant Hill has recovered from his nagging injuries, which once were career threatening...but no way a 38 year old GHill can guard Kobe well enough to keep his averages down.

[phx#7]

this is why the lakers went out and got artest: to create mismatches

i anticipate a lot of sets involving artest posting up jrich and bullying his way to the basket after receiving the ball on the curl

Sounds good to me. Hope the Lakers try to go to Artest every time down the court.

[gags1288]

Shane Battier has done as good a job against Kobe as anyone and he's no more physically capable than Grant. Grant's obviously not going to shut Kobe down, but I think he's a better defender than he's being given credit for and will do a nice job on Kobe.

[TheAnkh]

Grant is a good size but I don't think he's a crafty enough defender to bother Kobe too much for more than maybe a game in the series.

[CDM88]

What is the matrix? ..

[RunMCR]

Who will jrich guard

[TruSkool]

they dont have a single player who can slow kobe down...but their best shot is dudley

[captoon]

This thread is missing the point.

Hows are the Suns going to contend with Gasol? is the real question.

[Cracked Fingers]

this is why the lakers went out and got artest: to create mismatches

i anticipate a lot of sets involving artest posting up jrich and bullying his way to the basket after receiving the ball on the curl

Sounds good to me. Hope the Lakers try to go to Artest every time down the court.

More to mismatches than scoring.

There is this little thing called rebounding. According to your team this is important in this series. Watching Richardson battle Artest inside will provide entertainment.

[LakersSquad]

[
I don't think Kobe is gonna average 32 points a game. The Suns will double him on a lot of plays and force him to pass the ball. I see something like 24-25 ppg from Kobe in this series.

I thought this was your opinion (below)

Hill and Dudley will have the assignment in guarding Bryant. I think Dudley will do a great job at stopping Kobe.

lol

[Blame Rasho]

I am pretty sure that Hill will give him space to shoot those 15 to 18 foot jumpshots. You have to limit his drives to the basket that will result in fouls and not give three pointers.

[Dr Aki]

this is why the lakers went out and got artest: to create mismatches

i anticipate a lot of sets involving artest posting up jrich and bullying his way to the basket after receiving the ball on the curl

Sounds good to me. Hope the Lakers try to go to Artest every time down the court.

sure if u dont mind giving up a layup every time

I am pretty sure that Hill will give him space to shoot those 15 to 18 foot jumpshots. You have to limit his drives to the basket that will result in fouls and three pointers.

kobe might go for that a few times a game, but more and more hes simply just closing and posting up instead.

[phx#7]

More to mismatches than scoring.

There is this little thing called rebounding. According to your team this is important in this series. Watching Richardson battle Artest inside will provide entertainment.

Rebounding will certainly be key if the Lakers go to Artest regularly on offense. Luckily JRich is a superior rebounder than Artest.

The players the Suns need to worry about on the boards are Bynum/Gasol/Odom.

[phx#7]

sure if u dont mind giving up a layup every time

Yes, Artest a career sub 40% shooter in the playoffs has been sandbagging all these years and will be unleashed now. I only wish there was a chance in hell the Lakers would look to Artest to try to exploit a perceived mismatch.

Too bad for the Suns they'll probably go with a strong dose of Bryant, Gasol and Odom.

[ComeAtMeBro]

My #1 concern in matching up with the Lakers before the season started was how do you defend Artest, when you have to worry about Kobe?

Kobe demands the other team's best perimeter defender, who is generally not the star player. Thus, the star player has to take Artest. At that point, I figured they Lakers would get Artest adept in finishing down low, however, that has not happened.

If Lakers fans think they'll ditch their gameplan to iso Artest on Jrich routinely, then you're playing into the Suns hands. There's no way Phil will set that up, and there's no way Kobe will acknowledge it. There's two glaring mis-matches; whoever guards Kobe and whoever guards Gasol.

Alone, those two are normal mis-matches, but with Phoenix's personal it becomes a GLARING mismatch. It's going to be a rough series for Phoenix, and you bet you will not see Artest Iso'd on Jrich. That'd take away from the Lakers gameplan.