It was a fitting outcome because LA is mediocre at boxing out when Odom is not having one of his inspired 15 reb gms. Bynum is horrible at the skill for someone his size, perhaps Toronto will find that out next yr. Gasol can be pushed around too much at times.
Otoh, in the last secs of the gm, the disparity is huge. I count 10 legit game winners for LA in the playoffs alone since 2000 (by 5 different players and 3x against Phx and 4 on offensive putbacks and 2 offensive putbacks this year). I can only recall the Bibby and Tim Thomas shots against LA in the same span. In 2002, Kobe got an offensive rebound from Duncan and Robinson with his left hand and put it back up right in between them, got them out of sync on both jumps. While this team may be more confident in such situations, there is a natural tendency to watch what you THINK is the final shot head toward the basket. The team shooting the ball has the natural tendency to go for a tip in, which we did see in Gm3 of the Utah series if you recall. Wes Matthews came an inch from tipping it in at the buzzer while Pau was watching Deron's shot. The only thing that saved them was that there wasn't enough time for him to control the miss with both hands.
Having said that, watch Phx win tonite at the buzzer.
I hope Gentry thinks the way to go is with small ball since they came back w/ that lineup (Lopez on bench). They also played LA's style even if they did stick to the zone again. They're doing the Lakers a favor w/ small ball mixed with a lot of halfcourt ball. What LA can't defend are transition points and transition 3s, especially (if you saw Gm4). Transition 3s are what made me most nervous about Denver this year.
Otoh, in the last secs of the gm, the disparity is huge. I count 10 legit game winners for LA in the playoffs alone since 2000 (by 5 different players and 3x against Phx and 4 on offensive putbacks and 2 offensive putbacks this year). I can only recall the Bibby and Tim Thomas shots against LA in the same span. In 2002, Kobe got an offensive rebound from Duncan and Robinson with his left hand and put it back up right in between them, got them out of sync on both jumps. While this team may be more confident in such situations, there is a natural tendency to watch what you THINK is the final shot head toward the basket. The team shooting the ball has the natural tendency to go for a tip in, which we did see in Gm3 of the Utah series if you recall. Wes Matthews came an inch from tipping it in at the buzzer while Pau was watching Deron's shot. The only thing that saved them was that there wasn't enough time for him to control the miss with both hands.
Having said that, watch Phx win tonite at the buzzer.
I hope Gentry thinks the way to go is with small ball since they came back w/ that lineup (Lopez on bench). They also played LA's style even if they did stick to the zone again. They're doing the Lakers a favor w/ small ball mixed with a lot of halfcourt ball. What LA can't defend are transition points and transition 3s, especially (if you saw Gm4). Transition 3s are what made me most nervous about Denver this year.
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