9. Should’ve Kobe Bryant taken over the game in the fourth quarter?
TPGB: Wow, it's this ridiculous question again. The old Kobe would've taken over the game the first hint he sees that his teammates aren't mentally in the game. He gave them a chance to wake up for 3 full quarters until they left him with no choice but to take over. Even Phil had to support Bryant for his 4th quarter scoring explosion. He usually doesn't do that if the rest of the team were any factors at all. Let's put it this way: It's only a team game if the team wants to be in the game.
KBE: Yes and no. There is no question that no player in the league has the ability to take over a game like Kobe Bryant can. There are times that he seemingly scores at will and makes the defense look helpless, but even though he lit up the Boston Celtics for a season-high 41 points on Sunday, it didn’t help the Los Angeles Lakers close the gap and get the win like it has in the past.
The one thing the Lakers can learn from this loss to the Celtics is that they need to get back to playing team basketball. It seems more and more this season that Kobe feels like he must take the game over, but with a 1-5 record with Kobe scoring 35 or more; that just isn’t working anymore.
Even though I agree with Phil Jackson that no one else was stepping up, when you get away from playing team basketball the opposing defense concentrates on one player (Kobe) and other players become a nonfactor.
The Lakers are most dangerous when everyone is firing on all cylinders with Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher, Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant working as a unit. Sitting back and watching Kobe go to work will work sometimes, but not against teams like the Boston Celtics.
10. The NBA Finals last season were epic to say the least the Lakers and Celtics went the full seven games, but after the defending champs loss on Sunday would they be able to go the distance with Doc Rivers’ squad in a seven game series?
TPGB: Absolutely! Last time I checked, the Celtics didn't get any younger or even smarter for that matter. First of all, Bynum can post-up any Celtic (yes, that includes Shaq) and can defend all but Davis' foot speed. Gasol is too quick for most Celtic big man and too big for Davis to defend. Odom is too quick for any Celtic big to defend but is long enough to defend most of them. If healthy, Artest can clamp on Pierce and is too big and too strong in the post for Pierce to defend. Kobe can defend Rondo, Allen and Pierce but none of those guys can defend him. Let's not forget that Barnes was out. He could've been put on Rondo, Allen or Pierce. Shannon and Fish did a good job defending Ray in the Finals as well.
So until I see the Lakers in full force play Boston, I'd say the Celtics are still the challengers.
KBE: No, the way the Lakers are playing right now they would not be able to contend with the likes of Kevin Garnett and company. The one advantage that the Lakers had over the Celtics in the NBA Finals last year was their size and length. With Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum (23 points, 13 rebounds combined)basically being a nonfactor in the loss, the Lakers would just get dominated in a seven game series.
The Lakers are two different teams during the regular season. In the first half, they play extremely well at times and look very flawed at times, but in the second half they usually start to turn it on and start playing at a championship caliber.
Whether or not that happens this time around remains to be seen, but if they don’t they can kiss that three-peat goodbye!
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