Posts Tagged ‘Pau Gasol’
Trevor Ariza is quickly becoming the player the Lakers hoped he would become when they traded away Brian Cook and Mo Evans for him last year. He’s showing that he’s not just the defensive stopper that they knew he was, but also a deadly threat from the outside.
With Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol garnering constant double teams and occasion triple teams, Ariza can roam the perimeter and setup for wide open triples. The Utah Jazz are learning the hard way that they shouldn’t leave him to double Kobe and Gasol.
After posting a career playoff high 21 in Game 1 on 8 of 10 shooting (including 3 of 4 from behind the arc), Ariza ended Game 2 with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including another 3-3 performance from downtown. He almost posted a double-double with 9 assists as well.
He’s proving to be what the Lakers missed least season in the playoffs, a defensive minded Guard/Forward with apparently deadly accuracy and toughness. A guy that showed off his skills as a defensive player is now shooting at a ridiculous 81% through 2 games in these playoffs. This is a find that even Mitch Kupchak couldn’t have imagined that he found last year. Ariza was supposed to be a salary dump move, but has turned out to be a key part of the rotation.
After jumping from New York to Orlando, and not finding a home in either city, Ariza has found his calling in the City of Angels. Not to mention that Trevor is only 23 and still has a long career ahead of him… hopefully with the Lakers. Ariza will be the guy to pester guys like Lebron and Pierce, depending on who comes out of the East. Ariza will be the X-Factor in these playoffs.
Finally, the Lakers figure out who they play on Sunday. All the talk has been that with Utah mostly healthy, the Lakers wouldn’t want to meet them in the first round. There was a lot of talk that the Lakers might intentionally lose their last game of the season to avoid meeting Utah. There was talk that the Lakers would rather play Dallas on Sunday.
All that talk went away last night when the Lakers handed Utah a 112-125 loss to end the season. Jerry Sloan may have had the best quote of the night, per Yahoo! Sports:
“We didn’t give them much of a battle and knowing that we’re going to have to play them again, it looks pretty bleak,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “Hate to say that, but it’s one of those things.”
I hate hearing coaches saying stuff like that, but it’s music to my ears coming from a Lakers opponent. All the facts about the Lakers being “soft” have finally turned into rumors and misconceptions, especially with big Drew in the middle clogging up the lane, Trevor Ariza manning the wing, and Kobe and Shannon Brown locking down the perimeter.
Little is known about Shannon Brown other than the fact that this kid has amazing athletic ability and is a great (but not lockdown) defender. He’s jumped around between several teams, but seems to have found a home in LA, much like Trevor Ariza did last year. He’s been stellar on defense, and evidenced by his highlight reel blocks, and has been solid on the opposite end of the court. According to Phil Jackson, Brown looks to get more burn in the Playoffs as the Lakers will be facing PGs that are too strong for Jordan Farmar, and too fast for Derek Fisher. Take Ariza and shrink him down, and you have Shannon Brown. He’s the defensive minded PG that the Lakers have been looking for.
These Lakers will prove to be much tougher on the defensive end than last year’s squad. Bynum will be inside manning the painted area and blocking or altering shots. Gasol has incredible length which will be a problem for players like Boozer and Milsap. Ariza will play the passing lanes like he always does. Kobe of course, will be doing his thing. He’ll play his one man zone, and generally leave his guy open for shots but occasionally make an incredible defensive play. Farmar and Fisher may have problems, but Shannon Brown will fill in the gaps.
I don’t think anyone is more excited about this matchup than I am, especially after Deron Williams showed his bonehead side by trying to set a hard screen on Bynum last night and just bouncing off. It’s gonna be like the Showtime days again with Stockton and Malone vs Magic and Kareem. Except this time it’ll be Williams and Boozer against Kobe, Pau, and Bynum… and don’t forget about Odom off the bench. See you Sunday.
Found this on Lakersground.net (originally from Fox Sports, but the link is now bad):
Sean Combs was supposed to co-host a birthday party for DJ Clue at club M2 on West 28th Street Monday night with Kobe Bryant after the historic Knicks/Lakers game in which Bryant scored 61 points. But nobody warned Combs that the New York Police Department had an undercover gun detail searching guests as they came into the club. “Everyone wanted to make sure that the dozens of NBA stars in attendance, including Lamar Odom, Vince Carter and Pau Gasol, would be safe,” the insider said. When Diddy arrived at 1:45 a.m. with a six-man entourage, a witness said he “flipped out” when cops asked to search him and his friends. “He went nuts, saying, ‘Why are you disrespecting me like this? Why are you doing this to me?’ During the commotion, one of his guys slipped away, unsearched, back to the car.” Combs “stormed off and started to text DJ Clue asking, ‘What the [bleep] is going on?’ and asked if he could go in the back entrance.” When told that the cops would have to search him and his friends there as well, Combs decided not to attend the party. … At least Bryant was happy to be patted down and stayed until 4 a.m. “He was in the VIP area, where there were strict orders not to let any women in near him,” we’re told. On his way out, Bryant (who drank water), after ordering two bottles of champagne for his pals, left the waitresses a $2,000 tip. — NY Post
Kinda cool story about Kobe… even better story about how much of an idiot Puffy aka Diddy aka Sean Combs is. Glad to hear that at least some clubs protect players when they’re inside. Just because they’re famous doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to feel safe doing the things we all take for granted. And a note to Diddy, just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you should act like a baby when you get treated like a regular person, or when you can’t get in somewhere because your friends are idiots carrying guns into a club.
Smart move by Kobe if he really did tell the waitress to keep the women away. Gotta make sure he keeps Vanessa happy.
A word of advice to anyone looking to beat the Lakers… REBOUND! They got destroyed on the boards my Troy freakin Murphy and Rasho Nesterovic. It all came to show on the last play of the game with Murphy’s buzzer beating tip-in.
It happened in their other loss to Detroit, another team that rebounds well… at least against the Lakers. While watching a pre-game show a few games back, Rick Fox said that the Lakers are still soft. I didn’t want to admit it, especially with Bynum back in the mix. But when you let Troy Murphy get 17 rebounds on your ass, yeah, you’re soft.
Odom has disappeared from the interior when it comes to fighting for rebounds. Bynum doesn’t box out and let’s guys fly right in for put backs and tip-ins. Gasol is left to fend for himself against 2 or 3 rebounders crashing the boards. Yes, it’s still early in the season, but championship caliber teams should not be letting Troy Murphy get that easy of a tip-in, especially at the end of a close game.
Oh yeah, you’re also soft when you let Marquis Daniels drive through the lane for layups and dunks… luckily he missed on a regular basis. But when you have to collapse on a PG running wild through the lane, that’s when the bigs can’t recover in time to box out guys like Troy Murphy.
This puts it on Fisher, Farmar, Kobe, and then down on to Odom and Bynum. Time to show some toughness… please.
We already know that Shaq is on the decline, but he’s still a dominant force. Steve Nash is still a premier PG that always puts up solid numbers against the Lakers. The Lakers have only lost one game during this young season. Amare Stoudemire is putting up All-Star numbers once again, and at his natural PF position. Andrew Bynum is coming back from a major injury and is beginning to get adjusted, proven by his 18 pt, 9 rebound, 3 block game on Tuesday. Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, and Lamar Odom are fueling a high powered bench mob for the Lakers. And then there’s just Kobe and Gasol. Bad blood, great game. If those things don’t fire you up for this game, maybe this will:
Fuck yeah!!! Basketball season is officially up and running, at least for me. OK, it’s only preseason and the games don’t really mean much. But other than the Olympics, I haven’t gotten my fix of any basketball recently. So what if the Lakers lost last night. I still got to see big Andrew Bynum running up and down the court again. I’m on the West coast, so that was the only preseason game I got to watch last night.
My only problem with preseason is that you only get to see your starters for a few minutes. Surprisingly enough, the Lakers played the starters a bit longer than expected. Other than Gasol, who left early in the game because of a cut on his lip, the starters played most of the 1st quarter and part of the 3rd. The backups didn’t look too bad either.
Here’s my take of what I saw last night from some key bench players:
Ariza: Technically not a bench player last night since he got the start, but his position as a starter or bench player is still up in the air. He got the same amount of minutes that he should get during the regular season, and looked pretty sharp out there, especially for being out with the foot surgery last year. 10 points on 4-6 shooting, 5 rebounds, and a block. Not too shabby for a guy that we brought in mainly for his defense and slashing ability. Speaking of slashing, DAMN I wanted to see him go up for the facial off of a Kobe dish, but instead he got hacked coming down the lane. Expect more of this slashing and cutting play from Ariza. Definitely a starter in my opinion. Even if he doesn’t score, his defensive presence can help to slow down the star player on the other team.
Bynum: Very impressive start for a guy that has been out for so long. I was definitely excited to see this guy become a beast this year after seeing the media day pictures and how big he got. A few great looking jumpers to kick off his preseason, then a monster dunk off a pass from Fisher. This wasn’t jsut any pass though. Fish tries to take his man off the dribble, slips from being too old, dishes a no look pass over his shoulder to Bynum while still sitting on his ass. Solid play all around the big man, some careless turnovers from not protecting the ball. It’ll come back to him soon, just give the kid some time to get back up to speed.
Farmar: This guy is quickly becoming a leader when he’s out on the floor. Fearless play driving and dishing. Please, Phil, start this kid over Fisher. That move brings veteran leadership to the bench, while making the starting lineup a beastly machine. Farmar seems like he can get to the basket anytime wants, just sometimes he gets a bit over his head. At the most, this should be his last year of starting the game on the bench.
Mihm: What a waste of space. People have been clamoring for him to come back healthy and be this mythically great player that he used to be. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This Freddie Prince Jr. looking goober is terrible. I’d rather see Mbenga out there goaltending every block. Mihm was never a good player, and he never will be. What the fuck kind of center only gets 0 rebounds in 14 minutes of play? Don’t blame it on the fact that he was playing PF for a while, or that he’s been out of the game for a few years. Come on dude, even Fisher got a rebound. Hell CJ Giles got 2! Blame it on Mihm being slow, unathletic, and not moving his feet. BOOOO THIS MAN!!!
Overall, just a great site to see the Lake show back on the court. IT’S GAME TIME Y’ALL!!!
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Just some thoughts on happenings around the league, responses to the media and other bloggers, and just a good place for you to spend time instead of actually working.
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