Lakers v. Celtics - 2010 NBA Finals

[MarkGrace]

That was the type of game that Kobe loses for the rest of his team and he did a similar thing a couple years ago against the Celtics in the Finals. He was taking horrible shots the entire second half. Luckily, Ray Allen took an enormous dump last night with an epic 0-13 outing.

Unreal for Ray to have those consecutive games. Pretty much as extreme as you can get. The Big Three just can't find any consistency.

The 2008 version of the Celtics could take advantage of that. This year's vintage, not so much. The Celtics cannot beat the Lakers when the offense is running through Gasol and Bynum (at least when Bynum is playing well which he has this series, Odom was also playing well last night). It has to frustrate Phil to no end to see Kobe hog the ball in the fourth quarter when the big men are playing well.

They'd be up 3-0 if they just kept going to those guys in game 2.

[Flystripper]

That was the type of game that Kobe loses for the rest of his team and he did a similar thing a couple years ago against the Celtics in the Finals. He was taking horrible shots the entire second half. Luckily, Ray Allen took an enormous dump last night with an epic 0-13 outing.

The 2008 version of the Celtics could take advantage of that. This year's vintage, not so much. The Celtics cannot beat the Lakers when the offense is running through Gasol and Bynum (at least when Bynum is playing well which he has this series, Odom was also playing well last night). It has to frustrate Phil to no end to see Kobe hog the ball in the fourth quarter when the big men are playing well.

Honestly though part of the problem is with Gasol. For most of the game and all of the second half (with the exception of one post move which he converted from the left block) he was not aggressively getting position on the block. Most of his shots were 17 foot jumpers (of which he made a high percentage) but Pau at 17 feet is not as helpful to the offense as Pau on the block. Bottom line - Pau needs to get position and demand the ball more because he has been the best player of the series for the Lakers.

[MarkGrace]

Is it a lack of aggressiveness, or is he just not physically capable? I haven't watched enough to know, but the strength discrepancy when going against Perkins/Big Baby/Sheed (at to a lesser extent KG, though it's still apparent) seems pretty massive in the instances I've watched. I've seen him go bang against those guys to get position and not gain an inch despite all his efforts.

[Surfah]

Honestly though part of the problem is with Gasol. For most of the game and all of the second half (with the exception of one post move which he converted from the left block) he was not aggressively getting position on the block. Most of his shots were 17 foot jumpers (of which he made a high percentage) but Pau at 17 feet is not as helpful to the offense as Pau on the block. Bottom line - Pau needs to get position and demand the ball more because he has been the best player of the series for the Lakers.

This led to some of Kobe's horrible shots where he was forced to take them with the shot winding down. Shannon Brown didn't help either. There were like two plays where he was standing like 5-10 feet from Bryant. Just close enough that Brown's man could cheat and keep Bryant from putting the ball on the floor. He was livid with Brown. Pau so far though is MVP. I just wish he didn't get gun shy at times. I also wish he'd stay down on the ground instead of falling for KG's up and under.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Is it a lack of aggressiveness, or is he just not physically capable? I haven't watched enough to know, but the strength discrepancy when going against Perkins/Big Baby/Sheed (at to a lesser extent KG, though it's still apparent) seems pretty massive in the instances I've watched. I've seen him go bang against those guys to get position and not gain an inch despite all his efforts.

Pau causes damage even when he cannot get into prime position to score in the post. If he's not the best passing big man in the game, then he's pretty close. Odom was playing quite well last night. Bynum's effectiveness was limited because he started looking like Fred Sanford by the second half with his gimpy knee. It looks like the plane ride didn't help him out.

I'll just put it this way, I'm rooting for the Celtics big time and it terrified me more in 2008 to see Pau with the ball than Kobe and that hasn't really changed much this year.

[Flystripper]

Is it a lack of aggressiveness, or is he just not physically capable? I haven't watched enough to know, but the strength discrepancy when going against Perkins/Big Baby/Sheed (at to a lesser extent KG, though it's still apparent) seems pretty massive in the instances I've watched. I've seen him go bang against those guys to get position and not gain an inch despite all his efforts.

The one time he was aggressively attempting to get position last night against big baby he got it, and converted from the left block. The length discrepancy makes it impossible for Davis to guard Gasol down there. However, Big baby's feet are quick enough to keep Pau out of the lane when he gets it at 17.

Pau is more physically capable of maintaining and gaining block position than he ever has been in his career. He has put in the work and is much, much stronger than in years past. However, there are long stretches of nearly every game when he does not even try to get position. Is he going to win every battle on the block? No. But he should be battling on nearly every possession because when he gets it down there he is damn near unguardable. IMHO

[MarkGrace]

Pau causes damage even when he cannot get into prime position to score in the post. If he's not the best passing big man in the game, then he's pretty close. Odom was playing quite well last night. Bynum's effectiveness was limited because he started looking like Fred Sanford by the second half with his gimpy knee. It looks like the plane ride didn't help him out.

That and he's pretty much automatic on midrange J's.

[Coach McGuirk]

Last nights game confirmed my decision to not watch the NBA. I tried again this year, but something about the games are very, very boring. I don't remember them being this way in my youth. It seemed there used to be way more flow to a game. The whole league has become the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Last nights game confirmed my decision to not watch the NBA. I tried again this year, but something about the games are very, very boring. I don't remember them being this way in my youth. It seemed there used to be way more flow to a game. The whole league has become the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs.

The best playoff series I'd seen in years was last year's Celtics v. Bulls first round series.

But I agree with you, the Finals have been ugly. I read somewhere that the total fouls per game called in the regular season matchups between the Lakers and Celtics have been exceeded by something like 20 more fouls per game in the Finals.

I don't know if its the flopping (I blame Karl Malone, John Stockton, the Euro influx and the San Antonio Spurs for the frequency of flopping in the league), the legacy left by the late 80s Pistons or if these refs just love controlling the flow of the games.

The NBA really has to reevaluate things. The Lakers v. Celtics should be an interesting matchup and the ratings are the highest in the past six years, but the difference in the ratings for this series and the ratings for the Finals between the mid 80s through Jordan's final year is pretty stark.

Here are a few of my suggestions:

1. The number of fouls each player can commit needs to be raised or provide some other kind of reward for the team being fouled other than kicking the player out of the game. The strategy of leaning into one particular player and drawing a foul to get him out of the game should cease to exist.

2. Offensive foul calls should be modified. Merely driving into a set player should not be an offensive foul, using a knee or shoulder should be required for the call of an offensive foul.

3. The bullshit Paul Pierce and Kobe tactic of causing a player to leave his feet and then leaning into him to draw the foul needs to be stopped.

4. The bullshit Reggie Miller tactic of kicking out your feet on a jump shot or 3 point shot and drawing contact should never, ever be a foul.

5. An obvious flop should be a technical. Two obvious flops within a 4-5 game stretch should result in an automatic one game suspension (subject to league review).

6. On a replay to determine who tipped a ball out of bounds, if it's also obvious that the team that would get possession fouled the other player trying to get the ball, the ball should not still be awarded to the team that fouled the other team. Replay should never be indepedently used, however, to determine whether someone was fouled. But if it's incidentally determined that a foul was committed at the point where the ball was caused to go out of bounds, the foul should either be called or veto the fouling team's possession.

7. Joey Crawford should never ref another NBA Finals game. Inconsistency is bad, but rendering a game unwatchable, which is what Crawford does, should never be tolerated.

8. If a referee makes 20 horrendously bad calls (I'm willing to lower this to 10) over the stretch of any set of 10 straight games, the referee should be fined. No calls should carry no such punishment, just calls affirmatively made that were horrendous. Kobe's fifth foul when Rondo was falling out of bounds in Game 2 would qualify. The two fouls called on the blocks by Davis and Pierce in Game 2 were borderline (if the limit is 10, then the clean blocks called as fouls shouldn't be included, the 5th foul on Kobe should still qualify). The refs need to be scared to the point that they swallow the whistle and make damn sure that a foul was committed.

[HBCoug]

Doc Rivers complaining about moving screens is fantastic irony:

[ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/news/story?id=5268744"]Doc Rivers of Boston Celtics complains about refereeing, sends videotape to league office - ESPN[/ame]

Do they have an offensive set for Ray Allen that doesn't involve either Perkins or Garnett setting an illegal pick? When they don't iso Pierce, that is basically how they free him up too. They are constantly bumping the pursuit defender at the last minute with a hip check. Unfortunately though, that is today's NBA and it becomes more weird to see a guy get called for an illegal pick than to see him get away with it over and over again. Dallas has this down to an art form with Nowitzki and Terry.

Also, Fisher flops:

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angele...ory?id=5268743

In other news, water is wet, and Karl Malone is a terrible father.

[Surfah]

Doc Rivers complaining about moving screens is fantastic irony:

Doc Rivers of Boston Celtics complains about refereeing, sends videotape to league office - ESPN

Do they have an offensive set for Ray Allen that doesn't involve either Perkins or Garnett setting an illegal pick? When they don't iso Pierce, that is basically how they free him up too. They are constantly bumping the pursuit defender at the last minute with a hip check. Unfortunately though, that is today's NBA and it becomes more weird to see a guy get called for an illegal pick than to see him get away with it over and over again. Dallas has this down to an art form with Nowitzki and Terry.

Also, Fisher flops:

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angele...ory?id=5268743

In other news, water is wet, and Karl Malone is a terrible father.

Hilarious. You could probably call an illegal screen on Perkins every time he does it.

[Moliere]

Also, Fisher flops:

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angele...ory?id=5268743

In other news, water is wet, and Karl Malone is a terrible father.

Is there a bigger thespian than Paul Pierce? That guy does it all from flopping, to flailing his arms in the air everytime the ball is stolen, to faking injuries.

[MarkGrace]

I just don't get Rondo and the free throw line. I understand issues big guys like Shaq and Howard have, but an all-star caliber guard? It makes no sense.

[Surfah]

I just don't get Rondo and the free throw line. I understand issues big guys like Shaq and Howard have, but an all-star caliber guard? It makes no sense.

Another accident?

[FN Phat]

Another accident?

He was just flippin' through the channels