Orlando could not hit anything tonight, jumpers, 3 pointers, layups, nothing. The Lakers didn’t straight up double team Dwight, but they congested the lane and collapsed on him when it was clear no one else on Orlando could hit the net.
I’m going to take the glass half-full approach for the Magic. First of all, the Lakers get complacent. They are so talented, so efficient, so destructive on offense when they’re running their sets that they look totally unstoppable; when Bryant and Odom on their game, doubly so. And sometimes they sort of ride that train and lose their edge that it takes the other team beating them to get it back. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Orlando storm back to take Game 2, and certainly if the three ball gets stroking it frees up Howard to wreck more inside (Bynum, Pau and Odom flirted with foul trouble, didn’t really matter though).
Kobe was not padding his stats. He was running the offense, driving to the hoop, breaking down Orlando’s D (Howard was a step slow all night, compounding the Magic’s issues), producing open jumpers for open teammates and pretty good looks for him. He wasn’t pulling up for 3 balls or badly contested jumpers; those are good shots for Bryant. It was a great performance and it should be taken as such.
If Gasol isn’t playing well in the low block, Howard can come over and bother Bryant on his drives, something Lebron couldn’t do with Big Z (and only minimally so with Varejao), who is not a good post player. Take a look at how much trouble the Rockets gave LA when Chuck Hayes banged with Pau, or how close Denver played them when Bryant and Fisher were hoisting up jumpers and Pau saw the ball too few times.
Kobe can get his, but when the offense runs through or with Gasol, it takes their team to another level on the offensive end.
I really don’t know how I feel about Black Mamba’s performance (otherworldly as usual). Maybe it’s that awful Laker crowd he plays in front of. Anyone get the sense you were watching a grand Shakespeare play, except it was being performed at your local VFW? Those guys get excited about NOTHING. Nevertheless, art is art.
Let’s keep in mind he can play that great because Gasol is down low and Howard can’t play off the pick and roll as much as he’d like. One of the big problems LeBron had was that there was no one he could go to inside.
However, UNLIKE Chosen One, Kobe didn’t hesitate. No dribbles, just drive, drive, drive. In previous series it looked like he held back a lot more because he wanted to make sure he had something for the end. And it just angers me more why Coach Brown didn’t unleash Lebron on a fast break once in that series. I hate NBA coaches.
Let me give credit to the Laker D, which was much better than Cleveland’s D in adjusting to Howard and forcing the Magic into rushed passes into 3s in uncomfortable spots. Orlando did miss a lot of open shots, but LA did have something to do with the blowout.
