Get to Know A (Gulp) Lakers Fan
Posted by Zach Lowe on Jun 3, 2010
It’s the Finals, so we had to do the unthinkable: Have a fake-friendly conversation with a Laker fan. Seriously, though, the guys at Forum Blue & Gold, the Lakers-themed blog in the TrueHoop Network, are really great, and you can learn a lot about hoops by reading that blog. They know every cut and read in the triangle offense, and they write damn well. It is a year-round must-read for me, and it should be for you during these NBA Finals.
Darius Soriano, one of the lead writers who have stepped in ably for Kurt Helin, the blog’s founder (now at NBC’s hoops blog), kindly took the time to answer a few of my questions. I did the same for him, and you can read my answers to his questions here.
CelticsHub: The Lakers‘ offensive efficiency has been other-worldly since about the mid-point of the Thunder series. What, if anything, has changed since the regular season, when their offense was fairly ho-hum by LA’s high standards? Are they doing anything differently, or is this more a case of facing average and below average defenses?
Forum Blue&Gold: I would say the Lakers improvement on offense stems from several factors.
First is the fact that they’ve shown a greater emphasis on getting the ball inside and not relying on their perimeter game as the best way to initiate their offense. During the regular season, the Lakers’ focus waned and they often tried to do things the easy way (which actually had the opposite effect, but I digress) and didn’t always play in a manner that maximized their talent. In the middle of the season, you heard Gasol (and sometimes Bynum) talk about the need for more “touches” as those guys know that the Triangle offense flows much better when the ball is entered into the post. Mind you, the bigs weren’t clamoring for more shots, they just wanted the ball to work inside-out a bit more. And in the post season, the Lakers have been more committed to that and it’s made a difference as Pau (and Bynum) have been more utilized. This then creates the domino effect of getting easier shots, which then comprises defenses, which then makes the perimeter players lives easier. Why they didn’t do this all season is beyond me, but I’m happy they’ve gone in this direction in the playoffs.
Secondly, Kobe is as healthy as he’s been in a long time and it’s really helped his offensive efficiency. And when Kobe is efficient, it leads to a more efficient Laker offense. Ever since game 5 of the Thunder series, Kobe’s raised his offensive game – making his jumper, dominating the post against smaller defenders, accepting double teams, and ultimately making the game easier for his teammates. And when Kobe is doing all of those things well, it can’t help but translate to a better Laker O.
Thirdly, you’re correct that the Lakers (sans OKC) have not played the stiffest competition on defense. Part of it is that the Suns and the Jazz just aren’t defensive juggernauts, but most of it just had to do with match ups. Neither the Jazz nor the Suns had any one player that could effectively guard Kobe and both teams also sported undersized frontlines that had issues with the Lakers big men. You add all that up and it equals some dominant performances on offense for the Lakers.
CH: How much time do you expect Kobe to spend guarding Rajon Rondo? What, if anything, worries you about using Kobe on Rajon?
FB&G: I expect Kobe to guard Rondo a great deal. I think he’ll start the series on Rondo and then the Lakers will adjust depending on how the series (and the match up) goes. Now, I could be wrong about that as I’m not in the coaches meetings, but history shows us that in the past 8 games the Lakers have played against the Celtics (games 3-6 of the 2008 Finals and the past two seasons’ regular season games), Kobe – in the 7 games that he’s appeared in – has guarded Rondo exclusively whenever they shared the court. At this point, I think this is the Lakers’ strategy on defending him.
I mean this as no disrespect to Rondo (who I truly think he’s a fantastic player – I have compared him to a young Jason Kidd in terms of his style of play and ability to impact a game), but I don’t have any fears with Kobe guarding him. Kobe’s a very good on ball defender and is excellent and playing driving angles (especially when playing “off” a player in the manner he does on Rondo). If anything, I’d rather Kobe guard Rondo than Ray Allen or Paul Pierce who both present their own set of problems for Kobe (Allen with his constant motion and movement off screens and Pierce with his strength and ability to draw fouls). If there is one issue that does concern me in the Kobe/Rondo match up it’s whether or not Kobe will box Rondo out and keep him off the offensive glass. Rondo is a fantastic rebounding guard (as evidenced by his constant flirting with triple-doubles) and Kobe will need to mark him accordingly. But besides that, I’m comfortable with Kobe. As I said, earlier, no disrespect to Rondo – I still feel like he’ll attack Kobe off the dribble and will get some baskets inside in both the half court and in transition – but compared to the alternatives that the Lakers have to check your young and talented PG, I’ll take Kobe and live with what I think will be decent-to-good results.
CH: Other than Odom, which LA bench player needs to have a good series for the Lakers to win? And which bench guy (other than Odom) do you think is most likely to play well against Boston?
FB&G: Is “anyone” an acceptable answer to your first question? Not to sound harsh, but if any Laker bench player besides Odom steps up in any meaningful way, I’ll be quite happy. I’m not trying to disparage the Lakers bench, but they’ve been inconsistent at best this season and relying any of them to play well is no longer in my thought process. During the Suns series, my only hope was that if the Lakers were winning that the bench players would not give up the entire lead and if the Lakers were losing that the deficit would not balloon on their watch. During this series, I’m hopeful of the same thing. And if one of them steps up, I think it will be a major boost to the Lakers’ chances.
Farmar and Brown have been the main bench players to get consistent minutes this season and it’s not beyond either of them to have a good game or two, or even an entire series. But I don’t expect that. If I had to guess which bench player is likely to play well, I’d say it’s Farmar just because he’s been playing better than Brown lately (he had a few good games against the Suns and has been shooting the ball well from distance). But let’s just say I’m not holding my breath.
CH: The presence of Bynum in this series means that Kevin Garnett will have to spend more time on Pau Gasol than he did in 2008. At first glance, Garnett would appear to be a more natural match-up for Pau than the bulky and slow-ish Kendrick Perkins, but a lot of LA fans seem to prefer the Gasol-KG match-up. Why?
FB&G: Most Lakers fans would rather see KG on Pau for the exact reason that you mention – bulk. Perkins has it and that’s the one trait that still bothers Gasol. Understand that Pau’s height, body type, and style of play add up to him being the type of player that can still struggle against stout, strong, defenders that have enough size and foot speed to battle him for position, push, and pound on him for long stretches. Some may say that fact makes Pau soft, but I just think it’s natural based off the fact that even though Pau is built like KG (only a bit heavier) he’s still a player that prefers to get deep post position and use his array of moves and his arsenal of shots to score in close (unlike Garnett who is now mostly a jump shooter in both face up and post up situations). Against a player like Perkins (who I respect as a defender a great deal) that’s just not as easy as every inch of real estate is battled for and Pau just doesn’t have the natural bulk to fight Perkins for an entire game. Not to say it will be easy against KG, but Pau has battled against Garnett for his entire career (all those ‘Sota/Memphis match ups) and I think there’s a familiarity there.
CH: Why have the Lakers been so good this season at defending the three-point line? When Boston hits threes–as they did in the conference finals, when they shot 41 percent from deep–they are very difficult to beat, so C’s fans should be very concerned that LA just squashed Phoenix’s three-point attack. What should we watch for in LA’s three-point defense?
FB&G: I think the Lakers success at defending the three point line is due to several factors. First, I think it’s a result of their length and quickness across the entire roster. Kobe, Artest, Gasol, Odom…all these guys are good sized players with long arms that can move around the court. Not to mention, all of them are pretty good defenders (Kobe is a perennial All Defensive team member, Artest’s reputation is well established on that end, and Gasol/Odom are underrated defenders that have the ability to switch on the pick and roll and cover wing players for a possession).
Second, the Lakers bigs are good at protecting the rim and that allows the Lakers’ defensive wings to play closer to shooters on the perimeter. And when those wing defenders are Kobe and Artest, the level and quality of defense that comes from those two is better than just your average SG and SF. Third, I mentioned Gasol and Odom’s defensive ability, but it’s their quickness that allows them to rotate to shooters when the Lakers’ schemes call for it and both players are also pretty good at covering the pick and pop action that a lot of teams now run with guys like Frye, ‘Sheed, Rashard Lewis, Jamison, etc. And even though Bynum wouldn’t win many foot races at 7’1″, 285lbs, he can even get out to the perimeter to contest a three every now and then with his gigantic wing span. In the end, I just think all these factors combine to make the Lakers a team that can cover a lot of ground and then create a nice distraction when they close out and contest those deep shots.
CH: You must dislike Sasha Vujacic, right?
FB&G: What do you mean? People dislike Sasha? I had no idea. You’ll have to explain this to me when we have more time.
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