NBA Playoffs

Originally Posted by King Glorious

That's been Mariano's problem though. I remember a couple of years ago in the playoffs against Phoenix and everyone could see the Lakers held a huge size advantage but instead of playing big and making the Suns adjust to them, Mariano keeps trying to match up with other teams. The Nuggets don't have the size to match up with Bynum, Gasol, and Odom all in there. The Lakers need to take advantage of them and make the Nuggets pay instead of making it easy for them by going small and easier for the Nuggets to defend them. And part of what I'm saying is that they don't have any consistency from the other guards because nobody knows what the hell their role is. It's natural that when one of them is in there, they are trying to play a little bit selfishly and produce because they want to play the next game. It's hard to play when you are constantly worried about making a mistake because you know that mistake could mean you go from 20 minutes to three in the next or in Farmar's case, to a DNP-CD. I also didn't understand why, if you are going to go small and play Gasol at the center and Odom at the power forward, why was Walton ever in there for Ariza? Ariza had it going and there was no reason Walton should have ever checked in for him. Same as when Farmar had it going. Mariano pulled him too.

Its fun having so many NBA coaches on one
website...

Anyways.

I think Phil's problem is that Fischer is so bad. But...
he is the only guard besides Kobe that can
consisently handle the ball (except Fischer aint
going anywhere with it). Farmar has been given
plenty of chances in the regular season. I seriously
dont think Kobe trusts him. It has got to be very
hard to play with Kobe,
dont put it all on Phil (as much as I dislike him).

The Lakers might be able to go big with all 3 but
as I said last year, this really puts a strain on their
D. They become really slow, especially with Fisher at
point. Somebody had stated how great they would be
with these 3 at the same time and I just dont think they
have any perimeter D. Denver would/should just move Anthony
and Billups off high screens and spread the floor out.
You got open 3's and lanes when you make those
bigger guys help up top on screens.

Anthony has been a huge problem because not only is he
hitting his shot, he is getting very easy put backs and this is
the important part, easy put backs WHILE beating Kobe up.

Personally I like teams that wear down other teams by
making them play defense. Carmello is putting a whole bunch
of strain on the Lakers inside. He is forcing multiple people to
cover him on the drive, and then pushing Ariza and Kobe
all over the lane off the ball on offensive rebounds. He is making
Kobe play very hard.