by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Despite the troubles they’ve had handling the Phoenix Suns’ “girly” zone defense in Games 3 and 4 of the Western Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers have done just fine on the offensive end.
According to every metric, the offense has performed well enough to win those games, but that has obviously not been sufficient.
The reason L.A. now must play a pivotal Game 5 back at Staples Center on Thursday night, against a surging Phoenix team that’s slowly beginning to believe it can win the series, is because their defense has been so atrocious lately. Or as Kobe might say, it has “sucked.”
Bryant — who once again performed brilliantly in a losing effort — was livid following the game last night, tersely addressing the assembled media about his team’s lack of urgency, and porous attention to detail on the defensive end of the floor.
The OC Register captured the quotes:
“Our defense could have been much better, I think. You know coming up here, we lost a sense of urgency defensively. I think our concentration was focused on how to attack the zone. And I think it kind of flipped our attention to detail defensively. Our focus was on the other side of the floor, which doesn’t win championships. So we need to get back to ground zero when it comes to that.”
“We lost the game because our defense sucked … Like I said, we’ve got to do a much better job defensively. Paying attention to those guys, all of them, and staying in front of your man and things like that … Our attention needs to be on the defensive end, period. That’s second chance opportunities. Their bench came in and gave them a big boost in getting balls back and getting them extra possessions. We’ve got to cut that stuff out.”
If the Lakers hope to make their once seemingly-assured return trip to the NBA Finals next week, they can’t allow Phoenix (as they have in Games 3 and 4) to score upwards of 117 points, shooting 47.5% from the field, 32% from three-point land, and for the Suns’ bench to dominate the game.
Game 5 now has all the makings of a classic battle. The winner will have their defense to thank.
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Why are the Lakers hedging screen and rolls NOT involving Steve Nash?
Who else on the Phoenix team is a consistent threat to come off a screen and hit a long jumper off the dribble?
Dragic? Barbosa? Hill? Richardson?
I say nobody. They need to play softer when Nash is not doing the screening and force those players to make a decision in space. They need to make them finish over the big men, and stay home of hte shooter unless Nash is running the pick and roll. If Nash is doing it, then they still need to give him that aggressive show because he is less likely to break the defense down completely and score. Barbosa and Dragic must prove they can score over hte Lakers big people, or hit pull up jumpers consistently.
My two cents.
I have yet to see the zone defense truly stop the Lakers from scoring inside.
I have seen the Lakers settle for long jumpers, but I have consistently seen Bynum, Gasol, Artest and Odom score inside when they’ve gotten the ball down there. Teh problem is getting them the ball in position to score.
I mean, the Lakers scored fewer points, but they are still getting over 100.
My watch on the game was that when the Lakers were patient, they got quality shots. Patient and worked off Kobe, who the Suns still have not figured out how to stop or prevent from being a distributor. The problem was failing to let Kobe be the decision maker EVERY TRIP DOWN THE COURT.
The Lakers need to recognize the matchup advantages they have, and play harder on defense. That’s it. They will make shots, particularly in LA, and if they stifle Phoenix, the Suns will stop playing defense.
It comes down to defense!!!Man I used to love MJ vs pistons, knicks vs pacers, that is real strong defense, guts, passion and emotion.
Now you have Odom who eats candy before a game so that he can play hard….jajajjajaa
Oh, and Phoenix bench played a great game last night!
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