Donyell Marshall goes 12-19 on 3's

[ziggy]

How incredible is that?  12-19 on 3's, 38 points overall.  Chris Webber must have guarding him  :rofl: .  I am sure there are some playoff teams kicking themseleves for not pulling off a trade to get him before the deadline.

[Derek Bodner]

Actually he was guarded by Kyle Korver most of the night.

It's O'brien's ridiculous scrambling defense I detailed in a post a couple days back.  It's designed to collapes the paint and give up open weakside jumpers. Then you take a scrambling defense and try to implement it with a group that's slow of foot...and....well....records will bet set.

Luckily, Kobe gets a chance to get his record back outright tomorrow night.

And I'm sure Donyell also wanted to make a sales pitch to Billy King, since he was campaigning to come back to philly at the deadline (he grew up in Reading, Pa) and will likely want to come here in free agency (unless he can get more than the MLE, which I doubt).

[westkoast]

Marshall reminds me of a more mobile Sam Perkins from a while back.  Remember Perkins "Ill shoot from half court without leaving the ground" shot when Rik Smits, Reggie, and Co made their championship run?  Perkins was on fire from 3 that year.

DB, The Lakers have no problems taking millions and millions of jumpers per game without attacking the basket.  Call up the O'Brien now and let him know the Lakers will shoot 75 foot 3-pointers all night if thats what you give em.

[rickortreat]

The question is will O'Brien change and come to realize the defense is stupid and innefective.

Some teams live on the outside (actually most of them, since they lack the inside players to get the job done.)  O'Briens defense with these players is a disaster waiting to happen.  One can only hope that this obvious truth is recognized.  The Sicksers shot well enough that they should have won that game, but when a team shoots from outside like that and you let them, you will loose everytime.

The Lakers are not a good team, and the Sixers should win easilly based on their talent.  But their coach gives them a handicap that they usually cannot overcome.  

Another thing about the Sixers is that the offense doesn't play to their strengths consitently.  Iverson should be dumping the ball into Dalembert 5 out of 10 trips down the floos in a half-court set.  There are few playes who can defend him is he gets postion, and the few who can defend him are to slow and will get into foul trouble.  Once the defence collapses on Dalmbert, the rest of the team will have the space to make easy shots.  

[westkoast]

The Lakers are not a good team, and the Sixers should win easilly based on their talent.

Excuse me while I die laughing.......the Lakers are not a real good team but this comming from a Sixers fan?  :rofl:  

[Derek Bodner]

Wow, Andre, Wow.  That's a poster for sure.

[rickortreat]

Well, Westcoast, what do you hav to say now?

I didn't see the game until the second half myself, and the Lakers were already out of the game.

Kobe was unable to get off thanks to the Sixers defense, and basically the SLAKERS got blown out.

Yes, the Sixers are much more talented, it sure wasn't coaching genius that enabled them to win that game!

Andre Igoudala said after the game that he was patterning his game after Kobe.  Claimed that it helped him when he was defending Kobe, that he almost knew where he was going, when he did his head fakes.  :rofl:  

[westkoast]

Well, Westcoast, what do you hav to say now?

I didn't see the game until the second half myself, and the Lakers were already out of the game.

Kobe was unable to get off thanks to the Sixers defense, and basically the SLAKERS got blown out.

Yes, the Sixers are much more talented, it sure wasn't coaching genius that enabled them to win that game!

Andre Igoudala said after the game that he was patterning his game after Kobe.  Claimed that it helped him when he was defending Kobe, that he almost knew where he was going, when he did his head fakes.  :rofl:

The same thing I said yesterday....excuse me while I laugh at a Sixers fan who talks about how horrible another team is while giving constant props to his own.

Sixers:

31 33

Lakers:

32 31

The Lakers and Sixers are both teams that are not good...

[Guest_Randy]

IF Kobe is going to have to beat teams all by himself, the Lakers aren't going to win many games.  Kobe already has those tendencies -- the desire to take a game all by himself but Lamar Odom HAS to be aggressive and he just ISN'T!  The Lakers need to trade Odom -- wonder if SacTown would like to trade him straight up for Peja!  Now that's a trade I would LOVE to see!!!

The Sixers beat the Lakers, Rick but you're assessment as to the Sixers having soo much more talent than the Lakers is WAY off base!  Last night, Andre did a GREAT job of keeping a hand in Kobe's face but let's not pretend that he defended Kobe all by himself -- he had a LOT of help!  And the rest of the Lakers squad just didn't show up -- Odom had what, 11 points?  Yeah, pretty amazing for the "second go-to guy" for the Lakers.  Lamar is capable of being a 25 ppg guy but he just doesn't take it to the hole.  The Sixers had NOBODY that could guard Odom -- he needs to take advantage of that.  We ALL know that the opposing team is going to punish Odom on the other end of the court -- Odom HAS to focus on driving more to the hoop rather than just taking open jumpers -- his jumper just isn't that good (he is the type of player who needs to establish his drive in order to make his outside shots).

There isn't anyone on the Lakers who can keep up with AI except for Brown -- and Brown isn't ready to play that kind of defense yet.  The problem is that last night the only person the Sixers had to defend was Kobe -- because nobody else was doing ANYTHING!

[Derek Bodner]

The Sixers had NOBODY that could guard Odom -- he needs to take advantage of that

I think you're selling Samuel Dalembert a little short on that one.  He's capable.

[rickortreat]

IMO, you made my point for me, Randy.

"-because nobody else was doing anything."

That's the way it is for the Lakers, becasue they lack the talent to compete.  The Sixers have their problems, but ability to play the game isn't one of them.

It was easy to stop the Lakers becasue they only have Kobe.  The Sixers have a couple of players who can score and create their own shot.  They also have a few who can get open shots with a little help.  They're not so good at stopping teams with more than one option on offense.

And, I would take Dalembert over Odom any day.  Wouldn't you?
   

[Guest_Randy]

Rick,

The difference is that Lamar Odom has real TALENT and Dalembert has real POTENTIAL!  Odom HAS proven himself -- the problem is that he hasn't proven himself with Kobe -- when Odom is looking to drive to the basket, there are few in the league who can stop him, the problem is that he doesn't get that aggressive very often.  He must be going to the Yao Ming school of aggressiveness!

As far as Kobe being the entire Lakers team this year, that hasn't been the case to date -- the Lakers were playing decent ball BEFORE Kobe went down with the injury.  Kobe hasn't won 32 games all by himself, has he?

[rickortreat]

Of course not.  Not even Kobe can outscore other teams by himself.  But that isn't my point.  The Lakers are undertalented and are not a playoff team as they are now.  And, I would have expected the Lakers to do better learing to rely on themselves than Kobe to bail them out, but their play since he's returned suggests they haven't.

Odom is who he is, there are a lot of players with skill who never reach their potential in the NBA.  Sam Perkins was too soft, so is Tim Thomas.  There are probably a lot of other players who are in the same boat- great physical skills, adequate intelligence, but not agressive enough to become dominant players.

Dalembert doesn't get the ball often enough in the post.  He could do more, but O'brien's failings as a coach have more to do with how Sam produces than his actual abilities, IMO.  Most teams in the NBA can't run a post-up offence anymore, as they lack the players, but that used to be the way to a championship.  A good coach would develop a Dalembert to become a major offensive threat, and then the Sixers would be more like a 50 game winning team than one that will be lucky to make the playoffs.  If the Sixers dumped the ball into him regularly, like the Heat do with Shaq, IMO, he'd be a 20pt. per game player.  He gets his points off misses and a few alley-opps from AI.

There's talk in the local media about O'brien being on thin ice, with last night's win something of a reprieve.  I hope they get rid of him before the season ends.  I can't wait.  

[Derek Bodner]

Rick, I don't know what you've been seeing to suggest Dalembert be given the ball in the post more.  He has no post moves, can't dribble without it going off his foot, has no shot, and can't pass to save his lfie.

[rickortreat]

There are few players in the east who can stop his shot.  He's a big target in the middle, and more athletic so he can jump over the others to get a pass or put it in the hoop.  I've seen him execute a number of moves that require a high degree of coordination and be successful in doing them.

Obviously, he's not a polished product, but he would become one much quicker if he was put in the opportunity too.  I'm not suggesting he's a dominant center like Shaq is, but if you force the other team to adjust to him setting up in the post, and keep that option available, the Sixers become a much better team in the half-court.

In the last game against Miami, Shaq got into foul trouble attempting to guard a younger, quicker player.  I think this could be the case in many games.  So often, Sam gets out of the game becaus ehe picks up the stupid fouls.  I'd rather put him in a postion to get the opposing teams center out of the game in foul trouble.

If anything, he's lacking confidence in his game and his decion making.  The more he experiences success, the more fluid and confident he'd be. Until he is a valid post presence, the Sixers will not do anything of note, IMO.