Lakers dodge a bullet

[Lurker]

The Lakers defense did pick up late in the 3rd but NOT enough to shut the Spurs down, IMO it was fatique and the Spurs bench was not up to the task of keeping a grip on the lead.  I think I heard a commentator say Pop used 11 of the 12 guys on the roster in the 1st half or maybe even the 1st quarter.  I think Manu will have solid games at home but the Spurs really need him to play well at least once on the road.  As a Lakers fan I would not feel to comfortable about this series until the Lakers win game 2.  I feel game 2 will be critical for the Lakers for various reason.

I agree that it wasn't all the Lakers increased intensity.  That's why I said it looked like the Spurs hit the wall about the same time.  Their jumpers were just a little short, the defensive rotations a half step late.  It just looked like both of those things happened at the same time.

Even after Kobe got into the zone he had to work hard for some of the baskets with multiple fakes.  This is where the Spurs are better than other teams at defending Kobe.  He needs more shots to score as many points.  In the first two rounds Kobe was averaging over 33 points on approx 21 fga per game.  Last night he scored 27 on 21 attempts.

[msc]

That was a strange game.  Lakers came out flat and looked to be a little tentative or nervous on offense.  Fish, Odom, Kobe, even Gasol looked a little tentative and some shots were popping out.  Luckily Radmonovic showed up in the 1st. 

I thought the Lakers were toast for sure in that game.  Even before the second half.  They just didn't look like they were in sync and as a fan sometimes you just get the feeling it's not your teams night. 

As much as I'd like to give the Lakers all the credit for persevering and picking up their defensive intensity, no team should blow a 20 point lead with 18 minutes left in a game.  Whether it was fatigue or just poor execution, the Spurs blew it. 

The only logical explanation is the Spurs lost because Rick picked them to win 

Lurker, I'm with you, I can't stand Doug Collins.  It's painful to listen to that guy.  I'd actually take Walton over him any day of the week.  Although I'd put the idiotic team of Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Grungy way ahead of Collins in the crapfest department.  It's unbelievalbe to me that one of those guys has been a head coach and the other is being considered as one. 

Regarding the officiating, there were a couple of bad calls both ways over the course of the game.  That happens in every game.  I can't see how it affected the outcome of this game at all.  If the Spurs need one call in order to not blow a 20 point lead over a 16 minute span ... they've got problems. 

[WayOutWest]

If the Spurs need one call in order to not blow a 20 point lead over a 16 minute span ... they've got problems. 

That was the backup plan arguement if the Spurs had not gotten a make up call after the Odom/Gasol slap out of bounds play.

[SPURSX3]

That was a strange game.  Lakers came out flat and looked to be a little tentative or nervous on offense.  Fish, Odom, Kobe, even Gasol looked a little tentative and some shots were popping out.  Luckily Radmonovic showed up in the 1st. 

I thought the Lakers were toast for sure in that game.  Even before the second half.  They just didn't look like they were in sync and as a fan sometimes you just get the feeling it's not your teams night. 

As much as I'd like to give the Lakers all the credit for persevering and picking up their defensive intensity, no team should blow a 20 point lead with 18 minutes left in a game.  Whether it was fatigue or just poor execution, the Spurs blew it. 

The only logical explanation is the Spurs lost because Rick picked them to win 

Lurker, I'm with you, I can't stand Doug Collins.  It's painful to listen to that guy.  I'd actually take Walton over him any day of the week.  Although I'd put the idiotic team of Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Grungy way ahead of Collins in the crapfest department.  It's unbelievalbe to me that one of those guys has been a head coach and the other is being considered as one. 

Regarding the officiating, there were a couple of bad calls both ways over the course of the game.  That happens in every game.  I can't see how it affected the outcome of this game at all.  If the Spurs need one call in order to not blow a 20 point lead over a 16 minute span ... they've got problems. 

MSC, I Blame Rick for picking us also!!  

The refs were not an issue last night, I agree. The Spurs had the game in their hands and indeed di blow it.  I can only imagine there was a legion of Laker fans outside the hotel making noise trying to keep them awake even more...

[Lurker]

A couple items from the local paper...

Charter switched for remainder of playoffs.

The Spurs have flown their last flight with Champion Air.
Team chairman Peter Holt said the league assured him Tuesday another carrier would transport the Spurs to San Antonio after Game 2 of the Western Conference finals Friday and would also fly them to the rest of their road playoff games.
 
Word of the change came less than 24 hours after the Spurs spent seven hours on a tarmac in New Orleans after mechanical problems grounded the Boeing 727 provided to the team by Champion, which declared bankruptcy in March and is set to ground its 16-plane fleet May 31.

?The league called the next morning and said they were working on it right away,? Holt said. ?They said they would find us another airplane that (it) will be with you as long as you are in the playoffs. That?s another thing we didn?t want to have to do, keep switching.?

Holt said he made it clear to the league they were done with Champion. The league arranges for the Spurs? carrier, but the team foots the bill.

?We just told them we obviously don?t have any faith or trust any more (in Champion),? Holt said. ?I don?t know if it is a safety issue, as much as we don?t want to be stuck again, especially with us playing every other day from this point on.?

Holt said he hasn?t spoken to anyone from Champion.

?Not interested in Champion,? Holt said. ?We?re done.?

Horry's take on the collapse.

?We got away from our game plan,? forward Robert Horry said. ?Sometimes when you get up by 20 like we did in the third quarter, you look for too many knockout blows by shooting 3s. Down the stretch, we should have worked it inside to Tim (Duncan) and stopped shooting jumpers.?

Horry said it was surprising that a veteran club made such poor decisions after gaining a commanding lead.

?We took a lot of jumpers and didn?t play smart at all,? Horry said. ?We have got to be smarter than that. We are a veteran team. We should know we have to go inside-out first, and we did a lot of outside-in this game.?

[Reality]

Bowens going out was the key.  Add Manu being ice cold in the same stretch.  Oh and good ole small ball.  Michael Finley at the 4.  That was precious. 

5:39 Bruce Bowen personal foul (Kobe Bryant draws the foul) 65-45   
5:39 Manu Ginobili enters the game for Bruce Bowen 65-45   

5:31   65-47 Kobe Bryant makes 20-foot jumper
5:09   65-49 Pau Gasol makes layup (Kobe Bryant assists)
4:41 Ime Udoka personal foul (Kobe Bryant draws the foul) 65-49   
4:31   65-52 Kobe Bryant makes 25-foot three point jumper (Pau Gasol assists)
3:55 Ime Udoka shooting foul (Kobe Bryant draws the foul) 65-52   
3:55   65-53 Kobe Bryant makes free throw 1 of 2
3:55   65-54 Kobe Bryant makes free throw 2 of 2
2:28   65-59 Pau Gasol makes two point shot (Kobe Bryant assists)
2:19   65-59 Official timeout
1:38   68-61 Pau Gasol makes two point shot (Kobe Bryant assists)
0:57   70-63 Kobe Bryant makes 11-foot two point shot
0:26   72-65 Pau Gasol makes two point shot (Kobe Bryant assists)
 

[msc]

Bowens going out was the key.  Add Manu being ice cold in the same stretch.  Oh and good ole small ball.  Michael Finley at the 4.  That was precious. 

5:39 Bruce Bowen personal foul (Kobe Bryant draws the foul) 65-45   
5:39 Manu Ginobili enters the game for Bruce Bowen 65-45   

5:31   65-47 Kobe Bryant makes 20-foot jumper
5:09   65-49 Pau Gasol makes layup (Kobe Bryant assists)
4:41 Ime Udoka personal foul (Kobe Bryant draws the foul) 65-49   
4:31   65-52 Kobe Bryant makes 25-foot three point jumper (Pau Gasol assists)
3:55 Ime Udoka shooting foul (Kobe Bryant draws the foul) 65-52   
3:55   65-53 Kobe Bryant makes free throw 1 of 2
3:55   65-54 Kobe Bryant makes free throw 2 of 2
2:28   65-59 Pau Gasol makes two point shot (Kobe Bryant assists)
2:19   65-59 Official timeout
1:38   68-61 Pau Gasol makes two point shot (Kobe Bryant assists)
0:57   70-63 Kobe Bryant makes 11-foot two point shot
0:26   72-65 Pau Gasol makes two point shot (Kobe Bryant assists)
 

Bruce Bowen will turn 37 next month.  You're right Reality, he should play 48 minutes a game 

He's a great defender and does a remarkable job on Kobe.  Unfortunately, there's no way he, or any other 37 yr old on the planet can sustain that level of intensity for 48 minutes.  He needs to get a breather here and there or he won't be as effective when he is on the floor.

[westkoast]

Ok it's alright to blame the airliner for a bad nights sleep.  I think we all agree on that.  But to make it sound like some league conspiracy...once again I am disappointed in the sports media.  THE LAKERS USE THE SAME EXACT COMPANY!#@_(!@)#  I want these sports writers to man up and not be so god damn lazy.  Bring some analysis jesus.  Maybe if I actually knew what proper grammar was and took some writing classes I could become a sports writer.  Actually I don't need to do either.  I think we all put more "writing" work into this board then some of these sports writers.

As for Doug Collins I think its funny you guys dont realize why he likes the Lakers so much.  It's because Kobe looks like Michael Jordan on the court and Dough Collins gets to bring up that fact that *HE* use to coach Michael Jordan in Chicago. 

Contrary what our resident tard Fantasy posts...Bruce Bowen had to go out at that part.  He's not a robot and he did as good of a job as you can ask on the best player in the league in the first half.  He's OLD.  He worked harder then anyone else on the court last night on that end.  He needed to go out.  You leave him in and it slides Kobe scoring a few minutes back once Bowen got 100% drained.

Besides, If Manu was half as SUPER as Fantasy makes him out to be then what was the problem?

[Lurker]

Ok it's alright to blame the airliner for a bad nights sleep.  I think we all agree on that.  But to make it sound like some league conspiracy...once again I am disappointed in the sports media.  THE LAKERS USE THE SAME EXACT COMPANY!#@_(!@)#  I want these sports writers to man up and not be so god damn lazy.  Bring some analysis jesus.

The article I posted didn't blame the loss on the charter.  What I was pointing out was that THE LEAGUE PICKS THE CHARTER!  In the other thread there were comments about the Spurs sticking with the company after it went into bankruptcy.  It wasn't the Spurs choice to make.

[westkoast]

Ok it's alright to blame the airliner for a bad nights sleep.  I think we all agree on that.  But to make it sound like some league conspiracy...once again I am disappointed in the sports media.  THE LAKERS USE THE SAME EXACT COMPANY!#@_(!@)#  I want these sports writers to man up and not be so god damn lazy.  Bring some analysis jesus.

The article I posted didn't blame the loss on the charter.  What I was pointing out was that THE LEAGUE PICKS THE CHARTER!  In the other thread there were comments about the Spurs sticking with the company after it went into bankruptcy.  It wasn't the Spurs choice to make.

To me it sounded like he wanted to put blame on the charter.  Just my personal take.  Anytime you start off a whole article with "THE SPURS ARE FLYING ____ FOR THE LAST TIME!"  it sounds like that was the focus.  The exact same situation is with the Lakers as well though Lurker.  They have continued to fly with that company even though they've been bankrupt.   The Spurs just had bad luck.

[Lurker]

Ok it's alright to blame the airliner for a bad nights sleep.  I think we all agree on that.  But to make it sound like some league conspiracy...once again I am disappointed in the sports media.  THE LAKERS USE THE SAME EXACT COMPANY!#@_(!@)#  I want these sports writers to man up and not be so god damn lazy.  Bring some analysis jesus.

The article I posted didn't blame the loss on the charter.  What I was pointing out was that THE LEAGUE PICKS THE CHARTER!  In the other thread there were comments about the Spurs sticking with the company after it went into bankruptcy.  It wasn't the Spurs choice to make.

To me it sounded like he wanted to put blame on the charter.  Just my personal take.  Anytime you start off a whole article with "THE SPURS ARE FLYING ____ FOR THE LAST TIME!"  it sounds like that was the focus.  The exact same situation is with the Lakers as well though Lurker.  They have continued to fly with that company even though they've been bankrupt.   The Spurs just had bad luck.

I agree the Spurs got a bad break.  I posted the entire article.  It was a little sidenote that let the Spurs fans know that the team & league took steps to prevent future bad breaks.  And I bolded the part that said that it really was out of the team's hands. 

I think you are being way too defensive on this one koast.

[westkoast]

Ok it's alright to blame the airliner for a bad nights sleep.  I think we all agree on that.  But to make it sound like some league conspiracy...once again I am disappointed in the sports media.  THE LAKERS USE THE SAME EXACT COMPANY!#@_(!@)#  I want these sports writers to man up and not be so god damn lazy.  Bring some analysis jesus.

The article I posted didn't blame the loss on the charter.  What I was pointing out was that THE LEAGUE PICKS THE CHARTER!  In the other thread there were comments about the Spurs sticking with the company after it went into bankruptcy.  It wasn't the Spurs choice to make.

To me it sounded like he wanted to put blame on the charter.  Just my personal take.  Anytime you start off a whole article with "THE SPURS ARE FLYING ____ FOR THE LAST TIME!"  it sounds like that was the focus.  The exact same situation is with the Lakers as well though Lurker.  They have continued to fly with that company even though they've been bankrupt.   The Spurs just had bad luck.

I agree the Spurs got a bad break.  I posted the entire article.  It was a little sidenote that let the Spurs fans know that the team & league took steps to prevent future bad breaks.  And I bolded the part that said that it really was out of the team's hands. 

I think you are being way too defensive on this one koast.

It's not defensive as much as it is annoyed with the articles today.  You'd be surprised but I am just as pissed as them bringing 3 day old stories up (Plane charter as if this wanted beaten to death Tuesday) as I am them short changing the Spurs' defense, getting their John Kerry on with Kobe, and just all around laziness of them.

Can you tell me how many articles you read today that broke the game down even half as good as we did on this first page?

[Lurker]

Ok it's alright to blame the airliner for a bad nights sleep.  I think we all agree on that.  But to make it sound like some league conspiracy...once again I am disappointed in the sports media.  THE LAKERS USE THE SAME EXACT COMPANY!#@_(!@)#  I want these sports writers to man up and not be so god damn lazy.  Bring some analysis jesus.

The article I posted didn't blame the loss on the charter.  What I was pointing out was that THE LEAGUE PICKS THE CHARTER!  In the other thread there were comments about the Spurs sticking with the company after it went into bankruptcy.  It wasn't the Spurs choice to make.

To me it sounded like he wanted to put blame on the charter.  Just my personal take.  Anytime you start off a whole article with "THE SPURS ARE FLYING ____ FOR THE LAST TIME!"  it sounds like that was the focus.  The exact same situation is with the Lakers as well though Lurker.  They have continued to fly with that company even though they've been bankrupt.   The Spurs just had bad luck.

I agree the Spurs got a bad break.  I posted the entire article.  It was a little sidenote that let the Spurs fans know that the team & league took steps to prevent future bad breaks.  And I bolded the part that said that it really was out of the team's hands. 

I think you are being way too defensive on this one koast.

It's not defensive as much as it is annoyed with the articles today.  You'd be surprised but I am just as pissed as them bringing 3 day old stories up (Plane charter as if this wanted beaten to death Tuesday) as I am them short changing the Spurs' defense, getting their John Kerry on with Kobe, and just all around laziness of them.

Can you tell me how many articles you read today that broke the game down even half as good as we did on this first page?

But this article had no comments one way or the other on the game.  It was a small side note to let fans know that the charter service had been changed...you know so we don't worry that the Spurs will be stuck in Southern California for any longer than absolutely necessary.  There isn't even one mention of the game.  If this article had been posted yesterday you would have said OK and let it go.  Your harping on an article that had NO relationship to the game is defensive and somewhat out of character.

As far as general coverage.  You are spot on...there is really no analysis that meets the standard that we regularly set here.

One of the key plays that I haven't seen mentioned was Kobe's steal of the inbounds and cutting the lead to 2 or 3 late in the 4th.  A lazy pass by the Spurs which basically summed up the 4th quarter...lack of attention to detail.

[westkoast]

Yes the article didn't say one way or another.  If it was spurs slanted I wouldnr have been upset.  Its all around laziness.  That's great that they fired the company but they will be done soon anyways.  Hasn't the plane topic been beat to death?  Who thought they wouldn't fire them?  These writers have a specific amount of words they need to write.  Adding an entire paragraph on this beaten to death topic is lazy.

I expect people who get paid to write about sports to do a better job then a bunch of guys who do it for fun.

[Lurker]

Yes the article didn't say one way or another.  If it was spurs slanted I wouldnr have been upset.  Its all around laziness.  That's great that they fired the company but they will be done soon anyways.  Hasn't the plane topic been beat to death?  Who thought they wouldn't fire them?  These writers have a specific amount of words they need to write.  Adding an entire paragraph on this beaten to death topic is lazy.

I expect people who get paid to write about sports to do a better job then a bunch of guys who do it for fun.

Sorry, koast, but no the subject hasn't been beaten to death.  Until this little side note no one knew if the Spurs were stuck with Champion or using another charter.  So it is NEWS not a rehash of prior subject. 

And the two writers who put together the column of tidbits both wrote full articles about the game.  Go to mysa.com if you want to read them.  They were not lazy or trying to make excuses.  The same article of tidbits also talked about Manu commenting on riding buses in Europe between games and saying that sleeping on the plane was nothing compared to that.  They also wrote the Horry tidbit.  There was also another short one about the Spurs being 7-0 this postseason (until last night) when holding their opponent below 100 points. There were 4 topics in one column space of newspaper.