matchup with the spurs

JuiceMonkey · Star Player Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 1169

we're obviously coming off our biggest win the of season. before this 2 game stretch, i was expecting a split(hoping to win both) and expected that we had a better shot at taking down the spurs due to matchups. on paper, we actually matchup surprisingly well against the defending champs. obviously things with the spurs start and end with duncan, they rely heavily on his post scoring and post passing for the bulk of their offense. u'll usually see the spurs go with a lot of screen/roll in the first 3 quarters and then just dump it into duncan to finish the last quarter. this game is crucial on kwame. phil never had a defender capable of playing duncan as well as kwame so this should be critical. phil used to use a strategy of using single coverage on duncan through 3 quarters and not giving up any open looks to the shooters. then in the 4th, he would double and give the cold, unused shooters their looks when they hadnt shot the entire game. kwame has a shot to play duncan straight up so we'll see how effective that will be.

another critical matchup is obviously odom. last game they had ginobili on odom for the start of the game while bowen was on kobe. odom posted some but still probably not enough. later, phil went small and we saw various defenders on odom-duncan, horry, bowen at times, finley. odom completely destroyed everybody in that last game and carried the team for long stretches of the game and ended with 27 points. unfortunately, kobe had his probably worst game of the season, forced a lot of shots, particularly down the stretch when odom got us close with a couple minutes to go. kobe always goes up against bowen like its a personal battle and plays right into the spurs hand. if he had even an average game last time we played the spurs, we wouldve won.

uhh, overall we actually matchup pretty well on paper vs the spurs...they wont have horry either so thats another body they are lacking. they often go through long droughts where they wont score and thats especially when they depend on duncan in post isos. mihm needs to outplay nesterovic and mohammed. parker needs to take a step off tony and use his superior length the make up the difference in footspeed. kobe needs to play a little more of a cerebral game and not play into what the spurs would like him to do. odom is the spurs' biggest matchup problem and the lakers need to go after this like they did in the first matchup. and the biggest factor in this matchup is kwame, who we got primarily for matchups like this. we have a lot of momentum coming into this one and we usually get up for big matchups so hopefully we can turn some heads with back to back wins against the league's best teams.

jayel · Starting Rotation Joined: 09 Oct 2001 Posts: 278

we have a chance if we can effectively guard the pick and roll...

on most nights the opposing pg's have run clinics against us. we have to improve our team defense to stop or minimize tony parker from getting in the paint.

guarding the pick and roll, timely rotations on d and all out hustle are what we need for us to win. we will win against most teams if we play like that i think

KwamesMyGuy · Star Player Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 3630

good points tenguy

lakers0505 · Franchise Player Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 10701

but seriously what is it with us and the pick and roll under phil, thats always our thing.

lakers2626 · Star Player Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1948

Emphasize on this game is to discourage Tony Parker. This guy is leading the league in points in the paint. I mean if we can keep him on the perimeter I think we have a pretty good shot on winning. Cant forget about Duncan he's going to post, he isn't like Sheed and going to take that 3 point shot but if we foul him hard and make him go to the line and shoot free-throws well be alright with him. The key is to make everybody else beat us. If we can contain Tony and Make Duncan work for his I see this game close.

uberzev · Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:41 pm Post subject:

Expect Ginobili to shoot 10+ free throws.

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lakeshow03 · Star Player Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 3078

hopefully the detroit win will give all the guys huge confidence boosters and make them realize(kwame,lamar)what they have to do in order to win

lakersdynasty999 · Star Player Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 1893

this is kwames night to shine...if he can D up duncan like he did garnett earlier in the yr...he can stay on the roster for one more week...if not...NBDL!
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lakers0505 · Franchise Player Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 10701

vvbandit · Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:52 pm Post subject:

It would be huge to beat the Spurs and Detroit especially after the all star break.

JuiceMonkey · Star Player Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 1169

Sage_10 · Star Player Joined: 24 Dec 2005 Posts: 6668

I hope the Lakers win. It all falls on Lamar's shoulders. They have no one that can take him although that's true for most teams in the league, Lamar usually brings it for the big games. I guess we'll see.

Krispy Kreme · Franchise Player Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Posts: 12252

the last time we went to san antonio, lamar had a huge game. he had like 23/16/6. hopefully we can contain tp and ginobili and make duncan(yes duncan) beat us. duncan is just avging 19 ppg this year. we need to play him 1 on 1, and if he gets 40, so be it. just contain tp and ginobili

Philostrator · Starting Rotation Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Posts: 171

S. Parker = T. Parker
Bryant = Ginobili
Odom = Bowen
K. Brown = Duncan (I think Kwame will be better defensively, just don't shoot)
Cook = Mohammed

If I was the coach, I'll start Kwame to defend Duncan. He's not a foul magnet and in my opinion defends better than Mihm.
Also, Spurs is a very good defensive team, Lakers will have to execute their offense with consistency.

Sidious · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:38 am Post subject:

We have a chance if the Spurs bus crashes on the way to Staples.

Philostrator · Starting Rotation Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Posts: 171

Also Spurs are the most smartest team in the NBA, they've won a lot of close games. They are very dangerous in the 4th quarter. I'm honestly not sure how the Lakers can win this game. But since they beat Detroit, i'm sure they can beat Spurs. Just depends if they still have the Devil's Luck.

George W Buss · Star Player Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 2816

Parker is their most dangerous weapon right now ...
We'll see how Phil set the defense up to stop him ...

BigAssLakerFan · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:47 am Post subject:

I think the key to this game is rebounding. Nazr is a BEAST on offensive boards, so Mihm is going to have to keep him off the glass. He doesn't have much of an offensive game other then put backs and such but if he gets easy offensive rebounds he can throw it down. If we take care of the ball, and out rebound them I think we'll have a chance.

angel · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:18 am Post subject:

Kwame wasn't there last time. The extra size should help. Bynum played an impressive number of minutes against the Spurs. He did fairly well, but they also didn't have much tape to study his weaknesses. The Lakers have a chance to win a game. I hope the momentum they carry from the victory over the Pistons gives them confidence to come out strong against the Spurs.
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Warlord23 · Starting Rotation Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 239

This should be a good, close game. The Lakers have their tails up, and Odom seems to have got his act together. Kwame's post defense will bother Duncan; TD's plantar fasciitis has limited his movement and his lift. Manu hasn't shown up all season. Finley and Barry have done some good things, but are inconsistent. Parker is the one who'll try and carry the load.

On the flip side, the Spurs' defense has been showing encouraging signs. The rotations have been crisp, especially in crunch time. Bruce Bowen has brought it every night. I expect the Spurs to clamp down hard in the 4th quarter.

If the Lakers get good play from both Kobe and Odom, plus some good rebounding, they have a decent chance of pulling off a W. On my part, I'm hoping Tony Parker gets of to a quick start and destroys Smush/Sasha. And hopefully Lamar Odom gets back to earth.

SAFAN · Starting Rotation Joined: 10 May 2001 Posts: 333

It's nice to be gack to Lakersground a couple of times a year (and not have to post how y'all were right and I was wrong about how a playoff series was going to go).

This game is on the Spurs; they have amassed nearly an .800 season thus far (best ever to this point), while playing uninspired, lackadaisacal ball, and while Duncan and Ginobilli haven't been all there.

Duncan is showing life, Ginobilli could break out at any moment; Finley and Barry have both looked more solid the past couple of weeks, and Parker is simply playing better than I ever I imagined he could. The defensive rotations are better than I can ever remember them being in crunch time (and pretty damn solid throughout the game).

BUT, if the Lakers can hang around in this one, Kobe is the ultimate equalizer, IMO. Even if the Spurs offense and defense are clicking, he CAN match them bucket for bucket if he gets into a zone. However, BB has been pretty good through the years at keeping him out of that, and I expect tonite will be that way (with another game a Staples tomorrow against he Clips, the Spurs don't want to be forced to win that one for the split).

Spurs are now 1 up on the Mavs, only 1 behind Detroit, and don't want to be giving a potential 1st rd. opponent any confidence. Big win yesterday (and thanks from a Spurs fan), but this time the Lakers are the ones on the B2B - Spurs win.

SAFAN · Starting Rotation Joined: 10 May 2001 Posts: 333

Damn, I'm getting old.

Just looked up the list; my join date is prior to every other poster in this thread.

X56 · Starting Rotation Joined: 24 Apr 2005 Posts: 675

Lakers will beat the Spurs and change the tide of what was a lackluster season to a serious push towards the #6th spot.

Go Lakers!!!!!
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vvbandit · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:24 pm Post subject:

Its so hard to predict with this team, every time we get a "Big" win we have a serious let down the next game. It seems like this team starts to feel good when they get a big win and tend to relax. Ive noticed Phil has picked up his intensity as well and I really hope the guys give a solid effort win or lose.

DiehardLakerFan · Starting Rotation Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 463

Tony Parker is averaging more points than Duncan - he'll be having a field day on Smush. Hopefully we can get JJ in there to try and contain him. I'm also not looking forward to Duncan vs. Kwame/Cook - it'll be ugly for sure.

That being said, the only player on the Spurs that can square up against Kobe is Bruce Bowen, creating potential mismatches for Lamar. Let's hope we get the aggressive Lamar tonight because we'll need a big game from him if we want to win