On The Ropes

Soak it in Spurs fans, your age is catching up with you. It's not over yet, but you have a tough road ahead of you. BUT, the Spurs are the only team in the league who I think can come out of this hole. Not saying they will, but they are more than capable.

Huge win for the Lakers - absolutely huge. No one can deny that the Lakers completely out played the Spurs for 99% of the game, but they just got lax like they have a tendency to do at times. The whole game it seemed that the Lakers were on the verge of blowing the thing open while it seemed the Spurs were just hanging on and it took everything out of them just to climb to within 2 before the Lakers would score 4 straight - that was the story of the game.

I do have to mention the officiating - it was a really, REALLY bad night for this crew. In the first half they were making bad calls on both sides, but the second half really saw the Spurs get the benefit of the doubt the vast majority of the time. There were 2 instances that stood out that might make most Spurs fans vehemently disagree. The first was the call on Barry with under 2 minutes that sent Odom to the line (he made 1 of 2). Not sure I saw a foul. The second was the last play of the game. BUT, I will say, that was a good no call an I assure you Pop didn't call the "fake a shot 10 feet behind the 3 point line and then dribble into him." Barry blew the call. Think about it like this - if you're an official and it's a 2 point game in the Conference finals chances are good that you're thinking "no way I'm blowing this whistle unless someone gets absolutely butchered". Like I said, that was a good no call.

If Barry was smart he would have immediately jumped straight into Fisher while throwing up a shot to REALLY draw the foul - why in the world did he dribble? I know Barry had the hot hand, but not sure I agree with him getting the shot in the most important game of your year. But what do I know.

Odom had a pretty good bounce-back game compared with game 3 - he played very hard. He did get into some foul trouble, but he did a good job of staying in the game till the end. Fisher started out looking good, but he really struggled most of the night and took a pretty bad shot there in the final 10 seconds or so. And Luke Walton - my gosh, that guy makes me absolutely crazy. I'm cursing his name one minute, the next I see him pull an offensive rebound and score 4 points in like 35 seconds. I don't know what to think about him - I can't talk about it.

Kobe, Kobe, Kobe, Kobe. Look at the stat sheet and you'll call me crazy, but he had his worst overall game of the series I believe. He really forced the issue way too much, especially at the end - what the hell was he thinking?? I know he was frustrated as the team as a whole struggled shooting the ball from outside (AND missed quite a few easy shots...again). He'll learn from this and he'll be better on Thursday - if he reads the press clippings he'll be spectacular, I think he'll get hammered a bit by the press.

(Sidenote: Very interesting article about Kobe Bryant here - especially the interview with current/former teammates, coaches, scouts, etc. Really makes me think about him and what he says/how he plays in a whole new way. Check it out: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/chris_ballard/05/27/kobe0602/index.html?eref=T1)

One more thing on the Lakers - remember when Pao Gasol played for the Lakers? Where the hell has this guy gone? Seriously, the more I see this guy the more I think we REALLY need Bynum to come back and be healthy. If Gasol's shot is on (those little four footers), he can give you 18-24 points, but if not...rrriiiiight. I've learned a lot about Pao - namely he can't defend Tim Duncan AT ALL. I'm not saying he should stop one of the best players in the league every time, but try and keep him from getting 29 and 14 every freaking night. He can't rebound worth a poop and his passing skills are decent. I'm not sure this team can be a championship team without a Bynum (or someone else) who can really pound the boards and make the big men of the league work for theirs - Duncan makes scoring on Gasol look like any of us could do it....every single time. I don't mean to sound overly negative, I'm definitely happy he's on the team, but I'm also watching A LOT more of Gasol than I ever have and I'm getting to know what he's all about. He's the type of player who can play well into his late 30s/early 40s, but will never be the physical presence that teams need. Seriously, when I think about what Bynum was doing before his injury and what having him and Gasol could look like, I start to salivate.

Now, about those Spurs. Like I said, I truly believe (seriously, I know) the Lakers out played the Spurs for the vast majority of this game. They used their experience and their toughness to keep it close and claw back when they needed to. But, like I mentioned earlier, they just look exhausted. I don't think their Big 3 had much rest tonight and it showed late - making mental errors and coming up short on their shots. Still not counting them out just yet, but I'm not sure what else they've got in the tank and they're going back to LA in less than 48 hours.

Here's how I picked it (not publicly on this blog, but privately to some readers of this blog):
Lakers win games 1 and 2
Spurs win game 3
Lakers win game 4
Spurs win games 5 and 6
Lakers win game 7

I'm not fully discounting this theory, but I'm certainly not as confident in the Spurs winning the next 2 games based on how they played tonight....at home. We'll see, but like I said, if any team can do it, the Spurs can.

I will also concede this - should the Lakers advance, I'm not very confident in playing either of the Eastern Conference teams - bad matchups with both of them. But we'll cross that bridge when it comes.