Crucifido’s Corner: Lakers vs. Spurs (WCF Game 2 5/23/08)

Crucifido's Corner - ClubLakers.com

The Killer Instinct And Game 2

The monster comeback still fresh in their minds, the Lakers came into this one obviously looking to hold home court. But they gave themselves, and us, much more. They showed the drive of a team looking to dominate, not just win.

All the doubts we as fans (and to some extent the coaching staff) had about this team’s willingness to step on the throats of a downed opponent are now erased.

Watching this team expose that aspect of their collective personality was simply beautiful.

The start was great – as the 2 coldest guys on the court, Fisher and Odom, had real nice aggressive takes to the hoop before the Spurs even got their feet set on D. That aggression didn’t quit and that’s what made this game so special. The Lakers showed a killer instinct to the level of an assassin. When they were up 9, they pushed to 18, up by 18 they pushed beyond 25. This was the kind of game the Lakers have got to deposit in their memories permanently.

Better yet, Derek kept it going by really looking to get the ball jabbed into the Spurs’ defense. That kind of genuine point guard play will get the Spurs backing off of the mid-range game that can be lit up by several Lakers. By getting away from the exclusive outside shooting (especially since it wasn’t working last game) it opened up Derek’s game exponentially.

Good god, Lamar’s confidence is beyond sky high. The multiple strong takes he had to the middle, cutting off of outside ball movement and making the Spurs part the seas in the paint for his move to the rack were amazing. Having a guy with his height to stay in Duncan’s chest, keeping him on his heels while he uses his now excellent footwork to keep looking for space around him was nearly indefensible.

The thing with Lamar in this game is that not too long ago when Lamar had a bad game he’d string together a couple more behind it. Now with this year’s playoffs Lamar is coming off of bad games with a chip on his shoulder. He did a great job in staying aggressive on every single rebound and making his presence not only felt, but painful for the Spurs to try and rotate over to. I don’t remember a single defensive rebound coming off the board or rim that Lamar was not in the thick of the mix for. It got to a point in the 3rd that the rest of the Lakers were even backing off of the paint, letting Lamar take over underneath and getting out on the break quicker than they have in the playoffs yet.

That was Lamar’s best playoff game yet as a Laker.

Pau has to make real sure that once Duncan gets into the post he does his best in keeping him from getting those 2 dribbles into the paint. Once Duncan gets those 2 steps in on Gasol or anyone who’s guarding him, it’s a guaranteed bucket or foul. What Pau did real well was work the high post, dribbling down low then looking for the dish. That increasingly aggressive move as the game went on started paying off more and more as Lamar found his room. That’s the kind of game that Pau can excel at – 3 steps out of the block and using his mobility to get Duncan going backwards.

The pass he had to Lamar towards the end of the 3rd was outstanding. It was that perfect example of keeping Duncan in a backwards motion, unable to either keep up with Pau moving onto the baseline or turn to help a cutting / diving Lamar.

Welcome back to the fold Jordan. After that amazing block he had on Udoka, Jordan’s confidence was soaring. You could see it in his dribble coming into the frontcourt. There was a more certain hop in his step and above all he wasn’t turning down open shots. It is so important for Farmar to be a part of this run. Being able to sit Derek for as long as Phil did in this game will pay huge dividends not only in this series but also in the Finals if the Lakers make it that far. The best aspect of Jordan’s game was his movement off of passing on offense. Versus Utah he passed and stood still waiting for the play to come back to him. Tonight, you saw the Farmar that passes and cuts to the next spot in the set without hesitation. That right there will get him more looks and keep the Spurs’ small guards out of the paint and away from swiping distance on posts and drives by the Laker bigs.

Man that block and moreover the hustle to get back on D was incredible.

Sasha, for the second time in a row, played stupendous defense on Ginobili. The shading to the right is so simple, yet brilliant and above all Sasha’s motion while Ginobili tries to shake him loose off the ball is exactly where it should be. His spacing off of him is perfect.

Then with Sasha playing such hustle defense on him he has Manu looking over his shoulder on every single possession. When he takes that second glance its throwing him off of his shooting rhythm and taking away that quick first step he uses to get himself into the Laker paint. I don’t think enough can be said about Sasha’s contribution to this series so far. The guy has been an unexpected giant player against some seriously formidable competition in Ginobili.

Moving from Ginobili to Barry, he did a real good job chasing him in off of 3-point line and keeping an eye on his popping out to the arc. As Sasha moved through the Spurs defensively, he wound up having an adverse effect on their entire offensive game plan. It was a performance from Sasha that hopefully won’t get buried beneath Odom’s astounding game.

The Lakers cannot let Bowen get the look from the corner for his 3’s. It’s a simple screen and roll to the outside that escapes the Lakers’ view. It’s done well with Duncan usually giving the screen, but whoever is switched onto Bowen form that can’t just stop at the screen. They’ve got to fight to get around it. Right now, the Lakers are looking like they give up and going onto underneath the board, leaving Bowen truly wide open way too much.

There was a spectacular bounce pass from Ronny to Kobe in the 1st. Then comes a couple off passes that Ronny that loves to try. It’s the flat angled passes that he’s trying too much. He’s got to turn down the notion to pass through traffic in favor of resetting the ball outside with Kobe or Lamar.

Kobe was smooth as silk today. The setting up of his teammates did take a back seat in favor of some quick strikes. You saw how those strikes got the team buzzing around quicker. By Kobe taking his shots at varied times in games, he’s keeping the Spurs guessing at how to defend the Lakers. I wouldn’t be surprised that in Game 3 Kobe goes back to waiting in the weeds until a little later (say mid-2nd quarter) to make his move.

Really, this game was not as much about Kobe’s stats as it was about how he used the attention of the Spurs defense to his teammates’ advantage.

There was a spot in the 2nd quarter where the Spurs scored only 2 points in 3 minutes and the Lakers had some real trouble cashing in on it. There were a lot of ill-advised passes inside and some bad communication on passes off of screens that had the Lakers looking more scattered than they should’ve been in a flat stretch by San Antonio.

Defensively the Lakers have got to stop helping so early on Duncan. Gasol definitely has problems with him but you can’t help onto Duncan before he even gets the ball on the floor. When they rotated so quickly to double Duncan it opened up pass options (particularly in the corners) far more and wider than when they let Pau play one on one.

Yes, the Spurs had some serious runs of poor shooting, but I attribute a whole bunch of that to the Lakers coming out with a defensive mindset form the beginning. The Lakers came into the game not looking to get incredibly offensive against the Lakers. Every man stayed tight on their man and did a more than decent job of help and recovery, giving the Spurs a real rough time finding not only a good shot, but a good shot in the rhythm of the offense or individual player.

It goes to show that when the Lakers come into a game looking to put their focus on the defensive end first, they get a ton of confidence on the offensive end. That’s the way successful teams work. That defense gave the Lakers enough toughness to look to get inside early and kept their footwork getting more and more crisp as the game went on.

So yeah, this was amazing (and any other adjective you can think of) but the series is still going on. Sure the Spurs now have to win 4 out of the next 5 games to advance past the Lakers, but you cannot just count them out. These are the defending champs who have the experience, talent and know-how to prevail. These are good days for the Lakers right now, but the team can’t buy into their own hype.

The Lakers have got to remain not just hungry, but ravenous going into San Antonio. Win this game on Sunday and the stranglehold is on. Right now the Lakers have knocked the Spurs to the ground, but the main goal can’t be ignored. Take advantage of this jump and knock them out for good by playing with passion, heart and the desire they showed tonight on Sunday.