Crucifido’s Corner: Lakers vs. Spurs (Game 81 4/13/08)

Crucifido's Corner - ClubLakers.com

One Closer To The Best in The West

So the battle for #1, 2 or 3 comes down to this, the last 2 games of the year. And this one for the Spurs was a big one. With the Spurs coming in hurt, you had to be wary of the wounded animal effect the Lakers have such a tough time dealing with. After the emotional win against the Hornets two nights ago, the Lakers had to dig deep to find the energy to match their performance versus New Orleans. There was a lot to be concerned about, but there was/is a lot to be confident about too.

That confidence took a bit to show itself, but come the 2nd half, the Lakers got their feet under them and showed why they have to be mentioned amongst the powers elite in the NBA.

Gasol played well in the high post, pulling Duncan out of the paint to open up room for dives and cuts. A couple times Gasol used that space for himself even, running off the ball to get a pass for an easy score. Pau’s defense on Duncan, often playing one on one was really good. Not being the strongest post guy, its great to see Gasol old his own against the NBA’s best power forward. He kept his feet set, using side steps to keep up with Duncan’s turn to the middle or drop step to the baseline. Great footwork and smart use of his length in the post let Pau play some exceptional defense on Duncan.

His steal in the 1st quarter on the inbounds for the breakaway dunk was great to see. He was seriously active on defense today, which is always a huge help to have your big man be so aware. Pau’s rebounding position was also strong. He got under the basket in front of the big man the Spurs sent down, almost every time. The thing was that when he did get in front of them, he secured the board with two hands and made good pass decision to start the offensive run.

For all the worry of Odom being consistent, it turns out that the real sting of inconsistency is coming from Radmanovic. He’s got to start hitting his shot. There’s good passes to him, he’s moving well off the ball to get open, but he just needs to knock them down.

Kobe looked out of the double teams well for the cut. Taking advantage of those early double teams in defensive sets was key in getting the rest of the team going offensively and forcing them to stay foot active off the ball. With that said, Kobe would’ve been well served to wait to start his drives. If he holds up on the post with the ball for 2 more seconds, the Spurs would’ve sent the extra defender; opening up the passing angle Kobe was so good at exploiting.

But really, it wasn’t a giant hindrance to his game. The team was moving so well off the ball that Kobe made perfect use of his ability to make an entire team collapse on him.

Nothing much more to say but Kobe’s leadership and game today was just another piece of evidence as to why the guy is the NBA’s MVP this season.

Not enough can be said of Odom’s all around game since Gasol’s arrival. Offensively he was everywhere everyone else wasn’t or failed to get to. He filled in every open spot underneath the boards for rebounds or cuts and looked to get into the mix every time in the paint too. His aggressiveness on the drive was a little suspect, but he did well in making up for it by activity off the ball. The guy was working hard on every possession. Defensively, Lamar was running at Finley and shooters too much, when he could be running up to them and simply outing his arms up. When he ran at players, they were simply taking one dribble and getting themselves open for the mid-range jumper.

I loved seeing Lamar take it into Thomas’s chest. When he saw Thomas on him he forced him to use his feet to defend rather than play into his strength, lower body position and height. Pushing Thomas out in favor of a offensively deficient Oberto was key to the Lakers’ offensive success.

Lamar played that watchdog role to a T today. He was the utility guy all over the court, creating space from his constant movement.

There was a ton of work from Derek today, from playing strong offense to hustling for loose balls; Fisher looked 5 years younger today with his footwork on the court. Most impressive was Derek playing back to a point guard role today. There were some nice passes (including the laser to Gasol in the paint in the 3rd) coming form him today. His balance between shooting and passing was much better than it has been since January.

You had to love seeing Derek take it right into Parker on a lot of possessions. There was no settling for distance shots every time. He had plenty of plays finally using the jab dribble to get him that little bit of space he needs to get a better shot.

The bench:
Ronny – Fantastic on help rotations and rebounding in traffic with elbows out making space for himself and others to break out for the pass. Good, hard, work / typical game from the Lakers’ workhorse. When he continues to hit that 12 / 13 foot jumper from the elbows, Ronny can suddenly become a tough player to match up against.

Luke – Not much in the way of the box score, but really good strong post work on loose balls and rebounds. If it was within 5 feet of his reach, Luke wasn’t giving up on anything. The guy was Rambis 2K8 today.

Sasha - Real good hustle all over the offensive end today. His work getting the ball underneath on passes or on tips, passing it off, then running to his spot is getting better with every subsequent game.

Jordan – He turned corners real well today. Once he got the step around his man, he used a good burst of speed to get up and under. Backing off the 3’s is a big part of Farmar’s eventual success in any game.

The Lakers had some sets of quality patience. They get the board, but don’t take contested shots. They would cycle it back out and reset the offense when there was traffic underneath. That kind of composure will be huge come the playoffs.

That was a really good defensive adjustment from the 1st to 2nd half. I mean these guys showed that the potential to play focused defense is there, its just a matter of digging deep to get after it.

In case the Lakers see the Spurs in the playoffs, it may help for them to remember a couple points:

Leaving the corners open on the Spurs is a dangerous game to play. The Lakers were looking like they were hoping that someone could run out to the corner or rotate close enough to push the shot in from the 3. The problem was you can’t operate on the corners like that. The spacing has got to be better from the paint to make help on the corners quicker and to close out the easy pass to that spot. (It got better in the 2nd half, but the Lakers can’t let the Spurs get rhythm from their peripheral scorers – Bowen, Bonner, etc.)

Defending Parker halfway, as in running with him then fading off when he pulls up for the shot won’t work. You have to play physical with Parker. The Lakers were allowing him way too much room early. We all know that giving pace to the other team early on is a recipe for disaster for the Lakers (and for most other teams as well). If the Lakers would back off the quick double on Duncan and use the same extra defender to help on the drive they’d be much stronger against Parker’s speed. (This point was illustrated perfectly in the 3rd quarter with Gasol on Duncan actually)

Still with Parker, you can’t allow him to get the rebound at all, let alone off of his won shot. He’s the smallest guy on the court (and granted the quickest), but there’s no reason someone can’t take one step towards him to shut him out of grabbing the board. Offensive boards and Tony parker should never mix with the kind of hops and height the Lakers have.

Points off turnovers was plaguing the Lakers today. They had some real good sets on defense, leading to breaks but they couldn’t seem to get it into the hoop. A lot of it came from poor ball handling or not looking the ball into their hands before they made a move to pass or shoot.

The win’s in the books and there’s only one more win to grab to claim the top spot in the extremely competitive West. As of right now, the Lakers get some space and creep one game closer to the #1 spot. The best part is that today’s game was won via some quality team play on both ends behind the Lakers veteran leaders. That’s how championship teams tick.