TIED UP!!!!!!!!!!!

first we both have to GET to the finals

This is a better picture of Lamar.

tj

Didnt see the game. Workin in cali...what happened tonight?

LA struggled with the zone D, the pick and roll and protecting the 3 point line. Phoenix bench had tremendous energy and were hitting 3 after 3.
Kobe had a great game. Nobody else even had a good game for LA. They were also killed on the boards and outhustled which led to Phoenix spending a lot of time at the FT line. Bynum's lack of mobility against Lopez and Amare really hurt them. I wouldn't be surprised if Odom starts and Mbenga plays 15+ minutes in game 5 so he can guard Amare. He is their best option on D against Amare. He is quick, strong, taller then Amare and has long arms. Right now, they wouldn't lose much on offense because Bynum is very limited.
Time for adjustments like they had to make against OKC.
They need to slow the pace to a crawl if they can.
The crowd really helped Phoenix.

Pretty much 50% shooting from both teams and that is struggling with their defense?

Pete,

It wasn't that Phil was expecting Bynum to do something that he was physically unable to do, it was that Bynum was in the wrong position to help on Amare's drives. When Gasol is guarding Amare 17 feet away, you know that Amare is going to put his head down and get to the basket. Even when Gasol forced him inside, Bynum wasn't there. Bynum's defensive positioning was extremely poor.

I wouldn't put much stock in what Obama says. After all he's allowing a Muslim Masque (sp?) to be constructed a mere 600 feet from where the Twin Towers were taken down on 9/11. And guess when the Muslims are dedicating the Masque (sp?)? Sept. 11, 2011: 10 years to the day after the planes struck down both towers. Way to go Hussain!-MD

politics have no place in this forum. Nor does religion. Why? Because they make people rude and crazy.

imho

Jeb,
Agree. On the other hand, I believe that people who can be civil discussing basketball can be civil discussing such topics as religion and politics.

Now back to "Tied up". One funny, kind of, thing. Kobe stated, after the game, that their defense sucked. No sht, Sherlock! How in the world you expect to compete for the title when you allow your opponent average 113 points a game?

AK

sinus, what did you expect Kobe to say? Nobody wants to run with Phoenix but they have a great ability to control the tempo from the top of the key to the top of the key. It is easy talking about slowing down Phoenix, but very hard to do so.
San Antonio gave up 109.5 ppg to Phoenix in the last round. In the regular season SA gave up 96.3 ppg and less then 93 ppg in round 1 against Dallas.
Not that I am going to comment at all on Obama's remarks, but as an FYI, he made those comments before game 4.

gyso wrote:

This is the best picture of anyone named Lamar(r) holding hardware!!

Class, looks, sex appeal and brains. The complete package.

LOL....Indeed...

Experts always know everything but the fine points. When I took my citizenship exams, no one there knew how the White House came to be called the White House.

Hedy Lamarr


Geesh I thought everyone knew that, up until the last couple years only white people lived there........right?.......thats right isn't it?



beat

Pace is fascinating topic...easily among my basketball favorites. IF the Celtics are fortunate enough to make the finals, I believe they'll have to push the ball on offense while, at the same time, not allow the opponent to make them hurry their offense once they're in their halfcourt set. In the Army, the expression was "Hurry up and wait." I don't mean they should run a slow-down offense. They just need to maximize the shot clock time they have available to run as many halfcourt options as they need and to do a good job of it.

In defending against the uptempo game of the opponent, there are several keys; but I believe the single most important could be not leaving too many long rebounds by getting three-point happy.

In the latter regard, there is some good news. As time has passed, the Celtics have been tending to reduce the number of three-point attempts per game:

2007-08 (regular season) 19.6 three point attempts per game
2007-08 (playoffs) 16.8 three point attempts per game
2008-09 (regular season) 16.5 three point attempts per game
2008-09 (playoffs) 18.6 three point attempts per game
2009-10 (regular season) 17.5 three point attemps per game
2009-10 (playoffs) 15.9 three point attempts per game

This means to me that, at this moment, they're doing their best job in three years of employing the three-pointer strategically and in the flow of the game, rather than depending as much on that shot as a routine part of the offense.

Sam

GYSO

I still like my answer better!

beat