I get a feeling that they're "playing down" to the competition. Like you said though, they won't win the title playing this way. They have the ability and talent to blow away the Jazz. No sense in messing around during the playoffs.there is no way the lakers will win the title playing this way....they had a ton of turnovers in each game, inconsistent defense, their offense is what carried them through the 1st two games but in the 3rd, that tanked too...they would probably still beat the jazz but in the next couple of rounds, they'd need to play much better just to win the west...
yeah the cavs and even the celtics are playing much more efficient basketball right now...but forget the east, even houston would be able to exploit this kind of inconsistent play and beat them in a 7 game series...they were outrebounded 55 to 40 even without okur in the utah lineup...boozer was a big part of that but how the hell does a 6' 9'' pf grab so many rebounds when he plays against gasol(7 ft), bynum(7 ft) and odom(6' 10''), that is just criminally bad rebounding on the part of the lakers....I get a feeling that they're "playing down" to the competition. Like you said though, they won't win the title playing this way. They have the ability and talent to blow away the Jazz. No sense in messing around during the playoffs.
yeah but boston won comfortably at home throughout the playoffs and they always had the defensive intensity which the lakers didn't...this year their stated goal was to make it about defense, however it was inconsistent at best during the regular season and patchy during the 1st 3 games against utah and their offense is committing far too many turnovers(averaging close to 20 for the 1st 3 games) for a contender, teams like cleveland or boston(and in my opinion even houston) are capable of exploiting those mistakes...i did not say they won't win, i said they cannot win playing this way, big difference...and they certainly have the talent and the hunger(kobe is hungry enough for the entire team) to push it up a couple of notches, it remains to be seen whether they will do that or just continue to try and coast through...And I don't see the point in judging contenders based on the first 3 games. last year the Lakers blitzed Denver in the first round and Boston struggled to overcome Atlanta. It's about peaking at the right time, matchups and coaching over a 7 game series, so you can't really compare two different series in that way.
Even without Tracy? He can be a **** but he's cut and dried points and when teams double Yao they struggle a little bit.(and in my opinion even houston).
well they have some very experienced and talented players in artest, yao, battier etc and they are very good defensively...and they have played very well this year without t-mac...in fact they have arguably played better without him in the lineup than with...of course the lakers are much better on paper and they also have home-court advantage but at their best houston can give l.a a tough fight and if the lakers are a bit off their pace(as they seem to be right now), it could become a very even series...Even without Tracy? He can be a **** but he's cut and dried points and when teams double Yao they struggle a little bit.
yeah he is compensating for game 3 in a big way....but with 14 min still to play, a lot could happen....Kobe turning it on.