***Official NBA Thread***

[duffer]

Boston are great on the road and can win another game at the Staples but they really really need to hold their next two games. They're not winning twice in a row at the Lakers.

Now this series is really in play. Game 5 is usually the time Phil makes all his adjustments and blows a coach out of the water but Rivers did a job on the Lakers bigs.

A lot can happen now, the Lakers are more talented but the Celtics are more likely to play team ball and defend with more aggression. This is going to be epic, will take Friday off if we get to game 7.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Winning it on LA's homecourt would be so sweet. Hopefully, the refs stick their nose out of it and let Boston win what's rightfully theirs.

 

[Hoggy31]

****ing One, wanted to watch the replay today but they gave the ****ing score on a sports update during the footy yesterday.

 

[Jono]

Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce Realize They're Wearing Same Headband | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

 

[DingDong]

artest having a shocker. gasol isn't doing great. bynum is done for the season.
lakers to lose in 7 even if bryant has 2 40+ games.

 

[Anil]

artest having a shocker. gasol isn't doing great. bynum is done for the season.
lakers to lose in 7 even if bryant has 2 40+ games.

artest having a good game, gasol doing great with a near triple double, bynum had a few effective mins, lakers push series to game 7 even though bryant had <30 pts...

 

[Jono]

How often does a final series go to game 7?

Actually I'll just look up the finals series history.

Seems like all of LA and Boston will stop for that match!

 

[Anil]

How often does a final series go to game 7?

Actually I'll just look up the finals series history.

Seems like all of LA and Boston will stop for that match!

just the 3rd time since '89 i believe...

 

[Francis]

HAH! Absolutely nobody but Kobe can win the Player of the Series award, and the Lakers might actually lose the series! Has that happened before?

Rondo's an interesting player. He's had some incredible games this year, but he's terrible at the free throw line (4 from 16!!!). The Lakers were entirely content not to mark him in that game, expecting that he'd miss his field goals, which he did. He was actually a huge liability in that game surprisingly. He's got his strengths, but he's got a few weaknesses too.

I'm tipping the Lakers to win. Doc Rivers better change his game plan for game seven, or else we'll get a repeat of today's game.

How awesome would it be if Kobe got a fifth ring? What a player! How many rings will he get before his career is over? I hope he gets six or seven before he's gone. He deserved to be remembered as an incredible success ala Bill Russell.

Also I loved how the Lakers lifted today, enabling Kobe to play a less self-centred game. Seriously Kobe was carrying the Lakers in game 6, making so many impossible shots, but it would never amount to a win.

I just love the Lakers. They're the best team and I hope they win this series. Watching LA keep Boston down to 67 points today totally washed the taste of that dreadful World Cup game involving Slovakia out of my mouth.

Basketball > Football.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

sup with the bolding of every second word. I can read ****

 

[duffer]

Suffice to say I disagree with every single point made in that post but cbf responding in depth. Edit: **** I hate Lakers cholos.

 

[duffer]

Fwiw, Boston lost because their best post defender and the guy who's been boxing out Gasol all series only played seven minutes and their entire bench combined to shoot a brilliant 4-27 for the game.

 

[Jono]

Going into the game, why did LA have a tactic of not marking Rondo?

He had been pretty good for some of the series, just seemed like a weird thing to do. And it worked. Does he have a history of not shooting well or something?

 

[Francis]

Rondo can be awesome, but he's not a 'pure shooter'. It's bizarre really! Most small players are good from the field. He was terrible today. In fact this whole series he hasn't been great. He was terrific in the earlier playoff rounds, but recently he hasn't been lifting.

Still he's been one of my favourite players to watch this year... I do like Boston, but I luuuuuuuuv the Lakers.

 

[Francis]

By the way I've absolutely loved all the Lakers/Celtics clips that are being shown on TV. Such a great sporting rivalry, rich with history and historic moments. It's even got me researching the famous 1969 series when Chamberlain was taken off with a few minutes to go.

Chamberlain and Russell... good friends but better enemies when it comes to the Lakers/Celtics rivalry.

GO LAKERS! GO KOBE, REACH FIVE!

 

[duffer]

Going into the game, why did LA have a tactic of not marking Rondo?

He had been pretty good for some of the series, just seemed like a weird thing to do. And it worked. Does he have a history of not shooting well or something?

I'm not sure how they didn't guard(ffs this is basketball use the correct terms) Rondo. Their entire tactic with him is to contest everything possible from him in the lane (preferably stop him from getting in there) and live with his outside shot (as it is so inconsistent) when Boston have other shooters on the floor as this stops them from having to scramble if the Celtics decide to spread the ball across the perimeter to Allen, Pierce, Robinson etc. It's also a good structure to prevent a team playing "inside-outside" with one of their bigs posting up.

edit: They adjusted their entire defensive structure to accomodate this and even then it only worked because all of their role players didn't contribute even when they had a tonne of good shots they missed.

 

[Jono]

I'm not sure how they didn't guard(ffs this is basketball use the correct terms) Rondo.

Scathing.

You know I'm a noob.

What I meant is they kept their distance when he shot. The ESPN commentators were pointing it out heaps, including that graphic where it calculated how far away in terms of metres the closest LA player was when Rondo took the shot.

Their entire tactic with him is to contest everything possible from him in the lane (preferably stop him from getting in there) and live with his outside shot (as it is so inconsistent) when Boston have other shooters on the floor as this stops them from having to scramble if the Celtics decide to spread the ball across the perimeter to Allen, Pierce, Robinson etc. It's also a good structure to prevent a team playing "inside-outside" with one of their bigs posting up.

Yep that's what I wanted to know. If he traditionally is an inconsistent shot. Makes sense.

What do you mean by inside-outside?

 

[Agent TBY]

What do you mean by inside-outside?

It's when a team passes it into the paint for a big who's posting up (backing up towards the basket), who then holds onto the ball until a guy on the perimeter frees himself up for a shot.

So the ball goes inside-outside.

 

[Francis]

It's OK Jono, I'm a noob too. I enjoy basketball, but for a long time I've felt I'd enjoy it more if I understood its subtleties better. I've always needed a person to explain a few things to me... but for now my best friend is the best I can do (massive Lakers fan LIKE MEEEEEEEEEEE!).

I submit Duffy knows 100x more than me.

 

[duffer]

The ESPN commentators were pointing it out heaps, including that graphic where it calculated how far away in terms of metres the closest LA player was when Rondo took the shot.

Yeah my point of contention with that is that when Rondo has the ball on or near the perimeter even though they aren't contesting his jumper they are still protecting all the areas of the court where he is most comfortable thus still guarding him.

Boston want LA to send help over either from the perimeter where he is good at distributing once the double gets to him or one of the bigs to come forward where he is too quick for them and can step across.

Because of that the Lakers more or less changed their entire defence into more of a hybrid or Match Up Zone system which is a combination of man and zone defence. They're protecting the zones where Rondo is most dangerous and also covering each of the shooters and bigs man to man. Really, really, ridiculously high level defending by the Lakers.

And I didn't mean to sound condescending to either of you chaps. Just a bit wound up after watching that monstrosity of a game.