Message To Lakers fans, We want you Wicked bad!

[Jon]

While I'm not expecting the C's to dominate the Lakers like they are the Magic, I do think we matchup pretty well.  Rondo is going to have his easiest target of the entire playoffs in Derek Fisher: he should absolutely destroy him.  We may see a 20-20-20 night out of him.  

Perkins has done a great job on Bynum in the past, and Bynum may be the least skilled big man that Perk has faced all playoffs.  And I like KG to beat up on the perpetually soft Pau Gasol.  

And I even like the 2/3 matchup.  One thing the media will undoubtedly overlook is how the Artest acquisition may actually hurt LA defensively.  People forget that Kobe guarded Pierce most of the playoffs last year.  While that can be tough, it's not nearly as physically demanding as chasing Allen through screens all game.  Now with Artest, while he may do a tough job on Pierce, he's way too slow to chase Allen, meaning that Kobe will have to guard Ray.  I really expect this to wear him out throughout the series, as he'll have to work harder and get hit harder than he's usually used to.  

[FallGuy]

While I'm not expecting the C's to dominate the Lakers like they are the Magic, I do think we matchup pretty well.  Rondo is going to have his easiest target of the entire playoffs in Derek Fisher: he should absolutely destroy him.  We may see a 20-20-20 night out of him.  

Perkins has done a great job on Bynum in the past, and Bynum may be the least skilled big man that Perk has faced all playoffs.  And I like KG to beat up on the perpetually soft Pau Gasol.  

And I even like the 2/3 matchup.  One thing the media will undoubtedly overlook is how the Artest acquisition may actually hurt LA defensively.  People forget that Kobe guarded Pierce most of the playoffs last year.  While that can be tough, it's not nearly as physically demanding as chasing Allen through screens all game.  Now with Artest, while he may do a tough job on Pierce, he's way too slow to chase Allen, meaning that Kobe will have to guard Ray.  I really expect this to wear him out throughout the series, as he'll have to work harder and get hit harder than he's usually used to.  

I was going to reply with something about how Kobe would defend Rondo, rather than Fischer, or that we'd see a lot of Shannon Brown on him and both of those things may be true but L.A.'s preferred strategy of helping off Rondo by having Kobe guard him may not work due to Kobe's knee issues. I doubt they want him chasing Rondo around the court.

Gasol's been absolutely terrific so far playing against small defenders - KG will really challenge him. However, I'd expect Gasol to do a good job on KG as well.

Seems to me like L.A. can't guard Paul, Ray and Rondo with their starting unit. They can handle two of them (assuming Kobe's up for the challenge).

[Jon]

While I'm not expecting the C's to dominate the Lakers like they are the Magic, I do think we matchup pretty well.  Rondo is going to have his easiest target of the entire playoffs in Derek Fisher: he should absolutely destroy him.  We may see a 20-20-20 night out of him.  

Perkins has done a great job on Bynum in the past, and Bynum may be the least skilled big man that Perk has faced all playoffs.  And I like KG to beat up on the perpetually soft Pau Gasol.  

And I even like the 2/3 matchup.  One thing the media will undoubtedly overlook is how the Artest acquisition may actually hurt LA defensively.  People forget that Kobe guarded Pierce most of the playoffs last year.  While that can be tough, it's not nearly as physically demanding as chasing Allen through screens all game.  Now with Artest, while he may do a tough job on Pierce, he's way too slow to chase Allen, meaning that Kobe will have to guard Ray.  I really expect this to wear him out throughout the series, as he'll have to work harder and get hit harder than he's usually used to.  

I was going to reply with something about how Kobe would defend Rondo, rather than Fischer, or that we'd see a lot of Shannon Brown on him and both of those things may be true but L.A.'s preferred strategy of helping off Rondo by having Kobe guard him may not work due to Kobe's knee issues. I doubt they want him chasing Rondo around the court.

Gasol's been absolutely terrific so far playing against small defenders - KG will really challenge him. However, I'd expect Gasol to do a good job on KG as well.

Seems to me like L.A. can't guard Paul, Ray and Rondo with their starting unit. They can handle two of them (assuming Kobe's up for the challenge).

I think Kobe struggles either way.  Putting him on Rondo may make some sense: if Rondo's going to burn them, they might as well save Kobe from chasing around Ray. 

I really think Kobe is going to have a harder time guarding Ray than Paul, and Artest is way too slow to guard Ray (as is Odom), so it's going to have to be either Kobe or Fisher.