If the Lakers go small...

[Spoon]

as John Hollinger says they have to do. Would you counter them with our small lineup or try to take advantage of their weakness? The Laker small lineup Jackson uses is Gasol at center. Radmanovic at foward. And Kobe, Vujacic, and Fisher at the guards with Walton and Farmer off the bench.

Obviously the temptation would be to go big. We could see Big Baby for the first time. Powe and Brown could also get more minutes. Perkins should also be a big factor. The idea would be to pound the Lakers, force fouls, and get them into taking one long shot and clean the boards against their weaker and smaller players.

So what would you do to counter their small lineup? Counter them with House, Posey, Pierce, Allen, Tony, and Garnett? Or go big and try to hurt them?

[Roy Hobbs]

I dare them to go with that lineup.  It might -- arguably -- help them on offense, but it kills them defensively and on the boards. 

Matchups:

Perk vs. VladRad
KG vs. Gasol
Pierce vs. Kobe
Allen vs. Sasha
Rondo vs. Farmar

At the very least, the Lakers are going to get abused in three of those matchups defensively, and if they put Kobe on Rondo to disrupt our flow, that means there will be *four* mismatches, as Farmar can't guard either Pierce or Allen.  Additionally, the Lakers would have no above-average rebounders on the floor, with the exception of Kobe.  Perk and KG would destroy VladRad and Gasol down low.

If the Lakers try this gimmick lineup, we should run out exactly the same players we have been.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I dare them to go with that lineup.  It might -- arguably -- help them on offense, but it kills them defensively and on the boards. 

Matchups:

Perk vs. VladRad
KG vs. Gasol
Pierce vs. Kobe
Allen vs. Sasha
Rondo vs. Farmar

At the very least, the Lakers are going to get abused in three of those matchups defensively, and if they put Kobe on Rondo to disrupt our flow, that means there will be *four* mismatches, as Farmar can't guard either Pierce or Allen.  Additionally, the Lakers would have no above-average rebounders on the floor, with the exception of Kobe.  Perk and KG would destroy VladRad and Gasol down low.

If the Lakers try this gimmick lineup, we should run out exactly the same players we have been.

If we're going big, I'd like to see Powe instead of Perk in there against that line-up.

[celticmaestro]

if they go small we stick with our starters to demolish their defense.

[cdif911]

The Lakers should start Kobe and no one else, just to make that point - Starting at guard, forward and center, for your Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant...  that is all...

[cordobes]

The Lakers should start Kobe and no one else, just to make that point - Starting at guard, forward and center, for your Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant...  that is all...

LOL. TP for the joke. Most Lakers fans would still thin he could win the game.

[RebusRankin]

I'd keep our regular lineup and stay big. It gives us a lot of mismatches and we should kill them on the boards.

[P2]

Odom hasn't even been mentioned once so far. He's also on their roster.

[lon3lytoaster]

The Lakers should start Kobe and no one else, just to make that point - Starting at guard, forward and center, for your Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant...  that is all...

Well that's probably exactly what we're going to see in Game Five. If Kobe doesn't take 30 or more shots, I will be astounded.

[celticmaestro]

Odom hasn't even been mentioned once so far. He's also on their roster.

who?

[Hrvoje]

The Lakers should start Kobe and no one else, just to make that point - Starting at guard, forward and center, for your Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant...  that is all...

[cdif911]

The Lakers should start Kobe and no one else, just to make that point - Starting at guard, forward and center, for your Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant...  that is all...

nicely done, tp for that - maybe they could trade one of those Kobe's back for Divac...

[RockinRyA]

lol tp   

problem with 5 kobes is theres only 1 ball 

and will one kobe shout at the other kobe if that kobe screws up?

[BudweiserCeltic]

The Lakers should start Kobe and no one else, just to make that point - Starting at guard, forward and center, for your Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant...  that is all...

4th time trying to post this lol:

I can guarantee you this: they all won't be smiling like that.

[Spoon]

Odom hasn't even been mentioned once so far. He's also on their roster.

When they go small, Odom doesn't play because of his shot.

So you are taking out the guy who helped carry you to that huge lead in game 4. But he's also the guy who disappeared when we were chipping away at it.

Frankly, the only guy I fear even a little on that team other than Kobe is Odom. So the Lakers going small plays right into our hands unless they shot lights out like at the end of game 2.