Celtic's defense needs to make this game Kobe vs. Celtics

[wdleehi]

The Celtics defense needs to stop everyone else.  Defend Kobe without double teams.  Strong, one on one defense.


The Celtics defense can do this.  It has in past games (game 5).


Even a hot Kobe cannot beat a Celtics team playing well if he has not help. 



Make the game Kobe vs. the Celtics; not Lakers vs. the Celtics.





Defense!  Rebounding!  The rest will fix itself. 

[Drucci]

Agreed. But I think Kobe won't be able to prevent himself from going into hero mode. He did a good job of passing the ball and scoring at various times in game 6 but in game 7, at home, with his legacy on the line, there is no way he doesn't go into "I'm going to take every shot from now on, screw my teammates" mode at some point. Preferably in the 4th quarter, where he has been dreadful in this series.

[Chris]

I agree.  The C's can win if Kobe scores 38 points.  The C's cannot win if Kobe scores 25, Gasol scores 22, Bynum scores 18, Fisher scores 14, and so on. 

They need to make it difficult for Kobe, but they need to make it impossible for everyone else. 

[wdleehi]

Frustrate the rest of the Lakers early. 


When they fail a few times, Kobe gets frustrated.


Either he goes MVP mode or he goes pass every time (like he did that year against Phoenix)

[Chris]

Frustrate the rest of the Lakers early. 


When they fail a few times, Kobe gets frustrated.


Either he goes MVP mode or he goes pass every time (like he did that year against Phoenix)

Absolutely.  You could see it happen in game 5.  He started off trying to play within the offense.  However, after a couple fumbled passes, and missed shots, he decided that he couldn't trust anyone else, and the C's then had control. 

I don't think Kobe is going to pout and mail it in like he did a few years back.  He has too much pride to do that in the finals (he was still playing his butt off after everyone else had mailed in game 6 in 2008), but he has shown that once he flips that switch where he doesn't trust anyone else, he becomes predictable, and the rest of the team tunes out.

[Kwhit10]

I agree 100%.

They need to stick to a tough man on man.  When thy start to double team Kobe will get his teamates involved and their confidence will rise, especially the bench.  Kobe can take all the shots but if we can keep him 40% we would be fine.  Doesn't matter who shoots the ball but I'd rather have Kobe trying to take over as it will stymie the flow of the Lakers when anyone else tries to get going on offense and will get them in a stand around mentality.  A la 3rd quarter of game 5.

[twinbree]

Agreed. But I think Kobe won't be able to prevent himself from going into hero mode. He did a good job of passing the ball and scoring at various times in game 6 but in game 7, at home, with his legacy on the line, there is no way he doesn't go into "I'm going to take every shot from now on, screw my teammates" mode at some point. Preferably in the 4th quarter, where he has been dreadful in this series.

Exactly. It's Game 7 and he's so predictably pathetic. He'd probably prefer to lose and complain about his teammates than win without hogging the glory. He might share the ball with Artest and Bynum but no way he lets Gasol or Fisher steal his possible MVP thunder.

[Chris]

I agree 100%.

They need to stick to a tough man on man.  When thy start to double team Kobe will get his teamates involved and their confidence will rise, especially the bench.  Kobe can take all the shots but if we can keep him 40% we would be fine.  Doesn't matter who shoots the ball but I'd rather have Kobe trying to take over as it will stymie the flow of the Lakers when anyone else tries to get going on offense and will get them in a stand around mentality.  A la 3rd quarter of game 5.

I would add one caveat to the "tough man on man" thing.  I think Rondo needs to be a roamer on both sides of the ball tonight.  When he is on and focussed, he has the quickness to get back (and the C's rotations, when tight, are good enough to cover up for him), but he needs to make plays on defense.  Having Rondo sitting on the weakside, shadowing Fisher as he waits for a pass is not a good use of Rondo's talents.  He needs to be active, and making things happen.  Especially since they are not going to allow him to make things happen with the ball in his hands in the half court, he needs to use his other skills to dominate the game.

[Kwhit10]

I agree 100%.

They need to stick to a tough man on man.  When thy start to double team Kobe will get his teamates involved and their confidence will rise, especially the bench.  Kobe can take all the shots but if we can keep him 40% we would be fine.  Doesn't matter who shoots the ball but I'd rather have Kobe trying to take over as it will stymie the flow of the Lakers when anyone else tries to get going on offense and will get them in a stand around mentality.  A la 3rd quarter of game 5.

I would add one caveat to the "tough man on man" thing.  I think Rondo needs to be a roamer on both sides of the ball tonight.  When he is on and focussed, he has the quickness to get back (and the C's rotations, when tight, are good enough to cover up for him), but he needs to make plays on defense.  Having Rondo sitting on the weakside, shadowing Fisher as he waits for a pass is not a good use of Rondo's talents.  He needs to be active, and making things happen.  Especially since they are not going to allow him to make things happen with the ball in his hands in the half court, he needs to use his other skills to dominate the game.

Yea I totally agree.  Rondo is best poking around. If he can get some steals off pokes and playing passing lanes a bit to open up our fast break game than that would be a huge plus to our offense.  Our best offense comes off our defense so if he can start things off by getting the ball in the open court it would be a great benefit.

[StartOrien]

This is my fear with the C's down Perk. I think that they're forced to go after Sheed & KG to get them into foul trouble, meaning the offense runs through Pau. Which is a little scary.

We need another night where the mainstream media says "You can't blame Kobe"

[RAcker]

And this thread is a very good example of why we are considered some of the most knowledgeable fans in the world.  Love it.

[Who]

This is my fear with the C's down Perk. I think that they're forced to go after Sheed & KG to get them into foul trouble, meaning the offense runs through Pau. Which is a little scary.

We need another night where the mainstream media says "You can't blame Kobe"

Sheed and his propensity to pickup dumb fouls worries me more than anything else heading into tonight's game.

[Fafnir]

This is my fear with the C's down Perk. I think that they're forced to go after Sheed & KG to get them into foul trouble, meaning the offense runs through Pau. Which is a little scary.

We need another night where the mainstream media says "You can't blame Kobe"

Sheed and his propensity to pickup dumb fouls worries me more than anything else heading into tonight's game.

I'm hoping he realizes that he absolutely cannot do that with Perkins injured.

I'm worried about Kobe penetrating, if he's a jump shooter we can win this game. If he's penetrating he'll be creating open 3 point looks and other good shots for his team.

[Green Pride]

It seems like one part of the formula is clear -- if you can frustrate the "supporting cast" early in the game, your chances of winning go way up. Their confidence goes down, Kobe loses confidence in them, and the Lakers fall apart. But how do you do that? Most of it is just energy and the bigs staying out of foul trouble, but another big part is staying in front of Kobe. If Kobe penetrates than people have to start to rotate. If you stay in front of him, than the other guys have to create 1 on 1, and no one can do that, except perhaps for Gasol. TA is key -- we may want to get him into the game early if the Lakers are having their way on offense.

[Yakmanev]

This is my fear with the C's down Perk. I think that they're forced to go after Sheed & KG to get them into foul trouble, meaning the offense runs through Pau. Which is a little scary.

We need another night where the mainstream media says "You can't blame Kobe"

Sheed and his propensity to pickup dumb fouls worries me more than anything else heading into tonight's game.

It is something to think about but to be fair allot of those dumb fouls were actually dumb calls. I think tonight's reffing crew won't be quick to blow the whistle.

If this is the case we are in good shape.