Before the game I thought the Lakers would come out with the energy that could beat any team who would come their way. Going through the 1st half the although the Laker's mediocre defense held up, Laker offense was sluggish, pathetic and 80% didn't make sense to me. Even then I had hope that the Lakers would blow them out on the 2nd half.
All throughout the game I was swearing and smacking my bed every single time I saw them make a bad play, make a turnover, uncalled fouls, and most especially missed 3 pointers during the 2nd half.
Yes the gameplan was to defend Dirk Nowitzki with mostly Lamar Odom because of versatility purposes but obviously it has not worked. Defend Dirk Nowitzki with multiple defenders also to be extra physical, still did not work.. Getting the two 7-footers of the Lakers involved early in the game. Slowing down the pace to impose the length advantage. See all those things has not happened during the course of the series.
What has worked so far are all from the Maverick's perspective. Hasten the pace. Attack with aggressive guards. Dirk Nowitzki isolation. Dirk Nowitzki getting his shots up early to give the spacing advantage to the Mavericks. No foul trouble for Tyson Chandler which is the anchor of their defense.
All of these things are kind of fine for me but damn it every shot Dirk takes goes in!!! Yes, he is very difficult to defend but its like a 99 overall video game character! Every single shot no matter how awkward it looks!
I am so mad at the bad luck the Lakers are facing but even more mad at the fact that the Lakers have not played their style of basketball.
They were shooting 3's even though they weren't making any. I always hear this line from NBA coaches, "if two 3 pointers don't go in, put your head down and try to get fouled". I don't want to check the stat sheets anymore after this game. I think they only made two 3 pointers during the course of the game. Two of which came from the last seconds that didn't really matter.
What I'm saying is, this by far is the most frustrated I have been in a long time. Lakers need to get their act together. They only need one thing to come back to this series and that is TEAM DEFENSE!!! They have got to rotate quicker and be sharper overall. Fight through picks and box out for rebounds. Double Dirk and be quicker on the weak side. This has been the Laker defense for a long time and they need to get back to it.
To sum it up, well Ron Artest already did that for me. Hope he doesn't get suspended for it.
I am ranting and I still have a lot to rant about but win or lose, I still got a lot of love for the Lakers and Phil Jackson.
