[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

Is Phil being out coached? Why isn’t he fouling Rondo? Whats up with Odom just putting his hands straight up giving up lay ups? Why is it the end of the year and Artest looks like he still doesn’t know whats going on, on the offensive end?

I am starting to see the problem wasnt Gasol in 08 it was Odom’s soft a$$!!! Am I the only one who thought last offseason they shoud have signed Ariza and Artest and did a sign and trade with GS for Turiaf and somebody else because you know Nelson would have signed off to get a player like Odom. Since Turiaf has left they have no post players that play with heart and energy now they are stuck with a knock off in Josh Powell. Should Artest swallow his pride and let Kobe guard Pierce and he takes Rondo it’s not like Rondo is some scrub?

[mwardiaParticipant]

ive been sayin it all along, odom is a soft player… he has so much talent, but only gives some half ass effort. LAL fans can minus pts from me idc, but LA is going down today

[Lunchpail12Participant]

Artest doesn’t have the lateral quickness anymore to guard a guy like Rondo — he’s better suited to guard bigger, more physical guys like Durant, Carmelo and even Pierce. I think putting Artest on Rondo would make it easier for Rondo to get to the hoop, and that could spell disaster for L.A. with their interior ‘D’ already struggling the past couple of games. If Pierce is hitting shots, the Lakers can live with it. If Rondo gets going, he gets the whole C’s offense going, and that’s something the Lakers can’t live with.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

I always thought that if Odom tried and actually tried during his prime, he could have been a 20-10-5 guy. Too bad he wasted his prime and now he’s wasting his chance at another championship.

[mwardiaParticipant]

i agree with the post above. if artest is having problems with pierce, then him guarding rondo will be hell for LA

[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

It wont be that bad cuz he can help and give Rondo room its not like he will be guarding him extremly close. It may help since he is so strong when he is helping those balls that Kobe isn’t strong enough to knock out Artest is and Kobe isn’t doing the lil things on defense that Artest would. Rondo isn’t a scoring threat so it would be perfect for Artest because his pride would be messed up and he would start playing hard trying to prove people wrong and thats what LA needs. Not this Artest thats scared to mess up

[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

Whats going on with shannon brown why isn’t he playing? Game 6 I say they cut Fishers mins and let the young guns play because if they are going to win the series they need farmar and brown with a lot of swag going in to game 7 because you know boston will bring it

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Phil Jackson won’t risk a championship to bring up the confidence of Brown and Farmar.

[BasterdInABasketParticipant]

Odom has been awful this entire series and doesnt have half the desire on any player the celtics put on the floor. As for Artest I dont think he made one positive play for LA in game 5 and is still jacking up jumpers.

On defense when pierce has one on one isolation bynum or gasol or whoever has perkins needs to give a lot more help. Make them pass it to perkins and let him shoot ten times.
Also I would love to see shannon brown on the floor more. He didnt play at all game 5 and id like to see him in there especially against the BOS bench and add some scoring and explosiveness to the lakers.

[B-ball fanParticipant]

At times this series has been played more sloppily than you would expect the finals to be played. Pierce and Ray Allen both have missed a lot of shots, but Pierce seems to have turned a corner. He was shooting poorly before, but I think he definitely can score on Artest. Celtics are tough to beat when Pierce and Allen hit jump shots, which in this series has been very inconsistent. Ray Allen has shot the ball exceptionally poorly, but he has forced Fisher to chase him around screens relentlessly. Maybe he will turn it around in LA. The Celtics have shot the ball better on the road than in Boston these playoffs, and are the NBA’s best road team.

[rtbtParticipant]

I learned something very valuable from our high school basketball coach. He said any time one guy on our opponent’s team is doing all of the scoring, more often than not, we’re going to win. He said while that guy is scoring at will, the other 4 players are standing around watching him.

Doc Edwards strategy is brilliant, just like it was in the Orlando series where he let Dwight Howard go one on one to his heart’s content, but concentrated on stopping the other 4 guys. Orlando fell for it hook line and sinker.

Doc Edwards doesn’t care if Kobe scores 50, he has his guys concentrating on shutting down the other 4 guys on the court. If Kobe doesn’t give up the ball and trust his teammates, LA will lose.

[Meditated StatesParticipant]

I agree LA needs a good overall team effort. The C’s are tough to beat when you go solo. I think Kobe had to go solo that game though, or it would have been a blowout. C’s were on fire in the 3rd. Kobe kinda kept them in it. He needs to use his teamates this game, and they need to show up or else C’s getting number 18.

[cycloParticipant]

Odom is a bench player, yet he’s outperforming both the starting SF Artest and the starting C Bynum in these playoffs.

If there’s a problem with the Lakers in these playoffs, it’s the starting SF Artest and the starting C Bynum that are the problem.

[B-ball fanParticipant]

Kobe needed to dominate like he did in the third, but the Lakers needed to pound the ball down low in the beginning of the game, and continue to throughout. Kobe was quiet in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th quarters. The Lakers need to have Kobe’s scoring in isolations and clear outs supplement the rest of their offense, not be their only or most effective offense. Kobe and Gasol also need to be more effective in the 4th quarter. Kobe has struggled in the 4th quarter all series.

[DaGuywhodidurmaParticipant]

everyone knows odom would rather be with khloe partying right now.it wasnt that big of a mistake letting go of turiaf, has anyone seen him sucking it up in gs. all they need is a dejuan blair, paul millsap guy. they should have traded for craig smith in my opinion. like the guy before me said, all the lakers need is a total team effort. plus bynums knee doesnt help either.

[cycloParticipant]

Odom is a bench player, yet he’s outperforming both the starting SF Artest and the starting C Bynum in these playoffs.

If there’s a problem with the Lakers in these playoffs, it’s that starting SF Artest and the starting C Bynum have been sucking.

Bynum just 1 rebound in 32 minutes in game 5.
Bynum averaging single digits in the playoffs — just 9 points.
Bynum averaging fewer rebounds than bench player Odom in the playoffs.

Artest averaging just 10 points on a pathetic 39% from the field, 54% from the line, 27% from 3-point range in the playoffs.

So don’t blame your backup PF because your starting SF and starting C have been sucking.

[rtbtParticipant]

B-ball fan said, “Kobe needed to dominate like he did in the third”.

As I mentioned earlier, that’s playing right into the strategy of Doc Edwards who couldn’t care less if Kobe scores 50 points. Doc is concentrating on stopping every one else, just like he did against Orlando when he allowed Dwight Howard to go one on one all night while the rest of the team did nothing.

Let me repeat a lesson we learned from our high school coach. He said, “Any time one guy on our opponent’s team is doing all of the scoring, more often than not, we’re going to win. While that guy is scoring at will, the other 4 players are standing around watching him.”

[Tyreke JohnsonParticipant]

You cannot really blame, Odom he has been more consistent then Artest and Bynum, Artest though not doing well offensively has defended Pierce well in Games 1-4 which was what he was brought into to do anyway, defend the best player on the other team. Bynum for most of this series has either been out of the game, not playing in a game at all which results in inconsistent play. Lakers need to establish the post game first in games first because that is when they are most effective, once guys like Bynum and Gasol get going inside the rest of the team starts become involved as well. Inside-out game always works effectively especially with the Lakers.

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