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LA Lakers 89 San Antonio 85: The LA Lakers made an impressive comeback in this game, as they were down as many as 20 points in the second half. This is not good news for the San Antonio Spurs, who were dominating for most of this game and still could not come up with the victory. I was somewhat shocked to see the Lakers being beaten so badly at home by the Spurs but then all of a sudden it seemed like they were right back in the game because Kobe Bryant erupted in the second half for 25 of his 27 points.
In my preview of this series, I had said that Tim Duncan would have to have a monster series and the Spurs would have to match the Lakers on the boards for them to have any chance of winning. Well, Tim Duncan scored 30 points and had 18 rebounds and the Spurs outrebounded the Lakers 42 to 41 and they still lost the game. Tony Parker chipped in with 10 rebounds to help to Spurs on the glass and he also scored 18 points and dished out 6 assists.
However, what really hurt the Spurs in this one was the fact that Manu Ginobili struggled and nobody else really picked up the slack. Ginobili finished the game with just 10 points on 3 of 13 shooting. The only other player on the Spurs in double figures was Bruce Bowen, who finished with 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting. This is the biggest problem with the Spurs to me, I believe that they are too reliant on the Duncan, Parker, Ginobili trio for scoring and if one of those guys struggles, it is going to be tough for them to win. If another one of their role players had stepped up in this game, they may have been able to hold on for the victory.
I also thought the Lakers defense stepped it up in the second half at the right time and found their "identity"as Kobe would like to say. They held San Antonio to 3 of 21 shooting in the fourth quarter, including 1 of 9 from downtown. I think last night they put to rest any questions remaining about their defense and if it was championship caliber.
As far as the Lakers offense, well this is what I had to say about that in my series preview:
I don't think much has changed since then for the Lakers, especially since their offense has been extremely efficient so far in the playoffs. Nobody has been able to slow them down and they get alot of easy buckets. The bench and overall team shooting on the Lakers has also been solid. Not to mention, when worst comes to worst, they can have Kobe take over a game if they need to.
Well, when you are down 20 points in the second half that is pretty much worst comes to worst and guess what happened? Yup, that's right, Kobe Bryant took over this game and dropped 25 of his 27 points in the second half. He also hit the go ahead shot in the lane with 23.9 seconds remaining to give the Lakers the victory. Kobe added 9 assists and 5 rebounds as well.
These words by Spurs coach Greg Popovich sum up what happened with Kobe last night perfectly:
"Kobe, he was doing a trust-his-teammates thing in the first half," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "That's why he had five assists, and he was checking it all out and see where his territory was going to be. In the second half, he went to work."
The only other Lakers who were effective offensively in this game were Pau Gasol and Vladimir Radmanovic. Gasol finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds and Radmanvic was a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor and finished with 10 points.
In my preview of this series, I had said that Tim Duncan would have to have a monster series and the Spurs would have to match the Lakers on the boards for them to have any chance of winning. Well, Tim Duncan scored 30 points and had 18 rebounds and the Spurs outrebounded the Lakers 42 to 41 and they still lost the game. Tony Parker chipped in with 10 rebounds to help to Spurs on the glass and he also scored 18 points and dished out 6 assists.
However, what really hurt the Spurs in this one was the fact that Manu Ginobili struggled and nobody else really picked up the slack. Ginobili finished the game with just 10 points on 3 of 13 shooting. The only other player on the Spurs in double figures was Bruce Bowen, who finished with 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting. This is the biggest problem with the Spurs to me, I believe that they are too reliant on the Duncan, Parker, Ginobili trio for scoring and if one of those guys struggles, it is going to be tough for them to win. If another one of their role players had stepped up in this game, they may have been able to hold on for the victory.
I also thought the Lakers defense stepped it up in the second half at the right time and found their "identity"as Kobe would like to say. They held San Antonio to 3 of 21 shooting in the fourth quarter, including 1 of 9 from downtown. I think last night they put to rest any questions remaining about their defense and if it was championship caliber.
As far as the Lakers offense, well this is what I had to say about that in my series preview:
I don't think much has changed since then for the Lakers, especially since their offense has been extremely efficient so far in the playoffs. Nobody has been able to slow them down and they get alot of easy buckets. The bench and overall team shooting on the Lakers has also been solid. Not to mention, when worst comes to worst, they can have Kobe take over a game if they need to.
Well, when you are down 20 points in the second half that is pretty much worst comes to worst and guess what happened? Yup, that's right, Kobe Bryant took over this game and dropped 25 of his 27 points in the second half. He also hit the go ahead shot in the lane with 23.9 seconds remaining to give the Lakers the victory. Kobe added 9 assists and 5 rebounds as well.
These words by Spurs coach Greg Popovich sum up what happened with Kobe last night perfectly:
"Kobe, he was doing a trust-his-teammates thing in the first half," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "That's why he had five assists, and he was checking it all out and see where his territory was going to be. In the second half, he went to work."
The only other Lakers who were effective offensively in this game were Pau Gasol and Vladimir Radmanovic. Gasol finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds and Radmanvic was a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor and finished with 10 points.
I expect the Lakers offense to play better in Game 2 because they seemed to be a little flat early on due to their long layoff. However, I would expect the Spurs to play better offensively too and more specifically Manu Ginobili. I think he will play better in Game 2 and it doesn't look like the Lakers are going to be able to deal with Tim Duncan down low. If Duncan has another monster game, it wouldn't shock me to see the Spurs pull off the victory. They are a veteran team so they should be able to put this tough loss behind them and regroup. Of course there's also the possibility that "Mamba" Bryant strikes again.
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