SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE LAKERS

I'm sure you all want to know what I think about the Jekyll/Hyde Lakers, so here goes:

1. You gotta give it up. Once Yao went down, I, like everyone else, thought the Lakers would breeze, even after my "the Lakers honestly aren't that good" post. But even if you think the Lakers are dogging it, are overconfident, are just playing shitty, whatever, you have to give the Rockets a ton of credit--they're playing out of their minds right now. Aaron Brooks has been phenomenal, Luis Scola has outplayed Pau Gasol, Ron Artest is hitting every big jumpshot his team needs, Battier is playing his usual great D on Kobe, and they're getting excellent bench production from the underrated Carl Landry, Kyle Lowry and Von Wafer. If you think this series is just about the way the Lakers are playing, you're not giving these guys nearly enough credit.

2. So are the Lakers dogging it? I honestly don't think so, and you know I'm their biggest critic. I think it's almost the opposite--they're playing as tight as I've ever seen them play. I can see thinking they're playing stupid, but I don't agree that they're lazy or overconfident. If anything they're individually trying to do too much. And I think they're plenty respectful of this team, if not scared shitless. It's one thing to miss a bunch of shots, especially against a damn good defensive team, but the turnovers and defensive mistakes are what's really killing them. To clarify, I'm not just talking about sucky defense, which the Lakers are prone to do because, as discussed previously, they just don't have a lot of good defensive players. I'm talking about defensive mistakes, particularly where someone (Kobe, Ariza, Odom, etc.) are trying to freelance too much and not trusting their teammates to do their job. That's the sign of a tight team, the sign of a team that's playing scared. Same with the turnovers, Laker players are trying to make plays they'd never try to make in a regular season game. They're feeling the pressure, and it shows. Everyone's trying to win the game singlehandedly, trying to force stuff that's not there, trying to do too much, taking dumb risks instead of trusting the offense, trusting the defense, and trusting their teammates. 

3. That said, christ Pau Gasol is a terrible defensive player. He's honestly one of the worst "good player" defenders in the entire league. Let this series put to rest once and for all the idea that he's not bad at sticking with his man, and is just poor at playing help defense. He's terrible at both. He's getting his ass kicked alternately by Luis Scola and Carl Landry--two damn solid players to be sure, but they're not Amare and Bosh, y'know? Odom is a disaster too, it's shocking how easily Scola backs him down in the post. I mean, they're the same size, it's just that Scola is way, way stronger. And tougher. 

Odom and Gasol are playing hard, as hard as they can--they're just soft. And I don't know exactly what I mean by that. They're physically weak for NBA big men, but it's also a mind set; they're both kinda passive players, they don't have that tough guy aggressiveness that a Scola or Artest has. I'm not sure that's the character flaw everyone makes it out to be; maybe it's something ingrained, something you can't do anything about, like being 6'6 instead of 6'10 or not being as quick as (that fucking maggot) Aaron Brooks. Or maybe they're just pussies. I don't know. I haven't fully decided yet. But whereas you can count on Gasol and Odom to destroy finesse front courts, like Denver's last year or New Orleans', they have a lot of problems with tough guy teams like Boston, Utah and Houston. 

4. Another of LA's biggest problems is that they're a pretty crappy shooting team. I'm surprised nobody is talking about this, they really don't have many outside threats. With Derek Fisher spazzing out (1-14 from three in the series), Kobe less than spectacular, and Sasha Vujacic continuing his season-long slump (shooting a horrific 24% from the floor in the playoffs), the Lakers simply don't have many outside shooting options. That of course lets teams clog the middle against Gasol, Odom and Kobe on penetration, and LA doesn't have an answer for it. I said at the time of the Vladimir Radmanovic trade/cost-cutting dump that it was very risky, and I think Buss and Kupchak are kicking themselves in the balls right now. They could really, really use Vladdy popping 3s in the corner. You win with superstars in the NBA playoffs, but here's the thing--you might not need your role players to make a bunch of plays, but you need them to make the opponent play you honest. Your role players enable your stars to make the plays that win you games. A guy like Radmanovic can be helpful just literally standing in the corner ready to shoot. 

5. The only rational NBA officiating conspiracy theory is the one that says the NBA assigns certain refs to certain games with an agenda in mind. If you think the league does more than that, stop reading and don't ever come to this blog again, you're too stupid to take up eyespace here. FWIW I don't think the NBA does anything whatsoever with its officials, but I'll allow that the 'assignment theory' has a .0001% chance of being true, unlike the more fanciful ones (save for out-and-out game-fixing, but I'm talking about league-office type conspiracies). But this series has provided some good counterevidence--the Rockets got Steve Javie in LA for Game 5, considered the best official in the league, the one guy out there where you know you're going to get a fair shake on the road. Then they got Mark Wunderlich in Game 6 in Houston, the biggest homer ref in the entire league outside of Ken Mauer. I think there were some shitty calls in both games, but the officiating was more or less even. I don't think it's had a real impact in any of the games.

That goes for most of these playoffs too, IMO. I think that no-call on Antoine Wright in the Denver-Dallas series was a good one, I don't care what the asinine, running-scared NBA league office thought. It was a little bump--if you call that same amount of contact in a one-point game and award the guy free throws, it's an atrocious call for the ages. So maybe you think the refs should've taken the game situation into account. I disagree, but here's the thing: after Wright bumps Carmelo, he immediately puts his hands up in the air, the typical "I-didn't-do-it!" move. So what the hell is the ref supposed to think? If you want to intentionally foul, (a) actually foul the guy, and foul him hard--it has to actually be a foul that they would call with 3 seconds left on the clock, not a little nudge; and (b) let the goddamn ref know you're trying to foul, by words and/or actions. You do that, he'll give you the call. Instead Wright retardedly throws his hands up in the air--OK, so it looks to me like you didn't want the call, so fuck you. Learn how to play the game. Use your head. 

That the NBA apologized for that call was yet another joke in this ongoing farce. The refs are doing fine--or good enough, at least. Leave 'em alone, let them do their job, don't hang them out to dry. Yes, NBA playoff officiating is a big problem, but the league with its asinine suspensions and apologies is making it fifty times worse, that's the legacy of David Stern.

6. So what's gonna happen Sunday? Fuck man, I just don't know. I suspect a solid Laker win, but with their cruddy shooting I don't think there are any guarantees. I wouldn't bet Houston with the points, but I think the money line might be a good bet--they have a better chance to win than you think.