Laker Chat: Part Phew! . . .

The Lakers (except for Kobe and Sasha) couldn't score, couldn't get in a flow, and played poorly. But they won anyway (highlights here from this herky-jerky game).

Here's a little quatrain inspired by Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom's performances in this series so far . . .

As I was going up the stair
I saw a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish, he’d stay away.

OK, so this poem wasn't written about the Lakers front line, but I wish, I wish, they'd (or at least the version in these first three games) stay away. Odom has let foul trouble plague him in this series, and Gasol just gets pushed around like a ragdoll. Odom will have to play smarter, and Gasol will have to play tougher, if they do that, the Lakers will have no problem winning 3 more games against this Celtics team.

Having Kobe guard Rondo was an excellent adjustment by Jackson, and helped improve the Lakers defense by a huge factor. Kobe could sag off of the unable to shoot Rondo and roam as a help defender. That help defense lead to horrendous shooting by Garnett and Pierce, Allen shot well, but that wasn't enough for the Cs.

Now we'll see what adjustments Doc Rivers makes to the adjustments made by Phil Jackson. Putting Eddie House out there for big chunks of minutes seems to be the answer he came up with, but House didn't shoot like he was supposed to, so that backfired.

(bet you didn't expect a Hughes Mearns reference in an NBA post, did ya?)