Kobe Needs to Go Patton on Phoenix

By Craig Kwasniewski

McCallum, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!

I'm not Jack McCallum's personal pitch man, but Kobe needs to plunk down $24.00 at the Barnes & Noble, punch out the clerk when they offer that reader's membership bullshit, and read up on :07 Seconds or Less. The Suns spell out their defensive schemes on Kobe right on page 34:

In preparing for the Lakers, Iavaroni wants to play more traditionally, less like an NBA team, and keep one defender on Bryant so he will be likely to take a lot of shots and freeze out his teammates.

"So the philosophy we use on Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant is, 'The more involved the superstar, the less involved his teammates,' " says Iavaroni. (When the coaches talk specific strategy about a player or team, they always bring in examples from other players and other teams.) "I know it's not real comfortable for us if Kobe is feeling it. But for every shot he makes, the other guys are saying, 'Oh shit, it's Kobe doing it all again.' "

I think it's safe to say ALL the Lakers were saying that in the 4th quarter last Sunday. As bad as his teammates are (and with the likes of Smush Parker, Brian Cook, Mo Evans and Sasha Vujacic bricking ridiculously wide open jumpers they *ARE* really bad!!!) Kobe needs to involve the rest of the Lakers tonight. Despite being the most explosive scorer in the NBA, Kobe can't go at it alone against Phoenix.

Comments

[basketbawful]

Hey, you just saved Kobe Bryant twenty bucks. More importantly, you saved his personal shopper a trip to the bookstore.

The thing is, I bet Kobe already knows that's the Suns' game plan. He's a smart guy, and obviously reads the papers and studies how the scouts break down his game. He knows what people are saying about him, but he tends to take those things as a challenge rather than a reason to change his game. Tex Winter told him to play better defense and Kobe laughed at him. I doubt the words of Mark Iavaroni are going to have an much effect. Throwing single coverage at Kobe is like waving a red flag in front of a Bull.

Phil Jackson is the guy who needs to take control, and that means pulling Kobe's reins and calling more post-ups and isoloations for Odom, who seems capable of beating his man at will.

On the other hand, he can't possibly hope that the Suns will shoot as poorly in Game 2 as they did in Game 1. As a team, the Suns couldn't play much worse offensively than they did on Sunday, which is bad news for the Lakers.

[basketbawful]

P.S. Random Mark Iavaroni Fact: He once got punched in the face by Larry Bird. Bird also threw a basketball at him once. He was the 76er "thug" who was used in the late 80s to "get into Bird's head."

[Craig]

"Phil Jackson is the guy who needs to take control, and that means pulling Kobe's reins and calling more post-ups and isoloations for Odom, who seems capable of beating his man at will."

Great point! As we've discussed before, the Lakers need to call Odom's number more often against the Suns. Odom plays his best basketball against Marion, this goes back to summer practices at UNLV. (Odom was originally committed to UNLV until (what a shock) infractions sent him to Rhode Island.)

[basketbawful]

You know, I recently read an article about Shawn Marion in ESPN The Magazine. Basically, he said he was the best defender in the NBA, and wondered whether he'd be happier on a team where he was The Man, getting 30 points per game, but the team wouldn't be a contender. He honestly seemed incapable of deciding which was better.

Anyway, for a guy who is contention for DPotY, he seems to let Odom just walk right past him on the way to the basket in most cases.

Interestingly enough, they ran a graphic during Game 1 that showed Kobe was 0-for-4 against Marion. Even more interestingly, Charley Rosen, who claims to be an expert in analyzing games play-by-play, claimed that Kobe "scored at will" against Marion. I...don't get it. My world is upside down.