8 years, 3 months and 2 days or so. Last Laker playoff victory. Mike Brown was the coach. D’Antoni didn’t win one. Luke never got there. Here we are. Very enjoyable.
- “Here we go!” That first quarter was a long time coming and when I was watching it I could only think one thing: Blazers are in trouble. We were defending hard and with good instincts. Danny Green still couldn’t throw it in the ocean but he was stellar on D. McGee was outplaying Nurkic on both ends, LeBron and AD were more engaged. Most of all Kentavious came ready to play and got off to a great start. Second unit didn’t let their foot off the gas, either. But the starting 5 were all stellar tonight, set a tone and the whole team carried that energy throughout the game. That’s how we need to be every night.
- “Nobody is gonna stop-” a Laker team that’s playing like this. This was as perfect a playoff game as the Lakers could play. Conversely this was just about as bad a game as the Blazers could play. So now an odd conundrum arises, as of yet to be fully defined, is how does a total lack of home court advantage affect an NBA playoff series? My bet is quite a bit, that teams with more inherent talent come out on top and that while there may be more upset games there will be fewer total upset series. We shall see, we shall see.
- “Lit to pop.” Because of the margin of victory and complete lack of shots made by Portland the score was as wide as it was. But don’t let that fool you, we hit a ton of shots when the game was yet to be determined. KCP was hot from three, AD was on fire and somehow J.R. Smith cast up 9 (5 more than any other Laker!) three-pointers hitting 3. A luxury for the team with some key guys still adjusting to getting some playoff-level burn.
- “And the water will run.” The modern NBA game is all air and fire these days. Chucking and gunning, defense when the game is on the line…maybe. The Lakers have one of the earthier line ups in the NBA, as throwback as it is analytical, but it’s at it’s best when it flows like a powerful river. Our defense is rarely on a string, rather we have excellent free safeties in Davis and James. But their ability to disrupt an offense is enabled by other guys controlling the flow, funneling players like rocks in a stream guiding water. Even our fast-break has a slow flow rather than an explosive burst. Like a kayak about to encounter some rapids. Tonight that was on full display. While we didn’t out fast-break Portland we held our own and didn’t let their leak outs disrupt our flow.
- “Hum, hum along with me. Hum along with the TV. Go!” This shit is weird man. It is, no other way to describe it. The Lakers are the more talented team, if our guys play to type we ought to dominate the glass more often than not, ought to force turnovers with the best of ’em and we just need some guys to hit some shots to support LeBron and Anthony. LeBron scored 10 points and we blew them out. Wacky man.
No crowds, all televised. Going to be hard to maintain a normal playoff-level focus. Need to bring a quiet intensity every night.
Lakers play like this and this will be a 5-game series.
I’m looking for Symonds to play big minutes and maybe start on Saturday. He has great numbers against the Lakers and looked ready to contribute. Blazers may go small to have more ball handlers and let Dame play more off the ball. Lakers hounded him full court and then trapped him all game long.
For Lakers, Rondo will hopefully be ready to play. Like Symonds with Lakers, Rajon has elite numbers against the Blazers. I think he will get minutes with and without LeBron. We may see more of LeBron as a scorer in Game 3.
Lakers in Five if we continue to play elite defense.
Agreed.
Now that’s how we play! AD and KCP came ready. Green played hard defense as did most Lakers. Stop Dame, they cannot win.
A great ‘5’ to cap a long awaited playoff win.
Hey Seannieboy, why do you think (on a side note) that the Corona Virus has leveled off in Canada and not US? What are you guys doing that we are not?
Great post, Jaime, and thanks for referencing our last playoff game along with the coaches associated with those teams who went without sniffing into the playoffs. This is the pre Bubble Lakers team we know. Stiffling defense and little spacing did the job, forcing the Blazers into submission.
The game 1 loss might have been a blessing in disguise, but sometimes it’s a bad idea to wake up a sleeping dog or the giant that this Lakers team is. Trying to be a giant slayer? Well, the Lakers finally woke up from a deep sleep and went to work. Putting the foot on the gas pedal from the get-go and never looking back, the Lakers left no doubt they were the superior team. The best part? LeBron and AD get to load manage. If they keep playing like this, the Blazers have no chance and this series might end in 5 like Tom stated, and that might mean even more load management for LeBron and AD before the next series. You can’t ask for a better script.