Aloha,

I have been thinking about who will start at center for the Lakers. If Frank stays true to form it will be one of our centers. I am hoping it will be Howard. He has the strength and athleticism to play with Bam.

But what Howard also does is he forces the Heat out of the starting unit that won the East. The Heat would almost certainly have to start Olynyk or Leonard at the 5, putting Robinson on the bench. The Heat can not win this series if Bam is not guarding AD. While both Crowder and Iggy are both fine defenders neither could guard Dwight in the post and both are undersized to take on AD all game long. And oh ya, someone has to guard that LeBron guy.

While we will have AD at the 5 for stretches like usual, I think the Heat would love us going small with AD starting at the 5. Then they could have their best unit start as well. It’s our versatility that allows us to play any style of basketball and it’s why we will win number 17!

Aloha,

I am pretty pumped up about the coming finals. I have been thinking about what got us to this point.

1. Defensive wins championships. It always has and always will. And this team was built around defense. We are number 1 in the playoffs and this is without our best perimeter defender. I know some grumble about some inconsistent scoring with guys not named LeBron or AD but we are here because of our defense that the other guys are playing. I understand that 3 is greater than 2 And that we are not A great 3 point shooter team. But 3>2 only works if you are getting the 3’s. We dominate paint scoring while contesting 3 point shots and running guys off the 3 point line. While I would love to have guys that were as good at defense as our current group and were very good 3 point shooters. But those guys are few and far between and they are expensive. We will not have the cap space or realistic trade chips to land them. So give me defense first. Beside we have guys that do hit 3’s enough to make our offense work.

2. Our star duo. There are a lot of star duos in the playoffs. But the Lakers are still standing is because of the consistency our stars have played with. While other teams stars have had off nights, the Lakers stars haven’t. Our stars games have ranged from very good to great. When very good is your worst games, you have something special.

3. The myth of the 3rd option. Coach Vogel said it best when he said the 3rd option is the open man. Our offense runs through LeBron and AD. Many want Kuz to be that 3rd option. But he doesn’t get the shots to be a 3rd options. Most of his points comes from activity. Running the floor, cutting to the basket and put backs. He gets very Few plays run for him.

When you have LeBron or Rondo running the offense, they search out the open man. What makes this offense click is several guys can score so teams have to defend everyone. I think that’s better having a 3rd guy. You never were the points are coming from. KCP had been the closest to a 3rd scorer we had but last game he only took 2 shots, while points came from several other players.

4. Depth and versatility. it still amazes me how We can play so many different ways with so many different line up combinations. In today’s NBA I feel that 2 stars and a deep versatile line up is now the winning formula. While we maybe able to do a few small upgrade this off season, I believe the two stars and a deep team will be the road map for the team going forward.

Aloha

Jamie does his 5 things. Tonight I’m going to offer up my big 3.

AD coming out with aggression hitting his first 7 shots was huge. He played with the fire and energy he lacked in the last game. While his 5 boards is still troubling the all came it the 2nd half and he had a couple of big offensive boards.

I have wanted to Dwight start the entire series. He came out with an abundance of energy. 12 points and 11 boards in 23 minutes. But what I thought was as important was he made the Joker uncomfortable and he wasn’t able to find an early rhythm. He ended up with 16, 7 and 4. If we hold him to that on Saturday we will close them.

Lebron’s D on Murray down the stretch. It was “I’ve had enough of you youngster.”

Now they have us right where they want us, still I’m sticking with my inn5 prediction and I think we close them out Saturday.

Aloha,

Mike D has informed the Rockets that he will not return. It’s understandable. The Rockets ceiling is the 2nd round and most of their salary cap is devoted to 3 players, so there is not much they can do.

The Lakers front line featured 6’ 10” two 6’ 9 and a 6’ 8” players. The back court rotation feature 3 players 6’ 5” or taller. The Rockets had no chance against a small ball line up with that kind of size.

This is why I am baffled by all the articles that want to create a big 3 in LA. Like the Rockets 3 stars would leave us with very little for a supporting cast. Now I don’t see it happening next year. We won’t have the cap space and went all in for AD and won’t have the trade assets that other teams have to land a star. But why would we even want to? We clearly Had the best team in the NBA with Avery and even without him, we are still the favorites to win it all.

I think our off season should be subtle changes and not an overhaul. After resigning AD, Our priorities should be bringing back Avery and Morris. I don’t KCP or McGee can do better in free agency, so I expect both of them to opt in. Rondo is interesting. I think he may retire if we win the championship. I think he will begin his coaching career with the Lakers. I don’t feel that Howard will be back.

With our emerging younger players, I don’t see a lot we need to do.
Considering AD doesn’t want to play center we should look at bringing Cousins back. He won’t demand a big salary, if we can’t land him, a guy like Joe Harris from the Nets and his 44% 3 point shooting might fit into the MLE. He’s also a decent defender. While Alex is beginning to emerge as playmaker, I would look at Teague or Augustine as vet minimum PG additions.
Beyond that, I don’t really feel like we need to do much more.

Aloha,

I am amused by the notion that the Lakers went small to win this game. AD, Lebron, Morris and Kuz are not small players. And we beat them up inside like we should have with our size advantage.

But our true advantage is on the defensive end because our big guys can guard their little guys. And when you add in solid defenders like Green, KCP and Alex to the mix, it really takes a small team like the Rockets out of their game. I don’t think the Rockets will ever win a ring until they can add a couple of tall guys that can play in their system. I think size still matters in the NBA and our ability to play small, while staying tall is our advantage here.

Aloha,

Well it got a little tense in the 3rd but overall the Lakers played the way they need to for most of the game. Frank made the proper line up adjustments and the Lakers played Laker basketball. I wasn’t worried in the 3rd because of the Rockets hot streak. They went 9 for 11 from 3 and while they are a good shooting team, 81% from 3 is not sustainable. My worry was the Lakers began to stumble on offense. I would have been happy trading 2’s for 3’s because again 81% is not sustainable. And in the 4th the Rockets came back to earth. And the Lakers began to impose their will inside. This is what they need every game. While Lebron and AD dominated it was Morris, Kuz and Rondo, who were the difference in the game. If they continue to step up the Lakers will win it all.