1. Better Defend the Point Guards

It’s no secret to the entire NBA that the Lakers have troubles guarding quick, penetrating point guards. Derek Fisher isn’t getting any younger. And Jordan Farmar is simply incapable of shutting down the opposing teams point guard. Every contending team has a point guard that gives the Lakers trouble. Billups, Mo Williams, Rondo, and Jameer Nelson. If the Lakers don’t find a way to fix this problem, they could be going home early.

2. Trade Vuyacic and Morrison

These are two players on the roster who are not capable of helping the team at all. They are both “shooters” who can’t shoot. Morrison is tradable because of his $5 million or so expiring contract. The only way you could get rid of Vuyacic is by packaging him with Morrison’s contract. This needs to happen before the trade deadline for so many reasons. Mainly because they could bring in a PG that could help with the problem mentioned in #1 of this post.

3. Get Kobe and Artest Healthy

Pau and Bynum have had some minor injuries this year. But Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest have been playing through some serious stuff. Kobe with his knee, back spasms, broken index finger, broken pinky, and bum ankle all need to be somewhat healed to get ready for the playoffs. Artest with his busted finger, and Plantar Fasciitis in both feet need to be healed. I don’t think I really need to explain how these two guys being healthy affects the Lakers.

4. Get Bynum to Play Defense

Not sure what coach PJ and the crew need to do here to get the big man motivated defensively. But I know one thing is for sure, it cannot be offensive touches that gets him motivated to play defense. He needs to learn to bring it every night. Bynum needs to learn a few things from Kendrick Perkins on how to play defensive and make an impact on every game by doing so.

5. Integrate Ron Artest Offensively

Not sure how long this is going to take, but the Lakers don’t have but a few more months longer to figure it out. The offense struggles when he’s on the floor. And for some reason it seems like he’s always having to settle for 3′s. He’s a great post-up player. They need to look for him a little more in the post and get him a little more offensive minded.

6. More Post Up’s For Pau Gasol

Instead of feeding the ball into Bynum, the Lakers need to feed the ball into Pau more to take advantage of his size against other Power Forwards in the league. I think I speak for every Laker fan when I say I would like to see Pau be tougher inside against the smaller PF’s. When Pau has a size advantage there is nobody in the world who can guard him.

7. Need Bench To Build Leads

The Lakers bench has been inconsistent at best this year. In order to keep the starters healthy this year, the bench is going to have to step up their play and build leads so the starters can get more rest at the end of games. And in the case of the tougher matchups in the NBA, the bench needs to at least help maintain the lead built up by the Starters. This is critical to every championship team and the Lakers are currently not doing it.

8. All-Star play from Lamar Odom

Even though he comes off the bench, he’s still the 3rd best player on the entire team! When Lamar is on his game he is doing everything. He’s scoring, rebounding, and he’s even your best defender on many nights. When he is playing at an All-Star level and Kobe is feeling good, the Lakers are nearly impossible to beat.

9. Continued Great Play from Shannon Brown

The word I like to describe Shannon Brown’s play this year would be “refreshing”. He plays hard on both ends of the floor. He can finish around the rim as good as any Laker. And he’s not afraid to take a big shot when asked. If he can continue to play this way throughout the rest of the season and into the playoffs, it definitely increases the Lakers chances to repeat.

10. Home Court in the West

The Lakers need home court against the Denver Nuggets. That’s what this is all about. The Nuggets are a tough team to beat at home in the high altitude, and the Lakers are sure to meet up with them at some point during the playoffs. It wouldn’t hurt to get home court throughout by beating out the Cavs either considering the type of home team they are.

I’m always intrigued by many of the NBA fans out their who claim that bad calls don’t affect the outcome of games. I am one who thinks they do. Especially in this situation. I challenge anyone who disagrees with me to playback the 3rd quarter of this game between the Lakers and Cavs on Christmas Day, then honestly tell me that the 10 no calls on Kobe Bryant in one Quarter did not change the outcome of this game.

Could The Lakers Have Played Better? Sure.

Sure the Lakers could have played a little harder. They could have shot the ball a little better. But just because these two things didn’t happen, doesn’t excuse the Referees from doing the job they are payed to do. Bynum, Gasol, and Odom basically didn’t show up for this game. Which doesn’t help the teams odds. The the Laker bench was basically non-exsistent. And Derek Fisher’s game was just a little bit off.

And that all together and yes, the Lakers would have a good chance of loosing any night. But when you have Kobe Bryant on your team you always have a chance to win. And it’s unfortunate the the Refs took that chance from Kobe by not making the right calls.

Final Thoughts

All I want as an NBA fan is to understand what’s going on. Referees miss calls from time to time. Of course they do. They are only human just like you and I. But at the same time, they are damn good at what they do! There’s no excuse for missing as many calls as were missed on Christmas Day. Laker fans have the right to know what’s going on.

I think this all has to do with a bigger picture that is being painted by the NBA and by Commissioner David Stern. They desperatly want LeBron James to be the ambassador of their league. Even though LeBron can never be as great as Kobe Bryant, the NBA is determined to market LeBron James as if he is. And the blown calls and the fixed loss handed to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers by the NBA on Christmas Day, is one stroke more towards painting their masterpiece!

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2areTbQtgT8

What are you most excited for with this upcoming NBA season?

McGrady also called Kobe Bryant the toughest player in the league to guard … over LeBron James.

“No doubt, Kobe,” McGrady said. “No doubt. The man is just a fierce competitor. He tries to rip your heart out no matter who he plays, night in and night out. Bron is one of them guys, he gets buckets, but he also is an unselfish player. Kobe? Nah. He trying to take your heart. He gonna get it.”

Post from: Lakers blog

ESPN: The Lakers became the first team in NBA history to win back-to-back games, both on the road, against teams with .800-plus win percentage at least 40 games into the season.

The Cavaliers have been dominent at home this season, a perfect 23-0 at home and completely blowing teams out in Cleveland. But today was a different story. After beating the Celtics in Boston last Thursday night, the Lakers follow-up their big win with yet another big win beating the Cavs 101-91. Kobe Bryant showed us why he is the ultimate competitor playing through a nasty flu and getting IV’s at halftime. Even then he still finished with 19 points and hit a huge turnaround jumper in the 4th quarter against Lebron James that went so high it almost hit the ceiling.

Stepping up in place of Kobe today was Lamar Odom who had a huge game. His statline read something like this… 28 points, 17 rebounds, 2 Assists and 1 block shot. He was critical to the Lakers success today as he and Pau Gasol dominated the paint and set the aggressive tone for the team.

Lebron James ended up with a near triple double with 16 points, 12 assists, and 8 rebounds. But the difference was the Lakers were able to keep him in check all day long. He shot only 5-20 from the field and showed that outside shooting is still his big weakness.

Great game overalll. Great to see the Lakers as hungry and motivated as they are. There are a few things we learned from this game that I would like to point out:

1) Lebron’s Outside Shooting (a.k.a Lebrick)

Lebron James as gifted as he is, still has obvious problems with his outside jumper. Particularly just inside the 3-point line. The Lakers forced him to beat them from the outside in which he showed that he obviously cannot. It’s still ridiculous to compare Lebron James to Kobe Bryant when his outside shot is so horrible.

2) Cleveland’s Offensive Woes

The Cavs are definitely a good defensive team at home, but offensively they are streaky. If that jumpshot or 3-point shot is not going down, Lebron James ends up having to do everything himself. They are a little bit like the Spurs in how they go in offensive droughts during games. The Lakers used these periodic droughts to catch up in the game and eventually take the lead.

3.) Lakers Dominate Cavs In The Paint

Even without the big man inside Andrew Bynum, the Lakers were still able to dominate the paint against the Cavs with Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol and a little bit of help from Mihm & Powell. The Lakers were scoring so much in the paint it actually made the Cavs defense look very bad from time to time.

4) Lamar Odom Can Still Play!

A very good sign for Lakers fans. Lamar Odom for the second game in a row played like an all-star. Like we all expect him to play. There were times in the season where I wondered if Lamar Odom still had game and if he could help the Lakers. He has proved that he is extremely valuable to the Lakers since Bynum has gone down with injury.

5.) Kobe is still the Best Player On The Planet!

Oh yeah and one more thing. Kobe Bryant is still the best. So all you Lebron followers need to settle down and just wait until Kobe’s retirement to crown your favorite player as the games best. To be sick with the flu, throwing up before the game, getting IV’s at halftime, and to still outscore your so called MVP Lebron James. Is it really even a debate as to who’s better?

By the way…. here is that ridiculously sick turnaround shot Kobe Bryant had over Lebron James towards the end of the game. What a shot!!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Episode VI: Return of the Odom: Bill Bridges thinks we have have seen the start of a different Lamar Odom:

In the 1984 finals, his team was bullied, his power forward literally clotheslined. The Lakers were Intimidated and then finally beaten by the Boston Celtics, a team the Lakers had never beaten since their move out west.

Fast forward a year. Pat Riley heard a year of talk about how his team was soft, good enough for show time but not tough enough to win. It was then. prior to the rematch that he told his team what his father had told him. “Just remember what I always taught you. Somewhere, someplace, sometime, you’re going to have to plant your feet, make a stand and kick some ass. And when that time comes, you do it.”

It was the spirit of Lee Riley that Lamar Odom channeled on February 5th 2008. “Sometimes you’ve just got to make a stand. Tonight, we made a stand.”

If history repeats itself it must do so on 24 year cycles. The finesse team from Los Angeles goes into Boston and kicked sand into the bully’s face. As it was in 1985, so it shall be in 2009.

“Cathartic? I don’t know what cathartic means. I didn’t go to college” Kobe Bryant may not know what cathartic means but Lamar Odom embodied it.

We might have witnessed the transformation of LO. For so long he has tantalized us with a unique combination of size, speed, and skills. Always disappointing instead with inconsistency and lack of focus and fortitude. Can a moment be so cathartic for an individual? Can transformation happen in an instant?

Stephen Jay Gould amended Darwin by showing that evolution happens in an instant (geologically speaking). Punctuated Equilibrium rather than a gradual crawl. Evolution is Revolution.

What are the traits keeping LO back from greatness. Not skills. Not size. Not athleticism. But focus, determination, concentration, will. Maybe he finally got it. Finally realized he has to let go to move forward. Phil started the process by having LO come off the bench for the first time in his life. Humility shatters the illusions of the ego that prevent growth. By letting go, maybe LO now can play in the moment. Present, focused, determined.

“Basketball is a humiliating sport, it can humble you right in the middle of the game,” Odom said. “But tonight I just left all that behind.”

Character is shaped not by success but reaction to failure. Evolution only occurs change in environmental stress favours a new variant of the species. Without stress no growth. Andrew Bynum’s injury, especially due to the deja vu nature, created cruel and violent stress. But also an opportunity for growth and evolution. How this team, on this trip, reprising the character of 1985 has responded to this stress been gratifying to us all. How LO, in this game matched the passion of KG, looked the bullies in the eye and, in the end, won the game, might be the true blessing arising from the misfortune in Memphis.

We sensed the change even during the game. Any other game, you would despair at seeing LO at the line with one free throw to tie and two the win. But for the first time since he became a Laker, somehow I knew he would sink both. And he did.

The last week in Lakers Land: From kwame a.:

Sat, Jan. 31: Humming along on the roadie, Drew goes down and is left screaming in pain. Can’t help but think the worst, even while drinking at a wedding reception, can’t stop thinking about Drew being out for the year.

Sun, Feb. 1: Super Bowl Sunday is a subdued affair, waiting for the word on Drew, only to hear the damn doctor couldn’t look at the MRI. Even while enjoying some delicious fat tire ale, and watching a great football game, I’m nervous as hell bad news is looming.

Mon, Feb. 2: Kobe comes out firing early at MSG and you knew he was in that mode. After a virtuoso performance, he ends up with 61, which tempers the earlier news that Drew is out for 8-12 weeks.

Tue, Feb. 3: A day to re-think just how amazing Kobe really is, the fact he has done it for a decade straight, all with the same cold-blooded determination. We are all lucky to be able to have seen his career.

Wed, Feb. 4: The team buckles down in the 4th after some rag-tag play, and led by Pau and Kobe beat the Raptors, 4-0 on the trip, but Gasol goes 45 minutes, how in the hell do we win in Boston tomorrow without AB?!?

Thurs, Feb. 5: Against all odds, and sometimes 3 zebras, the Lakers prevail in OT, showing the requisite “machismo” the mainstream media has lusted for all year. Fans and players know its only a regular season game, but the win felt like it could have important psychological ramifications for the team going forward.

Fri, Feb. 6: Talking heads and typing bloggers argue and debate the BOS/LA classic, arguing over whether the refs were at fault for the C’s loss, what the win meant for the Lakers and what the loss meant for the C’s. Such reaction to a regular season game is rare, even forcing Kurt to reaffirm FBG’s commitment to civil dialogue.

Sat, Feb. 7: While thinking this would be a slow day, I get a text message that we made a trade. I immediately doubt it, but then, there it, confirmed on FBG, Vlad for Morrison and Shanny.

For many teams this type of week would be the most memorable in franchise history. For the Lakers, it’s just another week. With a chance to break the Cavs perfect home record, I can’t wait to see what this next week brings.

Cleveland Coming In: Everyone talks about LeBron and what Mo Williams has brought to the table, but the reason Cleveland is one of the top teams in the NBA is defense.

They are second overall in defensive efficiency (lowest PPG because they play at a slow pace). They do it by limiting shooting percentages with solid perimeter defense and some long arms and big bodies in the paint that can block and alter shots.

Part of that is Ilgauskas, he is quietly the key to this team. They need his scoring as a big, his presence and length inside. With him in the lineup they score fore more points a game. With him they are 28-4, without him 11-5.

Last Time They Met: The Lakers handed the Cavs their worst start of the season back in January. We can take nothing much from that game, the Cavs were without Big Z. and Delonte West. As stated above, with Z in the lineup they are a different team.

Keys to the Game: One of the things that has been a problem for the Lakers this season is teams with a center who can step out and hit the jumper, pulling the help defender away from the basket. That is a basic tenent of the Cavs offense — Big Z lives in the corner as a spot-up guy on the three. The Lakers are going to have to defend the P&R without a simple backstop, they need to be smart about it.

On the other end, we seem to always talk about getting Gasol involved, and the Lakers need to because he is hot — in the last four games he is shooting 69.4%, scoring 27 per and adding 13 boards.

In the last meeting Kobe did a good job denying LeBron and making him work for his points. I expect to see that again, the goal is to force the other Cavs to beat you, the problem is that they can in this meeting far better than they did in the last meeting

Kobe Bryant has to play with his team, he cannot get sucked into a one-on-one deal with LeBron. It’s one thing to do that against the Knicks (and shooting 60% while doing it) but in this game it is not a winning strategy.

Where to watch: 12:30 on ABC, after a pretty interesting Spurc/Celtics game.

FoxSports: “Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has done such a good job of stockpiling talent, I’d argue that LeBron James could compete for a title — and probably win one — with the Lakers’ second team. That unit features Lamar Odom, who’s way more talented than any among James’ supporting cast, and Trevor Ariza. There’s also Sasha Vujacic, who’d average between 15 and 18 points as a spot-up shooter with the Cavs.”

Besides that, the Cavaliers had beaten the Lakers in the past five regular-season meetings, dating back to the 2005-2006 season.

The Lakers put an end to the aforementioned shenanigans Monday night and in the process leapfrogged the Eastern Conference-dwelling Cavaliers in having the league’s best winning percentage.

Pau Gasol scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, as the Lakers snapped a two-game losing streak to improve their record to 32-8. The Cavaliers fell to 31-8, with their second loss in the past three games.

The Lakers improved to 17-1 in games in which they hold the opposition under 100 points.

The Lakers put the game away with a decisive scoring run late in the fourth quarter, sparked by Bench Mob member Trevor Ariza.

The super-hyped game on Martin Luther King Jr. Day not only featured the two teams with the best records in their respective conferences but also arguably the league’s top two players, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, who is the NBA’s reigning MVP and Cleveland’s LeBron James, who in the eyes of many, has the inside track on winning the MVP trophy this year.

The two rivals, who were USA teammates this past summer at the Beijing Olympics, spent the better part of the game guarding each other. Bryant finished with 20 points, while James scored 23 points. Bryant, coming off a triple-double in the Lakers’ loss last Friday to Orlando, also had 12 assists and six rebounds.

“Kobe wanted that,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of the defensive assignment. “I wasn’t for that or supportive of it. I wanted to take him off in the first half and put Trevor on (James) because (Bryant) got a foul and I thought he was playing pretty aggressively. But (the officials) let him play aggressively.”

Bryant accomplished all this, despite dislocating the ring finger on his right hand in the first quarter. It did not deter him one bit. Athletic trainer Gary Vitti put the finger back in place and after a quick tape job, Bryant was good to go.

“I knew he was in a lot of pain,” Lakers teammate Andrew Bynum said.

Ariza said, “I knew he wasn’t going to leave the game. He’s tough.”

With James guarding him one-on-one and just seconds left in the first half, Bryant sank a jump shot from straight away, to pull the Lakers to within one point of Cleveland, 50-49, at halftime.

Gasol made all four his field-goal tries in the third quarter, three off assists from Bryant as the Lakers shot 63.2 percent from the field and put some distance between themselves and Cleveland by outscoring the Cavaliers by 10 points in the quarter.

Lakers: 31-8 (1st in West), Cleveland (1st in East, by % points over Orlando)
Offensive Rating: Lakers: 110.4 (1st), Cleveland: 110.0 (2nd)
Defensive Rating: Lakers: 102.0 (5th), Cleveland: 96.2 (1st)
Rebound Rate: Lakers: 51.6 (5th), Cleveland: 52.1 (3rd)
Pace: Lakers: 97.5 (4th), Cleveland: 91.8 (25th)
Projected Lineups: Lakers: Fisher, Kobe, Radman, Gasol, Bynum
Cleveland: Williams, Pavlovic, Lebron, Wallace, Varejao

Lakers Coming In:

When the schedule came out over the summer, a few stretches stuck out as extra important – in which the team would be tested and revealed as true title contenders or needing improvement. We are in the midst of one of those stretches right now, and it is not going particularly smoothly. This game finishes off a brutal four game gauntlet: at Houston and San Antonio back to back, followed by Orlando and the Cavs at home. I’m not particularly worried about the consecutive losses. We were missing key players in both, having to play unnatural lineups to compensate for the total lack of guard depth off the bench. The Spurs game was the second night of a back to back on the road against a team that was playing possessed. Despite having all three of their stars bring their “A” game (all had 20+ points), and shooting at a scorching rate (57% from the field and 50% from three), the Spurs needed a lucky last minute shot, foul, and non-foul to beat us by one. Sometimes that just happens. I’m confident that if we played them 10 times they’d only play that well once. The Orlando game also showed us how hard it is to beat a great team firing on all cylinders – Howard went off for 25/20, Nelson had 28/8, and all five starters scored in double figures. They couldn’t miss down the stretch and we couldn’t make. Again, sometimes this happens.

Yet, all of this begs the question: why are teams playing so well against us? There are some recurring red flags. Our last seven opponents all scored over 100 points (even with our increased pace, that’s a bad sign). Houston and SA both shot over 53%, an alarming rate. Houston and Orlando both destroyed us on the boards (Orlando by +14, with 15 offensive rebounds). SA and Orlando both made more than 10 threes at a over 42%. Too often, our defense seems to be lost in its rotations – the slightest bit of penetration off a pick and roll or otherwise leads to massive over-help in the lane, with other teammates either not helping the helper, or doing so very slowly. The result is too many open three pointers and poor positioning on the rebounds when shots go up. I don’t think the loss of Farmar, Sasha, or Walton explains any of this. Or a fundamental weakness in our personnel. It’s simply a failure to execute our defensive schemes and play smartly. This must change.

Walton might play tonight, but I wouldn’t expect him to get many minutes with Lebron the opposing small forward. Ditto Radmanovic. When Lebron is at the 3, I suspect we’ll see a lot of Ariza, as Radmanovic and Walton simply have no chance against him (unless Kobe surprises me and guards him heavy minutes, which I don’t think would be good). When Lebron slides down to the 4, then we’ll probably put Odom on him. I look for many of our key players to have fresher legs given the two days off. Fisher has played 36+ minutes in seven straight games; Kobe has been over 40 the last three and over 37 in seven straight. Sasha is back to spell both. This could help as our guards really seemed worn down at the end of the Orlando game (Kobe just ran out of gas and started throwing up impossible threes).

Cleveland Coming In:

The Cavs are also banged up, but you wouldn’t know it from their play. Even though they lost to Chicago on Thursday, they rebounded the next night and throttled New Orleans. Last week, they destroyed Boston. That said, I do not think we will see their best side. First, Ilgauskas and Delonte West are both out, arguably their second and third best players (West is second in +/- and Z third; both figure in Cleveland’s most effective 5 man lineup by point differential). Despite the continued parade of victories in his absence, Z has been missed. He’s always been underrated and is having another solid season: 21st in PER (21.15, ahead of Garnett, Billups, Joe Johnson, David West, Alridge, Carter, Durant, etc.), spreads the floor for Lebron on offense with his perimeter shooting at the center position, and is part of perhaps the best rebounding front line in the league. Despite all the buzz about Mo Williams, West has been the better player, making more threes at a much higher %, playing better defense, and sporting almost double the assist to turnover ratio. Williams arrival has influenced the Cavs improvement, but maybe not as much as West’s improvement. With him out, everyone slides up a notch: Pavlovic starts, and Wally and Gibson get more time. All can shoot lights out from distance, as well as Williams, so things are always set up for you to get drilled if you help too much on Lebron. Varejao and Wallace are first rate rebounders and defenders (both on and off the ball), so they will make life difficult for Drew and Pau. Really, the team has no discernable weakness: 2nd in offense, 1st in defense, 3rd in rebounding, guards who shoot lights out from 3, bigs who defend and rebound, and . . . some guy named Lebron.

Lebron vs. Kobe:

Which, brings us to the subplot we care about most (or, better said, The Plot): Kobe vs. Lebron. They are widely recognized as the game’s best two players, they lead perhaps its two best teams, they spearheaded the Redeem Team to gold, they are the league’s preeminent marketing personalities. A favorite nba pastime is to debate this vs. that star’s merits. For the last season or two, that debate has often centered on Lebron and Kobe. A word about that.

First, I’m an unabashed Kobe homer. I have researched and argued the technicalities of certain provisions of the Colorado criminal code. Last week, I was teaching my two year old girl how to write letters for the first time and led with, “think of a word you really like, some person or thing you love and I’ll write that word.” Her immediate reply, unprovoked: “Kobe.” I’ve advocated for him endless times in mvp debates, his place among the greats of all time, his feud with Shaq, etc., etc. Yet, in this current debate, I must give way to clear reason and cry uncle. As a basketball player, Lebron is better. Than Kobe has ever been.

Random Lebron points:

• His PER this season is 32.0. That would be the best mark . . . ever. Jordan’s high was 31.7, Wilt’s 31.8, Magic’s 27.0, Bird’s 26.3, Kareem’s 29.9, Shaq’s 30.6, Duncan’s 27.1, and Kobe’s 28.0 (24.7 this year).
• To put his PER in perspective, Lebron uses 33.16 possessions a game. Those possessions result in 42.5 points. That means that if Lebron used all of his team’s possessions, they would end up with an offensive rating of 128.3 (LA leads the league at 110.4). Kobe uses 31.51 possessions a game and those result in 37.9 points, leading to an all Kobe offensive rating of 120.2. Both are off the charts, but the gap between the offense Lebron and Kobe create is huge.
• Lebron is more efficient in scoring the ball because he shoots a better percentage, which is primarily the result of both getting to the basket more and finishing at a higher rate when there. Lebron shoots 40% of his shots inside at a 74% clip; Kobe shoots 23% inside at 65%. Kobe shoots better on jump shots, but only by 5%.
• Lebron shoots 2.1% higher in true shooting %, assists on 5% more of his possessions, and rebounds at a 3% higher rate. He simply creates much more offense, more efficiently than Kobe, and uses the ball at about the same rate. And, remember, all of this comes in Kobe’s preeminent year in terms of scoring efficiency.
• Whatever the difference is between them on offense, it is bigger on defense. When Lebron is on the court, other teams score 97.9 points per 100 possessions; when he sits they score 105.9. When Kobe is on the court, other teams score 104.9 per 100; when he sits they score 104.2. Lebron makes his team 8.0 points per 100 better on defense; Kobe makes his team 0.7 worse. As a result, Lebron is 4th at individual defensive rating and second in defensive win shares. Lebron is the anchor of the league’s best defense. Kobe is a significant component of a strong, but far worse defense.

To me, these individual stats from Lebron reveal why Cleveland is so dominant as a team. When you first look at the team around Lebron, you see a lot of solid players, but nothing overwhelming. None of his teammates will be all stars this year, even in the weaker East; none will compete for all nba or all defensive honors; the bench is okay, but nothing like LA’s. Is Cleveland’s second best player (probably Ilgauskas) as good as LA or Boston’s fourth? Yet, Cleveland leads the league by a wide margin in both point and efficiency differential. They are having a historic season on both fronts. The reason is Lebron. Whatever you think of PER, he is having one of the single best seasons that any player has ever had – at both ends of the court – and is doing so in a way that directly translates to team dominance. And that’s not a point to glide past. He is putting up all time dominant individual numbers and helping all of his teammates have career years themselves. He is one part Michael and one part Magic. And he’s only 24.

Now, none of that is to discount Kobe. He will go down as one of the ten best players of all time, the second best shooting guard, perhaps the all time scoring leader, and owner of multiple rings. Beyond all of that, Kobe brings something to the table that Lebron does not. Kobe captures our attention and imagination in a way that Lebron has not, and probably could not. Lebron is like Shaq in the sense that his success is almost entirely physical – with Shaq an unparalleled combination of size and power, and Lebron adding speed and skill to the equation. As with Shaq, there has never been someone with Lebron’s physical gifts before, and there may never be again. He simply is bigger, faster, stronger, and jumps higher than everyone else. This is not the case with Kobe. There have been endless players with his physical traits that have not made it, or that have not made it like him. (Put another way: if Lebron had Kobe’s body would he still be a superstar? what if Kobe had Lebron’s body?).

Kobe’s success, much like Jordan’s, comes through mastery of detail, mental dominance, and unbounded intensity, will, and ambition. He is, and always has been, obsessed with the nuances of the game. His entire focus and energy has always been directed at one thing – basketball excellence (whatever you think of how he balances personal and team success). Kobe’s “faults,” his “dark side,” all stem from this mad desire to be the best at the game. This is a two sided coin, with “heads” producing possibly unmatched clutch performance and spurts of brilliance, and “tails” leading to destructive interactions with underperforming teammates or team officials. The result, ironically, is a personality that transcends the game. Kobe, perhaps more than any present athlete, commands interest, passion, love, hate – he forces you to take a side, and to do so zealously. We marvel at Lebron’s almost unfair physical abilities and accomplishments, but he does not move us like Kobe. Everyone is happy when he succeeds; no one cares when he fails. Lebron makes us wonder at his physicality; we marvel at his dunks, his leaping ability, his strength. Kobe draws deeper reactions; we wonder at his mystique, will, and spurts of godliness. We won’t care about Lebron’s day to day life when he retires, like we do with Jordan, and like we will with Kobe. If someone wrote a tell all biography of Lebron’s non-basketball activities, it would be greeted with a shrug and a yawn; such a book about Kobe would be impossible to put down.

In a sense, both players are deep contradictions. Kobe grew up the son of a professional basketball player, living in Italy or affluent suburbs. He didn’t need basketball to make it in life. Yet, we have perhaps never seen an athlete so driven, both mind and body. He has the work ethic of someone who fears life is on the verge of collapsing, but he’s always had everything. He is that strange rich kid with a chip on his shoulder, who goes on to rule the world, but do so coldheartedly. He grew up on the basketball court, with his father’s teams, but has always found being part of a team unnatural. He plays as if the embodiment of the American Dream, but grew up to riches and the finest of Europe. Despite unbounded personal ambition, he hasn’t overly “branded” or “corporate-ized” himself, letting (whether by choice or Colorado) his focus extend first to the game. We are left confused, but always captured. We care not only what Kobe does, but why, and what he thinks, and what he’ll do next.

Lebron is also a mystery. He is the kid from nowhere that speaks of himself in the third person, and has open (and realistic) dreams of being the Global Icon. Despite goals that clearly far transcend on the court success, and that are purely individualistic, he is perhaps the consummate “team” superstar, playing in a way that unites individual and team success, making others better, always preferring the easy pass to one on one play. His is the face of Nike; branding personified. He is openly willing to turn his back on his hometown and the throngs that worship him there for a higher corporate platform; but he plays with uncanny unselfishness. He also confuses us, but our interest only runs basketball deep, despite his broader pursuits. Sometimes his antics get old.

If I had to choose which player to start a team with today, I would pick Lebron. If I had to choose a player’s career to follow, from cradle to grave, it would be Kobe. I have had the good fortune of fulfilling the latter, watching most of his games since he was a rookie, and I doubt any future athlete will so completely be worth my time and emotion. We should be grateful for these days when gods again grace the court.

Keys to the Game:

Back to the game at hand. Both teams need this game. Cleveland needs to continue to prove that they are legitimate cream of the crop contenders. LA needs to prove that the last two games were bumps in the road and not indicative of deeper problems. It appears as if every game will count in the race for home advantage, which is so crucial in the bizarre 2-3-2 finals setup. I think the Lakers win this game by over-neutralizing Lebron. Double and triple teams, traps as soon as he gets the ball, etc. This won’t always work given his ballhandling, speed, and incredible passing ability. But without Z and West, he will more often be surrounded by unskilled bigs clogging the lane and shooters that can’t create offense if chased off their spots. As the numbers above reveal, when Lebron “uses” a possession (by shooting or assisting), Cleveland’s offense is off the charts. Make others beat you, especially as his teammates are banged up and might be less sharp on the road. On offense, run the offense inside-out. Wallace is a great defender, but he gives up significant length to both Pau and Drew. Put those guys on the block and let them shoot over him. Force Cleveland to collapse in and work the ball weakside to open shooters or Kobe for a pick and roll. Don’t, under any circumstances, let Kobe get sucked into a duel, especially if Lebron is guarding him.

This is a game to care about. Put on your Lakers (or Forum Blue and Gold) gear, give the kids cough syrup and send them to bed early, fire up grill, and enjoy basketball at its best – two elite teams trying to prove themselves, and, above all, a battle of two very different basketball gods.

–Reed