I can't believe how quickly the blogging world has turned on Phil Jackson. And while were at it, I do not get the criticisms I've been reading of Sasha Vujacic or Pau Gasol. Phil is NOT to blame, unless you think that players not taking their coach seriously is the coach's fault.
About the only explanation I can find for people knocking Jackson,
Gasol and Vujacic, is that these fans are JUST LIKE the Lakers' players
... they are too focused on offense, and do not take defense seriously enough.
"Defense wins championships" is not just a cliche', it is the truth,
and Lakers players and fans alike seem to think the Lakers can win a
title allowing the Celtics to score 98, 108 and 97 points per game, even when the Celtics have allowed their opponents to score only 90.3 points per game all season long ... and the Celtics were no where NEAR as motivated as they are now to defend.
The math doesn't add up!
Pay attention to the post game comments, and you can see the that the Lakers are not on the same page as their coach. Phil Jackson alone seems to understand that the Lakers need to take defense more seriously.
These young Lakers have NOT played good defense all year, and that has put them at odds with Jackson. To be specific, the Lakers had the 19th best defense in the NBA this season, allowing opponents to score 101.4 points per game.
By contrast, the Celtics allowed their opponents to score an average of 90.3 points per game.
Given that pace slows down in the playoffs, it is more than reasonable to assume that, for the Lakers to win ANY game against the Celtics, the Lakers will need to hold the Celtics to 90 points or less.
The ONLY time the Lakers did that these Finals, they won. Shouldn't
THAT be enough evidence to convince them? Hold the Celtics to 90 points
or less, you win. Don't do it, and you lose. Four games have borne that
out, how about believing it now?
In the 1st quarter of game 4, the Lakers held the Celtics to 14
points. That defensive effort, combined with the Lakers' rebounding and
ball movement, created easy offense for the Lakers as well, hence the
21 point Finals record.
After the first quarter, the Lakers defense let up. In the 3rd
quarter, it was exactly as bad as it had been all season. The Celtics
scored 31 that quarter.
Remember the sound bites of Phil Jackson in the locker room and on
the floor at half time? Repeatedly he warned his players, "Win the 3rd
quarter. Are you listening? Win the 3rd quarter and we'll be fine."
Phil Jackson coached in the CBA, where playoff seeding was determined not only by wins, but how many QUARTERS a team won. If
Jackson could get the Lakers to think in terms of winning quarters,
then he could get a more consistent defensive effort all game long, rather than the big effort at the beginning that vanishes until the 4th quarter when it is painfully obvious it is needed.
After the game, Kevin Garnett commented on how surprised he was that
the Lakers were not giving the effort in the 2nd half that they gave in
the 1st half.
SUBSTITUTIONS
For all of you baffled by Phil's substitutions, he was not
subbing for offense. He was subbing for defense, to stop the bleeding.
Phil Jackson understands what, apparently, not everyone does: the
Lakers are NOT going to outscore the Celtics. The Celtics will not
allow that. Therefore, the Lakers are going to have to hold the down
Celtics scoring to win.
If I were coach, I'd tell my players that the magical number is 22, that way he might be able to make the Lakers give a more consistent defensive effort. If the Lakers can hold the Celtics to 22 POINTS PER QUARTER, the Lakers will be in a position to win.
A NEW HOPE
As a reminder, the Lakers could have potentially won all 3 of the games
they lost. The problem always was, they let the Celtics score too much.
The series is not over, but if the Lakers players don't wisen up, defend, rebound and move the ball, it will be.
ABOUT PAU AND SASHA
Not only am I not critical of Phil, I don't get these criticisms of Pau.
Pau is NOT the Lakers starting center, guys! Bynum is! Pau is playing out of position, as is Ronny Turiaf. If healthy, Bynum and Mihm
are supposed to be the inside force, and Pau will do his scoring on
lobs as he cuts to the rim, not post up play. And Pau has the foot
speed to keep up with the Boozers in the league, and the length to
really bother them defensively.
As for Sasha letting Allen "walk" by him at crunch time, the worst
thing Sasha could have done was foul Allen, that would have been a
guaranteed 2 points for the Celtics. Of the 1000's of people who
have played in the NBA over the decades, Ray Allen is the 7th best free
throw shooter to ever play in the league. By letting Allen by him,
Sasha was presumably sending Allen to help, BIGS that would alter
Allen's shot or cause him to pass the ball. The team defense is to
blame here, not Sasha.
In truth, the team defense is to blame for the hole the Lakers are in. Not Phil Jackson, not Kobe's shot selection, not Radmanovic's lack of hard fouls, not Sasha's letting Ray Allen go by.
Seriously guys, if you are looking critically at the Lakers offense, you are looking at the wrong side of the floor.
The Celtics have the best defense in basketball. That best defense, was NEVER more motivated than it was last night. Naturally, the Lakers are not going to perform as well as expected against that, even the great Kobe Bryant. To expect otherwise is to ignore reality.
If the Lakers score better Sunday, cool. But if it happens, it will
be because the Laker defense has allowed them to run out for easy
scores. It won't be because they've magically solved the Celtics
defense and can now score as everyone expects them to do.
The Lakers need to defend to win.
That's easy to overlook because it is so cliche' to keep saying,
"Defense wins championships," but the saying has endured for a reason.
And frankly, the Lakers (and probably their fans) don't take defense
seriously yet.
And so it was, that the Lakers #24, in his 24th Finals game of
his career, was part of a 24 point meltdown that is now in the record
books.
All that will be but a footnote though, if the next Lakers record is to become the 1st team to overcome a 3-1 deficit.
That record is the Lakers' for the taking, if they will rebound, move the ball, and play defense as if this season depended on it. Because it does.
I like Ariza. He is still rusty, and probably isn't the offensive force that Radmanovic can be, but the guy thinks on his feet and makes better decisions than, say, Luke Walton.
I know it is a bit Mike D'Antoni, but I would shorten my rotation in game 5 to just:
"For all of you baffled by Phil's substitutions, he was not subbing for offense. He was subbing for defense, to stop the bleeding. "
If Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, and Vladimir Radmanovic all in at the same time is called "subbing for defense" then Phil Jackson has lost it completely.
The Lakers lost the game in the fourth quarter when they had an opportunity to stem the Celtics' run. Phil decided to stay with a cold-shooting and frustrated Sasha, a confused Radmanovic, and the outmatched Farmar instead of utilizing Fisher on Eddie House, Kobe on Ray Allen, Odom on Posey, Ariza on Pierce, and Gasol on KG.
I am sick and tired of PHIL giving preferential treatment to the space cadet, especially when Trevor Ariza goes out and plays only 8 minutes but gives it his all with his effort and court awareness - 6 pts, 5 rebounds, a block, and disrupts passing lanes like no other. He produced more in limited minutes than Jordan and Sasha combined.
The only lineup that will work for the Lakers if they want to extend this series is: Fish at point, Kobe at SG, Ariza at SF, Lamar at PF, and Gasol at C.
Phil should only use Turiaf when Powe is in the game and Sasha when he's got a hot hand. Farmar you use only spot minutes for a resting Fisher. The only time I use Vlad Rad is when the Lakers have a sizable lead. Otherwise if they're down by a margin, the no-defense playin' lost in space, snowboarding Martian stays handcuffed to the bench.
Yeah, I see your point about Farmar, Vujacic and Radmanovic on the floor at the same time. However, replace Farmar with Ariza, and I am okay with it.
BTW, I don't think the Lakers lost the game in the 4th quarter. I think they lost it in the 3rd, when they let the Celtics score 31 points.
Here is another way of looking at this.
In the Finals, the Celtics are averaging 96 points per game. The Lakers are averaging 92 points per game. That isn't that much to make up; the Lakers seriously could have swept the Celtics with better defense.
The Celtics averaged 100.5 points per game during the regular season, so they are -4.5 in the Finals.
The Lakers averaged 108.6 in the regular season, so they are -16.6 in the Finals.
At this point, it seems unlikely that the Lakers could come up with 16.6 extra points, regardless the substitution pattern.
However, the Lakers defense has Boston at 96 points per game. If they could defend well enough to shave 6 points off of that average, which seems very doable, they would win.
I like pretty much all sports, but to make time for the more important things in life, I have chosen to follow just one: basketball.
I have more blog posts at Basketballog y.com.
