Real Deal

Well, of course, the rebounding will take a hit for Boston...but as far as how much it helps Bynum, and how much Bynum will be able to help us now that Perkins is gone, I don't see the significance. Obviously, that will change if Drew plays 30+ minutes for us, but I doubt he will. Who knows. Well, "they" didn't exactly rule him out yet. Just a rumor, that a source close to him said that he's done. Can't really say for sure if that's even true, honestly. But I wouldn't be surprised if Boston did say he's doubtful, then they suit him up anyway. It's Hollywood (says Pierce).

If they are sending Rondo to the glass every missed shot, the Lakers need to push the tempo and look to score on breaks, especially on those long boards. By the third, everyone in green will be on tired legs besides Rajon, and basic basketball tells you to take advantage of a guy that needs to run 94 feet to catch up to streaking guards jetting down the court on the break. Pushing the tempo, and ultimately setting it in our favor, runs Boston dry. Those contested shots they take turn into bad transitions back down the court, mismatches, and either a bucket or a trip to the line under our belt. By the way, did anyone see Bryant's presser after the game? Dude was intimidating.

Bynum doesn't matter out there. He won't be a factor, either way. His knee will be worse than it was tonight. But Gasol...different story. With Perkins out, Gasol is eager to play in the post...exactly what the doctor ordered for us. He HAS to be aggressive in the post, or the triangle breaks, spacing is lost, and we lose the game.

They had the upper hand to begin with, since it's in Los Angeles. But with Perkins injured/out, most definitely. People do forget, however, that Bynum was injured and didn't even play in 2008 (when Boston beat us)...and right now, he's logging in 12-15 minutes before wrapping his knee in ice and not playing for the rest of the game. No excuses.

I wouldn't give too much credit to the bench, at least offensively. Now that I'm looking back at the stats, they didn't shoot that well. Vujacic: 3-6, 9 PTS Brown: 2-4, 4 PTS Odom: 3-9, 8 PTS Farmar: 2-6, 4 PTS Powell: 0-2, 0 PTS Walton: 0-2, 0 PTS Mbenga: 0-1, 0 PTS TOTAL: 10-30 (33%), 25 PTS I think the biggest factor was Ron Artest and Pau Gasol actually stepping up their play, ten-fold. Gasol finally put on a show, and Artest was fighting for his life out there. Just needed that ONE person to step up and help Kobe...and we got two main contributors. Then, the bench energy did factor in, of course...Vujacic, Farmar and Brown played good defense. I don't think their scoring was that big of a factor, though.

LOL, but Kobe does none of that, huh?

Game 6 analysis: teammates stepped up and helped Bryant, and we won. On to Game 7.

Ron will just be more physical on defense, which is what we need. I'm sure that if he gets word of it, he'll let everyone on the team know in the locker room...which is even better. Maybe they will all want to win this game.

Nah, just asked someone that talks to him every night (a friend of mine) to text him.

Haha, I'm trying to get the word out to Ron.

I really don't see what there is to rehearse...but it's whatever. Hope the Lakers get word of it.

Harris is a top five scoring point. Evans and Ellis are both two-guards, by the way. Still don't make the trade, though. Harris is not a superstar, and he never will be. John Wall has the potential to be better than Derrick Rose, which sticks him in the same boat as Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Sure he's not proven...but there's a reason why the Nets (and their fans) wanted that #1 pick.

Most skilled? I have to disagree with that. Ginobili and Odom have both of those guys beat. Although Lamar doesn't play up to his potential most of the time, he's still much more skilled than Nate.

I guess the NBA is already rehearsing the trophy presentation for tonight's post-game. Pretty weak. http://tweetphoto.com/27393313 http://twitter.com/lridleyon7

Can't expect much from anyone on this team NOT named Kobe Bryant, to be honest. I let myself down thinking Gasol was going to absolutely dominate Garnett this series. Main problem is that Bynum can't do a damn thing for us, which means Odom has to...and we all know how that goes.

What? http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-kerrsuns061510

I have $250 on this game. Let's [expletive]ing doing this.

TIME: 9:00 PM EST TV: ABC

Our bench outscored them last game, just barely. I think that part has more to do with SOMEONE ELSE just stepping up and scoring for us, not exactly our bench beating theirs out. Basically, you can look at it like this: Bynum is part of our bench, because Odom is playing starter minutes...yet, neither can contribute for us, so the bench has nothing aside from Farmar, Brown and Vujacic, three shot-chuckers. If Odom goes 15/10, or even Bynum grabs that duo in his statsheet, we have an excellent chance of winning. However, with Artest and Fisher shooting poorly, and Odom and Bynum playing like Darius Miles and a 45-year old Shaq, we're going to need a 40-point outing by Bryant, and a 25-point game by Gasol, and excellent defense by everyone, just to pull this out.

Re-read a bit of what you typed, then I just want you to go back to post #3 and #12 in this topic, and understand exactly why I said what I did. I can't discuss charges. You don't approve of them, and I recognize drawing a charge as a legit defensive move/strategy.

Yeah, but are you talking about actual flopping, or taking charges? Taking a charge is a defensive tactic, a legit one...nothing wrong with it at all.

Nate can be less selfish, and he does more on the court. JR Smith is most effective when he's spotting up for a shot, relying on a superstar teammate or a post player to get him the ball in ideal situations. I'll take Nate Robinson. He can create his own shot, he's one of the fastest players in the league, and he's more passive.

Point is, Toronto has to do whatever it takes to keep Bosh, or to lure a superstar free agent to Raptorland. It's going to be difficult, to be honest: Toronto isn't LA or New York, the Raptors aren't a contender and most likely won't be one next season (unless they somehow rake in two free agents), and then you have to look at the coaching situation as well. Retaining CB4 is the idea. If that means trading Hedo (who doesn't even deserve to start on any NBA team at this point) and putting Calderon on the block as well, so be it. With the way the team is set up today, Toronto needs a superstar that can give them 25/10, or they need the ultimate superstar that can dominate any team he plays (James and Wade are the two ideal players here).

That's all on you, then. When someone asks me what I had for dinner, I tell them a steak. I can't be easily distracted when I'm watching the sport I love. No in-game music can take me away from the game...only gets me pumped up, if anything.

I don't find basketball boring to begin with, partially because of the fans. The NCAA has bands to get teams and fans pumped up during timeouts. The NBA teams don't have bands. I just don't get why you're nitpicking about in-game music. There are no negatives that come with it. There are no videos that distract fans from the game, and it's not like the fans are more into the music than they are the game (don't even bother arguing that). The referees are another story, but what can you do about that? Less involvement? So...less calls? If there's a travel, it's a travel and needs to be called. Fouls have to be called. Out-of-bounds? What else can they do LESS of? If your answer is that you want them to not decide the outcome of a game, then you believe the NBA is rigged...and again, that's a different subject.