Lakers and Spurs Face Off in WCF
Kobe Looks to Prove his MVP while Duncan Wants to Finally Repeat
This year's Western Conference Final is a rematch of many battles between Duncan and Kobe over the past eight years.
With the Spurs’ quite literal vanquishing of the new guard, in Chris Paul, and his upstart Hornets, the stage is set for a Western Conference final that is a throwback to recent NBA history. Keen fans will remember it was Duncan’s Spurs that lost to the Shaq-and-Kobe Lakers in 2004 in an epic six game series remembered by all for Derek Fisher’s 0.4 second miracle winner in Game 5. Well, Fisher is back in purple and gold after stints in Golden State and Utah, returning to help maintain the only hole in the Spurs four-title run: a championship defense. It was the Spurs who captured the title in the lockout shortened 1999 season, only to have the Lakers run off three consecutive victories during Shaq’s prime. But it was those same Spurs who ended the Shaq/Kobe dynasty in 2003 before going on to win Duncan’s second title (his first with Manu Ginobilli and Tony Parker). Let’s just say there is history here.
History, of course, is what Kobe Bryant is after. After recently shedding the ”best player to never win an MVP” label, Kobe is looking to now dismiss the “can’t win without Shaq” one, and perhaps, if he gets greedy, try to solidify the “next Michael Jordan” one, that some in the media have been tossing around so liberally, with a fourth title.
Look for this to be a hard fought series, with the two best coaches in the league in the Lakers’ Phil Jackson and the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich going head-to-head once again. The Spurs’ perennial Kobe-stopper, Bruce Bowen, has showed signs of age of late, with Popovich electing to play veteran Michael Finley, as well as the previously untested Ime Udoka, before him in key situations thus far this playoffs. What the Spurs really need to be aware of is the battle on the frontline. The Lakers’ Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have shown great chemistry and crisp interior passing that has resulted in easy baskets since Gasol’s arrival near the February trade deadline. If the Gasol-Odom combination repeatedly finds one another in post-up/cutting situations look for the Lakers to take a strong advantage in the series. The Spurs will be reticent to send second defenders to help the Tim Duncan/Kurt Thomas/ Fabricio Oberto frontcourt rotation for fear of opening up opportunities for the Lakers dangerous three-point shooters, in Derek Fisher, Vladimir Radmanovic, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, and that other guy, Kobe Bryant.
What the Spurs bigmen can do to avoid being left on that island is to use their advantages in rebounding and playoff experience to get the Lakers in foul trouble. They have to make Pau Gasol work on the defensive end. If Jackson looks to play Pau on Oberto to hide him from Duncan, then Popovich should go to the extended pick and roll that worked so well in the previous two series. When Duncan and Tony Parker run the pick and roll Oberto will often flash to the foul line extended. Coming off the pick Parker reads the defense and if both defenders show on him he’ll pass up to Oberto who, an excellent passer himself, will often find the wide-open Duncan rolling to the basket.
The Lakers are clearly the deeper and more talented team, with the best player in the series. The equalizers when the playoffs get three rounds deeps are experience and execution. If the Spurs run their offensive sets to the perfection they are capable while containing the Lakers’ attack look for the Spurs to take the series. The Spurs can only solve one problem though, and if the Gasol-Odom duo becomes one for their frontcourt the other, in Kobe Bryant, will be all too eager to send them home with another unsuccessful title defense.
