Staff Blog
Game 5 Re-cap: Is there such a thing as a bad win?
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I guess the best thing you can say about the Lakers’ prospects at this point is that, in the NBA, a team’s fortunes (and performance) can shift quickly. In the first round, the Celtics looked frightened and horrible on the road, but unbeatable at home; from game 6 of that series to game 7 they looked like an absolutely, entirely different team.
Which is what the Lakers will have to look like if they’re to have any chance of making game 6 and a possible game 7 competitive. Yes, they won two out of three in L.A., but they didn’t look good doing it, and when you consider the home court advantage teams have had in the playoffs this year, it’s not a terribly impressive feat.
Probably most discouraging, if you’re a Laker fan, is the why behind the Lakers’ performance. Sometimes guys get nervous, and look bad, but then make a couple shots, find their rhythm and get comfortable. A couple of the Lakers have looked out-of-sorts out there, but I’m pretty confident the main factor behind the team’s suckitude has been the Celtics’ defense. They’re too big, too eager, too smothering. And that’s not the kind of thing you just snap out of.
See, basketball players develop their skills with repetition, and they develop certain comfort zones: they release the ball from a certain height, and at a certain speed; they’re comfortable with a certain amount of room between themselves and a defensive player. If a player is forced to do things beyond his comfort zone, then he doesn’t do them as well. And it sure does look like a lot of Lakers (Kobe included) are being forced to shoot faster, arc higher, dribble more carefully, finish more efficiently than they’re used to. As a result, they’ll probably lose.
