Kobe Bryant Leads Charge with Second-Half Rally: WCF Spurs-Lakers Game 1

The Lakers 89-85 victory over the Spurs in Game One of the Western Conference Finals—one in which the L.A. recovered from a 20-point third quarter deficit—revealed many things about the Lakers. Most of all, it revealed the confidence that the Los Angeles could win despite staring down a daunting deficit to the defending champs, and the courage to actually make it happen.

Let’s look at the specifics.

Los Angeles

What Worked:

• Despite being unusually passive in the opening half, and not having much success against Bruce Bowen’s disciplined defense, Kobe Bryant was able to decimate Ime Udoka’s, Manu Ginobili’s, and Tony Parker’s individual attempts at defending him.
• And when the game was on the line, Kobe was able to drive perpendicular to the cup, shoulder Bruce Bowen for space, and knock down a midrange jumper that proved to be the difference.
• The Lakers had success running Kobe off of weak-to-strong side horizontal cuts off of Pau Gasol. When Tim Duncan would show on the far side of the screen, Pau Gasol would be wide open under the basket to tap in lobs.
• Three times the Lakers ran Kobe off of down screens and three times Kobe knocked down jumpers.
• And passive or not, Kobe made the perfect pass when the situation called for one—9 AST, 1 TO.
• Whereas Pau Gasol was largely ineffective in creating his own shot, he danced and cut his way into a number of easy scoring positions off of his teammates’ creativity. Credit Gasol with 19 useful points on 9-16 shooting.
• Sasha Vujacic unexpectedly neutralized Ginobili’s offense. In fact, when the Lakers needed boosts of speed and energy in the first and third quarters, Vujacic was able to supply the speed boost that San Antonio couldn’t match. Indeed, if Vujacic can replicate his defensive efforts, the Lakers will be able to prepare for their NBA Finals matchup sooner rather than later.
• With the Lakers struggling, Phil Jackson called on a unit that would get-up and go. This meant eschewing his normal Vladimir Radmanovic/Luke Walton rotation, placing Kobe at the small forward, and playing with Vujacic and either Derek Fisher or Jordan Farmar at the point guard. This lineup gave the Lakers more offensive punch and quicker defensive rotations.
• Not that V-Rad had a bad game. Early on he hit a jumper, ran the court to tap home a missed Derek Fisher layup, cut backdoor to earn a layup of his own, and drive to the basket for two more layups. Credit Radmanovic, not only for hitting all five of his attempts for ten points, but for grabbing five rebounds and also playing earnest defense on Ginobili.
• With nightmares of Deron Williams out of his head, Jordan Farmar actually made a positive contribution—eight points, no turnovers.
• Derek Fisher was able to rip the ball from Tony Parker under the basket late in the game after receiving a feed from Tim Duncan.
• Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom did a much better job of hedging screens and recovering in the second half, limiting Tony Parker’s ability to get to the rim.
• The Lakers did an outstanding job of closing out hard on San Antonio’s three-point shooters, forcing them to take contested shots, or put the ball on the floor which they’re unaccustomed to doing. That’s one reason for San Antonio’s shooting going down the tank late in the game.
• After single teaming the entire game, the Lakers doubled Tim Duncan in the fourth quarter, funneling the ball to the opposite corner where Parker was unwilling to shoot corner jumpers and Finley and Udoka were unable to hit theirs.
• Indeed, Phil Jackson’s daring of the Spurs to beat them with outside jumpers proved to be San Antonio’s undoing.

What Didn’t Work:

• Derek Fisher (1-9 FG) was a step behind Tony Parker, and his jumper was M.I.A.
• While Lamar Odom (3-12 FG, 8 PTS) had success when matched up with Manu Ginobli and Michael Finley in the post, Robert Horry and even Fabricio Oberto were able to sag off and contest his drives.
• Pau Gasol had no answer for Tim Duncan when TD would take the ball into Gasol’s chest.
• Ronnie Turiaf had the heart but not the height to challenge Tim Duncan’s jumpers.
• Los Angeles’ baseline rotations were generally slow in the second half, particularly Lamar Odom’s.
• The Lakers missed close to double-digit layups, including a missed dunk by Gasol.
• The Lakers struggled to score when Kobe Bryant wasn’t aggressive or when their bench wasn’t in the game.

San Antonio Spurs

What Worked:

• Tim Duncan dominated Los Angeles’ attempts to single cover him, shut down Pau Gasol, single-handedly controlled the backboards, and on several occasions when Kobe was able to lose Bowen on a screen, Duncan blocked or altered Kobe’s shots one-on-one. For much of the game, Duncan, not Kobe, played like the league’s MVP—12-25 FG, 18 REB, 2 AST, 4 BLK, 30 PTS.
• Tony Parker was able to carve out driving lanes to the hoop against Derek Fisher, and chipped in with six assists and ten big rebounds.
• Robert Horry and Fabricio held their own on the defensive end, and Oberto even contributed four points on a handful of short bankers.
• The Spurs ball movement and passwork led to a number of wide open jumpers, the majority of which were missed.
• The Spurs did a fantastic job of bumping the roll guys on Los Angeles’ screen/rolls, throwing the timing off of a number of them. This is why so many passes off of screen/rolls in the first half led to Lakers turnovers.
• In the first half, the Spurs collectively shot 7-15 on two-point jumpers and 3-9 from behind the arc. That 10-26 overall number was poor, but at least kept Los Angeles honest from leaving so many shooters open.

What Didn’t Work:

• After hitting three-of their first four two-point jumpers in the second half, the Spurs proceeded to shot 3-17 combined on two and three-point jump shots in the second half, a number that doomed the Spurs.
• With Duncan doubled in the end game, the Spurs had no way of getting to the rim.
• Manu Ginobili was a bummer—3-13 FG, 4 REB, 3 AST, 4 TO, 10 PTS. Unable to shake loose of Sasha Vujacic, unable to finish over the Lakers’ length, and unable to keep himself from overpenetrating and turning the ball over, Ginobli was a walking, balding disaster.
• Still, Ginobili could’ve redeemed himself but he missed a relatively open corner three-ball with seconds left that could have snatched victory back from the Lakers paws.
• Michael Finley looked too old, too slow, and completely useless—0-5 FG, 0-5 3FG.
• Robert Horry gave the Spurs a quality first half rotation. When the Spurs shooters were struggling, why wasn’t he brought into the game in the second half as an extra shooter and ball reverser?
• Tim Duncan only shot 6-10 from the charity stripe, including a couple of big misses in the midst of the Lakers’ 14-0 run that trimmed their 20-point deficit to six.
• When Ime Udoka was run off the three-point line and forced to create his own shot, he fired an airball with two minutes to go.
• Neither Udoka, nor Ginobili showed that they could defend Kobe Bryant without major help.
• Without Tim Duncan to carry them, nobody on the Spurs, not Manu Ginobili, not Tony Parker, and not any of the role players could make a play against a quick, swarming Lakers defense.

Credit the Lakers’ moxie, their speed, their defense, some terrific adjustments, and Kobe Bryant’s brilliance for a terrific opening game victory.

Also credit Phil Jackson for outcoaching Gregg Popovich.

Give goat horns to Michael Finley for not showing up, and to Manu Ginobli for helping the Lakers more than helping the Spurs.

What adjustments need to be made for Game 2?

When the Lakers defense loads up on Duncan late in the game, why not place Duncan on the right box, with Ginobili in the opposite corner? This way, the ball will be reversed to a reliable shooter, and also Ginobili can cut along the baseline and finish under the rim.

Also, under that set, why not bring Ginobili along the baseline to receive a handoff-and-roll with Duncan. With so much defensive attention being paid to Duncan, either Ginobili will be able to get around the screen with his defender trailing, or the screen will force a weak side defender to step up leaving Fabricio Oberto or Robert Horry wide open on the opposite box?

The Spurs might consider running less screen/rolls and having Tony Parker isolate on Derek Fisher one-on-one.

Why not give Robert Horry more than five minutes burn?

Bruce Bowen and Bruce Bowen alone has to guard Kobe Bryant in the second half, no if’s, and’s, or but’s.

Finally somebody (anybody!) Has to make a jump shot for the Spurs if they want to win the series.

As for the Lakers, they just need to play fast with mucho minutes designated to Sasha Vujacic. Having Kobe Bryant play slightly more aggressive in the first half would also be a wise decision.

Other than that, the Lakers were the winners. The Spurs need to adjust to them, not the other way around.