Kobe Bryant Brings Los Angeles One Step From Greatness: WCF Spurs-Lakers Game 5

While Derek Fisher was too slow to be more than a nuisance on Tony Parker, Fish did rip Parker trying to split a screen, and he didn’t turn the ball over. Fisher kept the Lakers offense moving and allowed his teammates to do the Spurs in.

And while Fisher lacked the foot speed, Jordan Farmar’s get-up-and-go quicks were able to hang with Parker stride-for-stride on one end, while often jetting past him on the other.

The Lakers also made a key tactical decision on defense of rotating hard to the baseline whenever a Spurs player attacked the basket. With the Lakers rotating nicely inside, the Spurs, mainly Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, had no pressure release passing angle to the corner. This led to a number of Spurs mistakes and turnovers under their own basket.

Meanwhile for the Spurs, it was more of the same.

Tim Duncan was his usual all-around brilliant self (7-19 FG, 15 REB, 10 AST, 19 PTS). But because Phil Jackson employed many more double teams than Duncan had seen throughout the series and because Duncan didn’t really challenge Gasol’s body, Duncan could never take over the end game with his scoring.

Plus Gasol’s nine offensive boards cancel out Duncan’s 13 defensive ones.

Tony Parker was consistently able to get to the hoop and convert before the trees closed in, and he even hit five of his 12 jumpers.

Bruce Bowen’s defense was earnest and professional grade. He capitalized on both his open looks at the basket by hitting both of his elbow jumpers.

Michael Finley was a relief in the first half (3-6 FG, 10 PTS), but the spark fizzled in the second (1-3 FG, 3 PTS).

After providing nothing the first four games of the series, Gregg Popovich benched Robert Horry for Kurt Thomas. Since Ime Udoka couldn’t guard Kobe and couldn’t make up for it with his offensive skills, he was benched in favor of Brent Barry.

Both decisions were prudent ones as Thomas was active and reliable on offense (5-7 FG 1-1 FT, 11 PTS) and exceptionally quick in defending Lamar Odom. Barry continued to shoot the lights out, 3-5 all from downtown, 11 points.

But as has been the case throughout the series, the Spurs only shot 17-43 on their long-jump shot attempts.

However, while Kobe Bryant’s speed and athleticism can break traps and double teams and can result in points in bunches, Tim Duncan has to do his scoring work against single teams because he can’t dribble past double teams. This is why it was so important for Manu Ginobili to get on track.

Instead, being overplayed to his right and lacking any explosiveness, Manu was never able to provide any counter to Kobe’s perimeter brilliance. He tried to make up for his poor play but he did so with dumb decisions, such as over-penetrating along the baseline, having his baseline pass cut off, then jumping in the air to chuck the ball straight into the arms of Sasha Vujacic.

In truth, the Spurs were too old, too slow, and too broken down to challenge the younger, faster Lakers. Still, the Spurs could have made it a series if they hit a better percentage of their jump shots. Plus, who knows how the series would have played out with a healthy Ginobili.

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