NBA / May 23, 2008 / 11:44 pm
Lakers 101, Spurs 71: Instant Analysis
Lamar Odom (photo. Tim Tadder)Why the Lakers won: Timely scoring runs. At the end of the second quarter L.A. blew open a tie game with a 9-0 run going into the locker room, then began the fourth quarter on a 14-3 run that ended any hope for the Spurs.
Why the Spurs lost: Inability to make shots. San Antonio shot a pitiful 34 percent from the field and only scored 71 points in the 30-point blowout loss. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were the only players to crack double-figures, and both of them were held below 15 points.
Key numbers: Kobe Bryant (22 pts, 5 rebs, 5 asts); Lamar Odom (20 pts, 12 rebs, 4 blks); Field-goal shooting (LAL 54%, SAS 34%).
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Jerry says:
Well as far as i’m concerned Spurs should’ve just stayed on the plane
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
rk2 says:
did i tell you that LO would break out of his slump and that Timmy would not average 30 and 18?
not counting the spurs out yet( see hornets series), but LA is looking good right now.
o and kobe had fewer points this game than he did in the second half of last game…
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Coach T-sun says:
Its a wrap great offense beats great defense against the hornets the spurs won’t panic/sweat becasue they were a bunch of kids against this laker team mix of youth,battle-tested veterans combine that with the best in the game and 1-12 your team is more athletic, faster, longer running a 2 decade of unstoppable offensive system its a wrap.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:00 am
MoxWestCoastRep says:
Ok, bring on the Laker haters.
Cue the next Laker Dynasty!
And Ariza is back…
May 24th, 2008 at 12:00 am
rk2 says:
See, I realize that the Lakers are older than the Hornets and more athletic than the Spurs, but one can never count the defending champs out. The Spurs are battle tested, so I am not giving the series to the Lakers until they have won game 4.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Hoopdini says:
During the post game interview Odom mentions to Sager that he change his shoes at half-time and put on some KB nike’s. That comment took me back. Way back to the Mars Blackmon days. check it out
http://hoopdini.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/lakers-win-is-it-the-shoes/
May 24th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Jerry says:
Love Horry, but is it true like Chuck said: “It’s Over”?
that’s cold, man.
Great energy by D-Fish and Odom tonight, Vujacic and Farmar all had good contributions, Gasol though has to be a little frustrated with his game, he knows he can be doing better. Although guarding Duncan can’t be fun. I can see the Lakers coming out with alot of energy and trying to get that game 3, they can smell blood.
I like how relaxed Kobe was after the game since he got to sit so long. Just chillin’ with Magic.
Lakers in 4 is still on track
May 24th, 2008 at 12:23 am
daquest?on says:
finally a picture thats not kobe
May 24th, 2008 at 12:28 am
godfreyallstar says:
horry is not looking good. role players didnt show up. and i have vujacic.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:28 am
godfreyallstar says:
role players sucked. horry is lookin old. and i hate vujacic. “the machine”? wtf man…
May 24th, 2008 at 12:32 am
daquest?on says:
i hate vujacic tooo
May 24th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Oscarisalakerfan says:
the machine baby……….keep on hating cuz his team is still winning
May 24th, 2008 at 12:43 am
hahns says:
i wouldnt have such a hard time rooting for the machine if he just got a haircut. even steve nash reletned and cut his cut
May 24th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Austin Burton says:
Are the Lakers really THAT battle-tested, though? Obviously Kobe, Fisher and Phil Jackson have been through the playoff wars and have rings to show for it. But Gasol had never won a playoff game before this year. Odom has been past the first round twice in his career. Vlad made a couple postseason appearances with Seattle and maybe one with the Clippers. Walton was on the ‘04 Finals team. Farmar, Vujacic, Turiaf, Ariza? Not a ton of playoff experience there.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Jerry says:
Vujacic has just the same hair and hair band as Oberto basically, i don’t hear anyone hating on Oberto…
Don’t hate the man, just rage against the Machine!
May 24th, 2008 at 1:22 am
daquest?on says:
the lakers youth and them being rested more than overcompensates for the fact that they are not battle tested,plus does being battle tested really matter i think that is overated because as a profesional basketball player u have played ur whole life u still play the same way and the same game its just in the playoffs some ppl are more tired than the others and thats whats happening to the spurs but dont count them out cuz everyone was saying the same thing agaisnt the hornets and the spurs won
May 24th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Coach T-sun says:
Well Austin,
They are battle-tested because everyone is feeding off of Fish and Kobe on court sometimes it only takes one or two guys to rally a young team and Kobe & Fish has filled in that leadership role on the court tremendously, you can see all the young guys + odom and gasol are really gaining confidence off of those 2, because they both possess a killer instinct and mental toughness they are not afraid of the big shots and phil shows confidence with using the bench for extended stretches like he always had in chicago and hes developed them during those rebuilding years, unlike other teams whos failed to develop a bench now its paying huge dividends.Gasol btw can step up in a pressurized stage he won mvp and helped his country to a world championship hes been through alot of pressure including coming out of spain to the nba he just had a bad record in the playoffs because he ran into better teams.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:39 am
daquest?on yes people im a hater says:
u must really suck if u give urself ur own bball nickname and its “the machine” gtfoh
May 24th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Oscarisalakerfan says:
@daquest?on yes people im a hater
He didn’t give himself the nickname…..the color commentators for the lakers did….And hes earned the nickname by his play this season……..
So mr. daquest u gtfoh
May 24th, 2008 at 2:05 am
daquest?on yes people im a hater says:
@oscarisalakersfan man get ur facts straight… sasha made up that nickname in the lakers practice and they all made fun of him because he made up his nickname practicing and at the beginning the commentators made fun of him and his name.
May 24th, 2008 at 2:05 am
daquest?on yes people im a hater says:
they said he could ball at 11 am( which is the time they practice) but he couldnt play at 8 pm
May 24th, 2008 at 2:17 am
MoxWestCoastRep says:
A coach with 9 rings and an MVP with 3 rings is battle tested enough.
When the youngins struggle the team is deep enough for someone else to pick up the slack.
Barkley is right when he said this team is even better than the Shaq team in my opinion.
Cue the Lakers dynasty
May 24th, 2008 at 3:16 am
poop says:
actually, YOU need to get your facts straight. despite what some papers, tv, and internet sites say, sasha didnt give himself a nickname. neither did the other lakers. joel myers and stu lantz (the lakers tv broadcast crew) did.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/la-sp-simers12mar12,1,1918117.column
scroll to the bottom
May 24th, 2008 at 5:10 am
Three Stacks says:
the article isn’t completely accurate, the nickname was his from his days from slovenia/the Italian league. Sasha simply mentioned that it was his nickname and his teammates gave him a hard time for it, at least until he started hitting some shots.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:46 am
rangerjohn says:
while kobe’s numbers are legit, the LO stats are a bit scewed, he got the majority of his points in what turned out to pretty much be garbage time.
spurs are in need of the home cooking. they have been on the road since what sunday? saturday? a rough airplane NO trip lol, pop should have done what he wanted to and sat manu for the game.
on the other hand, the hornets blew them out by an average of about 20 points in NO and yet the spurs won the series, spurs will be fine and i still got the spurs in 6
May 24th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Austin Burton says:
I’ve never seen someone’s nickname argued about so much as Vujacic’s. At the end of the day, who cares where he got it? This ain’t Rucker Park where bestowing a nickname is a big deal.
May 26th, 2008 at 12:45 am
EDJ says:
The spurs Finally Got 1, I think They are about to make this a series now.