I honestly believe the Lakers can win it all this season. The Heat can be beat, the Bulls can be beat, the Spurs might not get past the Grizzlies again and I think World Peace has OKC shook.
Here’s what has to happen though:
-Kobe is the best player, but Bynum has to be the MVP of the playoffs. By that I mean we know that Kobe is going to do what he does best which is empty the clip and be a gunner, hit shots in crunch time and keep us in games when nobody else is producing offensively. But Bynum has to go on a rampage and give us 22 and at least 15 every night. We can’t have his immature mental lapses and his clear dislike for Mike Brown hindering his performance. It’s really simple if Bynum doesn’t dominate, the Lakers don’t win and it doesn’t matter what Kobe does, Bynum is now the most important Laker.
-World Peace has to come back from his suspension in the 2nd round playing like he didn’t miss a beat during his 7-game suspension. If there’s anybody that we need to perform more than Bynum in the OKC 2nd round series it’s Artest. He stepped his game up in the last 10 games of the season and when he plays well nobody can beat the Lakers.
-Devin Ebanks is basically the place holder for Artest and I think he’ll be starting the entire Denver series. He is essentially Trevor Ariza’s twin brother with less talent and confidence and I wish the Lakers could just rent 2009 Ariza for the 6 games World Peace is sitting out. Ebanks is too raw to be starting in the playoffs and he doesn’t bring much to the table at this stage in his career.
-Matt Barnes has to keep hitting open 3’s. Clutch 3pt shooting is critical in every successful playoff run. I didn’t like Barnes at all last season (he just didn’t fit into the triangle) but he hustles and has as much heart as Kobe does.
-Steve Blake’s minutes in crunch time have to be kept to an absolute minimum because that nigga sucks! I realize Blake is the backup PG but he is clearly afraid of the wrath of Kobe and it limits his game so much that I would prefer that he played as little as possible. It’s to the point where Blake hesitates to take wide open shots because he is looking to see if Kobe is demanding the ball. I blame Kobe for the complex Blake has developed but it’s irreversible at this point.
-Meaning that Sessions is going to have to be on point and keep his turnovers to a minumum. He made it clear that he can’t guard Westbrook or Tony Parker, so he is just going to have to do what he does best which is push the pace, feed the bigs, and create shots when things get stagnant.
-As for Pau, I really don’t know what to expect. He disappeared last post season and has been up and down much of this season. His chemistry with Bynum is great but I need more from him than just throwing lobs to Drew from the freethrow line and yelling like he’s an extra from 300 when he gets an and 1. And we don’t need him shooting that corner 3 at all. Whoever ok’d that needs to be fired.
-Which leads me to Mike Brown. I’ve been trying to reserve judgement on him all season. He’s brought a defensive toughness to the Lakers that they’ve NEVER had. But he tends to over coach and gets too excited and I think it rubs off on his players (except Kobe) leading them to commit way too many turnovers (if you look at some of the box scores from this season you’ll see games where the Lakers had 25 turnovers. That NEVER would have happened with Phil Jackson as the coach and it speaks to Mike Brown’s lack of a cohesive offensive strategy). He’s laid the framework for this team and I think they understand him at this point, he just needs to sit back and see where adjustments need to be made from series to series. The time for playing Troy Murphy and giving Steve Blake extended minutes is over. The coach also has to emphasize that Bynum needs touches early and often and can’t be forced out of the offense by Kobe shooting baseline fade aways out of double and triple teams.
-Jordan Hill- I expect nothing from him but I know that he is going to be seeing some playing time so he is going to have to attack the boards and make up for Pau’s lack of defensive presence. The best game of his career was last week against OKC and he matches up pretty well with Ibaka.
-finally the Lakers need to beat the nuggets in 6 games so that World Peace doesn’t miss any of the OKC series. I think the Lakers will beat the Nuggets in 5 which poses a little bit of a problem.
If all goes according to plan the Lebron jokes will be unlimited and epic and more satisfying than Kobe hoisting his 6th.
