The San Antonio Spurs last night squandered a 20 point mid-3rd quarter lead against the Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Now to anybody that watches basketball that is very old news however I would like to make some points about what I observed from last nights game.
1. Vladimir Radmanovic is causing a match-up problem for the Spurs. At the beginning of the game they put Ginobili on Radmanovic however they switched Ginobili with Thomas later in the 1st quarter. Vladi could go right over Ginobili and Thomas just isn't quick enough to guard Radmanovic one on one. It was a surprise to me that Phil Jackson didn't exploit those match ups more often.
2. If I was the Lakers I WOULD NOT double Tim Duncan despite what all the analysts on TV are saying. You see the reason the Lakers were down so big in the 3rd quarter was because of turnovers and missed layups, it was not because of Duncan's 30 points. The Spurs offense relies on 3-point and midrange jump shots coming either from A)Dribble Penetration or B)Doubles on Tim Duncan. The Lakers during their comeback hardly double teamed Duncan instead they pressured penetrators like Parker and Ginobili and forced tough 3 point shots from Finely or Udoka. Just keep playing Gasol one on one with Duncan, it worked didn't it. (Spurs 85 points)
3. I like Kobe Bryant trying to get his teammates involved early in the game, people may criticize him for only taking 3 shots in the first half but that wasn't the reason they were down at halftime. The reason was because the complete absence of Odom and Fisher and also all the penetration they were allowing Parker to get.
(As you can probably tell I am an avid Laker fan from this post)
