| Warriors-Lakers Deserves A Playoff Encore Authored by Graham Flashner - March 27, 2008 - 4:38 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Breaking Down The 2nd Round After a somewhat surprising first round of the 2008 NBA playoffs, we find ourselves with even better match-ups in the Round of Eight.
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When it was over- after an exhausting Lakers overtime victory that was assured only after a controversial offensive foul call in the closing seconds – a couple of things seemed certain:
- For all of Kobe Bryant’s MVP laurels, the Lakers will go nowhere without Pau Gasol at full-strength. (Andrew Bynum at any strength would strictly be a bonus at this point.)
- The Warriors are still the team no one wants to face in the first round. They’ve displaced the Suns as the most entertaining run-and-gun team in the West; they have an emotional intensity, fueled by Stephen Jackson, that few teams can match, and their warp speed of play can force teams into unnatural shots and rushed passes.
Sunday night, they got into the Lakers’ heads early. The Warriors piled up 72 points in the worst first half the Lakers have played all season. Foolishly trying to match the Warriors’ up-tempo offense, the Lakers committed 14 turnovers and were repeatedly shredded by Monta Ellis drives and Jackson’s threes. Early in the third, the Warriors led by 26.
For the Lakers, looking at a possible first-round playoff matchup with the team that feasted on No. 1 Dallas a year ago, it was not the foot they wanted to get off on.
"They're so unorthodox. They're basically what Phoenix used to be on steroids," Kobe Bryant told reporters afterwards, speaking of the Warriors. "They all just jack it up. They can all handle it, they can all pass. It's pretty unbelievable."
As fun as the Warriors are, however, they’re also maddening. That 26-point lead was gone by mid-fourth quarter, when the shots stopped dropping, the defense laxed, and the Lakers, riding Bryant, Derek Fisher, and a resurgent defense, made it all the way back in what was shaping up to be an unfathomable comeback.
But the Warriors never wilted, and the Lakers, sapped by the effort, left Jackson open for two three’s shot from the vicinity of the San Fernando Valley, preserving a 115-111 win.
It was a game the Warriors, fighting to hold off Denver for the final playoff spot, needed much more than the Lakers, but there was an uncomfortable sense that the Warriors had shredded the Lakers defense at will, and presented the kind of matchup problems that give coaches nightmares come May.
Monday night at Oracle Arena, things looked much the same. The Warriors jumped all over the Lakers early, led by 20 first half points from Baron Davis, who wasn’t even a factor in Sunday’s win. Even with the caveat of being at less than full-strength, the Lakers could ill afford to give the Warriors the psychological momentum provided by a sweep.
Trailing by 11 at halftime, the Lakers settled and rallied, buoyed by a dominant performance from Lamar Odom (23 points, 21 rebounds). There are times when Odom seems to disappear from the game, and then there are the times like Monday, when he’s seemingly everywhere on the court, offensive rebounds finding him as if he were magnetized.
By the fourth quarter, the game had the back-and-forth feel of a serious playoff game, with thrilling momentum shifts, wild and crazy shots, and hard physical play. Bryant, taking a charge from Baron Davis, opened up a gash on his face that was tended to like a cornerman fixing a boxer.
The coaches, too, seemed to play this one like a Game 7. Davis and Jackson played all 53 minutes, as did Odom and Bryant, save for the 65 seconds it took to repair his cut, which required five stitches afterward.
When the Lakers surged to a nine-point lead with two minutes left, the battle appeared to be over, but the Warriors had one delirious charge left, clawing their way to a tie: two steals in the backcourt, a 360 spin by Ellis over a leaping Kobe, and a tip-in off a mad scramble in which the Warriors got off four shots and the Lakers could not come up with a loose ball.
As the Warriors battled back, Bryant looked uncharacteristically frustrated, as if he’d finally met an enemy he couldn’t conquer.
Into overtime they went, with the Warriors seizing a 117-113 lead, and fatigue creeping through on every possession. This time, it was the Lakers who dropped the three-point bomb on the Warriors, as Derek Fisher and Sasha (The Machine) Vujacic hit timely treys, and Lamar Odom shook free for what would prove to be the game-winning layup
Still, it took a shocking bad call to seal the win, when Monta Ellis was called for an offensive foul on the final inbounds play, despite replays showing Derek Fisher pulling him down like an NFL lineman. Two free throws iced the 123-119 win. The Warriors left the court stunned and disconsolate.
After the game, Fisher told reporters: "I thought it was going to be a no-call, just two guys fall down and the play goes on. So when the whistle blew, it caught me off-guard as well. ... I don't think anybody was necessarily guilty of anything, but from the angle that [referee Bob Delany] had, it looked like [Ellis] had his hands to my chest, which he did.”
It was an anti-climactic conclusion to two of the most entertaining games of the season, and it made one wish for an encore come the playoffs. Of course, the Warriors, losers of four of seven, have to get there first, while the Lakers have to get healthy again. But in the frenetic West, this is one series that could live up to the hype. |
