Kobe to guard Rajon?

[RockinRyA]

but the bright side is, unlike against detroit we could use eddie much more in this series

[BASSTHUMPER]

Why shall Pierce and Allen pass him the ball when he's wide open if all that's going to happen next is probably a scalabrinesque pass?

come on man

as sorry as most on the this blog think scal is he would beat any of u to 21pt and spot ya ten~

[ManUp]

One thing I know for certain is that we can't afford to have Rondo's shooting percentage drop any further.

His FG% has dropped every series.

First Round
45%

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals
42%

Easter Conference Finals
34%

He needs start making his presence felt. I'm not asking that he take over games I just hope he's more aggressive. L.A. Doesn't have a Josh Smith/Lebron James type athlete to swat Rondo's lay-up attempts.

[RockinRyA]

add tayshaun to those great fastbreak blockers

[BrickJames]

One thing I know for certain is that we can't afford to have Rondo's shooting percentage drop any further.

His FG% has dropped every series.

First Round
45%

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals
42%

Easter Conference Finals
34%

He needs start making his presence felt. I'm not asking that he take over games I just hope he's more aggressive. L.A. Doesn't have a Josh Smith/Lebron James type athlete to swat Rondo's lay-up attempts.

Again, it starts with the Refs.  Rondo will torch both Fisher and Farmar, so much so that any referee shenanigans would be blatantly obvious even to the casual viewer, so I wouldn't be too worried.

[oneofthesedays]

LAL had to defend against Iverson, Williams, and Parker and managed to keep all 3 of them in check.  Rondo is a fine young player but c'mon he isn't even in the same area code as those guys.  His inability to shoot and finish consistently in traffic negates his superior athleticism.

The Celtics are a jumpshooting team with no real post presence.  KG, for whatever reason, would rather shoot jumpers at the top of the key than bang down low in the post.  I don't worry about the Celtic's OFFENSE........I worry about their DEFENSE. 

[BASSTHUMPER]

after our last game in motown and the paul 3pt and 1 bein taken away...

all eyes on refs..!

[ERod86]

Phil doesn't use gimmicks and he also doesn't stay with the same thing all the time. SO, yes KB will guard Rondo, but he will also guard Allen and a very little bit PP. Phil doesn't like to use KB to guard the opponents best for long stretches so he doesn't wear down.

As far as that Pau statement I saw. It's not just that Pau is 10 times the player Kwame is, but Lamar is better with Pau than before. Also the offense runs much better with him as does the defense. You can dismiss that as beating a drum, but this team is much better than it was before Pau.

[Bahku]

It will be interesting to see, but I think it's a bit of a ruse. I think they'll ultimately dare Rondo to take his jumper, and use Kobe as the "roaming double". As they see it, Rondo is a minimum threat on the perimeter, and everything else takes a priority.

Pierce is their number one concern, he always has been, and having Kobe as the tandem on him, with the option to close up the paint, makes the most sense. Phil Jackson is the kind of coach who, when playing a team like Boston, concerns himself first with taking away the number one threat, and that's Paul.

He also prioritizes assuring that his number one weapon, Kobe, is put in the best position possible to maximize his strengths. Having him as a "swing-man", instead of dedicating him to defending Pierce one-on-one, (which would tire anyone out), serves the dual purpose of tightening up the paint, and conserving Bryant's energy for offense.

Hate to say it, but Rage is going to have to be bigger than usual in this series ... he may even end up being the key. If he can hit his jumper consistently and keep the defense honest, it will force LA to adjust and expend energy in an area they didn't plan to. Here's hoping the kid is ON.

All that said, I can't imagine who the heck else they think can guard Pierce ... it looks like Paul may be continuing his dominance against the Lakers, and showing us and his LA homies the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth!

[jblaze]

Bahku, WELL SAID. I can't agree more. LA is going to have to be very honest with Pierce or he will murder them in this series. Go ahead, leave Rondo open for jumpers from 15-18 ft, it just works to our benefit (as long as Rajon shoots them!)

[GoldenThroat]

The idea is to have Kobe roaming around help defend other players while leaving Rondo alone, it's up to Rondo to make them pay. If he doesn't step up, the move will work in favor of the Lakers.

Well, that is probably the theory.

But, put that way, doesn't really sound any different than anything else we've seen.

There is a difference between guarding Rondo lightly and leaving him alone.

The first two games are at home.

Do the Ls really want Rondo off the leash on his home court?

Everyone will beat the Pao Gasol drum. He wasn't a laker when the Cs destroyed the purple twice.

Well, does anyone remember who started the game at point for the Cs in LA?

Tony Allen.

The Lakers were so humiliated that game they basically threw in the towel with 7 minutes to go.

This definitely isn't something that the Celtics haven't seen in the playoffs, I just think that the Lakers will be able to capitalize on it a little better than the other team's you've faced. (I'm a Laker fan, BTW)

As BudweiserCeltic said, the theory is that Kobe would be playing centerfield, which is something that he's especially effective at. The defensive rotations of the Lakers have improved tremendously in the playoffs.

Allen is not as effective at driving to the hoop as he used to be, so I don't see him being able to take advantage of the size advantage that he has over Fisher all that often. 

The guy who I'm worried about is Paul Pierce. The only guy who I think could do an effective job against him (relatively speaking)is Trevor Ariza, who hasn't been a part of our playoff rotation due to injury. I think that Pierce's ability to exploit mismatches will be a huge determining factor in who wins this series. If he dominates, the Celtics win. If he merely "plays well", I think the Lakers do.

[fairweatherfan06]

I hear you GoldenThroat but don't underestimate Ray's ability to drive.  Contrary to some opinion I don't think he's lost a step, so much as he plays more defense, which could tire him if he gets Kobe 1-1 for any amount of time.  I don't think he's as far removed from this as you think:

http://www.youtube.com/v/6hg9Bted7FA&hl=en

[GoldenThroat]

I hear you GoldenThroat but don't underestimate Ray's ability to drive.  Contrary to some opinion I don't think he's lost a step, so much as he plays more defense, which could tire him if he gets Kobe 1-1 for any amount of time.  I don't think he's as far removed from this as you think:

http://www.youtube.com/v/6hg9Bted7FA&hl=en

But when I say "lost a step", I mean it's in relation to how he used to be. He was a potent scorer in the past because he WAS able to get to the hoop and finish. That threat prevented defenders from overplaying him at the 3 point line too much. That's not the case anymore, at least not with the level of effectiveness that he used to have. Even in that clip that you showed, Shaq was the secondary defender. He hasn't been with the Lakers since the 2003-04 season, so that clip is from a while ago.

[KJ33]

LAL had to defend against Iverson, Williams, and Parker and managed to keep all 3 of them in check.  Rondo is a fine young player but c'mon he isn't even in the same area code as those guys.  His inability to shoot and finish consistently in traffic negates his superior athleticism.

The Celtics are a jumpshooting team with no real post presence.  KG, for whatever reason, would rather shoot jumpers at the top of the key than bang down low in the post.  I don't worry about the Celtic's OFFENSE........I worry about their DEFENSE. 

Seems you have learned about the Celtics from quick media sound bites repeating that lame line about being a jumpshooting team.  The Celtics have consistently outdone their opponents in the playoffs in "points in the paint" dominating Detroit in this area.  While it is true they do not have a low post, on the block scorer(do the Lakers? I don't think so) that does not automatically mean they score all their points on jumpshots as the national media cookie cutter label suggests. 

There are other ways to score at the basket besides a low post move, Pierce drives regularly as does Rondo, Kendrick gets tons of dunks off KG drives and dishes, etc.  Do they also hit some jump shots?  You bet, as does every team, mostly on kicks from teammates, not just off the dribble. 

And the lack of low post presence, true of the Lakers also, is relatively irrelevant in today's NBA as most teams go with a single or double high post anyway with their bigs.  Most of the effective post play in the NBA today comes from the high post, or just above the foul line, since it is almost impossible to double team on that spot of the floor.  The way you describe KG as preferring jumpers at the top of the key shows a total lack of understanding of his role in the offense.  He sets up in the "high" post, sets ball screens for Rondo and Pierce and Allen, and also serves as a facilitator and has ball reversal responsibilities from that spot. 

When he screens and PP gets doubled, or he reverses it and PP drives and the D sags, he kicks to KG who is wide open and knocks down that shot as often as any "low post move".  KG is involved in almost all facets of the offense when used this way, not just as a guy who must park down low and rely on others getting him the ball and touches.  KG is one of the better passers on the team, and although he is 7 ft., he has the skill set of a smaller player, Perk is the guy to camp out down low, using KG in such a one dimensional role would be a complete waste of his talent.  And the Celts do go to him in the low post when they need a big hoop, he can do it all basically.

[KJ33]

I hear you GoldenThroat but don't underestimate Ray's ability to drive.  Contrary to some opinion I don't think he's lost a step, so much as he plays more defense, which could tire him if he gets Kobe 1-1 for any amount of time.  I don't think he's as far removed from this as you think:

http://www.youtube.com/v/6hg9Bted7FA&hl=en

But when I say "lost a step", I mean it's in relation to how he used to be. He was a potent scorer in the past because he WAS able to get to the hoop and finish. That threat prevented defenders from overplaying him at the 3 point line too much. That's not the case anymore, at least not with the level of effectiveness that he used to have. Even in that clip that you showed, Shaq was the secondary defender. He hasn't been with the Lakers since the 2003-04 season, so that clip is from a while ago.

He was a potent scorer in the past because he took way more shots.  As all of the Big 3 have done, Ray has willfully taken a lesser role in scoring, not looking for his own shot nearly as much, but rather trying to play team ball all the time, moving the ball to the open man.  In the past, he had the freedom to dribble the ball and probe at will, he was the featured guy.  I have seen Ray explode and dunk at the rim on more than one occasion this season, suggesting the frequency of that going down this year is much more a factor of him just tyring to "fit in" then some diminished ability to do it if he was looking for out for his own offense every time down the floor. 

This angle has been misperceived by the national media all year, and especially in the playoffs.  One game Ray was 1-5 and everyone wanted to know what happened to his shot.  Pretty hard to get anything going when you take 5 shots, but his goal is to win the game, not get up the requisite number of shots to get 20 points.  Unlike Kobe who needs to pour in 25+ every single game for the Lakers to win, any one of the Big 3 on the Celtics can have a single digit game offensively and they can still win.  They let the game come to them, some nights will bring more shots than others depending on the game.  Ray can still drive to the hole and finish, believe me, maybe not as good at 32 as at 22, but he has not had nearly the dropoff in his ability to do so as you suggest, but rather looks for it far less often in the Celtics team oriented offense.