All due respect to Radmanomanomanovic and Bill Walton’s kid, but the Lakers don’t have a good small forward, not when Odom is playing power forward and Kobe is at off guard. While one guy can shoot it a little and the other guy is Mr. Intangibles (or so I’m told), they both have major flaws that have been exposed. Radmanovic is lost on defense and Walton can’t hit the open shot consistently, so if I’m Phil Jackson, I’m going small. The Lakers are already at a size disadvantage, so they might as well embrace it and turn it into a real advantage in speed and quickness.
Fish on Rondo
No brainer here. Rondo is a good young point guard, but Fisher is quick enough to keep up with him and strong enough to push him around. For Rondo to win this matchup, he has to stay close to Fisher on the defensive end and limit those open jumpers.
Vujacic on Shuttlesworth
I dislike Sasha as much as the next non-Laker fan, but he’s had a great year shooting the ball and proved in the San Antonio series that he can bother a good shooting guard. At this point, all you have to do is crowd Ray Ray. He’s not going to kill you going to the hole. On the other end of the court, Vujacic can make the C’s pay if they double Kobe or Gasol.
Kobe on Pierce
If Ariza’s good to go, he could replace Vujacic in the lineup, but I think Kobe is up to the challenge of covering Pierce. I’d be leery of using my best offensive player on the opponent’s best offensive player, but if anyone can do it for a series, it’s Kobe. The worry here is Pierce will take him down low, but Kobe is stronger than most people think. Tex Winters said that it’s a little troubling to put Kobe on Ray Allen because Kobe won’t pay enough attention to him. He knows that he can control him off the dribble, so he thinks he can recover and contest the jumper which will give Allen the opportunity to knock a few down. I think you have to keep Kobe engaged on both ends of the court, and asking him to watch Pierce will do that.
Odom on Garnett
KG goes to the block occasionally, but he’s mostly a face up shooter at this point in his career. Physically speaking, Odom is sort of a poor man’s Garnett, so his length can bother KG a bit on the block.
Gasol on Perkins
Gasol did a nice job on Tim Duncan, but I don’t think you want him out on the wing trying to contest Garnett’s jumpers, so his responsibility is to keep Perkins off the glass and provide some help in the lane.
I’m sure Jackson will start Radmanovic at small forward, but my money is on the Lakers using this lineup in crunch time (unless Vujacic’s game takes a giant dump). One word of advice for Sasha – do NOT try to take it into the lane. Hit the open jumper or take a dribble or two and pull up. Every time you try to get to the rack you either get your stuff tossed or you throw it away. Now’s not the time to try to develop your penetration game.
The Lakers should push the ball at every opportunity, forcing Perkins and “the Big Two featuring Ray Allen” to hustle back every time down the court. That’ll wear them down and give L.A. an advantage in the fourth quarter.
