Watching this series reminded me of the 2005 Finals against the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers were outhustled, overpowered and simply beaten by a better team. Gasol seriously needs to remember he's not playing for Barcelona anymore and Bynum needs to remember he is not playing in Rucker Park. The worst part of it is that the core group is not over the hill just yet. Gasol, Odom, Bynum, and Kobe still have years left on their bodies. Some of you may think that Kobe is done, finished, finito, acabado...but this is not true. Kobe simply needs to redefine his role with the team. Sure he is not the best player in the NBA but he can still win a couple more championships. Kobe needs to hone his passing skills and his mid range jumper. Run the offense through the bigs and become a 46-48% shooter.
In the end, Kobe is not the biggest issue with this team, its the point guard. D Fish is the man but he is an aging man. I will always love Fish for the .4 shot in San Antonio and all the other memorable playoff shots he hit. Unfortunately the time has come for him to became a veteran presence in the bench. A younger and more importantly quicker point guard (Chris Paul) will make a bigger difference then adding Dwight Howard to the team. In the end the team fell because they simply played soft and with a lack of desire. They were bewildered by the brilliance of Dirk and simply gave up when they couldn't stop him in Game 2. But trading Pau or Bynum because of Dirk would be a mistake, not even Dwight Howard would have stopped Dirk but Chris Paul would have stopped JJ Barea. So the Buss family should not desmantle this squad but simply fine tune it with a new spark plug name Chris Paul. You may see this will happen and that I am a dreamer but I am not the only one...
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