When you're going up against the NBA's best defensive team, something's got to give; but for the Lakers, it's not a foul! They seem to be in the penalty from the jump and their attitude causes them technicals to boot!
We should start with the top two offenders on this front: Odom and Bryant. Odom is probably the biggest hacker I have ever seen play. He goes over the back on almost every rebound and hammers everyone who goes to the hoop. Bryant is a huge fouler on offense and defense. On offense he just throws himself around, and when you are one of the top 10 defenders of all time, like Paul Pierce is, throwing yourself around leads to offensive charges. On defense, he is a selective player. He only defends when he feels like it. The best example of this is last night when he let Rondo shoot a wide open jumper from the corner and then on the very next play allow it to happen again. Only one of those two shots went in, but it's just the point! He also allowed House to score a 3 to almost lose the game for the Lakers. His "play of the game" where he had that steal from Pierce to drive down and dunk was a blatent foul and he was lucky to have gotten away with it.
Let's move on to some of the other Lakers. Gasol makes stupid fouls, like going over the back on a rebound when there is absolutely no reason to do such a thing when you are up by 7 and your team is already in foul trouble. Farmar has absolutely no idea what the concept of defense is. In his eyes it's ok to just smack the person with the ball instead of trying to defend them. The ultimate laugh came with Walton. Moments after his heart to heart interview with his father, he almost had a fan base. But when he tried entirely too hard to make a great play, all he ended up doing was charging to half court, falling down, and accomplishing nothing. He was even taken out of the game at this point!
Over all, in my opinion, the Lakers just do not play team defense. They make too many fundamental mistakes individually. No one seems to know what is going on with their teammates. It is also evident that they may not study the players that they are supposed to be defending. In addition to this they commit too many fouls away from the ball, too many loose ball fouls, don't put their body in front of plays, and always seem ready to fight. They get away with entirely too much from the refs as well. They may be the best offensive team, but with their lack of defense it is near impossible to win a championship. Especially when they allowed the biggest collapse in finals history and then allow several huge runs 1 game later!
Besides thier defense, they are a bunch of babies who cry on every play! All they want is the sympathy of the refs. They have recently tried the lay on the floor until my teammates help me up team unity tactic of the Celtics, but have failed miserably.
In conclusion, I have to say a word or two about The Truth Paul Pierce. Once he puts on his game face; you all know the one where his eyes are focused and he gets real hyped; its over! Even if the Celtics somehow don't win the game, you know Paul Pierce will play his heart out and have a career game night after night. This is something that Kobe is not capable of. He is good, but he is not as complete as he should be, due to his defensive selectiveness.
Keywords: Boston Celtics, Hackers, Lakers
