After acting like more of a decoy throughout the first quarter of game five, Kobe Bryant didn’t look physically capable of staying with Trevor Ariza. He hobbled around on the court, didn’t look for his own shot and let Ariza have his way with him, driving past him on command scoring 10 points on four-for-four shooting.
It wasn’t until Bryant fouled Ariza as he was driving toward the basket. It was a foul that Bryant thought would result in the Hornets getting the ball out of bounds, instead the referees ruled it a continuation, as Ariza never put the ball back on the floor.
Ariza may have gotten the three-point play, but Bryant got the best of the Hornets from then on.
Still livid over the previous play, on the Lakers next possession Bryant drove the lane and threw down a commanding dunk over the Hornets’ Emeka Okafor. The dunk was vintage Kobe, came completely out of nowhere and was exactly what the rest of the team needed to be reminded that they had an inherent advantage over the Hornets, no matter how great Chris Paul is.
“I just had a lane to the basket. It looked like [Okafor] was going to challenge me at the rim, and I accepted the challenge,” he said. “It’s [was] a message for us that this is important. It’s time to rise up and do what we’ve got to do. They know I save those. I don’t have [many] of those left.”
Bryant might have related his abrupt show of athleticism as a desire to not back down from the challenging Okafor, but it was essentially symbolic in that it showed Bryant’s reluctance to back down from any opponent, let alone a team they out-matched in every possible category sans the point guard position. Even at that, Derek Fisher ended with a solid contribution in the Lakers win and helped contain Paul to only 20 points and 12 assists.
I know what you’re thinking, 20 points and 12 assists is considered keeping a guy at bay? In Paul’s case it is.
If Bryant, ailing with an ankle injury that by his own demand hasn’t even been properly diagnosed, could sour over Okafor and throw the ball down as hard as he did, then certainly the rest of the team could find something within to push the Hornets to the brink.
And push them they did.
Next: Lakers get going after Bryant puts down the gauntlet
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Over the previous four games, the Hornets showed more grit in the paint, surprisingly owning the advantage inside. Whether it was Bryant’s dunk that shook the Lakers big men up or any other ramifications of the previous four meetings is up for debate, but the fact remains that Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom finally woke up.
“I thought everybody played a little bit more purposeful,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said.
Both of the Lakers’ big men fought back with increased aggressiveness and they finally used their size to their advantage. Bynum ended the night with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Gasol followed with 16 points and 8 rebounds while Odom scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds off the bench. To top it off the Lakers out-rebounded the Hornets 42-25 and completely dominated in second chance points, the Lakers with 22 points to the Hornets’ lowly two points.
“We should play like that all the time,” Gasol said. “[Game 5] was a game we needed to play physical, control the boards and use our bodies.”
The Lakers need to repeat the physicality of Game 5 in Game 6 to take the series win over Hornets. It’s important that the team realizes this next game is pivotal and a must-win for a variety of reasons. The main one being if the Lakers are lucky enough to close-out the series on the road in New Orleans, it would give Bryant a full 3 days of rest, or in his case round-the-clock treatment on his left ankle/foot. The only way the Lakers are going to secure said victory is if Bynum and Gasol carry-over their dominance from the previous game.
If that means playing more physical, so be it.
“It’s pretty interesting because we’re not known for that,” Jackson said. “We’re known to be soft. But sometimes desperation can get teams activated.”
The only one who sounded desperate for excuses after the Lakers’ 106-90 victory was Hornets head coach Monty Williams who claimed the Lakers’ front line spent a long time in the lane, never getting called for the violation and playing overly physical.
“There was more focus to be physical tonight and I know you guys saw it,” Hornets head coach Monty Williams said after Game 5. “A lot of it, it’s just not basketball. So, it’s just one of those things we have to recognize and withstand and kind of play and overcome it.”
It’s just not basketball to out-muscle your opponent down in the paint to hoard rebounds? That’s funny, Ron Artest has been doing that all series long. You mean to tell me you can’t establish position in the post using size and strength alone? Give me a break.
It remains to be seen just how the Hornets will bounce back from the loss or how the Lakers will react with the opportunity to take a choke-hold of the series and move on to the next round. Good thing for the Lakers, a day and a half isn’t that long of a time period to forget how easy it was to merely force-out a smaller opponent by utilizing their superior size and strength.
Maybe Jackson should have Kobe’s throw-down over Okafor on heavy rotation prior to Game 6 tipping off.
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