Dwight has to be more physical and get position EARLIER. If he can seal his man, those lobs won't get picked off. He'll get a llot of EASY looks at the rim.
He's been slow this year. His reaction time, timing and anticipation have been subpar at best. It's like he's playing in a fog.
I hope Howard is really still healing, because he played 29 minutes tonight despite the foul trouble, and got out-rebounded by FOUR other Lakers ( Gasol, Bryant, Hill and MEEKS ) and three Warriors ( Lee, Ezeli, and CURRY ). There is no excuse for a healthy Howard being the eighth-best rebounder in a game.
That said, for the first time in a long time, the Lakers looked like they actually cared about the outcome of the game tonight. So while I still have reservations about D'Antoni, I will give him credit for, at least, inspiring this team. I'm not sure they ever played that hard for 48, or 53, minutes under Brown, and rarely did so in the regular season under Jackson.
Hard to believe that Kobe took just 5 fewer shots than the 81 point game ( 19 fewer free-throws, though ). I'm not a fan of that, at all, but I will give credit where due... he wasn't __just__ shooting the ball tonight, finishing with 10 rebounds and 5 assists, and locking down Jack for the most part. Did anyone else see Kobe imitating The Machine on MWP's 3 at the end of regulation? "Dwight I'm OPEN!"
I would love to hear Nash's honest opinion on tonight's game, but I doubt we ever will.
