David Hume
Lakers Need Kobe to Lead Defensively to Get Past Boston
The Los Angeles Lakers host the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day. It's the first rematch since the NBA Finals - but that story has been written many times over.
The Celtics are riding an impressive 19-game win streak - one the Lakers would take great pride in ending. At 27-2, Boston may be even better than they were last year - despite losing forward James Posey to the New Orleans Hornets. Point guard Rajon Rondo has matured and the Celtics haven't missed a step defensively.
The Lakers are coming off a big victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday night. While the 23-5 record has LA just 3 1/2 games behind the Celtics - the Lakers' recent play is cause for concern.
LA has been somewhat fractured by a confusing defensive system that involves trapping and zoning. Teams around the league have had time to scout it out and the Lakers are giving up 100 points a game nightly.
It doesn't hurt that they lead the league at 107 points a night, with a third highest point differential of 9.5 a game. The concern is when teams like the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings and Miami HEAT are able to take it to the Lakers - when the Celtics aren't giving an inch to anyone.
Before barely overcoming the Memphis Grizzlies - and then dominating the Hornets - the Lakers were a mess. It took multiple team and player meetings for the Lakers to regain composure. How well it sticks will be evident on the holiday.
One of Coach Phil Jackson's goals for the season was the best record in the league - leading to home court advantage in the NBA Finals. soonwowspan.cn wowfrbar-3.cn http://www.woweneuro-5.cn
The gap between the Celtics and Lakers has been obvious recently for any number of reasons. Point guards Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar (now out two months with knee injury) have struggled to stay in front of their men. At small forward, neither Luke Walton nor Vladimir Radmanovic is a particularly capable defender. Bench leader (?) Lamar Odom has been zoning out more than in. Center Andrew Bynum has struggled to reclaim his pre-injury game - often sitting early with foul trouble. The guards aren't going inside enough to the bigs. The perimeter defenders are gambling too often for steals - breaking the team concept.
It's a pretty lengthy laundry list for a team with a 23-5 record but no one on the Lakers will claim they're currently playing at the level that they expect from themselves.
Before the Lakers make any roster changes - even with Farmar sidelined - Boston will be a true test to see if LA has the strength to unite, despite their flaws.
The Lakers have one player - and only one - who can truly make a difference . . . reigning MVP Kobe Bryant.
Simply put - LA needs more out of their star.
Bryant has said many times that the only way for the Lakers to overtake the Celtics is to be a powerful defensive unit.
Kobe is a regular First Team All-Defense member and one of the best on the ball defenders in the league.
He alone on the Lakers has the ability to raise the team from also ran to champion.
His ability to score is unquestioned but as he, himself, has said many times - points are not an issue. LA can put up big numbers whether or not Bryant is taking the bulk of the shots.
At times they falter and will turn to him in times of need for a score - considering his unparalleled talent, Kobe is often the team's greatest asset offensively.
Where the Lakers need to improve is on the other end of the floor.
It's been players like John Salmons (Sacramento), Jameer Nelson (Orlando) or All-Star Dwyane Wade (Miami) slicing into the guts of LA's scattered defense that has knocked the Lakers down a notch.
What LA needs to hear from their star in response is, "I got this."
This request is not a slight towards Bryant but rather a credit. He has the talent, the ability and the tenacity - his efforts just need to be redirected.
Bryant's defensive skills were on display this summer with Team USA. Kobe can't afford to save his energy solely for the offensive end like in years past - when the team needed 30-40 points a night from their start to be competitive.
If Bryant can reduce the efficiency of the opposing star by a meager 10% drop-off in efficiency - the Lakers simply aren't going to lose. One more stop in each game would have been enough to beat the Pacers, HEAT and Magic. Other than the loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Lakers should be 27-1 facing the Celtics on Thursday.
That's not to put the blame on Kobe (there's certainly enough to go around) but he needs to be the difference moving forward. He needs to demoralize opponents by getting stops at the expense of their best player - not necessarily for 48 minutes but at key moments in the game when the Lakers are most vulnerable.
It may be a painful memory for Laker fans - but Boston's Paul Pierce was the one who emerged in the NBA Finals, telling teammates he wanted to take on Bryant defensively.
While he didn't stop Kobe - it became more of a challenge for Bryant to get his points - and that margin was enough for the Celtics to overtake the Lakers in a devastating Game 4 comeback
.
Take a look at the meager numbers Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are putting up this season. Even if the Celtics win 70 games, it's unlikely any of the three will win NBA MVP.
Instead they've fully committed to stopping teams nightly . . . To win - the Lakers need to do the same.
They need their best player - one who is among the best who ever played the game - to instill a pride in his team that they are going to shut everyone down, every single time.
He can't do it alone - each and every Laker needs to elevate their game to match. Perhaps there are weaknesses in the roster than only General Manager Mitch Kupchak can fix . . .
But if Kobe leads - they will follow. They will follow and get results.
Winning may not happen every single game - but that attitude will be the margin nine times out of 10. For the Celtics it's 9.3 out of 10.
The Lakers win about 8.2 out of 10 - which is good for third (we haven't even mentioned LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 24-4 record).
Isn't this year all about being number one - with a ring for the taking at the end of the journey?
Are Kobe and the Lakers up to the challenge?
Christmas is just a day away . . .
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The Engineer's dilemma
It's an interesting conundrum. Profitability and accessibility seem to be zero-sum in the game, and Engineers have complained for years that the profession was a complete money sink because they could sell so few items or services. I'm leveling Engineering on my Warrior right now and it became apparent pretty early that WoW Gold the profession lacked the usual lucrative items available to others; there's WoW Gold no real equivalent to Tailoring's bags, Leatherworking's armor kits, or Alchemy's raid potions. I've made money selling Mechanical Squirrels and that's it. So while I understand where Deftek's coming from, I still think the profession would benefit greatly from the addition of marketable BoE items, and Engineers have just been handed something that basically sells itself.
Having said that, a mount isn't an equivalent to, say, super mana potions or golden spellthread; you buy the motorcycle once and you never need to replace, consume, or update it, so the market for it WoW Gold will never extend beyond these one-time purchases. So while Engineering needs more moneymaking items, from an economics perspective the mount isn't a good choice and possibly should be BoP. But it sure looks cool, and I'd love to have one on my (non-Engineering) main.
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Arena, Testrealm & Co
Grüße an die Blogger und WoWler. :)
Interessant anzusehen war auch der Andrang an die Arenasetverkäufer in Nethersturm. Laggs hoch 10 und ein schönes Schlachtfeld zierten den Boden. Zu sehen bekam ich die neuen Sets nicht. Die Suche nach dem Händler WoW Gold war schier unmöglich.
Nach gleichbleibender Wertung von 1650 bis 1680 im 3on3 Team “Exilica” und eventuell kommenden Erfolgen im 2on2 Team “Halbleiterdiode” (bitte fragt nicht wie ich auf solche Namen komme), konnte ich mir eine neue Zweihandwaffe zulegen. [Großschwert des erbarmungslosen Gladiators] ist es geworden und ich bin äußerst zufrieden mit meiner Wahl. Verzaubert mit [Formel: Zweihandwaffe - Wildheit] und Zweihandspezialisierung ist WoW Gold es herrlich in Battlegrounds oder der Arena auf Stoffi-Jagd zu gehen. Noch etwas einspielen bis das perfekt klappt, aber der Weg zur Killermaschiene ist geebnet. Mit einem Heiler sowieso.
Ich bin gespannt wann Patch 2.3 live kommt und was er uns effektiv an Neuerungen bringen wird. Vielleicht werf WoW Gold ich nachher nochmal einen Blick auf die Testrealms. Dürfte ja am Morgen etwas entspannter zugehen.
Halli Hallo da bin ich wieder. WoW habe ich noch nicht vergessen und über ein paar kleine Dinge kann ich sogar berichten.
Wie genau sich WoW Gold die Verstärkungspunkte auf das Spiel auswirken konnte ich jetzt noch nicht lange testen. Stundenlange Battlegrounds gehören auf jeden Fall der Vergangenheit an, aber ich denke der Allianz werden die letzten Siegchancen in einem Schlachtfeld genommen. So sah es zumindest auch auf den Testrealmspielen aus auf denen ich war. Vielleicht findet sich eine Taktik, aber man kennt es ja: Allianzler deffen nicht, sie zergen!
Testrealm & Co
Arena
Außerdem erhalte ich als Krieger neue Skillungsmöglichkeiten. Da erwartet mich einiges an Probieren, vorallem wie weit man effektiv in den Waffenbaum skillen wird. Endless Rage, maybe?
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Speaking of fellowships
In LotRO, it is also much easier to step away from being an adventurer and play a profession-based character. There are still quests to accomplish to advance a profession or skill, which may or may not require you to be proficient at wielding a sword to protect yourself, but the forced option isn't so heavy as it is in WoW.
The best way to overcome the material-gathering conundrum is to build or find a social network of fellow roleplayers in game. You might know that such cooperative entities are called guilds in WoW. In real-life historical times, guilds were not built around people who only wanted to PvP, or raid, WoW Gold or whose membership was restricted to gnomes. They were focused on professions, like artists, musicians, alchemists, blacksmiths and the like. In the years I've been playing WoW, I've yet to see a guild built upon the profession premise. Would such a guild work and thrive in game? I think so, yes, but I have not seen it nor tried it to say with positive certainty. Yet.
So, say you want a character for the sole purpose of roleplaying as a leatherworker. There are two ways you could go: Start off at level one and simply ignore the class moniker that follows you around in plain view of other players, or play an adventurer who has hit level "X" and retires from that life to become one. Whether you are in a guild or not, it would behoove you to either become an apprentice to a leatherworker of higher skill, or hire yourself an apprentice or two. This opens up a fantastic RP opportunity! As an apprentice, set yourself up to being the one who gathers only the best/softest/cleanest coyote hides. Hire an apprentice who lives in or knows Nagrand, and who is able to collect premium talbuk hides. Many of the other items that drop from WoW Gold such felled creatures can be sold to a character roleplaying a cook or an enchanter. The chances for an incredibly deeper RP fellowship abound when with profession-based characters, and can be just as fun as with a group of adventurers.
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Donnerschlag
* Netherstoffverband: Es WoW Gold ist mit diesem Gegenstand nicht länger möglich, dass zwei Spieler dasselbe Ziel gleichzeitig verbinden.
* Buchband der rechtschaffenen Macht: Der Bonusschaden auf ‘Kreuzfahrerstoß’ wurde erhöht.
* Götze des weißen Hirsches: Die Dauer wurde verlängert.
* Urnether wird nun nicht mehr beim Aufheben WoW Gold gebunden!
* Anhänger des Violetten Auges: Richturteile WoW Gold von Paladinen lösen diesen Gegenstand wieder wie beabsichtigt aus.
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But there was the bump
But there was the bump above my right eye to wow gold -- wow gold kaufen worry about. Now it had been pointed out, I was convinced I had been involved in a fight of some sort.
But about what and with whom?
It was right what I said to Sean.
I don't fight. I fall over or get beaten up.
The abrasion above my eye could have been caused by a kerb or a fist.
I squinted into the mirror and re-enacted a fist coming at my face and glancing off at an angle. It was very possible, but I would have expected to be in possession of a few more wounds. Bruised ribs perhaps. A cut on the elbow or palm of the hand where I attempted to break my fall. If I was still conscious at this point that is. No, it was more likely I had bumped it on the taxi door or on the edge of my bed.
It was time to ring Tony.
I had left, Tony informed me, about midnight. Without a word of goodbye and I was not alone. Two women and three blokes. And I was 'hammered' in his own words. Before the exit I had danced the night away, sometimes on my own on the dance floor and I had been pretty abusive towards any fellow dancers - hence the reason for me dancing (pretty badly according to Tony) on my own for half the night.
No, he didn't know who the people were who I left with but they were well dressed and he reckoned that two of the blokes were with the two women.
It was looking bad.
"Did I fall over?"
Tony then went on to explain that he wasn't looking at me for the whole evening and that there had been this girl and that he was actually quite drunk and anyway, he had to go. Chelsea were playing at Home today.
There was nothing for it. I would have to ring the number.
Then another blue flash back.
It was while I was staring at the bookcase and I saw the book by Hanif Kureishi.
"With My Tongue Down Your Throat".
And my tongue had indeed been down someone's throat.
And she was a she.
And I recalled she was from New Zealand and that we hadn't said much. Just snogged. For ages. Fuck, I couldn't even remember her name.
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Lakers Need Kobe to Lead Defensively to Get Past BostonThe Engineer's dilemma
Arena, Testrealm & Co
Speaking of fellowships
Donnerschlag
But there was the bump