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The biggest thing that stood out for me, besides the win was Phil Jackson.
I'm at work and had a couple hrs to digest the game.
When he started getting demonstrative on the bench during timeouts in the 2nd quarter, I got a sense of what the hell is he doing? Phil never acts like that.
Then we saw more of it in the 3rd and 4th quarter and you have to wonder if he is starting to lose faith in the team at that point. He saw Kobe wasn't going crazy for 40 pts and the Mavs held him to 21 and 10. Which is a good game, but that's not "a Kobe in the playoffs when your team is down 2-0" kind of game.
While EVERYONE knows what Jackson was doing when he hit Gasol in the chest MULTIPLE times, it didn't seem to work. Sure he can be the scape goat for this series and his play has not helped the Lakers, at all, but there is more than him to blame, even though it may be easiest to blame Pau.
Jackson started to panic and for the first time since I've seen him coach a game, I think he envisioned it was over.
I don't know if you can go as far as to say Carlisle out coached him but I feel like Jackson was a bit of a deer in the headlights.
JapanAir said it best, Dallas has been disrespected all season, no one believed in them, and this is the same story every year. Now it seems like they are playing with a serious chip on their shoulder, Dirk looks like he is on a mission, the most unguardable player in the league right now.
We can venture as far to say that Dirk, RIGHT NOW, is playing the best basketball of his career.
Hopefully Dallas takes care of the Lakers on Sunday, although I also agree with JapanAir that it may cause them to be a bit rusty for game 1 of the WCF. Then again...I don't want the Lakers to win 1 game and then all the talk of Dallas choking comes into play etc etc.
Finish the job.
I'm at work and had a couple hrs to digest the game.
When he started getting demonstrative on the bench during timeouts in the 2nd quarter, I got a sense of what the hell is he doing? Phil never acts like that.
Then we saw more of it in the 3rd and 4th quarter and you have to wonder if he is starting to lose faith in the team at that point. He saw Kobe wasn't going crazy for 40 pts and the Mavs held him to 21 and 10. Which is a good game, but that's not "a Kobe in the playoffs when your team is down 2-0" kind of game.
While EVERYONE knows what Jackson was doing when he hit Gasol in the chest MULTIPLE times, it didn't seem to work. Sure he can be the scape goat for this series and his play has not helped the Lakers, at all, but there is more than him to blame, even though it may be easiest to blame Pau.
Jackson started to panic and for the first time since I've seen him coach a game, I think he envisioned it was over.
I don't know if you can go as far as to say Carlisle out coached him but I feel like Jackson was a bit of a deer in the headlights.
JapanAir said it best, Dallas has been disrespected all season, no one believed in them, and this is the same story every year. Now it seems like they are playing with a serious chip on their shoulder, Dirk looks like he is on a mission, the most unguardable player in the league right now.
We can venture as far to say that Dirk, RIGHT NOW, is playing the best basketball of his career.
Hopefully Dallas takes care of the Lakers on Sunday, although I also agree with JapanAir that it may cause them to be a bit rusty for game 1 of the WCF. Then again...I don't want the Lakers to win 1 game and then all the talk of Dallas choking comes into play etc etc.
Finish the job.
