LAKERS vs SPURS GAME 3 THOUGHTS

I really think that this game was for the Spurs all along. Tony Parker just showed his greatness. He penetrated the paint at his will and made those teardrop shots. Tim Duncan had a monster outing with 22 points AND 21 rebounds. The Lakers were just not making shots in this one.

Kobe Bryant had a tough night. Bruce Bowen's defense simply made Kobe a quiet contributor for this one. Manu Ginobili's shots were falling. Healthy or not, this Argentine can still score. Brent Barry, wow. He made clutch three point bombs on this one. Fabricio Oberto's game, though not that explosive, he played well on this one. Defending the bigs of the Lakers, Oberto simply did his part in helping Duncan conserve energy for the offense.

There is simply a lot to rave about the way the Spurs won this game. They controlled the pace of the game, much to the chagrin of Phil Jackson. Tony Parker simply roamed around the Laker defense. Manu Ginobili made his shots. Michael Finley made shots. It was a total team effort by the defending champions.

For the Lakers, they simply played like on cruise control. They did not play with hunger. Derek Fisher simply was not into this game at all. He was shut down by the Spurs defense. He also got a technical foul. Probably, a sign of frustration. This is not how the Lakers must play. The triangle offense did not work into fruition on this night. Kobe Bryant could not get away from Bruce Bowen's defense as well. Heck, he only got to the foul line once. That is a big difference from the Utah series wherein he got to the line for 16 times a game. Lamar Odom . . . hmm, this was not his night. He fell into the trap that the Spurs defense created. He missed some layups as well.

The bench was the huge factor of this one. The Laker bench only scored 21 of the 84 Laker points. That is not the production expected from these guys. Sasha Vujacic, a.k.a "The Machine", did not make his shots. Only Jordan Farmar was the bright spot for the Laker bench.

For the Spurs' bench, it is very different story. Manu Ginobili led the bench with his 30 big points. He scored big time. I firmly believe that the Spurs feed on Manu's game. If Manu doesn't score, then the Spurs will always have a difficulty in winning games. Take note at Game 1, Manu was simply not Manu there. See the huge difference? That is how important Manu Ginobili is for the San Antonio Spurs. Overall, the Spurs bench scored 41 out of the 103 Spurs points. Again, as I have said, it was a total team effort.

For the Lakers to win Game 4, Lamar Odom has to play like he did against the Jazz. The bench has to play solid all the time and somehow, Kobe must blow by Bruce Bowen. The Spurs won this one but I still see the Lakers winning in 6.

Series now 2-1, still in the Lakers' favor.