I would not say that this early but no denying they have a great starting 5 and the deepest bench in the NBA. I would say Houston bench is a close 2nd in that category.
There are 2 ways to get there... Score 120 like the Lakers. Or hold your opponent to 70 like Houston did last night. Both work. It will just be interesting to see if the Lakers can get to 85-90 with Artest and Battier taking turns on Kobe.
lol, yea nobody really is going to stop Kobe, you can dream that Artest and Battier could. To beat the Lakers you shut the other players down, Kobe is going to get his regardless whos guarding him.
Correct, make Kobe feel that the game has to be taken over and they will lose more often than not. Easier said than done because he did a great job of getting his teammates involved last year. That was my one major knock on Kobe and he passed the test with flying colors.
there is a fine line. Because sometimes he truly does need to take over the game, but he is too patient (ala in the Finals last year). But he has been a lot better about that over the whole body of work the past few years. But P.S. by "shutting down" Kobe, I just mean holding him to 25-35. The Rockets kept him in check in 3 of their 4 meetings last year.
