Nice article Mark, but you might want to cut down on the red bull.
LA is top to bottom the best team in the league. And yes, they have the BEST perimeter player in the league. Kobe is still the best all-around perimeter player in the league. Hands down. But Lebron has taken the crown as best player in the NBA. Regardless I don't think Kobe's coasting out there. In fact I don't think any of them are coasting. They just aren't coming out with the same fire and energy on the road as they are at home.
And I don't think anyone is giving Houston any credit in this series and they deserve some. The Zen Master said it himself after game 4, when a reporter asked if LA was embarrassed by the loss and the way his team played.
"Houston played a great game. Give them some f***ing credit. I mean for real."
Even before Yao went down, this was a tough matchup for LA. Houston is a physical, hustling, defense-oriented team. And with Yao down it has been all those traits that have shown through and carried them to two victories, with the possibility of moving onto the West Finals Sunday without their two best players.
LA will win game 7, quite possibly in a blow out, because role players play better on their home court. But LA is soft. And Denver is rock solid like the mountains they play in. That's their biggest flaw and the one that could cost them a championship this year. Having home court is huge, but if LA expects to win only playing at 80% against a hungry Denver squad, they are in for a serious rude awakening.
