Barnes and Kobe

The rematch of last years finals and the Lakers did not pull out with a win. The game was tightly contested throughout the entire game and unfortunately Bryant was not able to pull three-straight Kobe-clutch shots. The Lakers fell short with one field goal.

The Lakers have gone on a three-game slide, but that doesn't matter because they are still regarded as one of the top 4 teams (in terms of power rankings). To me, the greater thing to look at from the game is Matt Barnes.

Barnes averages 8.7 points, 1.7 assists, 5.6 rebounds and .7 steals along with .4 blocks per game. His numbers are as surprising as Brett Favre coming back coming out of retirement to play yet another season. But what is impressing, is the defense and mental energy he exerted on irritating Kobe.

As you may know, I don't see the Magic going deep in the play-offs and I will stick with my predictions--except if Barnes can play that kind of defense on the top player of every team, I might predict otherwise.

The Magic have solid players all around, and their defense is the third best in the league (only behind the Lakers and Celtics). But what becomes important in the play-offs is to have a Bruce Bowen or Tayshaun Prince--that's what the two teams had over any other playoff contender; the had lock-down players.

Bowen could shoot, but I could think of five or even six players that could shoot better than him on that team. Prince is a great all-around player but Rip, Chauncey, Rasheed were the scorers (Prince scored around 13 per game). But if you would ask me what was it about those two teams that put them over the Lakers and even the Nets in the beginning of the decade, it would be their defensive stoppers.

Prince's crazy block over Ray Allen, Bowen's defensive lock-down on Kobe. If a player on your roster is used specifically to irritate and stop a scorer from scoring 15 in the 4th quarter and 30 in a game--you're team elevates to a new platform.

I haven't seen much of Barnes, but if he could play that defense on Kobe--he can play that defense on anyone (except I feel LeBron would physically overpower him), then the Magic have a much better shot. But again, since LeBron is a beast--I think he will end up winning this year.

Congratulations to the Magic and good luck having Barnes on LeBron.