Lakers vs. Spurs Game 4

Some facts from ESPN’s Daily Dime:

• San Antonio has won 13 straight and 16 of its last 17 playoff games at home. The Spurs have won 15 of their last 21 playoff games overall.
• The Lakers have lost 8 of their last 11 postseason road games.
• When winning both Games 1 and 2 of a best-of-seven series, the Lakers are 36-1 all-time in any round.
• Overall, as the Conference No. 1 seed, the Lakers are 155-72 all-time in the playoffs. The Lakers are 44-47 in Game 4 of a best-of-seven series all-time in any round.

From Mike Kahn of Foxsports:

• When Ginobili scores 20 or more points, they are 7-1.
• When he fails to hit the 20-point mark, they are 2-5.

Priority #1 for Los Angeles tonight has to be containing Manu Ginobili — at all costs.

If Kobe Bryant is this era’s Michael Jordan than Manu Ginobili is his Clyde Drexler. Ginobili, not Tim Duncan (the greatest power forward of all-time) was San Antonio’s leading scorer this season. As Kahn alluded to in his article, as he goes, so go the Spurs.

It baffles me that some people underestimate Manu’s importance to his team and the historical significance of his career. The guy is a winner, plain and simple.

One of the greatest winners in the history of the game.

Since Kobe Bryant isn’t afforded the luxury of a Scottie Pippen type lock-down defender as a teammate — and Trevor Ariza is still working himself back into shape after months on the injured reserve — it’s paramount that Phil Jackson assign Kobe the unenviable task of stopping Ginobili over the rest of this series.

Bryant remains the NBA’s most talented offensive player and led the Lakers to victory on that end in game 1.

But he’s also a perennial 1st team All-NBA defender.

It’s time for him to prove his worth on the defensive side of the ball in this series.

The Lakers fate is dependent upon it.