Day: May 2, 2008

The Los Angeles Times (Jonathan Abrams) reports: It’s the triangle offense, now available in version 3.0. These days, Kobe Bryant offers an alley-oop Pau Gasol’s way and the two can exchange roles the very next play. Luke Walton posts up, then drifts out for a three-point shot, or Lamar Odom ducks and dives his way to the rim for enough double-doubles to fill his heart’s content. The part-mystical, part head-scratching triangle offense is functioning quite smoothly with Gasol completing the Lakers’ trifecta. Possibly more so than . . . Michael Jordan’s championship days under Phil Jackson? “Since we’ve had Gasol, it’s a very good comparison,” said Tex Winter, a Lakers consultant and a pretty smart person to ask on the subject because, well, he is the offense’s innovator. “It’s not necessarily a guy like Kobe or Michael Jordan that oftentimes makes the difference in this. Sometimes, it is the post man or someone else.”