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[acbboyz84]

We played bad yesterday and still put ourselves in position to win the game. That was one positive thing about last night game.

Although we lost. We shown sign that we can hang with these teams or even beat them if we play right.

 

[MVP]

Hanging with teams hasn't been the problem for the most part, it's executing down the stretch to translate those into wins, but it's whatever.

 

[MVP]

Dbl

 

[darthdeezy]

I knew we were gonna lose.
Just hoping it wasnt gonna be a blowout.
For every step forward this team takes, they take 2 steps back.
That playoff window is closing.
Fast.
Will be a loooooong and depressing summer.

 

[jsindaa]

We have got to have the most bipolar fan base of all time. It's freaking January we are 3 games out of the playoffs and yall acting like we are the worst team in the league. Chillllllll. They have a chance to get into that 8th spot by the break and from there move up. We'll be ok.

 

[CP1708]

I have somethin for you, you will enjoy this. Follow me here

You brought up Pierce gettin his help, and winnin a title. Boom, he can do what Kobe does. May we look at that?

Paul, Ray, Rondo, KG. Pau and LO will play with KG, that's big man stuff.

Rondo, Allen, Paul? Need quick dudes to work on them. Kobe, Fish, Sasha, Ariza Walton, Vlad Rad. *tire screeches*

Ariza? He was dead that series, barely even touched the court. He was no good to us.

So, Kobe and Fish switched on and off Rondo and Allen, depending on pick and rolls and such, so for the majority of that series, who guarded Paul Pierce?

Luke Walton, and Vlad Rad.

Who got Finals MVP?

Oh.


Now, who might I ask, guarded Kobe in that series? Care to see the list?

James Posey, Tony Allen, Ray Allen, Rondo, and Pierce.

Now, not for long stretches of course, but possessions here or there Pierce would get switched on Kobe, but for 48 minutes? Hell no, he would take time "guarding" Luke. Musta been nice huh?

Kobe spent time chasing Ray, or hounding Rondo, and sometimes banging with Paul when switched, but for the most part, when the Lakers had the ball, KOBE was the focus of their D. When the Celtics had the ball, the Lakers did NOT focus on Paul, they had other moves/plays to worry about. Ray screens, KG post ups, Rondo pick and rolls.


Now, 2010, Ron comes in. Ron, is not fast anymore, he can't chase Ray, and damn sure can't chase Rondo. Who can he guard? Paul. How did Paul do in that series? Was he even CLOSE to his 2008 self?


You see, Kobe has had (as you say) the platinum life. Shaq, and Pau. Tell me tho, what PERIMETER help has Kobe had? No handles Ariza? Ron? Sasha? Shannon Breezy? Who has LA had, in 17 Kobe years, that could create and do work like Kobe? The answer, Eddie Jones, for 2 years.

When Kobe plays the Spurs in the playoffs, Duncan can't guard him, he gotta get Shaq, or Pau. But Bruce Bowen, he can guard Kobe just fine, right? Anyone else for Bowen to worry about?
When LA face the Rockets. McGrady, Ron, AND Battier focus ALL SERIES LONG on Kobe. Sort of interesting, ain't it?

Has Kobe had someone to help take the defense off him?

Miami plays Boston all the time. Lebron guard Pierce all series, or he take time to guard Rondo as well? Why? Why don't Miami worry about Pierce torching them as much as working on Rondo, with their best defender?

If Miami played the Lakers in a series, in ANY year the last dozen. Wade, Allen, Shane, Bron. Would they not, in fact, take turns guarding/beating on Kobe ALL SERIES LONG, while being able to rest while the other guy guards him for a stretch? Would Kobe, have the luxury of another perimeter player helping him out, to pull the defense off of him?

You find that interesting, or think I am full of ****?

Oh and for the cheap seats, Mike? Had Scottie, on D, and on O. Who would Miami or Boston guard there? Could Mike take some time to chill here and there, and let another perimeter player do work?

See with bigs, it isn't always the same. You can dump it into them, sure, but the bigs defend bigs. That's not on Kobe, or his man defending him to worry about. On the perimter, he faces the #1 defender of EVERY team. Paul Pierce, does not. Not with Rondo or Allen on the team. Neat huh?


Kobe is 34, Pierce is 35. So last year, Pierce was 34. Was his season last year anything near Kobe's this year? How bout when PP was 33, and Kobe was 33, same production?

Could I not, in fact, make the argument that at 34, Kobe is extending his legacy as a player, while Pierce had tailed off pretty good? Still solid, sure. Has good games once, twice a week. But (so far) half a season at this same level, in fact, Kobe is BETTER this year, than several of his younger years.

And without Phil.

your thoughts?

Ska?


I saw Wade, Allen, Lebron all switch in and out guarding Kobe all night last night. On offense they could switch this way or that way and Kobe can only defend one of them.

Kobe ever have this luxury in his career? Was last night not a perfect example of what I explained?

He was awful all night, even his layups were missed (that's when you just know it's not your night) yet when he went on that run, he tied the game up 90-90, then Nash/Howard made multiple errors the final 2 minutes. Nash setting Dwight up to miss 3 of 4 free throws. The awful miss by Nash, Nash getting burned by Ray for a bucket.

At one point, the Heat had Wade, Bron, Battier, and Ray Allen on the court, all at once. Kobe never had anything remotely close to that. He has bigs, but they can't get the ball, and go out and create themselves a shot off movement, speed, ball handling, any of that. You have to spoon feed them. And when the D collapses that, it all falls on Kobe, who has the best, and freshest defnder in the game on him.

For 17 years.

But you wonder why we rock with him when we've been thee most succesful franchise the past 15 years. Even when he's terrible, he put us in a spot to get that W, and this time, it wasn't him that didn't get it done the final 2 minutes. And he really did play poorly, one of those nights for him. But he got it to 90-90, how many others can do that type of work, at 34, year 17, alone on the perimeter?

 

[gllahone84]

We played bad yesterday and still put ourselves in position to win the game. That was one positive thing about last night game.

Although we lost. We shown sign that we can hang with these teams or even beat them if we play right.

Yea...ok. 

 

[victoriii24]

Ya most of the laker fan base does get pretty upset when the Lakers lose but that's only because we are so used to seeing them win and be mentioned as a one of the elite teams. Some are especially upset this year becuase they had expectations through the roof with the lakers additions. On top of that the whole Phil Jackson thing. Fans are just frustrated but I agree they do need to chill there is still time but it needs to start now.

 

[k2theablam]

There was more to this game than just a win or loss. It's about the methodology of this team and how it won't be enough to win it all.

We turned it over 14 times more... Were tied with 2 minutes left.

Sureeeeeeeee Sky is falling, sky is falling

I'm all for being level headed, but honestly..... these are just excuses. Flat out excuses. Actually, this whole season has been one excuse after another. First when Dwight comes back, then when nash comes back, then IF they hit their free throws we would have won, and then IF they limit turnovers we would have won, blah blaaaahhhh blaah. It's getting old, and we're struggling to get into the PLAYOFF picture, in the easiest league in the world to make the playoffs.

Wins against the cavs and bucks were nice, but I never got too high, just like a loss against the heat is "Whatever". But you're fooling yourself if you think this team is going to make any noise in the playoffs, IF they make the playoffs for that matter; which, for all intents and purposes, is unacceptable.

 

[licensed to ball]

Like I said 5 pages ago...

Panic City.

I'm not happy with the loss, but I'm happy with our progress. This is still a project, and were just now slowly beginning to play like a team.

We need wins obviously, but if we want a chance of even making it past the first round of the playoffs we actually have to get better as a team. And we are.

We lost to the champs. We lost to the best player in the world. We were tied with a minute left, even though we had a sloppy ugly turnover filled game. We're playin better guys.

CP I agree about nash, he was off last night. But I give credit to the heat defense for harassing him and making his night hard. Nash will watch tape and adjust, I trust him.

Dwight?...everything was great except for the obvious. Free throws. C'mon Dwight....just, c'mon.

And Kobe, I'm happy he caught fire in the 4th quarter but he has to play better the first 3 quarters. If he had, we would of had a lead instead of playing catch up. Good effort in the 4th but we need 48 minutes of strong play from everyone to make progress in the standings.

So yeah, happy about the loss? No.

Happy about progress? Absolutely.

I don't wanna lose but big picture it looks
Like D'Antonis actually made some adjustments, which is crazy. So be appreciative of at least that, that were trying to make adjustments an were gettin better.

 

[denni5themenace]

just a few things i noticed from the game:

the refs seemed to call a LOT of ticky tack fouls on the lakers. i dont usually complain about the refs, but the heat got so many and 1 calls it was ridiculous.

kobe seems like he always has a point to prove when he goes up against lebron/wade and he just starts FORCING like no tomorrow. i remember on the last play of the 3rd quarter, dude held the ball for the entire 22 seconds, then of course forced up a terrible shot. **** was :x
did he redeem himself a bit in the 4th? sure, a bit. still no excuse for the garbage play he had in the first 3 quarters.

i can't stand this kobe. you guys can say he's playing the same as he's been playing his entire career, but i would disagree with you.

what happened to playing within the offense? getting position close to the basket? his decision making passing out of the double team has been questionable at best.

when nash came on board, he was all "i can actually play SG now, and facilitate less" but dude is the biggest ball stopper on this team. i can't stand it.

 

[MVP]

The offensive system is much of the problem, the personnel is mismatched to it and the spacing is all off. Most of that's on D'Antoni, it was all supposed to get better when Nash came back, but I can argue he's in the top 3 people on the team that looks lost out there in a system that's supposedly tailor made for him.

The calls were atrocious last night, no contact at all and they getting And-1s. But what do you expect when Joey Crawford thinks he's the star of the show. Oh and looks like Jamison has made it out of the doghouse and Meeks has replaced him

 

[thegoldenchild]

if we play like this against the majority of the league, we can win a good bit and have maybe problems only with san antonio, okc and miami.. but the defense needs to change, too many open shots and too many points in the paint

 

[hybridsoldier23]

The offensive system is much of the problem, the personnel is mismatched to it and the spacing is all off. Most of that's on D'Antoni, it was all supposed to get better when Nash came back, but I can argue he's in the top 3 people on the team that looks lost out there in a system that's supposedly tailor made for him.

The calls were atrocious last night, no contact at all and they getting And-1s. But what do you expect when Joey Crawford thinks he's the star of the show. Oh and looks like Jamison has made it out of the doghouse and Meeks has replaced him

Do we still not have set rotations? Seems like we have a new line-up (injury or not) coming off the bench every night.

 

[MVP]

Nah, I don't think D'Antoni has a clue how to set a rotation to give guys consistent or at least defined roles on the team; didn't think anyone was worse than Mike Brown but he is.

It's a little too late in the season to still be in training camp mode like some people in here would have us believe.

 

[geoff2005]

Like I said 5 pages ago...


Like D'Antonis actually made some adjustments, which is crazy. So be appreciative of at least that, that were trying to make adjustments an were gettin better.

in interview with kobe, seems like only reason why MD made an adjustment was cause kobe prob yelled at me to do something

 

[CP1708]

Yeah, I'm not real thrilled with D'Antoni's patterns either, but in fairness, he's been here 2 months and not a single day had the entire roster at his disposal.

Early on he was mixing and matching, seeing who does what with whom. Now? He's just going by feel I think.

The difference is tho at least he adjusts. I wish he would be a little more patient with it, but he does at least see matchups and try to work on them. Brown didn't do that.

At some point he'll go back to the starters. Set five. Nash, Kobe, Ron, Pau, Dwight.

Then maybe, he can set Blake, Clark and Jamison as subs. Mix in one of the centers as the main guy on the court at all times, from there it's anyone from Morris for D, Meeks for spacing, Kobe for Kobe, Ron as an added starter along with the Center, or even Nash with Blake playing the 2.

Apparently Ebanks is dead to him even tho I thought he coulda helped on D last night. Rather have him chasin Ray Allen around than Nash, but I'm just an internet guy, what do I know?


What I really REALLY wanted last night was for him to go Dwight/Pau/Clark and then Kobe/Nash or maybe one of those 2 + Morris. In fact, defensively, Dwight/Pau/Clark/Kobe/Morris might have been alright, even with Pau in the pick and roll all night, Dwight and Clark on the floor could at least help out and affect shots behind Pau's blown by ***. With Kobe engaged on the ball, he'd be ok, and Morris always hustles and harrasses. I wanted to see how that would have worked so we could have continued to punish them inside, on the glass, and Pau actually was effective offensively last night, til the end of the game.

 

[CHAOSE57]

Pau Gasol returned after a five-game absence on Thursday night in the Lakers 99-90 loss to the Miami Heat.

Gasol came off the bench in his first appearance since suffering a concussion on Jan. 6 against the Denver Nuggets.

"I've been a starter my entire career. I think this is my first games as a Laker, coming from the bench," said Gasol. "It's not something that I would enjoy I think."

Gasol said he understood the circumstances, "coming back from the concussion" against the Heat after almost two weeks off.

Would he be open to coming off the bench moving forward?

"Probably not," answered Gasol.

Additionally the Lakers forward-center expects to be on the floor in the final moments of games.

"I would always like to finish games. I think the most determined players, important players finish games," said Gasol after the defeat. "When the games are on the line, you need to have the best players on the floor."

Coach Mike D'Antoni has struggled to blend big men Dwight Howard and Gasol successfully with the team's supporting cast. Given that Howard is very likely to be on the floor with the game on the line, the Lakers have to decide if that's a workable combination.

Gasol scored 12 points against the Heat, eight coming in the first half. Miami scored the final nine points of the game against the Lakers (with a lineup that included Howard and Gasol).

LINK

I'm done with this bum

 

[licensed to ball]

Honestly, right now when the game is on the line I'd rather have Clark's services out there than Pau's. At least until Pau is healthy again.

Dude has absolutely NO LIFT in his legs right now. He can't run, he can't jump. He just looks like a big slow stick figure getting pushed around on top of the perimeter. How many times is dude gonna fall to the ground like a wimp and then complain to the refs?

Clark's not a proven player but at least he's out there giving it his all. Athleticism, rebounding, put backs, good passing,
Solid shooting. Pau can't do any of that right now.

Get better then we'll start talking Pau.

 

[ag 47]

Nah, I don't think D'Antoni has a clue how to set a rotation to give guys consistent or at least defined roles on the team; didn't think anyone was worse than Mike Brown but he is.

Didn't want to be the one to say it, but you're 100% correct. There's not ONE good reason why I should ever see a lineup on the floor without Kobe or Nash in it.

 

[darthska]

Of COURSE Kobe has had people that make the defense pay for focusing on JUST him. No, those players weren't named Ray Allen or Reggie Miller, but damn, they weren't exactly scrubs. They produced when they needed to, just like Paxson and Kerr did for MJ & Pip.

Hell yeah he has had people take the pressure off him while Shaq and Pau were locked up with the other bigs.

But you're neglecting what I also neglected to mention initially: Phil.

It's not just that he has only had to play like 2 or 3 seasons without Shaq/Pau; it's that he has only had to play 2 or 3 seasons without Shaq/Pau and Phil.

You give any hardworking top talent a guarantee that they will play with a top tier contrasting position player (a top guard will play w/ a big, a top big will play w/ a guard) AND the greatest coach ever for all but 2 of years of their career, they will be successful. Period.

If Anthony Davis were guaranteed to have a 17 year career where he were to play w/ Chris Paul and Phil Jackson, then have a couple years of neither, then have Phil come back and another top guard in the league joins the team... Unibrow retires w/ multiple championships. No way that doesn't happen.

But yes, he has absolutely had people take the pressure off him and make the defense pay for having guys like Bowen and Artest 'shadow' his every move. That's what role players do, and we've had a number of them do that for a few years then bail, just as Phil wanted them to do.

On the point of him doing what he's doing now at his age with his mileage and comparing that to Pierce (or any of his counterparts at this age, Jordan included), I already gave Kobe credit for this when I said his work ethic and conditioning and sacrifice of his own body is nothing less than admirable. THIS... he deserves all the credit in the world for. This has nothing to do with coaches or teammates or the Lakers; this is his personality, and it was not Iverson's. It was not TMac's (in his defense, though, his injuries were just nonstop for a few years, and back injuries are noooo joke :\ ). He has outworked his peers, and he's still doing so.\

I don't have the time to go through and find whoever else asked me something, but someone mentioned something about how ridiculous it is for me to 'fault' Kobe for having talented teammates when Magic had great teammates and MJ had great teammates.

I'm pretty sure no one is going to feel my first response (on Magic), and positive NO ONE is going to like my second response (on MJ).

Yes, Magic had teammates; he didn't even win Finals MVP every time we won a chip in the 80s. BUT HIS INFECTIOUS, OPEN PERSONALITY is what set him apart from other basketball players... IN MIDDLE SCHOOL. Sure, he was talented, but he was FRIENDLY. I don't need to go further w/ this, do I? I can just leave it asking the question "Is Kobe friendly and congenial?", right? Hope so. (what I expect: "Oh, so you want Kobe to be all friendly in order to like him?")

On MJ, sure, he had teammates, but he was the Finals MVP every single time, and there was NEVER a question who the baddest dude out there was. Is that true for Kobe? And in 2010, yeah, Kobe got his 2nd FMVP, but it ain't like he straight up CARRIED our sorry selves. Pau... did WORK that series. I honestly thought that maybe there was a slight possibility Pau would get FMVP. Of course you guys are going to drudge up numbers now that are going to make it seem ridiculous to even fathom such a thing, but I remember sitting there right after the series was over thinking "Maybe." (what I expect: "Oh, so you'll never like him because he didn't win those first 3 FMVPs?")

My responses to both of what I expect: he doesn't have to do a DAMN thing for me to like him, because I don't care whether I'm a huge fan of his or not, and he don't care, either. Magic don't care that I've got him as my GLOAT and Kobe's somewhere in my top 5. I'm not saying I need certain things to happen that haven't happened in order for me to like the dude the way y'all dude. I'm just answering y'all's questions of "What's the deal, ska?!"

Some of you regulars know I do this 2-3 times a year.

If we were to win another championship, obviously, that would sure help things. And if he were to stop shooting so g.d. much and stop gambling on defense all the time, that would help... but it's whatever. If we win another championship w/ him shooting 92 shots a game and gambling left and right, I'll take it.

Lakers above all

 

[licensed to ball]

Brb let me grab some food to enjoy that novel I'm about to read.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

Well at least we didn't lose by double digits. |I :\

 

[guttagetsbusy]

Well at least we didn't lose by double digits. |I :\

So sad that this is starting to become the general mindset of Laker fans after games now

 

[pr0phecy718]

Yeah, I'm not real thrilled with D'Antoni's patterns either, but in fairness, he's been here 2 months and not a single day had the entire roster at his disposal.

Boy, I heard this before