Zastava_101

LOS ANGELES -- Following the Los Angeles Lakers' 103-99 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on New Year's Day, Kobe Bryant had a simple answer for what has been plaguing the 15-16 Lakers this season: their age.


"Cause we're old as s---," said the 34-year-old Bryant when asked why a lack of energy has been a problem for L.A. all season. "What do you want? We just got to figure out how to play when we don't have that energy. We got to change things up a little bit defensively. We got to figure out what we want to do offensively, figure out what we want to do on nights when we don't have those legs or have that energy."


"You just saw an old **** team," Bryant continued. "I don't know how else to put it to you. We're just slow. You saw a team over there that was just younger and just had fresher legs and just played with more energy, and we were just stuck in the mud. I think individually we all have to figure out how to get ourselves ready each and every game to have a high level of energy. That's all that is."


http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/s...rs-lack-energy

stangfoeva

When Dwight is not 100% it shows, like last night. When he is good to go it shows, like Friday's game against the Blazers.

Zastava_101

I don't think Howard is ever 100% in his head.
Unlike players like Kobe, LeBron and Blake Griffin, basketball is just a game for Howard. I don't think it matters to him whether the team wins or loses, he just wants for the game to be over so he can go home.

stangfoeva

I disagree Zoran.

Did you know he was hurt all of last year? Orlando's med staff misdiagnosed his injury as back spasms. He was playing with a buldged disk. That takes dedication

Zastava_101

I only remember him complaining all season long how he wants to leave. Big crybaby ...

He's a professional (or at least is supposed to be) and Orlando was paying him good money. I understand that he wanted to leave, but he went waaaay overboard last year.

Is the same thing gonna happen at LA when he's no longer happy?

stangfoeva

It could, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like basketball. Just means he realizes he can't win it all without help.

Zastava_101

I still think the Lakers should've kept Bynum instead of Howard.

stangfoeva

Me too. I love his stat line of 0 pts, 0 reb, 0 blks, 0 stl, 0 tur, 0 ast for the year.

I also love his new hair.

Zastava_101

Bynum has been injured, but he'll be back.
He was averaging 19 pts and 12 rpg last season, while shooting 55% from the game and 69% from the FT.

And when playoffs came, he gave a 110%, which is not something that Howard does. If Howard spent more time preparing for playoffs and less time playing Clark Kent/Superman off the court, maybe Orlando would've played better and maybe he wouldn't be so unhappy there.

Lennyb44

How you can have tired legs after having three days off?
I'm a long time Lakers fan and this team is starting to look like a bad chemistry experiment.

2k7gtcs

Maybe he's got the 'jimmy legs'

Lennyb44

Is that like "restless leg syndrome"?
On an unrelated note, there's a Canadian band called the Jimmy Legs.

http://thejimmylegs.net/

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.
(Sorry for the highjack)

stangfoeva

Funny you mentioned that. Before the game they compared bynum's numbers last year to Howard's this year. Nearly identical with Howard narrowly edging him out. And this is with Howard clearly still recovering. And if you don't think bynum took games off for the Lakers you must not have watched. Taking 3s with 20 on the shot clock. Admitting to "loafing around" during a game. Countless other antics. I liked him and appreciate how he helped us get those two championships, but his time was nearing its end. He was never the same after the knee injury.

I agree it wasn't the team's legs. It might have been kobe's because he didn't even sit in the second half. Or pau's because he still has foot and knee issues. But I think the key is Dwight's health. He was obviously not healthy yesterday. And when he struggles the defense suffers tremendously.

stangfoeva

The Lakers were looking forward to this game as a measuring stick. They got their answer. They're good, but they're not quite there yet as a team. They fell to the first place Clippers 102-107. Although the Lakers never led, they battled back from 18 and 19 point deficits. Amongst a bevy clutch buckets from Bryant, and a clutch 3 from Nash, the Lakers pulled within 2 (97-99) with about a minute left in the game. CP3 drove to the hoop and was blocked by MWP, but a foul was called on Dwight Howard. It was his sixth foul so he had to leave the contest. On the next play Kobe attempted a tough 3 that barely rimmed out. Chris Paul made 2 free throws to extend their lead to 6. Jodie Meeks hit a 3 pointer on the following play, but CP3 made his free throws from then out, effectively ending the game.

Early on in the game the Lakers were force feeding Dwight. These were mostly post looks. It was a good strategy because Dwight was scoring and getting the Clippers frontcourt into foul trouble. The only problem was the Lakers defense couldn't get stops on the other end. They went into the second down 22-29. It was a manageable deficit. To start the second however Coach D'Antoni went with a Morris, Meeks, Peace, Gasol, Howard lineup. As color announcer Stu Lance pointed out, Coach D'Antoni should always have at least Bryant or Nash in the back court, and Gasol or Howard in the front court. In that manner you always have at least 1 shot creator and 1 inside threat on the court at all times. I couldn't agree more. Especially with Blake and Duhon out, the Lakers have no facilitator on the second unit. The Clippers were able to expand their 7 point lead to an 18 point lead during that stretch, until Bryant and Nash re-entered the game. When their two hall-of-fame guards came back in, they cut the 18 point lead down to 4 (which the Clippers were able to push back to 10 by the half).

The Lakers struck quick with a 7-0 run to start the 3rd, but the Clippers responded with a 7-0 run of their own. Then the Lakers found themselves down 19 points in the 3rd, but fought back to bring it within 2 before the crunch time moments I described earlier. There were also some injury scare moments with Howard (shoulder) and Jordan Hill (ankle). They will be evaluated soon.

Notables:

The Good:
- The Lakers showed some heart coming back from big deficits. Ideally they would keep falling behind by double digits though.
- The Mamba was clutch and efficient all game (15/25 FG). Only 1 or 2 of his shots was forced.
- Nash shot the ball really well. I would like to see him shoot more.
- Jordan Hill gave a big spark off the bench. He's part of the reason the Lakers bench almost matched the Clippers bench (27 points vs 30 points). Although it should be noted the Clippers were without Jamal Crawford

The Bad:
- The Lakers gave up too many offensive rebounds
- Poor performances from Pau and Metta. Both shot 1/6 from the floor. There was one play where Pau received a pass 2 feet from the rim, and he couldn't even jump to shoot. His health issues are serious.
- Inconsistent play offensively and defensively.
- Lack of player movement offensively
- No defined team "style." Are they uptempo, slow it down, in the middle?
- Why wait till the 4th to play bettter defense?
- Dwight still looks way less than 100%.

Adjustments still need to be made strategically. I liked the Dwight guarding Griffin matchup in the 4th. I didn't like Nash and Bryant sitting to start the second. I'm still worried about the Spanish Wonder Pau fitting in. I think when fully healthy, he's versatile enough to do it, even being naturally a little flat footed. But it's clear he's not and it makes the team very slow on defensive rotations. The front office is probably entertaining trade ideas at the moment. Hopefully he can get healthy and do what he does best, play basketball at a high level.

stangfoeva

There's not even a point to writing a game summary tonight. It's the same as the last game, and the same as in most of the Lakers' losses: poor defensive communication, disjointed offense, and getting generally out hustled by the other team. The Lakers lost 105-110. Down the stretch they had an opportunity with Howard getting a key block, however, after he secured the ball he threw a bad pass that was intercepted and scored by the Nuggets. So far, that play has been a microcosm for the Lakers' season. Fans can only pray at some point they turn it around. I still believe they can.

Notables:

The Good:
- Nash looked a little more aggressive which I liked.
- Offense in the first half looked pretty good. 19 assists as a team
- Earl Clark coming in cold and hitting 2 free throws after he was chosen by Coach Karl (due to the injury to Pau)
-The Lakers forwards played well in the first half

The Bad:
- Too many offensive rebounds allowed
- Too many points in the paint allowed
- Poor transition defense
- Falling further below .500

At this point the Lakers can either pack it in and fold or suck it up, get back to the drawing board, and get to work son! We'll see which path they choose.

Zastava_101

Looks like Gasol and Howard are out ... that's gonna hurt, especially because Lakers have some tough games coming up (Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City).

stangfoeva

AND Jordan Hill

We will see MWP at the 5 in the next few games I'm guessing

Zastava_101

Nash really needs to step up in scoring ... Because, at this tempo, Bryant will go down with an injury sooner or later.

stangfoeva

Yeah I look for him to be more aggresive scoring wise tonight. I just hope his leg has fully healed

stangfoeva

Missed the game due to the earlier start time. Check Dancing Barry's review: DancingBarry's Thoughts and Smiley Ratings

With their best 3 bigs out due to injury (Pau, Dwight, and Hill), AND the team already struggling there was not much to expect in this loss.

Congratualtions on Nash getting to 10,000 assists for his career. I'm sure he's much more concerned with his team's place in the standings however...