stangfoeva

A valiant effort tonight, but alas, no W. The Lakers lost a tough battle tonight against the San Antonio Spurs on the road in the second of a back to back. They fell 105-108 in their second game without their entire front court (Howard, Gasol, and Hill). Steve Blake is also still out and recovering from surgery.


They fell behind by double digits multiple times, but they never quit. A team as shorthanded as the Lakers needs to play desperate. They definitely delivered in the energy aspect. Kobe's shot was off to start the game (as well as his free throws), but MWP and Nash kept the team afloat. Kobe turned it on again in the second half after getting a technical foul for complaining about a no call on a drive to the hoop. The Lakers missed several defensive assignments throughout (Kobe a few times) leading to easy buckets for San Antonio. Earl Clark was undoubtedly the game's hero for the Lakers by putting up 22 points and 13 rebounds. It was an extraordinary effort from the Lakers's 4th string PF. When opportunities arise, guys have to step up, and that's what he did.


The Lakers were able to cut the deficit to 3 with about 2 1/2 minutes to go (from 17). They even got multiple consecutive stops from that point on. The only problem was they failed to convert on the other end. MWP missed a layup in a 4 on 2 break. Jamison missed a corner 3 on a feed from Nash. Then Ginobli hit a 3 to put the Spurs up 6. Earl Clarke responded with a 3 of his own and the Lakers got another stop. Kobe took a tough 3 that went long, and the rebound was tapped out to Clarke who missed a last second attempt.


Notables:


The Good:
- Career night for Clarke. Hopefully he can continue to play well while the other bigs get healthy. He also played excellent defense on Ginobli
- Solid effort
- 4th Q defense



The Bad:
- Too many missed assignments
- Too many second chance points allowed
- Missed shots in the final 2 minutes


The Lakers have lost to the Spurs by a combined 5 points this season. The first meeting they had no Nash and no coach. This time they had no Pau, Dwight, or Hill. Unfortunately all that matters is that they count as 2 losses on a horrible record.

stangfoeva

Missed the game due to a busy Friday night. It definitely wasn't expected to be a win playing against the Thunder with the rash of injuries the Lakers have suffered throughout the season. Check Dancing Barry's review from Lakersground:

DancingBarry's Thoughts and Smiley Ratings

They desperately need a win, and they'll have a shot today playing against the Cavaliers.

stangfoeva

Didn't matter who it was against the Lakers needed a win badly. Through good ball movement and player movement, the Lakers got what they needed winning 113-93. It also didn't hurt having Dwight Howard back .

Howard had 22 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks in around 30 min. Kobe was looking for him early and often. This set the tone for the game. They dominated from start to finish in large part due to sharing the ball properly. The result was ending the night one assist shy of their season high (32). The Duke of Earl again produced putting up 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. Does a stat line like that sound familiar? It does to me because it screams Lamar Odom. The Lakers may have found a diamond in the rough here.

Notables:

The Good:
- Ball movement and player movement. I love the dives to the basket whenever Kobe got doubled. A MUST
- Dwight was dominant inside
- Duke of Earl continued his trend of playing well
- Jamison added 16 off the bench
- Kobe only had to play 28 minutes
- Active defense

The Bad:
- 22 is too many turnovers
- Too many offensive rebounds given up

Everyone has written the Lakers off at this point. Calling them a failed experiment. A team with superstars that can't get along. Old. Slow. Not good enough.

I believe it's up to them to write their own history.

stangfoeva

The Lakers got the win 104-88 tonight, and it started with their defense. In fact, I liked their defense so much I'm not even going to talk about their offense. Ok maybe I'll talk about the offense a little bit because it was good too .


Since the Cavs game on Sunday, the Lakers have decided to have Kobe match-up with the opposing team's best guard. It worked on Sunday, and it worked again tonight. With the way the rules are, it's almost impossible to stop elite NBA point guards. But what Kobe is doing defensively is nearly just as effective. He is picking up them up full court in an attempt to get the ball out of their hands. He may be slower than them, but his length gives them trouble as well. The Lakers also bring a second defender into the driving lane, choosing to leave a player open. The opposing PG almost has no choice but to give the ball up to the open man since it's the right "basketball play." However once they do, that forces the player who receives the pass to then become the facilitator (provided the defense rotates quickly), which they are normally not comfortable with. Put simply, it disrupts their offense. The results: Jennings shot 4-14 from the floor. And like Coach D'Antoni mentioned it even seems to gets Kobe more wired up for offense if you can believe that. The downside is it creates mis-matches for the Lakers as well. Tonight Nash had to guard M'bah a Moute who is around 6'8". However Dwight is always ready in the help position. Credit the Lakers' defense for the win tonight. Lots of effort, hustle, and communication defensively. It should also be noted Earl Clarke did a great job making Monta Ellis work for everything.



On offense the Lakers shared the basketball well. Went inside early and often. Dwight and Kobe both had 31 points shooting 78% and 63% respectively. In the first half the Lakers had 14 assists on 15 made baskets. They had 30 total assists for the game. That's what Coach D'Antoni's offense should look like.


The only thing I'm worried about now is what the defense will look like when Pau returns. He is a better overall player than Clarke, but his diminished athleticism due to injury and age make Clarke the better defensive fit. The Lakers rotations won't be nearly as quick. I think the best bet is to Bring Pau in off the bench. It gives the Lakers a legit 6th man, and a put Pau in the post where he is most effective. We'll see what Coach D'Antoni decides.

Notables:

The Good:
- Doberman style team defense
- Offensive execution
- Good job by Steve, Earl, and Kobe guarding out of position
- Dwight great all around game
- Only 8 turnovers


The Bad:
- Gave up too many offensive rebounds
- Sometimes the Lakers took bad early 3's without anyone in rebounding position
- Bench lull at the end of the 1st quarter let the Buck back in the game


The defending champs come in to Staples on Thursday. Let's see what the Lakers can do against them...

stangfoeva

The Lakers put forth a good effort, but they got beat by the defending champion Heat tonight 90-99. With a much smaller lineup, the Heat played their usual high pressure defense to combat the Lakers size. In the same way we saw Kobe ball hawking opposing point guards to disrupt their offense, Miami jumped out on every Nash screen roll. It was effective most of the night.

The Lakers defense wasn't too shabby either. It was their 16 turnovers in the first half that did them in. Kobe was also not shooting well throughout the first two quarters. So at the break they led by only 1 despite holding Miami to 2/28 outside the paint.

Miami opened up 9 point lead in the 4th, but Kobe started hitting his shots and the Lakers tied the game at 90 apiece. From there the Lakers couldn't counter Miami's pressure defense and got some poor possessions. Wade, Allen, and LeBron hit jumpers to seal it.

Notables:

The Good:
- Dwight was dominant when the Lakers were able to pass it to him
- Pau looked decently aggressive on offense
- Good effort overall

The Bad:
- Too many turnovers, and a lot were unforced
- No halftime adjustment to the Heat D
- It's another loss

First, I want to see the Lakers' coaches scheme properly to beat pressure defense. Secondly, in the 3rd when LeBron started dominating (with no Howard on the court) why didn't somebody foul him? Pau especially because he was the Lakers' rim defender. When a guy is bulldozing to the rim at will somebody has got to lay him on his back. I'm not saying make a dirty play, but take a good solid foul. Maybe make him think twice before driving the lane. I don't know, that's just how I was taught to play the game.

stangfoeva

I missed the game today as it started at 10am PST. Unfortunately Dancing Barry from Lakersground.net also missed the game. Even more unfortunate is the Lakers lost 103-108.

Cold shooting night for Kobe, ejection from Dwight after 17 minutes of play, and this is the result.

The Lakers are still 2 1/2 games out of 8th place. They've got a lot of work to do. They'll get another shot tomorrow against the Bulls.

Zastava_101

Lakers have things working out in their favor. In pretty much every other season, they would be waaaaay off the playoffs, but with Houston losing 7 in a row, Utah and Portland win one lose one strategy and Minnesota's Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic being injured all of the time, Lakers actually might make it to the playoffs this year.

I would worry about Dallas ... They have been playing pretty well lately. They won 5 out of last 6 games, with the only loss coming against Oklahoma City in overtime.

stangfoeva

Something's gotta balance out from all of our injuries

Zastava_101

Nobody was injured on Sunday vs Toronto.

stangfoeva

Steve Blake

Lennyb44

Now you're grasping at straws...

My summary for this season thus far:
They're playing down to the level of the bad teams and aren't quite good enough (yet) to beat the good teams.

Fingers crossed we can make the playoffs.

stangfoeva

yeah that was a joke. Although Jordan Hill is out and he was a contributor.

Certainly there is truth to what you said though. I still have hope we can do it

stangfoeva

Broken record....broken record. Played like crap and another loss. It was tied going into the fourth, and the Lakers melted down. They dropped tonight's game 83-95.

There's a ton of stuff I could analyze, but it matters not. Stu Lantz pretty much summed it up when he asked the question "Do they believe in themselves?" It doesn't look like they do. If you don't have confidence in yourself, you will suck at basketball (or any sport for that matter)- point blank. The Lakers are playing with zero confidence.

Notables:

The Good:
- Clark was solid
- Pau looked good in his bench role
- Nash was more aggressive shooting wise

The Bad:
- Kobe still had no legs. Poor shooting
- Dwight had an awful game. Get stripped waaay too much
- Made Kirk look like an all star
- Poor defensive communication

Final verdict?....

Expect a trade soon.

Zastava_101

The Chicago Bulls tonight were the perfect example of the well balance team that can still win no matter what players are out.
They've been playing all season long without their best player Rose and tonight Deng (2nd best player) was also out.

They still won against the Lakers. And so far the Bulls are 24-16.

With both Rose and Deng back, I'm sure the Bulls are gonna be the championship contender.

stangfoeva

But in the end they will fall to Miami or NY because they don't have enough star power. Playoff basketball is different

Zastava_101

With both Rose and Deng back, I'm sure that Bulls can beat the Knicks. The Knicks started the season well, but lately they win few and then they also lose few. Indiana, Brooklyn and Chicago are not that far behind (1/2 to 1 1/2 games); I won't be surprised if the Knicks don't have the home court advantage in the 1st round of playoffs.

As for Miami - nobody can beat Miami, they're the best team in the NBA. I think Chicago (again, with both Rose and Deng back) is the only team that can beat them more than once in the playoffs.

And for the Lakers - everything that I said before the season started is becoming true. None of the players over the age of 30 (Gasol, Bryant, Nash, Artest) can't play more than 30 minutes. Gasol is actually the only positive thing about the Lakers right now and Earl Clark has been a positive surprise. Hinrich was running circles around Nash tonight in the 4th quarter. Kobe is tired, Nash is trying and he's actually pretty good for a 39-years-old and God knows on what planet Howard is on in his mind ... And as usual, the bench doesn't exist (with the few exceptions this season).

Lakers needs to start trading players and they need to start with Howard. I'm sure they can get few solid players for him.

Oh yeah ... and get rid of Mike D'Antoni. Phil Jackson, Jeff and Stan Van Gundy, Nate McMillan ... they're all available.

stangfoeva

Please Zoran. The bulls had a better team last year and they weren't good enough to beat Miami then. You think Rose is gonna come back and be the same player right away? Even if he is just as good it will take the team time to adjust. They're not good enough offensively to beat them. They barely got 95 tonight and our D was and has been atrocious.

As for the Lakers the simple fact is the injuries killed any chance they had to develop an identity. And they're trying to make it work but the pressure is making it very difficult. You can just see players forcing stuff that isn't there.

There will be trades in an effort to get players to fit D'Antonis system. But most likely the Lakers won't get anyone with a contract past 2014

Zastava_101

Even without Rose, IMO, the Bulls are still the 2nd best team in the East (or maybe 3rd, since Indiana is playing really well). Rose should be back at 100% before the playoffs … I think the Bulls are the only team in the NBA that can actually win the series vs. Miami.

I know they lost the last time, but IMO it was because they were expecting for Rose to do everything. With Rose out so much over the past 2 seasons, I think the Bulls learned how not to depend on him. Plus, there is nothing embarrassing aboutlosing to the Heat – after all, Miami is the champ.

As for the Lakers … they need to stop using the injury excuse because it’s their own fault that they’re happening. They have a bunch of old guys on the roster – it was unrealistic to expect that they won’t get injured. It’s just not realistic to expect that Kobe, Nash, Gasol and Artest, at their age, can play at 100% for 82 games + playoffs. Especially because Lakers have no bench so those guys are forced out to play 40+ minutes night after night and of course– they get injured.

If the Lakers wanted such a old roster – they should’ve done what San Antonio did. Get a great bench and limit old players minutes to maybe 20-25 for the regular season, so they can stay in shape. And then, they will be able to play at 100% in the playoffs.

Instead, you have Kobe that’s already tired and burned out (and it’s only half of the season) because everything fell on his shoulders and I actually see him getting injured pretty soon. He’s not a kid anymore; he’ll be 35 in August, and it’s also unrealistic to expect that he can score 40 pts night after night and still be in a great shape all season long.

I think Lakers should’ve kept the same team from the last season. Session sat the playmaker, Bynym at the center and they should’ve traded Gasol for few younger players. There’s been a talk with Minnesota about the trade Gasol for Derrick Williams and Nikola Pekovic. I think that would’ve work really well for the Lakers. Williams is a future star and I know Pekovic really well (he spent many years playing basketball for Serbian teams) – he’s one of the top centers that came from Europe in a very long time.

stangfoeva

I won't say the Bulls have no chance, but it's slimmer than you think. The Bulls play good enough defense to win, but against Miami they need one more consistent offensive threat to win. All Miami is going to do is put LeBron on Rose, and unless he's improved his jumper there goes the series. And that's assuming Rose can be 100%. I really like him though since he's so mentally tough. Wish him and the Bulls the best because I can't stand Miami.

And injuries with the Lakers aren't an excuse it's reality. The 4 stars have only played a combined 11 games together. I'll give you that 3 of them are past their primes. However the Lakers did make an effort to get younger (Pau & Lamar for CP3) and we all know how the league screwed them on that. Rumor was the next signing was going to be David West and then the trade for Dwight. Lord only knows how good that team would have been.

I think Pau will get dealt now, but only if the deal doesn't include long contracts. Win or Lose this team is starting over in 2014.

Zastava_101

Sources: Lakers fret over Dwight

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/s...-dwight-howard