Zastava_101

That's true, but none of other title contenders have a horrible bench like Lakers do.
Lakers' bench isn't bad - its horrible, its the second worst in the league.

So all it really takes is just one guy from Lakers' starting lineup to get injured or not be at 100% and Lakers will be out by the second round of playoffs.

stangfoeva

I think a major injury to any of the contenders would cripple their chances. Look how Miami struggles without wade. If Duncans gone from SA? That's a wrap. Westbrook or kd out, finished.

You could say it for anyone. But the Lakers bench will look better when Nash is back.

There will also be a combo of Kobe/pau or Nash/ Dwight playing with them

Zastava_101

I'm glad you mentioned Miami, because Chris Bosh got injured during last year's playoffs and even when he returned he played a limited role. Miami still won the championship. And Bosh is a very important Miami's player. I don't think Lakers would do that well without Gasol or Howard.

Greg Popovich can successfully mix (unknown) young players and veterans better than anyone else in the NBA. San Antonio has the 5th most scoring bench in the NBA, they scoring 40 out of San Antonio's 100 points per game (by comparison, Lakers' bench is scoring 20 pts per game).
So I have to disagree with you, IMO, even when Duncan retires San Antonio will still be a strong contender in the West.

stangfoeva

And when has San Antonio won without Duncan?

When has Miami won without bosh? As I recall they got taken to 7 by Boston and were down against Indiana. They didn't start playing well until he was on the floor.

In fact the only team to win it all with a key player down in recent memory was the Lakers when they won without bynum.

Can we contend without a key player? Yes. Can we win it all? Doubtful. Same for every other team.

Sorry zoran, nice try though

stangfoeva

The road has not been kind to the Lakers as they drop tonight's game 98-106 at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies. It was the first of the Lakers' second back-to-back on the current road trip. Surprisingly the Lakers' bench played well, but their starting front court did not. Early in the 2nd quarter and midway through the 4th the Lakers' bench brought the team back from double digit deficits. The starters could never close the deal.


Sub par games from Pau, Dwight, and even Kobe will not get it done on most nights. They played well in spurts, but there was no consistency offensively. They need Steve Nash back in the worst way. Unless Kobe is playing the facilitator role while Nash is out, the team has no direction on offense. Coach D'Antoni experimented with lineups at one point even running Duhon and Morris in the back court simultaneously. The Lakers have to find a better way to use the bigs than they have over the past 2 games.


Notables:


The Good:
- Bench play. Especially Antawn Jamison who finally had a breakout game.
- 3 point shooting (44%)


The Bad:
-Poor effort and execution from Pau (He's got to step it up and get on the block, or he will be on the trade block unfortunately)
-The Lakers failed to get good low post looks. The post plays look too simple. No weak-to-strong actions
-Too many second chance points allowed
-Too many turnovers again


Overall this was a poor effort from the Lakers' starters. They should have lost by more with the way they played. They must figure out how to use everyone effectively until Nash returns. Perhaps Pau off the bench? Either way, they'll get another shot at it tomorrow.

Zastava_101

No they can't, who are you kidding?

So far Lakers played 9 out of 13 games at home and are still only 6-7. And only one key player is out. Sure, Howard is not 100% either, but if they want to "contend without a key player", they should be at least a playoff team right now, and they're not.

I don't think we'll see much improvement once Nash returns. Scoring will go up, but they will also allow more points by opponents.

And another thing - Lakers have too many old players. There is no way that a 38 years old Nash or 33 years old Artest (or even Kobe) can play on the top level during the whole season. One of them will go down towards the end of the season. Even if they all stay healthy, much younger Oklahoma City will run circles around them just like they did last season and so will Clippers and much improved Memphis.

stangfoeva

Yeah I've heard your "old" argument before but we haven't seen the drop yet. So you'll just have to keep crying and hope that sticks.

You leave out so much info its not even funny. Didn't address the coaching change, system change, playing with 3rd and 4gh string pgs, etc.

Miami started 10-8 and still made the finals. And they had everyone healthy. We don't even have that.

Sorry, not panicking.

Zastava_101

You should be, you'll be less disappointed at the end of the season.

We're gonna see another stare like this from Kobe ...

stangfoeva

The Lakers took out all of their frustration on the Dallas Mavericks tonight. They won a blowout in Dallas with a final score of 115-89. It was the second of a back-to-back and their 4th game in 5 nights, but it didn't matter. From the onset they were aggressive offensively and defensively. Metta World Peace had 16 points in the 1st quarter, and started 5/5 from the floor. Dwight Howard was huge defensively. He blocked shots and altered many more. Antawn Jamison continued his stellar play from last night by recording a double double in the first half.

Coach D'Antoni made a huge adjustment that may go unnoticed in this game. He simply made more substitutions to keep the Lakers' legs fresh. Despite the numbers suggesting otherwise, the Lakers' bench is not that bad when used correctly. They have several players who can play when given consistent minutes and defined roles.

The Lakers jumped out big early and never looked back.

Notables:

The Good:
-Great agressive D and excellent rotations
-The offense was just as agressive and the Lakers owned points in the paint when the game was in contention
-Not very many second chance points allowed

The Bad:
-Still more turnovers then you'd like to see

Overall it was a great effort for all of the Lakers' players. It was nice to see both Pau and Dwight have aggressive bounce back games.

stangfoeva

The Indiana Pacers are an elite defensive team, but not that elite. The Lakers lose a low scoring battle tonight 77-79, and shot just 54% from the free throw line. They left a lot of points at the charity stripe that could have gotten them the W. The game was ugly all-around, but the Pacers managed to eek out the win on a last second dribble drive by George Hill.



Against good defensive teams it’s even more imperative that the Lakers execute their offense crisply. That is a tough task with no true point guard available to orchestrate Mike D’Antoni’s offense. With Nash and Blake out, Kobe is essentially the only facilitator on the team. He was under the weather for today’s game and it showed. Before the game Bryant skipped warm-ups. Instead he chose to lay out in front of the Lakers’ bench with towels covering his head. He struggled to get his legs under him until late in the game, and turned the ball over 10 times. As a result the Lakers struggled to get dribble penetration for easy buckets. To compound matters their outside shots were not falling. Any type of offensive structure was non-existent from start to finish.


Notables:


The Good:
-Kobe gutted this out despite clearly being sick. He played the most minutes of anyone on either team, and didn’t rest in the second half. Enjoy him before he retires folks, he’s one of a kind.
-The team showed effort and did not quit. This was true especially on the defensive end.
-The Lakers did a good job on the boards against the best rebounding team in the league


The Bad:
-Turnovers (Kobe being the biggest culprit, as the refs did not agree with him or the Staples’ Center crowd)
-Poor free throw shooting. 23/43 will NOT get it done
-Poor offensive flow due to little ball/player movement, no dribble penetration, missed open looks
-Terrible production from the bench


Even though it was ugly, I see this as a throw away game. Because Kobe was sick it was a huge disruption to the Lakers offense since Indiana actually plays defense. And we already know this team has a slim chance if the Mamba isn’t 100%. Let’s hope he’s better by Friday’s contest.

Zastava_101

I watched tha game last night.
Both Artest and Howard missed 2 free throws each in the last minute when the game was tied.

It's pretty interesting that the Lakers got 43 free throws and they still scored only 77 points and lost at home vs Indiana ...

stangfoeva

What's interesting? They missed 20 free throws and lost by 2. It should have been more but they played good defense and with good effort all night.

The simple analysis is the Lakers struggled to create any type of offense with only 1/2 of a facilitator against a good defensive team.

Zastava_101

Well, its their own fault that they can't make free throws. I mentioned that multiple times before - Howard is worse than Shaq was when it comes to free throws and he will miss them most of the time, including when the game is on the line, like it was last night.
Indiana is actually an average team, they were 6-8 before last night's game. I went to the game few weeks ago when Indiana played Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee won the game very easily, 99:85, and Bucks were up to +27 at the end of Q3. And Bucks shot only 42% from the game and 18% from the 3 points.
Milwaukee is also an average team and the way they played that night they would've lost against most of the teams in the league, but they still won very easily against Indiana.

stangfoeva

Indiana is an average team overall but an elite defensive team. But even that is irrelevant when you miss that many free throws, you will lose to anybody.

Don't really see your point...

Zastava_101

Lakers will miss many free throws (maybe not 20, but still a lot) pretty much every game because Howard is being fouled a lot, and he's below 50% free throw shooter.
Lakers should've known that, he was the same at Orlando.

My point was that Milwaukee scored 99 points agains Indiana while shooting only 42% from the game and 18% from 3 pts; Lakers should've won the game last night.
And the same point that I had before - Lakers have no bench (their bench scored 5 pts last night (and 5 turnovers), while shooting 2/15) and they can't afford to have any of 5 players from the starting lineup injured because they can't replace them with anyone decent.
All 5 players must be at 100% for Lakers to even have a chance to the Western 2nd round and beyond that.

stangfoeva

You're not saying anything new.

How convenient you never said anything when the bench played well the last two games. Nor do you comment when we win. You continue to ignore the fact this team isn't close to healthy, and expect them to win every game.

In fact all you do is wait until we lose, bring out a few narrow minded points and then go on your way.

Obvious troll is obvious, and contributes a big fat ZERO to this thread LOL

Zastava_101

Ok, no problem, I won't say anything else on this thread anymore then.

Have fun watching Lakers this season; I know I will.

stangfoeva

As will I

stangfoeva

Who is this Lakers' bench we're seeing? I like this version They are playing with energy, confidence, and rhythm and the results speak for themselves. Jodie Meeks shot 7/8 from 3 point land. Antawn Jamison poured in 33 points (12 reb) with a flurry of 3's, layups, and his signature scoop shots. The Lakers were up big throughout the game and win with a final score of 122-103.

Coach D'Antoni again adjusted the rotations by allowing more time for Antawn Jamison at the 4 with Dwight Howard at the 5 for better floor balance. He also had Gasol manning the 5 (where he is more comfortable) with the second unit. Both adjustments had great results as Jamison got great looks, and Pau facilitated the second unit offense to the tune of 8 assists.

Notables:

The Good:
- The Lakers made 17 three pointers tonight and tied a franchise record. The kicker here is that the 17th three came from none other than Dwight Howard in the corner towards the end of regulation. LOL
-The Lakers kept Denver off of the offensive glass all night
-The ball movement was excellent, leading to many open shots without over passing
-High energy on defense all night. Shots at the rim were constantly contested (when Dwight was in)

The Bad:
-No rim protection when Dwight sits (as he did tonight when he got cut above his eye). Pau has got to contest more. Even at the risk of fouling. The tendonitis in his knees may be a factor here.
- Related to the first point, too many points in the paint tonight

The offense was flowing all night and the Lakers have proven they can play uptempo against uptempo teams. The next step is imposing their will and playing uptempo against good defensive teams (see SAS and IND games for reference).

stangfoeva

Make no mistake about it the Lakers have no excuse for losing this game. The sense of urgency was absent all night, as was the defense. Orlando shot 50% from the floor and got a little "Dwight revenge" victory 103-113. The Lakers led by 7 early in the 4th. That lead quickly evaporated thanks to the Lakers not giving a second effort on defense. Whenever Dwight would help on a driving opponent, no one rotated over to help on his man. This led to dunks and open 3's for the Magic which they knocked down. The offense was lethargic too. No cohesiveness or flow.

Coach D'Antoni switched up the rotations a little bit tonight, and I'm not so sure it was for the best. Devin Ebanks saw a lot of time at the back-up 3. After Jodie Meeks' great game on Friday he barely got into the game in this one. Pau was once again called on to anchor the 2nd unit. He did ok, but he is still passing as a first option when it really should be his second. It also appears his knees are really bothering him. He was blocked on a dunk attempt by Big Baby for crying out loud. Jordan Hill didn't even crack the rotation tonight. And on a night where energy was nowhere to be found it would have been nice to see if he could provide a spark. At this point I would seriously consider resting Pau for a couple of games if his knees are not getting better. The Lakers have enough big men to get the job done.

Notables:

The Good:
- Only 11 turnovers tonight, but Orlando is not known for D so...

The Bad:
- Lack of energy/effort
- Poor defensive rotations
- New substitution pattern
- Pau's knees look to really be affecting him

The Lakers are now 8-9 with a 3 game road trip ending at OKC on Friday. This team has got to bring it every night, especially with the 2 Steves out, if they want to win. Nash will make the offense more efficient, but the Lakers have got to decide for themselves if they want to play hard and respect their opponents.