LAKERS -at- ROCKETS - 3/16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Victim No. 22... Credit the Rockets for taking advantage of our situation. They come to play every game and that's why they have a 22-game winning streak. Sure, you have to have a bit of luck in a streak like that, but you don't win that many unless you play smart and hard every night for all 48 minutes.

The Lakers trailed big after giving up a 35-21 second quarter, but they bounced back with a strong 21-12 third. A key sequence late in that third quarter, however, seemed to spark the Rockets back to life. Rafer Alston hit a couple of threes on very poor defense from Jordan Farmar to give the Rockets some new life.

The defense by DFish and Farmar was ridiculous at times. First we left Alston open for no good reason, then when he got hot, we go under screens instead of taking the three away from him. On the other end, our PGs struggled. Without our size, we can't afford having our guards let us down that badly. Giving up 31 points to Alston, almost all from the perimeter? Thanks, but no thanks.

Kobe played a poor mental game offensively. He forced a number of shots against good D by Battier. But he also needed to orchestrate the offense better, get Lamar and the ball down into the post and quit giving it to Mbenga when he looks lost. He was trying to set things up, but a good floor general sees the weak spots and bleeds that. Defensively, there is a reason TMac went 4-16 for 11 points, Kobe played him well. Unfortunately, Rafer and TMac switched up roles.

We take this game with Gasol -- he fills so many of the holes we had -- but those are the breaks. The Lakers need to find some way to survive without him. The odds are stacked against us on this road trip.



Kobe -- -- First off, credit Battier for tough D. He got a hand in Kobe's face on jumper after jumper. Kobe, unfortunately, kept shooting forced shots and missing. But here is where Gasol's injury really hurts. The two-man game for the Lakers was non-existant without one of our bigs. That has been some of our bread and butter for getting to the top of the conference. And with those injuries, you take that away and you also see the dynamic of our offense falter. So, we once again slip from the top of the conference with a bigman going down. The second aspect that hurts with Gasol's injury, is we don't have him to collapse the D in the post. So much of our offense has been going through him lately and he has not only been scoring, but setting up others at a high rate by keeping the ball moving after drawing attention. Without that, more focus can be dedicated to Kobe and the offense starts to get stagnant. Kobe has to get the other guys involved and set them up for good looks. That well-rounded, scoring and passing game needs to kick in for us to take W's against better teams. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 11-33 shooting (0-4 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 47 minutes. The Action: He missed a fallaway. He missed a reverse around Mutombo. He missed a short bank shot. He sank a long jumper from the right side. He drew a double and set up Ronny for FTs. He blew past Battier for a layup. He drew FTs on a top-of-the-key jumper, he made one. He scored a layup getting out on the break with Fish. He missed a turnaround, then was called for a push off foul when we got the board. He dunked, taking a bounce pass from Fish on the breakaway. He threw a pass away trying to hit Mbenga who wasn't looking (not exactly Bynum or Gasol there). He had 9 points on 4-9 shooting in the first quarter. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a layup. He hit a runner in the middle of the lane after a crossover. He forced up a tough fade over multiple defenders. He forced a fade over Hayes and bricked badly. He attacked, spun to lose a defender and handed it off to Luke for the easy layup. Weak contest, hitting Scola on the arm on a jumper for a foul. He nailed a step-back jumper from the wing. He forced up a turnaround and missed. Stupid loose ball foul, giving up FTs from 90 feet from our basket. He bricked a pumpfaking wing jumper at the half. Horrible first half by Kobe, who was out of sync against Battier. He had 13 points on 6-16 shooting and 2 turnovers with 1 assist. (He was 2-10 on jumpshots.) Second Half: He hit a FT jumper to start the second half. He missed a layup. He worked the two-man with Mbenga to get him a layup. He sank a FT jumper and wanted the foul. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a long three. He worked off the screen and scored a layup. He got a lot of contact with no call and yelled at the refs after missing the layup. He attacked from the right side, got contact and FTs, he made one. He swished a turnaround from 10 feet. He missed a wing three, stalling the offense (should have attacked again). He didn't help on D and Battier scored a layup. He swished a runner from the left side. He missed a pull-up jumper on the next possession. He missed a layup at the front of the rim. He lost the ball on a drive. He missed a three. His jumper was blocked. He missed another layup.

Lamar -- -- We saw a bit more Lamar in the post in this game, and even some plays out of the timeouts to get him the ball there. But we gave the Rockets a huge break by not going after that advantage with more purpose. While I mentioned our poor floor generalling as one of the big reasons, it's also on Lamar's shoulders. Get down there and scream for the ball. And when you don't get it, scream for the ball. You've got to demand it and then impose yourself on the team. He killed them when he did go to work there, and I can just about guarantee, the Rockets were greatful when he didn't go down there and start forcing the D to collapse and the offense to click for our inside-out sequences that our shooters need. He still put up good numbers, but he needed to get greedy. Also, a few misses from the freethrow line don't look like a big deal with the way the score ended up, but a couple of Lamar's misses came right before the game got out of hand. At the time, they hurt bad. Got to hit those. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-10 shooting (3-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and no fouls in 40 minutes. The Action: He was blocked by Mutombo after pulling down an offensive board. He dunked over Deke off an interior pass from Ronny. Great defensive board, tipping it behind a crowd then igniting the break. He had 2 points on 1-2 shooting and 4 boards in the first quarter. He posted up and banked easily on the jumphook. He posted up at the C spot now and hit a jumphook. Out of a timeout, he posted up again and hit a jumphook. The Lakers need to exploit that more. Lamar had 8 points on 4-5 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He grabbed an offensive board and attacked Mutombo aggressively to draw FTs, he made one. He missed a sideline jumper. He scored a layup off the pass from DFish. Nice crash on the offensive glass for a tip in when Vlad missed a jumphook (Lamar should have gone to the post on that possession as he had a guard defending him, glad he crashed, but he was hanging out at the three line...again better floor generalling would have seen that, too). He went to the post (after a long stint without going there) and he drew FTs on a reach, he made both. He crashed the offensive boards, drew a foul but missed both FTs with 5 minutes left. He dunked on a baseline attack.

Fisher -- -- Defensively, as mentioned, we got torched. It wasn't a lack of physical abilities, which is what hurts. It was the mental side...sagging when you have no business sagging and then not staying on a hot hand. The Rockets aren't going to kill us on the pick and roll through Rafer, so to let him kill us from the perimeter instead...just a shame. Early on there were a couple of steals in this game when TMac couldn't create against Kobe and we stayed tight on shooters and he forced bad passes. But we didn't focus on that. Kobe handled his biz, you need to not give his man an easy pass off for an open jumper. I'll save the high-screen defense for Farmar. Offensively, Fish didn't force things like he had been lately. The lack of inside-out game and Kobe drawing and kicking, hurt the good looks for Fish. When Fish was hitting a couple shots, it just seemed so huge to our game. Not getting anything on both ends and giving up so much at the PG spot, that's why we lost. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (1-3 frmo three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers in 28 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper off the double screen to start the game. He made a tech FT. Alston had four threes early on, a couple wide open on very poor D. He hit Kobe on the break for a score. He hit Kobe with a bounce pass again on the break for a two-handed dunk. He had 2 assists and 2 steals after the first. Second Half: He airballed a jumper. He swished a jumper out on the break. He missed a three on a kickout. He drained a three from the top of the key when LO sucked in the D. He missed a wide open three. He sagged off Alston when Kobe didn't beed help on TMac and it led to a three for Rafer.

Radmanovic -- -- Another one of our MIA shooters. Hard to say how Vlad's stroke was this game since we never saw it. No catch and shoots from collapsing the D and Vlad was little more than a warm body on the offensive end. Defensively, he did a reasonable job. He had to match up with TMac on occasion and held his own more than you would expect. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-3 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He set up Ronny for a score off the two-man game. He missed a layup on the break. He swished a wing three out of a timeout. He picked up a tech after we gave up an offensive board and he was called for a weak foul. Second Half: He attacked down the lane and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a jumphook.

Turiaf -- -- He's a far way from backup PF right now, thrust into the starting C role with our three centers down. Aside from some foul issues (one open court foul after a turnover that put him on the bench late in the first half, and a stupid foul that put him back on the bench a minute into the second half), Ronny played a decent game. He was most effective at getting to the line and did a good job knocking them down. The lack of Rocket size helped him to control the paint slightly more than he usually can. He also anchored the D fairly well. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 3-4 shooting (7-9 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 3 blocks, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 29 minutes. The Action: He bricked an 18-footer on his first attempt. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Vlad. He couldn't finish the And-1 on a slip screen, he made one FT. He rejected Mutombo. He drew a foul attacking the paint off a no-looker from Vlad, he made both. He had 5 points on 1-2 shooting, 2 boards and 1 block in the first quarter. He threw down off the two-man game with Farmar. He rejected Harris in front of the rim. He pulled down an offensive board, then posted up Hayes and drew a foul, he made both FTs. Good switch on BJax to force a shotclock violation. He picked up his third foul after a turnover on the offensive and and had to sit with 4 minutes left in the half. He had 9 points on 2-3 shooting, 5-6 from the line to go with 5 boards. Second Half: He picked up his fourth foul less than a minute in the second half and had to sit. He worked the two-man game with Farmar, bobbled the pass and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He drew FTs on an alley-oop on the next possession, he made one.

Luke -- -- Okay game from Luke in limited minutes. Phil had him and LO in there at one point as our two big men, that's a tough assignment for Luke no matter what team you face. Thankfully, that didn't last too long. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-7 shooting (0-1 from three, nearly hitting a heave, and 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assists and 1 foul in just 14 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup on a drive. He lost his man with a drop step and scored the layup. He scored a layup when Kobe spun to lose defenders and handed off to him. He missed a runner, got it back and airballed a jumphook. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting in the first half. Second Half: He drew FTs posting up Head, he made one. Looked like he got a piece of Harris's jumper. He lobbed to Farmar to start the fourth quarter. He posted up TMac and powered in a layup. He cut down the lane, took a pass and drew FTs, he made both.

Farmar -- -- There's no excuse for Farmar not using his head. He's normally an intelligent player (a good PG has to be), but to go under screens when Alston has drained a number of threes...what are you thinking? He did it twice at the end of the third to give the Rockets new life after we worked hard to cut the lead down to just 2. The Rockets had scored just 6 points in that quarter before Alston's 6 on those two shots. Someone apparently needs to point out when to go under screens and when to go over. It's games like this when you look at the bench and wish you had another reasonable option at the PG spot. Sasha might have been a better bet, but Farmar needs to handle that back up PG spot better than that. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (2-6 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing three on his first attempt. He swished an open corner three. Poor-timed lob to Kobe and it was a turnover. He hit Ronny off the two-man game for a dunk. He got backdoored for a layup. He bricked a long three, short and didn't get back on D. He bricked a wide open three, taking several seconds to measure it. He had 3 points on 1-4 shooting in the first half. Second Half: He went under a screen and gave up a three to Alston. Better D the next time going over the top. What's he do on the next defensive stand? Goes under the screen again and Alston hits another three. He scoreed off an alley-oop to start the fourth quarter. He gave up another three to Alston to start the fourth. He missed a layup on a drive to his left. He made one of those "What are you doing? Good shot" three's in early offense midway through the fourth. He missed another three out of a timeout. He got picked, then got it back and threw the pass away.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much a non-factor other than getting under Skip's skin late in the game. He had a couple steals in the game, but he was never in the thick of the battle despite playing plenty. He had several "let down" kind of plays...stealing a ball but missing on the break, fouling a three shooter, leaving a three shooter open for no reason, etc... The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-5 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 steals and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He fumbled away a sure rebound and it led to a breakaway dunk. He missed an 18-footer short. Stupid foul hitting a three-shooter on the elbow. He swished an open three on a tip out from Ronny. He had 3 points on 1-2 shooting in the first half. Second Half: He got blocked on a layup after stealing the ball. He sagged off BJax and gave up a three. He bricked a baseline jumper. He drew FTs crashing the boards, he made both. Sasha fouled Rafer late and got under his skin, add another player to Sasha's list. He stole a pass and scored a layup.

Mbenga -- -- Mbenga looked like the Lakers team...confused and out of sync. Dusted off after not playing for a while and the rust showed. The Rockets don't play Mutombo very much with Yao out, and they were more than happy to go small with us. That would have limited Mbenga's involvement in this game even more, but Ronny got into some foul trouble. The Lakers struggled to find our way with him on the floor (again some poor floor generalling). The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 block and no fouls in 13 minutes. The Action: He missed a one-hander in the lane. He played 2 minutes in the first half. Second Half: In early for Ronny, he missed a short jumper. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Kobe. He missed a bank off the curl cut. He was called for a three-second violation when the ball when to him in the high post. He was fouled going after an offensive board, he made one FT.

Phil -- -- TMac was cold to start, but the Lakers let Alston go off for 16 points and 4 threes in the first quarter. We trailed 24-23... "We're trying to get a high post offense," Phil said after the first quarter. The idea to open up the space down low. The Lakers had no flow offensively... We started to fade midway through the second quarter and Phil called a timeout, trailing 38-29. Our offense looked confused and stagnant, or defense was making mental mistakes. We had just 6 points after the first 5 minutes of the second quarter... With Turiaf in foul trouble, we went to a Lamar, Luke bigman combo. After getting out-sized in the interior, he brought Vlad in at PF.... The Lakers trailed big, 58-44 at the half. The Rockets shot 16-19 from the line. TMac didn't score, while Kobe was a poor 6-16 for 13 points... Phil looked disgusted when Ronny picked up his fourth foul with less than a minute into the second half. I would too if my only option was subbing in Mbenga... The Rockets started the second half 0-10 and the Lakers chipped away, forcing a timeout after Fish made a three to cut the lead to 59-54 (Fish finally hitting just a couple of shots made a big difference.) We trimmed the lead down to 2... Good defensive quarter (except for Farmar) and the Lakers trailed by just 5 after the 22-12 third quarter... After just 3 minutes, we were shooting FTs for the remainder of the fourth. We went away from milking that and struggled... Wow, out of a timeout we set up a long three for Farmar. Not sure I like that call. Odom did crash and get the board, but missed two FTs. The game slipped away there... We gave up a couple of threes and trailed by 10 with just over 3 minutes left. That's all she wrote... The Lakers had just 15 assists in the game...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Check out the 12-0 run to start the second half. The 17-4 Rocket run in the fourth blew the game open.

[lakerboy]

first

[George W Buss]

Second

for the lost

[KOBE 2.0]

Kobe might be the MVP of the league but Gasol is the MVP of our team.

[ice_berg_slim]

Agreed. Truth be told, its just the very untimely three pointers at the hands of Rafer Alston and Bobby Jackson that inevitably forced the Lakers into taking some ill-advised shots.

Also, I don't understand why Fisher opted to double up on T-Mac when Kobe already had him guarded tight as possible, thus leaving Rafer Alston open for a 3 point shot in a crucial part of the game.

Lastly, you really have to give it to the Rockets for beating a Goliath which is the Lakers. They pretty much fought with a team full of no-names and still found a way to pull it through despite having the Lakers breathing down their necks at several occasions in the match up.

P.S. Lamar Odom is classless. Way to look tough while your ship is sinking...

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[hoopschick29]

We play even a little defense on Rafer Alston, we probably win today. This game very much reminded of our first contest this season against the Hornets, where we just left Peja open time and time again. And he burned us for what, 9 or 10 threes? If he makes the shots with you in his shorts, then fine. But to continuously sag of a guy who's white hot over and over and over again is inexcusable. You gotta at least challenge. Those are the types of things that frustrate me to no end. Your shot isn't always gonna be on, and your defense isn't always gonna be steller. But you have to do basic things like stay on a guy who's that on from the outside.
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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[LakerSanity]

DB, you nailed every available observation, good write up.

With Gasol we win this game. With Gasol and Bynum, we kill them this game. However, this game highligted a trend regarding our team within the last two months - the pourous play of Fisher and Farmar. We may beat Houston as currently constructed with Bynum or Gasol, no less both, but with the way Farmar and Fish are playing, I don't think we could beat the elite teams.

You could blame it on not having a true low post presence (Gasol isn't the same as Bynum down there) and not having a defensive anchor (Gasol is not the anchor Bynum is) since these struggles seemed to have begun when Bynum went out, but I don't think it's just that. IMO, Farmar has gotten a little too big for his britches and Fish is just playing without a brain. For two such "heady" players, I grimace wayyy too much during some games regarding their decision making on both sides of the ball - Fish taking bad layups and sagging off on D when he shouldn't; Farmar becoming too 3pt happy and not knowing his defensive assignment like he should.

There is definitely a talent gap now without Bynum, Ariza, and Gasol... however, these labotomies surely don't help.
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[hoopschick29]

We paid a price to get Pau. Granted, it's a price I would pay over and over again, but it cost us. Javaris had Farmar looking over his shoulder. And Jordan played better when JC was here. Now, he's just a 3 point chucker, and a lazy defender. And Fish...I don't where his head is, but it's not in the game right now. Injuries aside, and they have been catastrophic, that PG spot is once again KILLING us.
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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[Trajan]

It's what I feared when I saw Gasol go down. Before, even with our bad play at Staples recently, I felt that the team would step on this road trip and go 3-1. With no Gasol, no Bynum, this team is helpless against the other top teams. I'm really, really dreading this road trip. As much as I want to have faith, I'm seeing the Lakers coming into the Seattle game with a four game loosing streak.

[Arizona]

Sorry DB. LO was posting up the whole second half, calling for the ball, and was getting ignored. One time he was all by himself in the paint under the basket and Farmar just swung the ball around the horn and they jacked up another brick. Just like last game, Kobe says LO is unguardable and then the team promptly ignores him. Even if he doesn't score, he usually makes the right pass and someone else does. They stopped going inside out, and that was the death of this team.
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“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

“You’ve got to play with pride and guts.” -LO

[LakerLanny]

DB, your point about the PG mistakes being mental not physical was eerie because I thought the exact same thing while watching the game.

Chris Paul dominating you with superior athletic ability is one thing, but going under screens on a guy who is red hot from the arc?

I thought Farmar's bad defense sucked the life out of the comeback. The Rockets only scored 13 or whatever in the third but it would have been like 7 without those two bonehead defensive plays by Farmar.

In his defense, I thought Fish was equally bad on Alston. Just frustrating as the game and snapping that winning streak was there for the taking.....good news is obviously the Lakers win this game with Bynum and Gasol and I say that even with a healthy Yao.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[LakerLanny]

[AllorNothing]

I think we can play good defense but we just don't know how or just don't think.
We double at the wrong time, go under screens, leave the hot hand on the other team drain 3's.

[Klone_dd]

You gotta give some of the blame to Phil on his approach to this game. In the interview at the end of the 1st, he mentioned that he didn't mind allowing the 3's because sooner or later those guys cool off over the course of the game. Well, they (namely Alston) didn't. As much as the Lakers don't have an inside presence without Pau or Bynum, neither do the Rockets without Yao. Why continue to pack it in into the middle when the Rockets are more than willing to live and die with the perimeter game?

Poor shot selection by Kobe didn't help. Doing nothing to really free him up and just letting him iso didn't help either. I just think the whole approach to this game was wrong from the start.

LO's 2 missed FT's were momentum-killers. After working so hard to battle back, it's just deflating to keep leaving points at the line. Ronny and Kobe also missed FTs in the 4th.

The Lakers got the Rockets into early foul trouble in the 4th. With no Deke in the middle, they should've just kept going to the rim. Instead they tried to match perimeter games and fizzled out in despiration.

[hi_ma]

painful with a bit of excitement. No one is stepping up in paus absence. everyone is doing what they always do.

We need more from everyone.

Oh well as long as the other west powers play each other we should be fine because L by anyone else is a good thing until we get our second and possibly 3rd best player back. Until then guys have to go above and beyond what they normally do
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The lakers will get prince.

[Addicus]

I thought Battier played the best defense I've ever seen on Kobe. Then I read Charlie Rosen's article after the game and he mentioned that face guarding is illegal in the NBA. That's all Battier was doing and if so the refs need to be aware so it doesn't happen again. If not, it was the best defense I've ever seen on Kobe.

I feel we lost due to a lack of good defense on Alston and guards not named Kobe Bryant being able to effectively break down the defense. Add in Lamar not flashing to the post enough and not receiving the ball enough when he did. The guy is shooting 70% for the last 8 games, I think he might need the ball.

With a full and healthy roster we may be able to win a championship, but even then I feel the chinks in our armor are too large (guard core and a lack of smart play). We may end up paying in the coming years giving up JCritt instead of Farmar.

If Sasha can't make a lay up (forget him ever dunking) then he may need to be replaced.

What's up with not bring Mbenga back into the game? I know he was not a real offensive threat, but his size really hampered Houston's game and his presence really helped us make a run.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[revgen]

DB

I think your being too harsh on Mbenga. IMO he was the biggest reason our defense picked up in the 3rd and why it squandered in the 4th. His presence was affecting the Rockets and their offense with his size and length. There is a reason why he has a +8 rating in the +/- category.
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[DazedAndConfused]

We are playing good teams on the road and trying to win them with the 2005-2007 Laker squad. Odds are not in our favor.

Everyone just needs to keep things in perspective, when you lose it's easy to get down on your team and forget about all the great things we've accomplished this season. The only good thing about this road trip is other teams have tough schedules too and they are losing as well, so in the end it may not be as bad a dive as we all thought. If Pau can come back after the roadie, then we can certainly win those next couple of games and gain whatever ground we lost during this road trip.

[derekishere]

[AmareStunnermire24]

It's amazing how the Rockets keep winning like this when they have a scrub lineup. This only means one thing. They play intense defense, they hustle for rebounds, and they show real heart on wanting to win games. I wonder why cant the Lakers be like that??? Yes we lost Gasol Bynum and Ariza, and yes that is more devestating than loosing Yao, but at least show heart that you want to win the game. We need to rise to the challenge on the absence of Bynum and Gasol from now if we want the pacific division. I hope we can keep it together.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[derekishere]

[Klone_dd]

[Drifts]

I'm really depressed today...and pissed off at the same time...4 FTs for Kobe, that's ridiculous.
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"Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money & position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold & contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."