LAKERS -at- JAZZ - 5/11 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Kobe Injured... With Kobe hobbling and struggling late, the Lakers fought back behind some clutch shooting by DFish and LO to take the game to overtime. We faltered in OT as our offense sputtered behind the injured No. 24, and we dropped our second straight game, 123-115. The fate of the series may be on Kobe's back -- isn't it always? -- he's got to recover for the next one.

When you go to overtime and lose, you look back at all the little misses. You can drive yourself crazy thinking about the 14-25 freethrow shooting or Luke Walton getting blocked on what should have been a sure score or Ronny getting tossed for a flagrant. Or a myriad of other costly possessions.

We did an excellent job keeping the Jazz off the offensive glass, winning the battle 12-7. Unfortunately, we couldn't go one-and-out on a key possession late in overtime and saw the lead go from two to five in a matter of seconds. DFish got fouled with no call when Boozer reached out with a forearm to shed Fisher on the two-man game and it led to an And-1 score. That should have been an offensive foul and was the key make. Secure that original board and you don't give them that second chance...you might tie it up on the other end with under a minute left.

Let's rewind to the start of the fourth, too. The first few minutes of that quarter are often a key to winning or losing a game. With Ronny out, our rotations were off. But that unit let the Jazz get a double-digit lead and we had to bring back our starters sooner than Phil wanted. Jordan Farmar has been a train wreck that's getting uglier by the game. Hopefully, he can find some kind of spark on our home floor.

"I really had to jump on our second unit again tonight because they let us down in the fourth quarter," Phil said afterward.

All eyes, however, will be on the state of Kobe's back.


Kobe -- -- He twisted his back early in the first quarter and played in pain for most of the game. An injury to Kobe will sink any aspirations this team has. Health is the great x-factor to any team's prospects, and the injury probably cost us the W in this one. Unlike the last game, the Lakers went to Kobe early...using either the two-man with Pau or featuring him in the post. It was effective, but as the game wore on, Kobe struggled more and more with the back. He was on the floor a number of times in pain. We've got to find a way to defend home court again, and hope his back will loosen up. Although he nearly had a triple-double tonight, he took way too many threes and struggled from the line. Very inefficient game, which has not been the case all playoffs. The bad back and the injured shooting hand, all took the toll. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 13-33 shooting (1-10 from three and 6-10 from the line) to go with 8 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 47 minutes. The Action: He worked the two-man game with Pau and scored a layup. He missed a bank badly. He was blocked for a dunk the other way. He missed a three. We got it back, he cut, took a pass and scored the layup. He worked off the screen with Pau, attacked and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a layup, but Pau cleaned it up. He missed a layup around AK. He set up Pau for another layup. He posted up and hit a short jumper over Brewer. He missed a long three. He threw a pass away. He went to the locker room to get some back treatment and returned wrapped up. He threw another pass away. He pushed out in transition and drew FTs, he made one. He didn't seal off the baseline on an in-bounds pass and Sasha's man scored the layup. He sized up Deron and drew FTs easily on the drive, he missed both FTs this time. He missed a wing jumper given space. He took AK off the dribble and hit a short runner. He drained a wing three off the Pau handoff, then hobbled back on D. He hit Lamar off the drop pass for a dunk. He pulled the ball out and attacked AK for a layup. He tied the game up at the halftime buzzer, sealing his man off the long in-bounds pass from Luke with 2.3 seconds left, he turned and hit the elbow fallaway. He had 17 points on 7-14 shooting at the half. Second Half: He missed a three. He posted up Brewer and scored easily over him. He swished an 18-footer. He drained another from the right side, facing up on Brewer. He hit Fish with an extra pass for a three. Too low on a return pass to Pau and it went out of bounds. He went down hard on a drive with all kinds of contact and no call, he didn't get up for several seconds as the play continued. He pounded it in the post against Brewer again and scored at the rim. He missed a three. He hit Pau for a jumper. He missed another three. He missed another three next time down. Wow, looked like he stepped in front of Deron in time for a charge, but they gave Deron FTs. He missed another three, uggh. We got it back and he hit Pau for a dunk. He iso'd on Korver, he stepped around him, drew Boozer and hit an And-1 with 1:25 left, huge make, he made the FT to trail by just 1. He missed a layup on an in-bounds with a few seconds left, but luckily Lamar cleaned it up.Overtime: He missed a long jumper over AK to start. He tried to post AK and got blocked (need to take him off the dribble). He was fouled on the sideline, getting tripped and dropped to his knees in pain, we called timeout. He got blocked on a drive. He then missed a three, uggh. He created going from right to left down the lane and scored with his left at the rim. He missed a layup on a drive. He got hit on a three for FTs, none of these would be easy the way he has been shooting them, but he made all three to trail by 4. He airballed a running three, which the crowd loved.

Gasol -- -- Much better game from Pau. Hard not to be. He cleaned up a lot of Laker misses with some good offensive rebounding, that was a key to keeping us in the game. He had a couple turnovers, one on the blindside variety, but otherwise ran the offense well. Defensively, he kept Boozer to 5-15 shooting and 0 offensive boards. We'll take that when we can get it. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 11-16 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards (6 offensive), 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 48 minutes. The Action: He scored with his left on an interior feed from Kobe. He dunked on the two-man game with Kobe. He missed an elbow jumper. He cleaned up a Kobe miss with a putback. He took an interior feed from Kobe, missed, got it back and scored. He challenged Boozer's jumper, leaked out, got the pass and dunked. He was blindsided in the post again (when a Laker cut behind him bringing a defender to the blindside), then Pau fouled and had to sit with his second but it came during his normal rotation. He pulled down a Lamar missed FT to get us a possession back. He scored off the two-man game with Sasha. He drew FTs on a post entry pass, he made one FT. He hit Sasha off the Tri scissors cut for a reverse layup around Deron. He had 13 points, 7 boards and 3 assists at the half. Second Half: Great over-the-shoulder feed to Vlad under the hoop for the uncontested score. He missed a 12-footer. He scored a jumphook with his left over Boozer. He posted up, attacked to the middle and hit the jumper. He hit a 10-footer off a kickout from Kobe. He tipped in a Fish miss who attacked off the curl. He dunked off the interior bounce pass from Kobe, he wanted the foul. Overtime: He missed a reverse dunk off a spin on Okur. He blocked Boozer on recovery D.

Lamar -- -- He and DFish were huge in the fourth, both scoring 10 points. Great game by Lamar (not counting the freethrow misses and some layups he should have had). He was aggressive like we needed him last game, and clutch like we've needed from him all season. He hit a huge three and had the game-tying score on a putback with 4 seconds left in regulation. He also had 3 blocks on the D end. He's got to keep the foot on the gas all series against the Jazz. The one game he hasn't Boozer went off. This will be especially important with Kobe's injury. Hopefully, back in Staples we can get more fouls on Boozer and Lamar can hit those FTs. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 10-18 shooting (1-2 from three, 5-10 from the line) to go with 13 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks and 4 fouls in 51 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup. He was fouled on a layup he should have had, he missed both FTs. He dunked when Luke hit him on the break. He dunked on the break. He attacked to his left and banked in a long And-1 runner, he made the FT. He attacked to his left out of a timeout and missed a layup, but drew the delayed whistle, he missed both FTs, but Pau got it back. Sensational block on Boozer at the rim to prevent a sure score. He missed a layup around Boozer. He threw down off two big steps when Kobe hit him with the drop pass. He had 11 points and 8 boards at the half. Second Half: He pulled down the board, pushed it up, attacked and scored the layup. He missed an open 16-footer. He missed a layup in transition. He missed a step-through, getting contact with no call again, he took a frustration foul after that. He blocked Boozer from behind. He drew FTs on a cut away from the ball, he made one. He was the only starter to open the fourth on the floor. He posted up, drew defenders and hit Luke for a layup. He faced up, attacked baseline and scored an And-1 over help D, he made the FT. He sized up Okur in transition and scored around him. He missed a jumphook in the lane. He missed a face up a jumper out of a timeout, I doubt that was how we drew that up, he needs to attack Boozer. Bigtime, clutch three out of a timeout with just under a minute left to tie the game up, wow. With 7.6 seconds left, he in-bounded to Kobe who missed a layup, Lamar crashed the boards and scored the putback layup to tie it up with 4 seconds left. Overtime: He dunked on a late drive.

Fisher -- -- His fourth-quarter play on the road on both ends in the past couple games has been superb. He hit three straight threes in the fourth to dig us out of a hole. The difference with him in the game versus out of the game is too huge right now. So, when he took an early foul on the break to save an easy hoop, it was a poor decision that cost us. Shortly later, he picked up his second foul and once again had to sit after just a couple minutes. Then, he picked up a third in the second quarter, once again cutting his playing time. He went just 28 minutes in this OT game. He's got to stay on the floor. Farmar is too big of a liability right now and Phil may not got back to Sasha at PG (which worked well, by the way). The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-8 shooting (4-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 6 fouls. The Action: He missed a layup on the first drive of the game and wanted the foul. He took a foul on the break early on (he can't afford those until later). Sure enough, he picked his second foul just a minute later in the post and had to sit just two minutes into the game. He picked up his third foul when Deron tripped in transition, he had to sit again for the rest of the half. Second Half: He hit a step-back wing jumper. He drew an offensive foul on AK on a moving screen. He missed a three in transition. Great D, swiping the ball from Deron with a reach behind the screen, looked like it might have been a clear path foul for us, but no luck. He drained a wing three off the extra pass from Kobe. He missed a layup and Pau cleaned it up. He lost the ball on a breakaway, should have given it to Kobe earlier. He swished a baseline three. He swished another three on the next possession from the other corner. He deflected a pass from Boozer on the other end. He made a tech FT. Then, off a set play involving a backscreen, he drained his third three in a row again in the corner to cut the lead to 4 with 2:44 left. Clutch stop by DFish, blocking Williams jumper to send the game to overtime. Overtime: Wow, he got hit on an illegal screen by Boozer and the Jazz scored an And-1 with 35 seconds left, should have been an offensive foul, Phil was irate.

Radmanovic -- -- Nothing game from Vlad. I'd prefer seeing more of Sasha and Kobe on AK than soft games from Vlad like this. Apparently, Phil thought so, too, running Vlad just 15 minutes. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-3 from three), he grabbed 2 boards, had 1 steal and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. The Action: He swiped a pass on a post handoff. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a three. He airballed a sideline three. Second Half: He cut behind the ball-watching D and dunked when Pau hit him. He got swatted in the post against AK, not a good option for us. He missed an open wing three.

Luke -- -- Hard not to lead off with that play where he got blocked by a PG. That fired up the Jazz and, in the end, cost us two sure points in that fourth. Dunk that, next time, Luke! And it wasn't like he was already blocked once on the break in the game. Blech! The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: Nice pass to Lamar on the break for a dunk. He missed a wing three. His layup on the break was blocked, but Lamar cleaned it up. He missed a baseline jumper. He hit a hanging, jack-knifing layup off the feed from Sasha. He tweaked his shooting hand, then drew FTs trying to create off Korver, he made one. Second Half: He was called for an offensive foul trying to take a post-entry pass. He scored a layup when Lamar drew the D and found him under the hoop. He gave up a layup to Harpring. Then came the soft finish attempt on a long outlet with no one in front of him and several steps ahead of the D, he took his time, went up soft even and was blocked badly by Price to get the crowd going -- that should have never happened, an easy two if he hurries, possible an And-1 if he dunks it (we didn't get points out of that possession).

Turiaf -- -- Was the flagrant the right call? "Absolutely not," Phil said, and I agree. It was not the kind of play that you would normally get tossed on. There was no ill will, the attempt was on the ball, and their was no head-hunting. Very weak decision to eject Ronny for that...even after the ref's reviewed it. Sloan said afterward that he thought the flagrant actually fired up the Lakers. Later to start the fourth, instead of a Pau/Ronny lineup, we ended up switching to a Mbenga/Lamar unit. The second unit didn't hold their own and the Jazz got in the bonus early. All of that was part of the price we paid for the ejection. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting, had 1 board, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in just 4 minutes. The Action: He faced up and missed a rushed jumper. He swatted a shot in transition D. He reached around his man to swipe and entry pass. He threw a pass away off the two-man game. He fouled Price hard on a block attempt, sending him hard to the floor -- he was tossed for the Flagrant 2.

Vujacic -- -- We saw Sasha at the PG spot against Deron at the end of the first half. That unit played especially well, but we didn't go back to it. Jordan is supposed to give us guard penetration and set up the offense on the second unit. His role should be limited to that. If Fisher goes into foul trouble early, bring Sasha in at point instead of Farmar. Early on, Sasha had the Sick Jumpers of Death out. He was one of the key factors to helping the team dig itself out of a first half hole and go the locker room tied at halftime. He wasn't as good in the second half. We need to try to set him up in that early fourth-quarter second unit. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He worked the two-man game and drained a three. He drained another wing three on his next attempt. He set up Pau for a score off the drive and dish. He missed a three long. He worked off the Tri scissors cut, took the return pass from Pau and scored a layup. Deron worked off screens and hit a three, Sasha answered back, swishing a sideline three off the Triangle. Looked like a great block by Sasha from behind on Deron and he was called for a foul at the end of the half, very weak call. Second Half: He had some off-and-on run during the fourth quarter, but never got involved in the action and we later were featuring Fisher's jumper. Overtime: He drew an offensive foul on Korver with pressure D as Korver swung elbows. He threw a pass away trying to hit Pau late in the clock. He missed a late three.

Farmar -- -- He killed us in the first half, and to start the fourth, he was a complete negative factor out there again. Sasha ran at PG during the second quarter at one point and the team had some life. Farmar is getting worse by the game...and has a serious case of Smush-itis right now. And it's costing us. Phil was trying to keep Farmar's confidence high, but after the game singled out Jordan's second unit. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting, had 1 turnover, 2 fouls and no other stats in 19 minutes. The Action: He gave a layup as soon as he entered the game. He missed a three and then Deron blew past him for another layup. He blew a layup in traffic. Second Half: He got backdoored and his man scored an And-1. He dropped a simple kickout from Odom right out of bounds on the next sequence.

Mbenga -- -- He was in for the first time to start the fourth quarter. Ouch. He had a couple fouls and a turnover in his 3 minutes.

Phil -- -- The Jazz pushed out to a 19-11 lead early on. Fish got into early foul trouble again and Farmar was thrown to the wolves once again... We trailed 31-21 after the first quarter. The Jazz were pushing the tempo and scoring with ease on the break... "We just took some tough shots, corner shots that didn't go in were run-out situations," Phil said. He also said Jordan has to play with the same confidence he did early in the year... The Lakers were 3-11 from the line midway through the second quarter and trailed by 6... The lead ballooned to 11 at one point in the half. With Farmar struggling and Fish in foul trouble, we saw Phil finally go to Sasha at point. We tied it up 53-53 with the Pau, Lamar, Luke, Kobe, Sasha lineup as we went on a 19-8 run to finish the half... We had just 5 turnovers and gave up only 3 offensive boards in the first half. That helped the horrific 7-17 Laker FT shooting (Jazz shot 16-21, too many trips for them). We actually won the second-chance points 12-2 in that half. Boozer and Okur were 2-12 for 5 points in the half. Deron had 19 points... The Jazz won the third 24-20. Kobe was pain throughout, but still did a lot of heavy lifting... We started a Mbenga, Lamar, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup for the opening of the fourth. Critical minutes. The Jazz got into the bonus in 3 minutes... Trailing by 10, Phil went back to the Pau, Lamar, Luke, Kobe, Fish lineup... He finally brought Sasha back in for Luke after Luke got blocked on the break... After Deron hit a jumper, we trailed by 3 with 1:06 left and Phil called a timeout. Of all players, Lamar gets the ball at the three line wide open and drains the clutch three to tie it... Boozer then drew a foul with 33 seconds left after Deron lost the ball in the paint, he made both to lead by 2 (wished we could have gotten that loose ball). No timeout. Lamar missed a corner three, we got it back on a scramble when Fish tried to set up Pau in the paint. With 7.8 seconds still down by 2, we called timeout. (Phil typically likes to go for a three in these situations on the road, but did not.) Our end-of-game plays have usually been poor except when we spread the floor for Kobe. This time we set up something nice. Kobe missed on a curl in the paint, however, but LO (who passed the ball) scored the putback with 4 seconds left to tie it up... We got the stop and went to OT tied at 108. DFish and LO each had 10 points in the fourth and several clutch plays... Phil was irate when DFish got picked off by an illegal screen from Boozer that allowed the Jazz to score an And-1 with 35 seconds left in OT. We trailed by 5 after that... Got to find a way to protect home floor in the next one...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Check out the Lakers final run in regulation. Farmar's -19. Ouch.

[lakerboy]

first!!!!

[angrypuppy]

First

[angrypuppy]

Damn backache, I could have been first. I lost all explosiveness.

[lakerboy]

db do you think we will see mihm in game 5 if ronny is suspended? or more mbenga?

[KobeJaws]

tough lost...we will bounce back in game 5.

[jmark]

Hit our free throws and we probably win. I have been saying bring Sasha off the bench if D Fish gets in early foul trouble. Hopefully Kobe gets better by Wed. The call on Ronny was BS.
_________________
"I appreciate all those who have supported me. Thank you for believing in me. My family and I are going to need your support and prayers now more than ever." Kobe

[Sister Golden Hair]

Ronny has to do a better job of playing under control. Throughout these play-offs he's been teetering on the edge of losing it. There was that odd sequence (was it against the Nuggets?) where he made a lay-up and kept banging his palm against his forehead; there was that outburst last game when PJ removed him from the line-up and Mihm had to talk him down from the ledge; and there was today. Emotion can't be the only engine for a player's performance. Over-relying on it inevitably leads to a loss of composure.

Ronny has to grow up a bit and learn to distinguish between genuine emotion (and a concomitant strong effort) and histrionics. The latter really doen't help.

SGH

[Sister Golden Hair]

Kobe made poor decisions under duress. One cannot whitewash it. Obviously, he's been the closer all season long, and even today with a bad back he tried to do it, but physically could not meet the challenge. He should have taken a back seat and let Fish, Lamar, Sasha and Pau fill the breach. That beng said, I think PJ failed to make adjustments.

We could all see kobe was laboring. Given how well PJ knows Kobe, why leave it in his hands? Each time Kobe had the ball down the stretch I knew he was going to launch and ugly jumper or a forlorn-hope three. How could his coach not known?

A simple time out (or two) with the instruction to Kobe to keep doing what he was doing toward the end of regulation and let fish, lamar and the others take the shots. basically, draw and kick basketball. Given Kobe's veteran status and given the physical limitations he was under, I think had PJ done that it would have had a positive effect.

But I almost feel like he gave Kobe all the rope he needed to hang himself this game. I was surprised by it, frankly. I was also surprised that veteran guys like Fish KEPT deferring. Guys have to keep the team in mind, and not be afraid to piss someone off if they are not doing the right thing.

All in all, it was a perfect storm in Utah's favor. Old habits die hard, and I can see how adrenaline clouded Kobe's better judgement. Kobe has come out on top enough that you can't begrudge him too much. It just wasn't meant to be.

But clear-thinking is what coaches get paid for. I think PJ has a lot to answer for as well as the players.

SGH

[DancingBarry]

[City_Dawg]

[KBryantisclutch]

[Critical Beatdown]

After Ronny's ejection, I actually did a notice a change in Lamar's demeanor, he made an aggressive basket a play or two after and had that look in his eye, kept it up all game.
_________________
!
Per 100 possessions, we're winning 118-102 with LO on the floor, and losing 109-111 without him. (updated: 4/1/09; source: 82games.com)

[fan4life]

Question:

If Fisher gets into early foul trouble again, does PJ make the same mistake of putting Farmar in or let Fish play w/the fouls? I don't like to call out a HOF coach, but damn, anyone w/a pulse knew we were headed for a deficit the moment Jordan came in.

[No. 17]

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB

Do you feel that the refs are calling the game evenly between the two teams?

Would better spacing so that the Jazz can't flood the zone and get the Lakers cleaner shots?

Why aren't the Lakers doing more "back-door" plays with the Jazz being so aggressive?

[Sister Golden Hair]

[No. 17]

[Sister Golden Hair]

The play where Luke got his cherry-pick lay-up block edwas both priceless and made all of my resentments against Luke re-surface. Why do you not dunk a play like that? You don't have to tomahawk it, but throw it down with a modicum of authority. that could have been an And-1, instead of basically a turnover.

Trying to lay it in when wide open often ends badly. Just dunk the damn ball.

Luke always tries to over-finesse things.

SGH

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

reasons why we lost (imo)

-kobes injury and poor shot selection down the stretch

-MISSED FREE THROWS

-phils substitutions: why didnt he bring sasha in at pg when fish got in foul trouble? sasha had a great first half and then only played the last minute of the 3rd qtr. vlad were ineffective, why not stick with the lineup of sasha at sg and kobe at sf? phil needed to re-insert the starting lineup to start the 4th.(didnt he learn his lesson from game 3?) how many times is farmar gonna burn us? i know some will say kobe was hurt and needed extra rest but if he has to work that much harder when the bench mob digs a bigger hole, is it really extra rest?

-questionable calls that went in utahs favor:

turiafs flagrant 2. it shouldnt have been a flagrant to begin with but i could have lived with a flag1

d-fish isnt awarded the clear path, then they call gasol out of bounds on the next play (i watched that play over and over i didnt see gasol or the ball go out

deron spins and travels....no call

boozers moving pick that cleared out d-fish

price hit luke with the body before he blocked it cleanly up top (what the hell was luke waiting for though?)

deron runs over pau and kobe..... BLOCKING FOUL!!?????

im very upset that we couldnt win this for lamar because he had one hell of a game. d-fishes 10 straight didnt hurt either. props tp gasol for the bounce back game (how did he miss that dunk though?)

REST UP KOBE, GAME 5 IS AROUND THE CORNER
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[10scott10]

hell, i was just looking at something. man if we had made more of our freethrows we could have won, even with kobe's horrible overtime.

and i am still pissed about boozer getting away with repeatedly throwing fish to the ground on screens

[Cardom]

Second unit was (bleep) garbage.
_________________
1) DO WHATEVER IT TAKES
2) DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!
3) TRADE ODOM, WALTON AND VLAD

No rebounds.... No rings - Pat Riley

We have to get some players that have that kind of aggressiveness that we need. - Phil Jackson

[Mation]

Thanks DB.

Mr. Mo was on our side to end the fourth. Sucks that we lost it in OT.

Glad that game 5 is on Wednesday. The extra day of rest can only help Kobe. I hope he fully recovers.

Odom and Gasol had good numbers. Fisher was huge in the end.

Farmar and Vlad need to contribute something. If not in the offense, then intangible plays on defense. At least some type of effort that will uplift the team or inspire themselves going forward.

Agree about Sasha playing point if Fish is in foul trouble. He handled Deron on defense pretty well.

For as bad as we played in these last two games, they weren't blowouts. A small silver lining I guess. The refs have to be better after their atrocious calls in this game. We need more adjustments Phil.

[Siguy]

Maybe the worst loss of the year. Truly painful on a number of levels.

I put some big blame on Phil for two things: Farmar and Mbenga. It's not Phil's fault that Vlad-Bad started. He has to start and it's usually worth doing that just to see if he's gonna have one of his random good games.

But after Game 3, he should've known that Farmar is a disaster against Williams and just brought in Sasha instead. Sasha keeps the offense moving and is gonna guard Williams better than Farmar.

Mbenga was a trainwreck in the fourth. He couldn't stop anyone or keep anyone away from the basket and he's lost on offense. I say, put Odom at center and put Radmanovic in at Power Forward. At least then you can space the floor for Odom or someone to drive.

So that's what I blame Phil for. We also should've gone to Pau more in the OT, but Pau didn't exactly make us look stupid for not doing it after he blew that reverse dunk.

--

Other topic: Radmanovic makes me sick. He did nothing in the game and missed an open three in the third that would've blown the game open for us. Our big problem was not getting a lead in the third, and Vlad-Bad was a huge part of that, failing to produce on offense in the one way we need him to.

Kobe sucked in the OT but he was a big part of getting Fisher and LO those big shots in the fourth, so I wish everyone on this board would stop trying to bury him under a bridge for costing us a game we wouldn't have been close in without him manning up on a bad back.

Sasha has been our best bench guy this series, though Korver did go off on him really bad this game. It was kind of one of those throw your hands up in the air things, but I mostly blame the terrible Mbenga lineup for it.

I predicted we'd win today, but I couldn't have expected a Kobe back injury and the ridiculous Turiaf ejection. If Kobe is at all healthy, even just 75% instead of the 30% he was tonight, then I expect us to win on Wednesday and then go and beat them in Utah.

[Banzai]

I am still recovering from the loss today ...I would scream if the Lakers could win in Utah on Friday..scream my lungs out