LAKERS -at- PACERS - 12/2 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[BigE32]

Thanks as always, DB. That was a very frustrating game to watch. I haven't been that mad after a game in a long time. I was really mad for a while last night. They absolutely deserved to lose that game. It's fitting that even with all of our length, we couldn't grab a defensive board at the end with the game in the balance. We gave up way too many offensive boards last night and we played very lethargically. We just figured that we would step on the floor and win. That type of mentality will result in many more losses, especially on the road. I also don't want them to talk about defense. They're not an elite defensive team and they don't bring it on that end for a full forty-eight minutes. Have them put in a tape of the Celtics and watch them defend on a nightly basis. They put the effort on that end of the floor. We figure that we can just outscore our opponents. I thought that we had learned our lesson. We haven't. I also can't believe how many free throws we missed last night. You don't deserve to win when you miss 15 free throws. That's just pathetic. I know that we're not going to win every game this season. What infuriated me was how we lost. We went through the motions and played down to the level of our opponent. We were outhustled and we didn't do any of the little things that you need to do to get a win. That type of mentality will result in more losses and I honestly don't see that changing. I'm very discouraged by what I'm seeing on the floor from us, especially defensively. They need to remember that actions speak louder than words.

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB.

Good loss.

The Laker first unit continues to look flat, almost as if bored that the game has to run 48 minutes. They put in minimal effort on defense, and frequetnly look more interested in individual scoring rather than team play. It is ugly to watch, but they get away with it. Just the sheer talent coupled with the drive to the second unit is enough to win over 80% of the games with mediocre teams.

What makes this a good loss? They play the Celts in 3 weeks. The Lakers and Laker fans assert that what makes this team different is that they are no longer soft; they play defense, and they have Andrew Bynum. If the first unit cannot play cohesively and with purpose, they'll get their posteriors handed to them by the Celts. That would be a potential devastating loss, given how they wish to shed the "soft" label. It is best that the first unit take its lumps now, and renew themselves with a sense of purpose.

[VujacicFan]

I have to agree with you once again DB. Sasha thrives in the fourth and always comes up big and it's a shame he didn't get any minutes when the game was on the line.

[Arizona]

[UntiedShoe]

That was a hard one to swallow on so many levels but it is a microcosm of what will happen throughout the year.

Our defense is overrated. Way overrated. There are two players on our team who can play and are committed to playing defense. Ariza and Kobe. The rest of the guys have never been that good at it or have never been committed to playing it. Fisher can handle slower guards, but he has never defended the pick n roll/pop well.

Farmar, is just plain awful at it. When the PGs are bringing the ball up he'll be looking behind him to see when the pick is coming and then he'll proceed to stick to it like he's meant to switch every time.

Gasol, has always had the rap of being soft and I don't think he minds. Odom has spurts where he plays decent D and hustles, but there just aren't enough of them.

Our big guys are still finding themselves playing together, or so I hope. It's a sin when you have two 7 footers on the floor to give up 19 offensive rebounds. 19!

Bynum I hope is pacing himself as he gets stronger coming back from the injury because I just don't see a lot of fire in him. Will he ever be the defensive and offensive beast we're all hoping for? Hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see it..

[Arizona]

I really don't like the way our starting unit plays. They give up nearly 30 pts. every 1st quarter so they aren't defending, and they have no rhythm offensively. Ugly to watch. Kobe and Fish were playing keep away from the bigs again tonight. You had Lamar on the block with Daniels guarding him and Kobe just pounding the ball and pounding the ball then LO switches with Pau and Pau has Daniels on him in the post and what does Kobe do? Throw it cross court to Fish for a bricked three pointer. Sad. We would have won had we hit our freethrows, but I wouldn't have been happy with a win the way we played tonight. These guys need to wake the hell up.
_________________
“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

[Arizona]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[UntiedShoe]

[wolfpaclaker]

Tough game.

Marathon season, we'll see nights like these.

The Lakers defense has two weaknesses that have been consistent throughout the season.

1- PG with elite speed.
2- Shooters that can spread out the floor, especially at the power spots.

This is basically what Detroit had with Iverson + Rasheed.
This is basically what Indiana had with Ford + Murphy/Nesterovic (although Rasha is not a 3 point shooter, he draw Bynum away from the paint).

LA had no idea what to do from the start. Other than that 5 minute stretch where Ariza and the 2nd unit just clamped down extremely well, they had no idea how to play the Pacers speed + spaced out offensive attack.

Excellent loss to expose the Lakers defense. They (players and Phil) need to take a look at what lineups and type of defensive system they want to play when playing teams like that.

Bynum + Gasol are not cut out to play teams with this sort of game plan, you have to make an adjustment on both ends. If the Lakers slowed down the game, that would help them greatly when they have the two 7 footers. It allows them time to get back on D and get in position. Instead I saw Fish, Kobe and others push the ball up and play a pick up style game.

It's a loss that I hope helps this team realize that they still have things to do before they are at Boston's level. The biggest thing I hope is that Phil realizes the starters are not good enough and he adjusts the way they operate out there. They have to slow down the starters, and make them a halfcourt power team. Recall how this team used to play with Shaq. That is how they have to play when Bynum and Gasol out there together. Simply because your biggest strength is your power and size adavantage at that point. Your biggest weakness is transition D and speed situations. What LA's starting 5 has been dong throughout the season is trying to match speed with speed. That was last year's team. This year's team has to be more powerful and deliberate.

They have 66 games to figure that (bleep) out.

[TerryTeagle]

It comes down to this:

Lakers have trouble with teams that have bigs that play away from the basket:

Rasheed Wallace - Detroit
Kevin Garnett - Boston
Troy Murphy - Pacers

It completely messes up the defensive sets the Lakers have. The fact that Phil and his staff STILL have not come up with a counter is mind-boggling...

[Magic'sSon]

[wolfpaclaker]

^^
It wasn't Murphy alone, it was actually Murphy and Nesterovic both who were spotting up open looks all game long. Murphy hurt the Lakers more with his rebounding. He would keep sneaking in from the 3 point line after a shot would go up and get into the open positions of the zone.

Murphy was at the 3 point line or out around there and Nesterovic was getting open look after open look at the highpost/elbow area, because Bynum was trying to anchor or help out elsewhere.

Those things and their early shots killed the Lakers D. Lakers weren't able to set up or ever really consistently challenge their shots.

Give Pacers/O'Brein credit, they played the exact gameplan that gives the Lakers trouble.

Also this is a great example of why I'm happy D'Antoni and Marion are no longer in Pheonix. While LA would still be better than them IMO, the old Suns were the exact type of team that would give the bigger Lakers some fits this year.

[Nobody]

[City_Dawg]

This game reminds me of a loss a few years ago to the Wizards. I think Jerry Stackhouse or Larry Hughes was out a the three point line, Kobe and Devean George collided into each other and the Wizards won with a layup...at the buzzer

Sports. Ya gotta love it.

Anyhow, I kinda figured a loss was coming on this roadtrip. I thought it would be Philly with E.Brand and Andre, but I forgot TJ Ford was on the Pacers, one of the fastest mofo's in this league, which spells trouble for our PGs

Well, back to hearing 20 reasons why the lakers suck, on the lakers basketball network.
_________________
*sighs*

!...

[Freakout]

Team has two big holes at the 1 and 3. First unit struggles because of those holes.

It is nice to have a exciting second unit but those holes in the starting unit need to be plugged.

Playoffs roll around, rotations tighten, teams play their starters more minutes.....who exactly will Phil have on the floor?

Odom and Gasol will ultimately fail. This is not news to anyone.

Vlad cannot guard his own shadow. Again something every average joe knows.

So what is our closing lineup Phil?

Pierce torching Vlad, Perkins bullying Pau around, KG zoning off of Lamar. What is our solution to that? I have yet to see a answer from Phil.

[Klone_dd]

It may have been an omen that my DVR cut out at 6:30 sparing me from watching the last 3 possessions. Up until that point, however, the Lakers played too fancy free. Offensively, it seemed like they were all trying to make highlight plays. Defensively, it looked like they were all trying to watch highlight plays.

Indy got the benefit of some long bounces especially in the 4th. They were quicker to chase down the ball. They got 99 shots at the goal because of all the 2nd and 3rd chances.

The Lakers offense really bogged down in the 4th. Certainly those TO's by the 2nd unit were lazy and horrible, but what's the 1st unit's reason? Indy got us out of the tri or maybe we simply abandoned it. Either way it wasn't pretty.

The D was truly porous. The worst D game of the year. Aside from Ariza, I don't think anyone bothered to defend. We seemed to be scrambling on every set.

[LakersMD]

I'm glad the Lakers lost.

I was starting to see some bad habits develop, and an L is the quickest way to stop them.

Oh well. Only 5.5 more hours until the next game.

[mefor3]

almost smashed the TV

[kobester]

[kobester]

[Dr. Funkbot]

[KingKobe]

Kobe scored his 22,000 point with 2.2 seconds remaining in the 2nd quarter on 12/2 in the lakers 2nd loss.

BTW, that game sucked.
_________________
*Warning: The preceding post may have contained sarcasm and/or irony.

"We're all surrounded by idiots." - Kobe Bryant

[UntiedShoe]

[king255]