LAKERS -at- SPURS- 11/13 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[BigE32]

Thanks, DB. We need to take care of the ball. 15 turnovers at the half on the road against an excellent team isn't the recipe for a win. We need to value our possessions.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB

[Hawkins]

The game was kind of an enigma, Bruce Bowen outscores Kobe, Kobe out D's Bowen with 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots, I can't remember Tim Duncan having that low of production in years, LA's bench outscores SA's, the Spurs shot .933 FT% and the box scores with the exception of the 2nd quarter shows a competitive game.

Turnovers were the key. The hole was too deep, too early to dig out of plain and simple. Had they not occurred this game would have been entirely different and the Phil criticism after the game reflects frustration and hate that is totally manic. You beat down a Suns team to a pulp just a week ago and the doom and gloom is strange considering it's only the second week of the season. Why the glass is always half empty in Laker land of late seems a self fulfilling prophecy.

[LakerJam]

[maddprophet]

the inability of our team to get bynum the ball in the post in bothersome, as well as lo.

farmar needs to play more minutes against parker, and he's capable of doing the same exact things to the spurs that parker did to us. and farmar can throw it down unlike parker. i really believe farmar will continue to grow and become a player much like parker, but with better range and athletecism to finish with authority in the lane. he was the bright spot last night.

and i'd rather have sasha active over mo right now. maybe it's his back or whatever, but he's giving us nada. sasha will always give you effort, and he's clearly improved all aspects of his game from previous years. he should get those minutes right now.

i know it's early in the year, but it seems evident to me, that both farmar and bynums minutes must go up as the year goes on. they give us our best opportunity to win games imo.
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[8750]

maybe you are right, laker jam... but let me talk about softness and youth...
every time i hear or read someone talking about youth, i always remember a wise man who said "youth means that you have more time to make damages"... i deeply appreciate young talented players with great upside, but i saw too many young talented players with great upside never developing their potential... i don't know if character is something that you can learn... you see kobe at 17 or mj at nc, and soft is the last word that leaps in your mind... i saw bill laimbeer when after the college he came here in italy for a year and you didn't have any doubt about softness... the only player that i remember as soft and then became a great warrior was scottie pippen... in this team, turiaf is young and surely not soft... other players always seem to me very gifted technically or physically, but not mentally...

[wolfpaclaker]

I didn't think the Lakers played that bad.

I thought their energy was superb on defense, in the 1st half that is. It was close despite the horrendous TO's in the 1st half until the very end of it .. Spurs went on a run closing the half.

Really, I just thought the execution wasn't there but the things they were trying to do were exactly what we need to work on.

1- Team ball in a loss. HUGE aspect that is being ignored. This will help us in the longrun, and maybe as soon as tonight if the team is not wearing the strong effects of their first B2B. Ussually when this team drops down 10 points, it's Kobe time. I thought the Lakers and Kobe tried not to go there and when their offense improved in the 2nd half, unfortunately the defense slipped.

2- Quick Tempo. Remember last year, the first time the Warriors came to town with Nellie? Recall how bad they looked, post-trade. It was like watching a TO wreck. Now the Lakers are more organised than that Warriors team, but when you try to play fast .. sometimes you rush. Especially against an elite defense like SA, who seemingly always have a man in place to cut off a passing lane or high % shot.

I think the reason Kobe and Odom only had 18 + 12 respectively is the TO's. When you play team ball and then TO the ball that much, it comes back and hurts the 2 best scorers. They don't get the amount of scoring chances they ought to.

Bynum + Farmar were superb. Ronny was excellent on D, horrible on O. Kobe's D is magnificent right now.

I can't wait to see Bynum, Turiaf, Odom, Kobe and Farmar starting for this team. I feel that is our best 5 man unit talent/matchup wise.

[hi_ma]

Thanks DB. Started well just didnt finish. We will have the opp. to see them again.

Farmar and AB seem to embrace the big stage. Kwame is a jokey joke
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The lakers will get prince.

[LakerSince72]

Thanks again DB. Sorry we all had to endure such a piss poor game.

I give this loss to PJ for not making the necessary adjustments on defensive focus AND making the wrong subs, especially during the 2nd & 3rd Qtrs. The Lakers looked about as lost as they did back during the Finals vs. The Pistons. It was painfully clear that we had no idea how we were going to score or stop the other team.

CLEARLY Farmar and The Big Baby Bynum made the case that they should've played the lion's share of minutes instead of D Fish and Kwame "no man's land" Brown. I'll bet the +/- on Farmar and The Big Baby Bynum will prove my point. Again, I fault PJ for not noticing this and making the adjustments. When we were down by 18 there was nothing to lose (except the game of course). Hell, give J Critt a chance to at least keep in front of Tony Parker. Anything would've been better than playing right into the Spurs hands like a teenage boy's prepubescent weiner.

BTW, did you see Coach Brian Shaw's face after Farmar SMASHED ON Tiny Tim AGAIN !?!?!?! He looked like "DAMN!!!! That was nasty!!!"

[LakerSince72]

[maddprophet]

[Muad'Dib]

Great work as usual, DB.

Need to stay home on the shooters or at least run them off the line and dare them (Bonner, Bowen,...) to put the ball on the floor and playmake.

And can someone please put Tony Parker on his derriere?!?!

[The Private]

How can we hold Duncan under double digits on points and still lose by 15? Does Kobe not know how to score on Bowen?

[AJLakerFan]

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks for the write up DB!

It was probably good that I didn' see the game, but how in the hell do they hold Duncan to 2-13 shooting, 4 TOs and still friggen lose by 15? WTF?

Oh, and Bynumite better start tonight!

[DancingBarry]

[maddprophet]

[Alpha]

thanks for the recap DB... sounds like a painful game to watch (with sporadic great highlights)... sad to think they were this sluggish on the front end of a back to back... let's pray for the best in Houston tonight.

btw, I agree with lakersanity about the D sagging away from the perimeter... just makes no sense! heck, with people like Peja and the 3 happy spurs out there, how can you leave them open??!? consistently for that matter?!

[LakerSince72]

[LakerSince72]

[LakerSince72]

DB, I remember some time back a link posted in LG for a site that gives the plus/minus for players, a line graph of the game flow and more really interesting stats, charts etc. Do you know of that site, link, post? I'd really like to find that site again. Thanks dude! You Rock!!!

[SoCal88]

It seemed very hard for the entry pass to the post. When they did, Kwame was the target. Kwame...was...the...target...

Any chance Crit gets activated in lieu of Mo?
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[maddprophet]

[LakerSince72]

[LakerSince72]