They have the players to adjust this latest defensive slide....Also Kobe's been shooting horrible the last 5 games and one he breaks out of the slump it will be back to blowing teams out. I love it when I hear people worry about the lakers in December....each game is a learning experience for this young group.
It's hard to be worried with a team that's 17-3 and still on pace for 70 wins. If they lose again in December, then I'll worry.
Fact is that Kobe's in a shooting slump and that makes everybody around him worse. Once Kobe starts shooting well again, everybody else will pick it up.
Bad wins and bad losses make them better. I'd rather have them get it out of their system now.
Nothing that a Odom/Fisher for Mayo/Gay trade wouldn't fix.
Hey, I am not worried. The only consistent Laker season from start to finish was 1971-72, and even that had a few bumps in the road. Back in 2000-2001, Shaq and Kobe were ready to kill each other midway through the season. It was in the papers nearly every day. Come playoff time, we nearly ran the field, going 15-1. Or was it 16-1? I don't remember. Let the Laker haters have their fun.
I'm not terribly worried either. It's December.
The defense will tighten up to what it was when they get some time to actually practice. Their schedule in the last week has been game, travel, game, travel, game, travel. They had nice long breaks between games to start the season and that's why the D looked so good.
I almost had to start a lakers suck a$$ thread, I figured they'd blow out pho by 20. I think pho even led at a point. Glad I stayed up for the 2nd half. It may have been different if Shaq was there, bynum was able to push amare and sideshow bob around at will.
and yeah, no one played D....
I can't imagine if the Lakers lost two straight. You may hang yourself the way it is going...
You know Lakers can't have an 82-0 record. Win some, lose some. How many team has a 17-3 record?
We at the Spurs are looking forward to seeing Lakers again at the WCF.
Sorry I didn't follow the Suns that much. What happened to Shaq? The coach kept him away to make him fresh for the play-off?
He off for a funeral. I don't think Shaq would have passed up this one. And of course bell, singletary, and diaw were gone so they were somewhat undermanned. It was nice to see Dragic get some time.
Lakers for Outlaw!!! We should have did it when Outlaw wasn't so good! Travis is a great defender, can hit the 3, and is an ideal SF for us.
I'm positive the blazers wouldn't trade him to any of the other top 8 western conference teams he would have to go somewhere else or something first.
Even for Kobe?...
im sure that would be a exception though haha...
Ah, shoot, I just realized that I'm under-selling the Lakers. It's not 17-3, it's 18-3. 86% winning percentage. You need 85% to win 70 games.
How many team fans would consider a trade or break up the team at 18-3. Or think the sky is falling with that kind of record...only Laker fans. Talk about setting the bar high
I'll even go on a limb and say the Lakers will win the next 7 games leading into the Christmas Day game vs the green es...good for a 25-3 record.
The Lakers have played 5 back to backs. Half of their games so far have been part of a B2B. And they have two more coming up soon, capped off by the Celtics on the 25th.
5 games in 7 days.
Dec 19 @Miami
Dec 20 @Orlando
Dec 22 @Memphis
Dec 23 @New Orleans
Dec 25 Green es
I think that's higher than almost any team in the league.
AND, if you look at Strength of Schedule (SOS), of the big 3 teams (Lakers/Celtics/Cavs), you'll see that Boston & Cleveland schedules have been easier than the Lakers.
Strength of Schedule Ranks
Last edited by Allanon; 12-11-2008 at 06:24 PM.
What has happened to the Lakers?
Inherent problem #1 - Gasol is the MVP of the team, not Bryant.
Inherent Problem #2 - Fisher is horrendous
Inherent Problem #3 - Odom is being forced to be misused because of
Bryant's ego
Inherent Problem #4 - No clue what lockdown playoff defense is.
Inherent Problem #5 - Bench is vastly overrated, especially Vujacic
Inherent Problem #6 - They love themselves entirely too much
All of these factors make them regular season heroes.
That's fine, but it doesn't get you a ring.
1. Gasol has been playing out of his mind, but you're a fool if you think Kobe isn't the heart, soul, and MVP of the Laker team. Without him nothing else works.
2. Fisher's DEFENSE is certainly horrendous right now. I give him a pass because I know he'll show up in the playoffs with clutch shots, steals, etc.
3. Odom is playing backup PF against 2nd unit scrubs he should be dominating. He's mentally weak and soft. His problems have absolutely nothing to do with Kobe, he's just an abject failure given his natural talent. I just don't believe LA is the best fit for Lamar Odom, he's not championship material.
4. Absolutely. This falls on the coaching staff more than anything. They seem to believe that if their offense is good enough the defense will be just fine. Trust me it sounds insane for me to even type that.
5. The bench is inconsistent, but when they're ON they are no question one of the best benches in the league.
6. They have a false sense of en lement, I agree. Coming into games expecting to win.
It's nothing wrong with the Lakers. Its a long season and we will have games like this. I agree that we need another point guard but I thought we needed that a long time ago when Jordan got into foul trouble and we had to go to Fish a lot more than I would like. They definitely need to pick up a 3rd point guard. Lindsay Hunter or Tyron Lue would have been perfect.
We are really missing Rony right now, we have no energy off the bench anymore. Lamar should not be moved and we will need him against the Celtics. We cannot trade him for a PG, that would not help us at all in defeating the Celtics. What the Lakers need is for our Bigs to start acting like they're not afraid of contact and start knocking players on their ass when they get into the paint. We really need them to be more active in the paint.
I really believe that the Triple Towers is the best lineup that we can put on the court against the Celtics. I am not concerned with the WC, the Lakers can handle them without much trouble.
Great post Lakeshow.
Agree on losing Ronny. He's languishing with even less PT on the Warriors. He would have been great for the Lakers this year.
Pau/Bynum really need to step up their D. Fish/Farmar I don't expect to get better on D. Pau can and Bynum has lapsed in his D to improve his scoring. Bynum's gotta forget the scoring and play his early season D again.
And I think Sun Yue is going to get some minutes. He's a pretty good defender, he just needs to learn the NBA game so he doesn't foul so much. It's a long shot for Yue but it's crazy enough that I think Phil will give it a try.
Absolutely.
I look forward to Odom and Ariza shutting down Paul Pierce.
And you wonder where the Lakers get their false sense of en lement? It comes straight from the fans and media who have already guaranteed a finals berth. I mean, Utah gave ya'll trouble last season. Utah!I am not concerned with the WC, the Lakers can handle them without much trouble.
You may be beating us in a few years, but right now nothing's going to be sweeter than my Spurs mudstomping the Lakers this postseason to everyone's horror.
The Lakers are now a below average defensive rebounding team.
I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone with this team. Their problems are so glaring and obvious, but the coaching staff is refusing to recognize them and address them. It's absolutely ludicrous. If the defense stays this poor and we get stomped in the playoffs again because of it I think it's time to fire Phil Jackson and get rid of his entire coaching staff.
Bring in Pat Riley. He will teach this team defense whether they like it or not.
lol at you kids...
All i see is a W.
I don't give a about your stupid problems
Lakers will be all right ... in the regular season that is. They might end up with a Dallas Mavericks type 67+ win season easily.
However, the thing about the NBA is that while skill gets you in to the playoffs, it's toughness that helps you win it all. Remind me of the last championship team on which more than half the team was skilled, soft and played little defense. I mean, you take Gasol, Odom, Farmar, Fisher, Vujacic, Radmanovic, Walton ... which of these guys can man up and bang with the big boys? And even the remaining guys like Ariza, Bynum or Kobe are not known for toughness ... the best you can say about them is that they're not soft. They let go of Turiaf, the one guy who had some toughness in him.
It's no surprise that every NBA champion team in the last 2 decades has had one or more Ho-Grant, Rodman, Harper, Horry, Elie, Cassell, Fox, Malik Rose, Posey type players. That's why you have limited players like Perkins and PJ Brown bullying more skilled players like Gasol and Odom, as they did last June.
Toughness wins, period. And the Lakers aren't tough. The Lakers are more talented than any team in the league, but history tells you that isn't enough to bring home the LOB
Thanks Allanon.
Quick point guards are going to be able to penetrate the lane no matter how hard you try to stop them. The rule change assured that. D-fish is trying to lead the guards to the middle thinking the bigs would have a field day and they very well should but the bigs are just letting them go without so much a touch.
Fish will need to adjust, probably go back to flopping until the bigs get their together. Gasol and Bynum are still learning to play with each other so there is plenty of time to improve but they have to get more active in the paint.
I agree with you to a point but The Lakers are tough and the right lineup can help them get even more tough. It's time for the Lakers to take it to teams rather teams taking it to them in the paint. Go with the triple tower!
Tough enough to beat the Celtics? Not right now, but plenty of time to get it together. They are tough enough to win the conference and they have the pieces to do it.
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