# Game #27: Los Angeles Lakers (21-5) @ Memphis Grizzlies (9-17) [12/22]



## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

December 22, 2008
5:00 PM PST











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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Should be a close game... Sadly.


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## thaKEAF (Mar 8, 2004)

This should be good.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

I think it's safe to say that Mayo isn't going to drop fifty on us, so the win is all but guaranteed.

No opposing PG to burn us either.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Our 2 bigs average a combined 2.8 bpg D Howard averages damn near 4 lol we gotta have a couple numbers pick up, Kobe 3pt fg%, Pau and Bynumn's blks, the sf position overall numbers.

as for the game we need a win in the worse way a comfortable win gotta start restoring our confidence which is slipping bad. Get an easy win here get a grind out one tomorrow and head into the Christmas day match-up with some confidence.


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## Laker Freak (Jul 1, 2003)

MojoPin said:


> I think it's safe to say that Mayo isn't going to drop fifty on us, so the win is all but guaranteed.
> 
> No opposing PG to burn us either.



Kobe will probably focus on defense to try and prove a point to Mayo, but Gay could very well drop 50 with Luke guarding him.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

It'll be sad if we can't blow this team out.

Should be fun watching Gasol vs. Gasol.


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## ceejaynj (Oct 9, 2005)

Bynum needs to wake up this game. He needs a breakout game to get his season moving.


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## gi0rdun (May 31, 2007)

Let's go Grizzlies!


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Horrible officiating on both ends already.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Great play to end the quarter by Sasha & Kobe.

We're shooting 58% and are tied...against the Grizzlies...


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Lets make sure no game comes easy.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Bynum with his 3rd foul...jeez. 

Bynum's just not getting a lot of minutes right now because of foul trouble. Stop fouling, Drew.


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## LamarButler (Apr 16, 2005)

Jeez OJ Mayo is freakin good


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

The Lakers seem content with playing like crap.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

No talking on defense. No one even told Kobe he was about hit the pick. What the **** is wrong with this team? Some of the poor defensive problems are aspects you learn in High school basketball.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

Christ almighty!! Play some ****ing defense!!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

The Lakers' defense = :laugh:


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

lol. The Grizzles are laughing at our defense. I'm laughing to.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

OJ is ***** slapping Kobe right now.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Mayo's going to be a great player. He's like a mini-Kobe.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

It's so sad that this just continues to happen. This has been, what, over a month now that we have been playing like this?

Things will not get better unless a major trade is made, or a coaching change is made. I'm more convinced than ever that they won't win with Jackson at the helm. It won't happen, but he needs to go.

Gasol and Bynum also make me want to puke. Gasol honestly looks like one of the most pathetic big men alive. Does he have a brain?


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## LamarButler (Apr 16, 2005)

Yea Mayo really reminds me of Kobe. Their shots are similar, and they both have huge skill sets.

I think Mayo is more conservative though.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> OJ is ***** slapping Kobe right now.


Kobe is ***** slapping the Grizzlies.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

What the hell is Kobe doing right now?


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Basel said:


> Kobe is ***** slapping the Grizzlies.


You must be watching a different game.....


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

My God, we are terrible.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

WTF is this team thinking??!! Were giving Memphis dunk after dunk!! This is ****ing pathetic...


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> You must be watching a different game.....


Well, he started to...but then he thought better...

He's doing well shooting the ball, but he needs to rebound and dish more and stop turning it over.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Am I the only one who realizes how terrible of a help defender and post defender Pau Gasol is? He is awful. He is also a God awful rebounder.

What the hell has he been doing right lately?

Gasol's defense is making me think that he doesn't have a place on this team anymore because whoever he is guarding constantly eats us up on the boards.

HUGE CHANGES have to be made to this team.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

this is some of the worst defense ive ever seen from them


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

This teams defense is something pathetic. In the last 5 minutes of the second, we just made them look like the globe trotters. I mean wow, what an embarrassment.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

MojoPin said:


> this is some of the worst defense ive ever seen from them


Totally pathetic. We learned NOTHING from last year.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

Bynum is pissing me off as well. Cmon man!! Stop fouling dammit!!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Words can't describe how extremely irritated I am by this right now.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

CubanLaker said:


> WTF is this team thinking??!! Were giving Memphis dunk after dunk!! This is ****ing pathetic...


The last 2 weeks, we have been one of the 5 worst teams in the league. There's simply no debating that.

The Lakers are no where close to being a good basketball team right now, and the problem sure as hell isn't gonna magically fix itself on Christmas. I'm considering not even watching that game. It'll only put a damper on the holiday cheer.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Bynum is a ****ing *****. he's basically took 2 games and a half off now he can't play defense anymore he won't move his feet nor stop fouling. 

Gasol doing his typical soft ****, and our bench has basically disappeared. 

Kobe he's just looking to score looking almost confused by whats happening on both ends and PJ doesn't seem to have an answer. 

Its either a serious funk or a sypmton of a serious problem. We weren't playing this poorly at any point the last 2 season's. 

we gotta go back to Vlad with the starters and try and recapture what we had earlier in the season Luke has thrown us into a funk with him being added to the mix and LO just gives us nothing.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We need a new starting lineup.

I'd like to see a starting lineup of Sasha/Kobe/Ariza/Gasol/Bynum.

I know I've always been against Fisher not starting, but I think it's time we do something different. I don't know. I don't see the team making a trade or signing anybody, so we might as well change the lineup.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

And forget about the ****ing terrible defense for a second...where the hell is the offense?

Let's be frank...the Lakers' offense has been getting way less criticism than it deserves. 49 points at the half? How many against the Heat? Our offense sucked against Orlando, too.

The Lakers have the talent to be getting 60 points every half. And yet they have started to not even hit 50. Someone said a while ago that we're turning into the Phoenix Suns of old. Not true. The Suns would score 110+ every game. We're turning into a team that hits 100 every other game...that's not good at all.

Our offense is not crisp. No one moves. Everyone looks like they're in a daydream and playing for themselves, and we are by far the worst passing team in the league right now.

The amount of turnovers we have as a result of bad passing is absolutely astounding.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

the same problems are there every game. it's just like we don't make ANY adjustments AT ALL

what is going through Phil's head


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

CubanLaker said:


> Bynum is pissing me off as well. Cmon man!! Stop fouling dammit!!


Same. You can tell her is a mental case right now. He seems intimated to play defense in fear of fouling, then when he does he goes to the other extreme and plays to physical.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

**** this ****! Stu Lantz is right! We need to stop switching on defense! Man up and guard your man. Our rotations suck *** and and were so busy scrambling that everyone is either getting a wide open dunk or an uncontested jumpshot.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

MojoPin said:


> the same problems are there every game. it's just like we don't make ANY adjustments AT ALL
> 
> what is going through Phil's head


Exactly! How is Walton STILL starting?!!!! Ever since he came into the starting lineup, we have been playing TERRIBLE basketball. At least with Vladdy in, we could score.

We were a much better team with VladRad in there, and now we do nothing right. Simply putting Vlad in the starting lineup and getting Luke out of the rotation would be one solid step up.

There is NO REASON why Walton should be getting anything other than garbage minutes.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Our offense is officially stuck in the mud because of Drew being in and out with foul trouble and because Luke's inability to shoot has killed the spacing. Add in farmar being missing and we don't have our bench floor pusher of the ball or creator. 

bad bad situation.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

You know Hornets are looking for revenge after our last meeting.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

MojoPin said:


> the same problems are there every game. it's just like we don't make ANY adjustments AT ALL
> 
> *what is going through Phil's head*


I'm quite sure that we'll never know.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

We drop a game like this tonight... We could very well drop the game to the Hornets and Boston. Need to the the **** together.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> You know Hornets are looking for revenge after our last meeting.


We're going to be annihilated tomorrow night.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Wow.. what the **** is this bull****? I hear every play on the team talking about what needs to be done and what will improve. Yet we continue to regress? Give me a cliff and I'll jump off of right now.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Good start offensively. Lets play some defense.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Kobe looks pissed. This is the Kobe I like. Pissed off Kobe makes things happen on both ends.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Oh ****, I thought they were calling a foul on Bynum.... Whew.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Bynum also thought a foul was called...good thing it wasn't. Kobe's playing very well to start the 2nd half. Tie game!


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Yes.. Lets get excited.. We are now tied with a horrible team.. I feel the excitement.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Basel said:


> Bynum also thought a foul was called...good thing it wasn't. Kobe's playing very well to start the 2nd half. Tie game!


Yeah. HAHA, When Bynum grabbed his head he looked disgusted.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

there we go


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I'm not as excited that we're tied as I am that we're just playing well in general.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Bynum still finessing everything around the basket. Lock him in the film room and make him watch 20 or so games from last year.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

bynum shoved Marc. lucky to get away with it


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Good to see Bynum dunk the ball.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Hmmm... Let's see here Phil. We're getting blown up and down the court, so let's play the slowest ****ing lineup possible. Words cannot express my frustration right now.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Back to being frustrated...


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

The mistakes that Walton makes and the flaws in his game are SOOO clearly correlated with our missed opportunities and easy baskets for the Grizzlies. It's a joke that Phil still plays him. All he does is hurt us. Why is he playing?

He can't shoot and is indecisive on offense. Our opponents take advantage of that by stuffing the paint and leaving a man to sag off of Walton outside. Then, on defense, Walton is too slow to change ends with guys like Gay, so the Grizzlies get countless fastbreak points and quick baskets.

It's just dumb. We have no shot tonight.

Tomorrow will be a nightmare. It's gonna be a 5gm losing streak, I predict.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Classic!!! We just figured out how to take advantage of the Gasol-Bynum connection, and we take out Drew for Odom and leave Walton in!!!

What happens? Walton bricks a wide open jumper and Odom bricks two ****ing layups!!!

Phil is such a Goddamn idiot!!! Get rid of this clown!!!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

What the **** are you doing, Odom?


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Does any team give up more wide open 3's?


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

that new movie Valkyrie should be about Luke Walton instead of Hitler


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

We should play Mihm the whole fourth quarter. Maybe play him with Menga at the 4 to create a twin tower effect.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

I really wish someone could give a good explanation of how the Grizzlies just scored that layup to end the quarter, but there is none.

They are the Memphis ****ing Grizzlies.

We truly are the worst defensive team in the league. I could coach a team of NBA Free Agents that played better defense than this bunch of bums. Things just keep going from bad to worse.

We give up wide open threes, easy layups, don't contest shots in the paint and don't help out on defense.

Anyone notice how Bynum's shotblocking avg has taken a huge dip? Unbelievable. We suck a lot.


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## NewAgeBaller (Jan 8, 2007)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> We should play Mihm the whole fourth quarter. Maybe play him with Menga at the 4 to create a twin tower effect.


Damnn, I'm not watching the game but I just read the whole thread.. That was seriously depressing.. :laugh:

Good to hear Mayo playing well.

Any Gasol v Gasol match-up yet?



Bartholomew Hunt said:


> We should play Mihm the whole fourth quarter. Maybe play him with Menga at the 4 to create a twin tower effect.


:laugh:


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

It feels like the Bench Mob has turned into the Bench Flop.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Let's play a game. 

No, it's not called defense. That would be silly. Why play defense?

Let's play a game where we can guess how many shots Odom can miss and how many points he can give to the other team.

Trade this bum ASAP.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Kobe is the only reason we still have a chance. He needs to go into the locker room tonight and start calling out numbers. On effort alone, no one showed up tonight but Kobe.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Second Bynum goes out... Darko dunks.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Fisher pisses me off


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Bean.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

So sad that it took Kobe saving the rest of the teams asses against a pathetic team.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Joel and Stu fighting. Losers.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Kobe's awesome.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Looking back on this, it's fairly hilarious that we won this game.

Just goes to show you...Yes, we suck. We suck a lot right now. However, even we don't suck as much as the Grizzlies.

Thanks Memphis!


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> So sad that it took Kobe saving the rest of the teams asses against a pathetic team.


Seriously, did anyone else play well? Pau looks OK statistically, but he allowed about 3094830 points in the paint.

Odom missed n-zillion shots and made n-million dumb mistakes.

Maybe Ariza? He was the only one that played OK other than Kobe.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Damian Necronamous said:


> Seriously, did anyone else play well? Pau looks OK statistically, but he allowed about 3094830 points in the paint.
> 
> Odom missed n-zillion shots and made n-million dumb mistakes.
> 
> Maybe Ariza? He was the only one that played OK other than Kobe.


Yeah. No one really but Kobe played well. Gasol was ok... Bynum had a semi decent game, despite foul trouble again. It was a start towards returning from his slump.

But reality is only Kobe really showed up today. His defense struggled a little in the first half, but he dominated in the second.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

wow a much needed win same issues but we dug deep to pull this one out Ariza needs to be starting. His play was so key. 

Kobe came through big late as well as Gasol who's offensive rebounds and score over darko were clutch. 

LO sucks.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

This is ****ing pathetic! We played like ****!! I cant even enjoy this win.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

PJ's coaching is also mystifying he leaves Gasol on the bench until the 4 minute mark and then brings do nothing odom back in when Bynum was trying to guard the paint. 

Either start LO at 3 or ship his *** outta here. 

Please don't let Luke play anymore just bench him and Start Ariza at 3 please there's no rational reason to me why Ariza isn't starting he does everything Luke does plus play defense, create steals, challenege shots, slash and has a pulse. 

Start making pt a reward based thing.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Sometimes Phil needs to be saved from himself. Step in Mitch. Thanks for the win Kob.


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## GNG (Aug 17, 2002)

Damian Necronamous said:


> I really wish someone could give a good explanation of how the Grizzlies just scored that layup to end the quarter, but there is none.
> 
> They are the Memphis ****ing Grizzlies.
> 
> ...





> Looking back on this, it's fairly hilarious that we won this game.
> 
> Just goes to show you...Yes, we suck. We suck a lot right now. However, even we don't suck as much as the Grizzlies.
> 
> Thanks Memphis!


Seeing as how the Lakers have won just six times in the last 15 meetings with the Grizzlies (with two of those wins coming by two points or less), I'm a little surprised (but not really) that you are flipping out over Memphis giving LA a good game.


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## elcap15 (Aug 8, 2006)

Bynum is really making some bad decisions on defense. I think he is trying to do too much. He has to stay out of foul trouble.

Lamar got ****ed by the refs last night. The game was reffed equally terrible, but Lamar got screwed on at least 3 calls that would have been FT's. Darco was practically riding him on some possesions, not to mention the blatant foul at the end of the half.

Ariza should be starting. Our second unit isnt so much of a unit, and Ariza fits in fine with the 1st squad and we need his tenacity on defense. However, I dont think Luke has been playing bad at all. I think he has stepped in and is bringing what Phil wants him to. He gets us at least 8 pts a game on great passes to our big men.

Every perimeter player on our team gambles too much. They all try to steal every pass, then get burned by their man and then the team defense is in scramble mode. They all need to stay in front of their man.

I thought Fish had a good game. Hell, he played 40 minutes and only took 7 shots. That is a little more in line with the shots per minute I had envisioned this year.

Pau played his game again. He is a great consistent player. He and Bynum need more looks on offense, it will keep them more motivated on defense.

Kobe is the obvious POTG.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

I think that the bad decisions our players are making, including Bynum would go away if we just went back to playing simple man/man defense. Using team and rotation only in certain situations seemed to work better for our guys, who obviously lack the talent to rotate efficiently.



Not to mention, when you have them going straight man/man it's easier for the coaching staff to hold people accountable at the end of games if that Lakers defensive assignment goes off and torches the Lakers for a career high. 

We simply cannot rotate efficiently.. Bynum is to slow to go from the perimeter back to the block in time to make any kind of stop without fouling. When we rotate players like Kobe and Fish tend to roam more instead of concentrating on the real threat.

Time to just play each man straight up. Let Kobe and Bynum go back to locking down ONE person during the game and our defense will improve greatly.


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## NewAgeBaller (Jan 8, 2007)

Anyone here think Phil should take a coaching break til mid-season, like Pat Riley used to do?


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