# Game #20: Los Angeles Lakers (17-2) @ Sacramento Kings (5-16) [12/9]



## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)

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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

I see us losing. I can't believe they actually have 5 freaking shooters in the starting lineup alone. Martin is doubtful, imo, he left the last game hurting again. Please, please, please work on defense!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

One of my friends is going to this game; I'm jealous, but she said she's going to arrive early and try to get autographs from some of the players, and if she does, she's going to get something autographed for me. Woohoo!

As for the game itself, we better not underestimate the Kings. We seem to struggle against them (whether at home or on the road). We need to head into Wednesday's showdown with the Suns with some momentum on our side. Play some ****ing defense, and please show us a better offensive showing than last night's game against Milwaukee.


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## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)

We better not lose this freaking game. 
Losses to the pacers and kings within one week is not good.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

I say we thump the Kings. Kobe loves playing there our bench is superior and is due for a good game. 

we won't get caught flat in this one and once we gain the lead in the 4th PJ will put the foot on the neck.


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## Luke (Dec 7, 2008)

This really shouldnt be any kind of a game wheather or not Kevin Martin is playing, but i guess its a plus if he's not

Lakers by 15+


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## elcap15 (Aug 8, 2006)

Id love to see some defense again. Wouldnt that be something?


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

*Scouting Report*​


> The Sacramento Kings are coming off a poor effort in a home loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. The old saying of a wounded animal is a dangerous animal applies here. This is a different Sacramento team than the one we defeated on November 23rd. They have their best player, Kevin Martin back and two of their emotional leaders – Mikki Moore and Francisco Garcia – are also back. This increase in talent level and fire when combined with the home crowd who still don’t like us means we will have our hands full tonight. It is important that we open the game with the right mentality and execution in order to keep the crowd out of it and to let the Kings know they are in for another long night. Sacramento is 0-12 when they fail to score 100 points so we must protect the ball and get back on defense so they do not get any easy buckets.
> 
> This team has a good combination of talent. They have big players who can shoot from the perimeter and are good passers. They have wing players who can shoot and move well without the ball. As we saw at Staples Center in the November game they can still execute their “C” or “CORNER” set with or without Martin and Garcia. They are even more dangerous in this set with those two players. This set is the one where they pass to one of the bigs at the elbow and then the point and the wing player who has moved to the strong corner run a variety of actions. The point can down screen for the corner man, the corner man can back screen, basket cuts and dribble handoffs are also options. They were able to score out of this action in the first game so we must do a better job communicating defensively in order to minimize the effectiveness in this set.
> 
> Finally, both Beno Udrih and Bobby Brown hurt us in the pick and roll game. We need to do a better job of containing these two and therefore impact their opportunities in this part of the game. This will not be an easy game but we will help our own cause if we show we learned something from the first game against this team.


http://my.lakers.com/lakers/news.html?id=5


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

Lakers by 5.

Kobe with 40.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Last time Kobe was in Sacramento...


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

If they indeed are using a lot of shooters in their lineup, we might be in trouble. Lakers have been giving up a awful lot of open shots lately. Still, I expect them to win. I'm guessing Lakers by 6.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Something of note: Sacramento has lost 8 straight at home.


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## ceejaynj (Oct 9, 2005)

What I am worried about is us getting out to a big early lead...then letting it slip away. We have been doing that a lot lately. We haven't been blowing out teams as easily as we were a few weeks ago. GO LAKERS!!!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Well if we do have a big lead again heading into the 4th quarter tonight, I fully expect to see Kobe out on the floor to start the quarter.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Almost game time - hopefully we can have a somewhat active game thread tonight.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

What a terrible ****ing start.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Well at least we closed out the first quarter decently, but my God, what a pathetic effort by this team both offensively and defensively. They all look clueless.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Wow... We gave up 27 points to the Kings in the first quarter... Nothing like starting off on the right foot.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Man, the more I watch the more I fear Christmas day...


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Man, the more I watch the more I fear Christmas day...


Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with this team right now, but this is unacceptable. I never thought I'd be so disappointed in a 17-2 team.

Maybe it's the fact that we haven't played a good opponent in a while, and we're just playing to the level of our competition as has been the case numerous times throughout the year. I'm very interested in how the Lakers will play tomorrow night against Phoenix.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Wow...a Chris Mihm sighting. Hope he does well out there...

First play, he leaves Brad Miller wide open for a jumper. Nice...


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Basel57 said:


> Wow...a Chris Mihm sighting. Hope he does well out there...
> 
> First play, he leaves Brad Miller wide open for a jumper. Nice...


Nice defense from Mihm to start.. For Mihm that is.

EDIT: I missed that. I saw a very lame semi block from Mihm though. I thought it was decent.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Wow, look at that defense. All of them are running circles around our back court right now.. 

We are making the Kings look like a line up of Wades.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Fisher got bailed out by that long rebound.


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## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Man, the more I watch the more I fear Christmas day...


eh... you could be playing like **** leading up to that game, but it wouldn't matter. That's just a type of game where you are ready to play reguardless.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Cris said:


> eh... you could be playing like **** leading up to that game, but it wouldn't matter. That's just a type of game where you are ready to play reguardless.


Tell that to Cavs, and Celts.. Who have very little trouble blowing out teams they should. 

They play with more heart, discipline, and defense than the Lakers do. That's why the Laker's need to get their **** together before its to late.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

This team is so ****ing frustrating to watch lately.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

This is bull****. I'm just going to study for finals instead. Somehow, it's less frustrating.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Lakers with pathetic defensive effort once again. I mean its a damn layup drill we let Udrih, Garcia, and Jackson tap dance down the lane the whole time. 

ridiculous. 

Vlad's defense is embarrasingly bad. 

And would someone send Gasol the damn memo that its okay if he challenges a shot every now and then. 

I'm also getting real sick of LO I mean he's having trouble merely catching rebounds right now. 

Throw in Kobe's terrible shooting and we're trailing at the half to a team that has lost 8 straight home games.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

I see no way for us to improve defensively unless personel gets used differently. Our current rotation and player usage won;t cutn it. 

The cavs and celtics are clearly playing superior ball than we are right now. They are playing gritty tough ugly ball. The style you can play nightly. 

we are hoping we overwhelm teamns with our offense at some point during the game with a huge run.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

lol.. That dude is killing Vlade.


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## JT (Mar 1, 2004)

the Lakers are just not into this game defensively.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

They are making a good effort at Kobe and we need to adjust.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

I guess letting them play might be an understatement at this point?


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

I remember last year that Lebron used screens regardless of who was guarding him. Kobe needs to have that mind set because on some nights you are just not going to get pass somebody one-on-one so.....KOBE USE SCREENS PLEASE


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Embarrassing...


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Gasol is the only one that can do anything offensively tonight.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

At least gasol is playing ok


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Embarrassing...


understatement....


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

I'm tired of watching the Cavs take care of business then have to watch this crap later.
We are probably goingt to win this game but we are not at Cavs and Celtics level of focus.


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## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Tell that to Cavs, and Celts.. Who have very little trouble blowing out teams they should.
> 
> They play with more heart, discipline, and defense than the Lakers do. That's why the Laker's need to get their **** together before its to late.


That still doesn't change the fact that it's a pure energy game. This is not.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Why is gasol out?


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Cris said:


> That still doesn't change the fact that it's a pure energy game. This is not.


Perhaps.

However, practicing defense on all teams helps for the post season. Since our defense is the weakest link, would be nice to see us practice it during every game.. And not just when it's needed for those "Elite" teams. 

Because right now were paper thin, and the Celts are gonna skull **** us if we don't get anything that resembles a defensive strategy going before the playoffs.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Come the **** on!


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

It seems like the defensive strategy tonight is to switch every low screen and force penetration to the post assuming that we have a man ready to defend.....both Gasol and Odom have failed at meeting the ball handler in the paint on time. 

You no what, are defense just stinks and it probably will continue to stink for years to come at this rate


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Kobe starting to get going.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Wow...nice 3 buy salmons


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

It's absolutely incredible how often we leave teams open for three...un-****ing-believable.

We better not ****ing lose to the Kings.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We've given up 27, 29 and 31 so far in each quarter...


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We're going to lose to the Kings. Wow.


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## Lynx (Mar 6, 2004)

Jordan Farmar sucks..he blew another layup.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

what a bunch of posers

Celtics are gonna bend us over


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Quick shots :no:

Gameover...


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

MojoPin said:


> what a bunch of posers
> 
> Celtics are gonna bend us over


 the Celtics are going to mail our asses back to us with a bill for shipping....


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Garcia is all over Kobe tonight on both ends.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

disgusting

yuck

yuck

yuck


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

So sad...this team is not as good as we thought they were...here comes Kobe to start jacking up 3's and missing.


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## gi0rdun (May 31, 2007)

I'll take a Laker loss.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Three losses, and two of them to the ****ing Pacers and Kings. :laugh:

What a joke.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

why do we lose to the worst teams EVERY SINGLE YEAR?!


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## Laker Magic (Jun 12, 2002)

Nothing quite like losing to bonafied SCRUBS. Unfocused, no heart, no defense, and some of the poorest ****ing TO's you'll see. Get off your $10 million *** Phil and clean it up.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Phil Jackson looks a little dumbfounded on the bench over there.... This is all your fault, Phil!!


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Not over yet... Kobe with the three point play.. Come guys just play some defense and get back in it.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Doh, Kobe dribbles out of bounds...


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

This game is a mess. Our bench ihas just disappeared lately Sasha is giving us nothing, Farmar very little but fouls and a couple 3's tonight and LO and Ariza nothing much at all. 

Defensively we are a joke. I mean if I see a guard funneling someone again I'm gonna hurt my tv.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Wow.. Not one single guy was within 5 feet of that guy. Then he drops a three.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Not over yet... Kobe with the three point play.. Come guys just play some defense and get back in it.


Don't kid yourself. It's over.


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## Laker Magic (Jun 12, 2002)

Lol at making a chump like Salmons look like Michael Jordan. Awesome job communicating on defense guys.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

we need Varejao


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Stu is brilliant.. "In my mind.. The main problem tonight is defense".. Wow.. A nugget of wisdom.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

POTG: Gasol. He's the only one who looked like he cared.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Fisher is absolutely unbelievable at making very, very average point guards look like Superstars.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Basel57 said:


> Don't kid yourself. It's over.




I was trying to stay positive.. But then I watch us let the guards shoot nothing but wide open jumpers.. I'm not even sure how that happened so much tonight.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Lakers are overrated.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

we're getting out toughed by the Kings LOL

getting blown out by a sorry *** team. Every team we play is high picking rolling us to death. 

Fisher just let the guy score lol gotta be kidding me.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

are you kidding me? Udrih goes anywhere he wants


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

When Bynum is sitting in the fourth we give up so many layups. Why can't Gasol rotate on these drives at least half the time.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We AREN'T who we thought we were.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> When Bynum is sitting in the fourth we give up so many layups. Why can't Gasol rotate on these drives at least half the time.


Even when Bynum is in the game, we give up tons of layups.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Our offense completely sucked tonight but alot of times the Celtics look worse on offense but they still defended.

I know it's a different sport but Mike Singletary is living proof that a simple personel change can change a whole team. He took a team fool of players that did not care and turned them into grown men to play hard every game


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

**** boston is gonna be beat us by 40


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Yeah when Bynum isn't on the floor like he wasn't for most of the night our defense is laughable. He needs to be on the floor period we missed Drew's offense tonight. with Kobe off and no one else other than gasol doing much its been hard to do anything offensively.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

by far our worst performance yet. the Thunder could have beat us tonight. I'm not sure what it's going to take to light a fire under these guys. Even the players that are capable of playing great D refuse to do so. I don't get it.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

lol Kings still hard fouling. 

taking our heart. 

I agree with Stu you gotta just play man up to hell with the junk trap defense.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

when do we play the Kings again.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

I wish Stu would stop making excuses every team we play sends a second guy at Kobe he just came out shooting lame mid range shots and proceeded to shoot us outta the game to start the 3rd quarter by jacking up more mid range shots.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

We should have Gasol and Kobe sitting right now.. Why risk injury at this point. It's impossible to come back..


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Kings want Tacos


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> When Bynum is sitting in the fourth we give up so many layups. Why can't Gasol rotate on these drives at least half the time.



Pau's got a very long leash from Phil, presumably because he's a vet and he's so great on offense. But seriously, Drew's slow on a close-out to Moore's 15 footer, he's benched. Pau doesn't even bother to close out on a rotation to Salmons, who nails a 3; play on. Game was pretty much over at that point, but Drew cannot miss one assignment w/o hearing it from Phil. Pau misses EVERY assignment and gets a pass. WTF?


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

If we play like this tomorrow night, Phoenix is going to crush us.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

I'm not even sure how we got spanked this bad.. It seems impossible on paper..


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Silk D said:


> Pau's got a very long leash from Phil, presumably because he's a vet and he's so great on offense. But seriously, Drew's slow on a close-out to Moore's 15 footer, he's benched. Pau doesn't even bother to close out on a rotation to Salmons, who nails a 3; play on. Game was pretty much over at that point, but Drew cannot miss one assignment w/o hearing it from Phil. Pau misses EVERY assignment and gets a pass. WTF?


Phil always does that with youth. It's stupid and lame.. But he did it with Kobe too. He loves giving young players ****.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

I expect Bynum to get into early foul trouble against PHX, too, so it may be another game like tonight


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## Shaolin (Aug 6, 2004)

Basel57 said:


> We AREN'T who we thought we were.


Truth.

I turned it off with about four mins to go. Bottom line is that the Kings had more hustle, the Lakers were plodding, slow, confused and frustrated. In a way it was kind of funny.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Basel57 said:


> If we play like this tomorrow night, Phoenix is going to crush us.


I have no idea the mindset this team will have tomorrow night. Anything could happen after this deflating loss. 

we are struggling right now. Our junk defense has collapsed we're leaving guys wide open all over the perimeter and its a layup drill at the hoop. 

Bynum need to be on the floor gasol is nothing defensively, Bynum is our back line defense even when he's not blocking shots he's bothering guys occasionally though tonight he was pathetic at it but gasol hardly even tries.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

I guess this is the NBA but when you see the cavs and celtics kicking *** nightly it makes you wonder.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I don't know what to think right now. I honestly do not know how we just lost this game.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

jazzy1 said:


> I guess this is the NBA but when you see the cavs and celtics kicking *** nightly it makes you wonder.


They're clearly a step ahead of us right now, even if have the same amount of losses as Cleveland and only one less loss than Boston. We're not on their level right now.


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## Shaolin (Aug 6, 2004)

Too many chiefs and not enough indians.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

we got beat by Salmons and Garcia with Udrih and Jackson sprinkled in the names alone makes it more comical. I can see the Spurs Pistons Celtics cavs, but those names makes it even worse.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Hopefully Lakers don't take the suns lightly tomorrow, or it's going to end up bad.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Basel57 said:


> They're clearly a step ahead of us right now, even if have the same amount of losses as Cleveland and only one less loss than Boston. We're not on their level right now.


I agree they are better clearly. we've leveled off. I haven't been satisfied with a win in quite awhile really. 

this is a pivotal point in the season we either regroup or go down hill the Spurs are coming as are the Hornets and the Jazz gonna eventually getting healthy.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Hopefully Lakers don't take the suns lightly tomorrow, or it's going to end up bad.


You assume we took this team lightly. lol


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

jazzy1 said:


> I agree with Stu you gotta just play man up to hell with the junk trap defense.


 Yeah this particular junk defense is not good and I'll explain why later....BUT this is not what we were running the first 6-7 seven games.
Here is what we were running back then


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## Laker Magic (Jun 12, 2002)

I was hoping the Pacer game was an abberation, but I was wrong.

This team should be renamed the LOL Angeles Lakers with "efforts" like tonight.


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## Shaolin (Aug 6, 2004)

It ain't that bad, fellas. Damn.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Shaolin said:


> It ain't that bad, fellas. Damn.


 yes it is if you want to win the championship.






why don't we play THIS defense anymore?


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## Cap (Nov 5, 2003)

Haha, damn, can't believe they lost to these flopping losers.


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## KillWill (Jul 1, 2003)

EHL said:


> Haha, damn, can't believe they lost to these flopping losers.



what are you called when you lose to a loser then?


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

The One said:


> Yeah this particular junk defense is not good and I'll explain why later....BUT this is not what we were running the first 6-7 seven games.
> Here is what we were running back then


I hate to break this too you this is what we're attempting to do now. 

Teams we were playing were playing from the wings now its strictly high pick and roll from the top of the key every team is doing the same thing to us and carving us up. 

When teams start from the wings like the Bucks attempted to do we lock them down out top its a wrap for us.

we disagree you think we're hiding that defense I see it clearly we;re trying and its not working. 

CURE just plain man up defense and have the bigs block shots for whomever penetrates. It makes no sense for them to have a working defense put in the closet I see the same principles just being ineffective.


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## KillWill (Jul 1, 2003)

this was the super bowl for the kings. it's the super bowl for every mediocre team when the lakers come to town. this team needs to learn how to match that intensity or it is doomed. 

i've almost fallen over from my knees jerking so badly, but i think it's finally time for odom, one of my favorite players in the league, to find a new home. how many chances are we gonna give this guy? i pray that i'm wrong, but i don't think his broken heart will ever mend.


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## Shaolin (Aug 6, 2004)

The One said:


> yes it is if you want to win the championship.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Lakers are far from a championship team. You don't prove it by beating on scrubs like Sacramento, you do it by consistently beating the best teams.


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## Shaolin (Aug 6, 2004)

KillWill said:


> this was the super bowl for the kings. it's the super bowl for every mediocre team when the lakers come to town. this team needs to learn how to match that intensity or it is doomed.


Well said. In a way, the Lakers haven't benefited from having so many games at home so far. How they perform in the face of great hostility will say more of them as a team than some easy victory in front of a loving (if not bored) home crowd.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Shaolin said:


> The Lakers are far from a championship team. You don't prove it by beating on scrubs like Sacramento, you do it by consistently beating the best teams.


You do it by being the best defensively. Something we have failed to do since the first 6-7 games. 

We will not get past Boston, unless we learn to play defense. 

Learning how to defend would be PERFECT opportunity when playing scrub teams like the Kings. I'd much rather practice defensive sets against the Kings, Wizards, etc.. Instead of attempting it against teams like Boston or Cleavland.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

jazzy1 said:


> I hate to break this too you this is what we're attempting to do now.
> 
> Teams we were playing were playing from the wings now its strictly high pick and roll from the top of the key every team is doing the same thing to us and carving us up.
> 
> ...


I don't think you've read my post in the link. We are not doing what we did during the first seven games which was a pure Zone. We have not in this games or the past 10 games started our defensive stance in a zone (execpt like once during the pacers game). In fact it's the man-to-man defense that killings us right now:
What the Lakers tried tonight was very interesting.

1. First the lakers will start out man-to-man.

2. Then they will switch any off ball screen that happens low so that there won't be any easy passes to the paint. In motion this will give our defense a zone feel but it is still man to man since the switch guy will still have an assign man. In zone, nobody EVER has an assign man (except box and 1). In Zone you are guarding floor space and thus should not be influence by off ball player movement.

3. If the ball handler goes strong side, force him to pass weak side (via double team from closest bigman).

Those are the only three things I see the lakers plan to do on defense as a team. Everything else that you see on our defense is based on our individual players habits:

*Habit 1*. Gambling. Kobe being our biggest culprit here; not because he does it the most (that will be Ariza) but because he is biggest liability when he fails to steal. Fisher gambles too and he is pretty much fouls when he fails to steal.

*Habit 2*. Shading. Kobe is the only culprit here but it is a big habit. what kobe will do is shade his player to the paint but he does this at times where he needs to stop penetration. He puts the bigs in a situation where they have to come out and the bigs are not prepared for it most of the time.

*Habit 3*. Unneeded Double teams. This happens when the ball handler at the top of the key does not beat our guards yet our bigman or other teammate still comes with the help anyway leaving their man wide open. This habit is the one that happens 99% of the time on our defense and shows our confusion leading to habit #4.

*Habit 4*. Slow or Over Rotating. Gasol being the biggest culprit here. We as a team are slow at rotating to the paint and we over rotate sending 2 or more players when the ball swings out of the paint. This is a lack of communication and usualy starts on pick and rolls.

3 of the 4 habits can be delt with if Phil want's it to be delt with. But we have had those habits since the 05-06 season so obviously (IMO) Phil ain't doing ****. Also, these habits are only real problems in man-to-man defense so why not go back to that ZONE that we did during the beginning of the season?


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Exactly how many bumps in the road can you have before you realize that you must take opponents seriously? Despite the good record, lately has been nothing short of a slump. Odom talks about not taking tonight's opponent seriously. Why the **** didn't the team learn that after the Pacers game? Or the too close for comfort games after that?


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

The Lakers are seriously all talk so far this season. All they talked about was defensive commitment, how it was important for them to have HCA in the playoffs, yet they come out and spend games lolly-gagging and embarrassing themselves against teams that they should be wiping the floor with. I didn't watch tonights game but I can imagine it was more of the same, Kobe shooting too many jumpers and forgetting that he has a man to cover? Fisher firing up bad shots, looking slow as a slug on defense? Farmar losing his head on the road again? (5 fouls in 16 minutes? are you kidding me?)


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Great game, nice to see the defense picked up and that we played smart offensively... oh, wait, I must've thought this is 3 weeks ago. My bad.

I'm so ****ing glad I didn't wake up for this ****ing ****. 

I'm telling myself that it's best not to peak out in December, which seems what the C's and Cavs are doing, but what good does playing on the top of your game come May help when you have to beat them in Boston or Cleveland in order to get the 'ship. :/ I'm so disappointed it's not even sad anymore. It's pathetic.


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

I've been saying that this team is not a championship team for the past few games. When you don't make any type of commitment to defense, you aren't going to win anything. Great offenses can go on slumps but great defenses rarely do. Until they realize this, we are in for a disappointing season.


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## elcap15 (Aug 8, 2006)

This was the worst game the team has put together so far this year. hands down.

Pau for POTG. At least he was still good on offense.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

We're not going anywhere until we commit to defense.. pathetic display last night.


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## ceejaynj (Oct 9, 2005)

Losing to the Kings...even without one of very best players...what a disgrace. I am disgusted!!! Bynum...8/4???...c'mon!!! He has to really work on his positioning and get the ball down lower to start making things happen. Kobe may have let the team in scoring...but I think he played like crap and took too many bad shots. Odom looks like he is going into his "head case" bit again, VladRad shouldn't even be touching the ball unless he is wide open. Committment to defense??? My ***!!! We are getting too full of ourselves and it is starting to show. We have more talent than any other NBA team, but with no "killer instinct" and a few players pouting, we are not going anywhere this season playing like this. We better snap out of it...we have no injuries (knock on wood!) and no excuses for this lackluster play. It seems like we are starting to go backwards instead of improving.


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