# Game 65: Los Angeles Lakers (33-31) @ Denver Nuggets (30-31)



## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

*STARTING FIVE*



































*@*​


































<b><u>Western Conference Playoff Picture:</b></u>

1. Dallas
2. Phoenix (3.5 GB)
3. San Antonio (7.5 GB)
4. Utah (9 GB)
5. Houston (14 GB)
*<font color="purple">6. LA Lakers (20 GB)*</font>
*<font color="skyblue">7. Denver (21.5 GB)*</font>
8. LA Clippers (23 GB)


<center><img src="http://www.midhudsonmedia.com/images/networks/tnt.jpg">

<b><u>When</u>: Thursday | 7:30pm</b></center>


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

*Re: Los Angeles Lakers (33-31) @ Denver Nuggets (30-31)*

This game would be a hell of a time to right the ship. That's probably wishful thinking since Phil probably will not start either Luke or Lamar. I just wanted to see what it looked like to have our normal starting lineup together.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

*Re: Los Angeles Lakers (33-31) @ Denver Nuggets (30-31)*

According to 570AM, Cook is doubtful for this game with lo and behold, a sprained ankle! No link or confirmation, so this is still a rumor.


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## Brian34Cook (Mar 26, 2003)

*Re: Los Angeles Lakers (33-31) @ Denver Nuggets (30-31)*



Bartholomew Hunt said:


> According to 570AM, Cook is doubtful for this game with lo and behold, a sprained ankle! No link or confirmation, so this is still a rumor.


He probably got it dunking on Kwame in practice or whatever.. :lol: 

FWIW, I dont like that normal lineup anyways :lol:


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

*Re: Los Angeles Lakers (33-31) @ Denver Nuggets (30-31)*



Brian34Cook said:


> He probably got it dunking on Kwame in practice or whatever.. :lol:
> 
> FWIW, I dont like that normal lineup anyways :lol:


Me either. Kobe is much more suited to come off the bench.


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## Brian34Cook (Mar 26, 2003)

I'd rather just see.. Farmar, Williams, McKie, Vujacic, and Evans as the lineup :lol:


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## The Lake Show (Jun 29, 2006)

lol

cookie got hurt too now??


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We normally play well against Denver, so hopefully Thursday night won't be any different.


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## Steez (Nov 28, 2002)

Could it be... that we have our full starting 5? ... noooooooooooo wayyyyyyy!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Steez said:


> Could it be... that we have our full starting 5? ... noooooooooooo wayyyyyyy!


I think we're all shocked. I won't believe it until I see it.


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## DANNY (Aug 9, 2005)

aww they're holding hands (kobe and ai) thats so sweet


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

everyone here will be disapointed with the ending result of the game..


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## Ghiman (May 19, 2003)

Does Kobe and AI get along? Or is he still bitter from the Lakers / Philly Finals?


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

Ghiman said:


> Does Kobe and AI get along? Or is he still bitter from the Lakers / Philly Finals?


We deffinately demolished them in that series. Im sure hes bitter.


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## a.y.h. (Apr 22, 2006)

we owned denver the night kobe had like 8 points. think it'll happen again?


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Maybe im over thinking this game...

But to me this is probably the most important game of the season. For a couple reasons..

1) Direct playoff position competition in the same building. Denver wants to move up. Going to come in here tommarow and play hard. 

2) Lakers are finally healthy (minus Cook, big deal), and they have a chance to build instant hype and confidence. They come out on thursday with a nice win agaisnt Denver, they can actually start using and believing that a healthy Lakers team is a good Lakers team.

I think the importance of this game to start the fire, and get the Lakers playing good again can't be under valued.

Hopefully Lakers come out and play some good basketball.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Maybe im over thinking this game...
> 
> But to me this is probably the most important game of the season. For a couple reasons..
> 
> ...


Exactly. Denver is 1 game back from snatching the six seed away. With a win, not only do we gain a win in the standings, but we get the tiebreaker against Denver. Basically gets us 2 games.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Sight for sore eyes...


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

I already see the difference in our confidence and our defense. this should be a good game.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

the only things I can see costing us this game is kobe being lazy on D and letting blake shoot (he's a pretty good shooter), and smush parker getting easily frustrated and letting it affect his whole game. luke looks good, we'll see how he holds up. N there's nothing I wanted to see more than lamar hit a jumper.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Kobe off to a good start with 3/3 shooting for 6 points, along with 3 rebounds and 3 assists.


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## Theonee (Dec 5, 2006)

They get off to fast start and now let them in.


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## Unique (Apr 13, 2005)

I like this starting line up, We'll see how it goes.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Luke and Lamar look great! This is very encouraging.

As long as we can keep this one close and stay healthy...we might be back!

Come on guys, we *need* this game!


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## Brian34Cook (Mar 26, 2003)

Kleiza on fire.. somebody wanna get on him?

This team looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better tonight


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

luke really looks good out there. his shot and his explosion will come back (not exactly world class anyway), but I swear, he might be our second most _important_ player


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## Theonee (Dec 5, 2006)

Who the **** is Linas Kleiza? And why do unknown guys always have career day against the Lakers.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

mo evans is the definition of a momentum killer. It really sucks that he's one of Phil's favorites.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

This is the team ive been waiting for! FINALLY!


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Could we be any more predictable? I can't wait until Smush and Kwame are dealt in the offseason.

We get an 11pt lead and those two let it slip away. Smush doesn't pick up AI, Kwame doesn't rebound at all, and then Smush throws the ball away. What a couple of morons.

We'd be up 15 if it weren't for them.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

13-2 run for Denver in a span of 3 minutes after we got our biggest lead of the game...that just cannot happen.

Maurice Evans and Smush basically reminded us that we have lost 6 in a row, and everybody seemed to lose focus and stop trying.

I am really starting to dislike Evans. All he does is shoot, and he has a bad knee, which has had EXTREME negative effects on his jump shot...STOP SHOOTING!

If history tells me anything, letting momentum slip away at the end of the 2nd Q will cost us at the start of the 3rd, and Denver will take control of the game.

At least we got Luke and Lamar back. Luke has been stellar, and when Lamar isn't tossing up crappy jumpers, he has looked good too.


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## Theonee (Dec 5, 2006)

I don't want to see Smush Useless Parker in the Lakers uinform next year.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Where's Sasha?


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

All I can say is, were at least not down at the half.

I also want to say I really missed Luke. Why the hell Cook has an extension but Luke doesnt is beyond me. But good thing for the Lakers is he has enough time to drive up his value to make it expensive to resign him.

I hope the Lakers sit Smush quicker if he starts acting like a loser. He got to much time, Shamu may not being scoring but he is a better defender and stayed with AI for some of the short time he was out there.

And Kawme needs to come out and stop making stupid mistakes. He looks great one second, then like a bone head the next. We need him to stay there mentally. This is a big game.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Well, Kwame already off to a good start... ugh.


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## Brian34Cook (Mar 26, 2003)

Knock Kleiza on his ***.. good god!


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Damian Necronamous said:


> If history tells me anything, letting momentum slip away at the end of the 2nd Q will cost us at the start of the 3rd, and Denver will take control of the game.


Well, looks like history has repeated itself.

Even with Luke and Lamar back, we still have no heart. The effort just isn't there. Do they even care?

This perimeter defense doesn't make sense. The Nuggets keep hitting threes, and we're acting like they're shooting 20%. THEY ARE MAKING THEIR ****ING SHOTS! CLOSE ON THEM!!!


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## Theonee (Dec 5, 2006)

The only good thing Useless Parker is about to foul out.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Damian Necronamous said:


> As long as we can keep this one close and stay healthy...we might be back!


We're staying healthy, but it sure as hell ain't close. This string of terrible effort and worthless second halves just continues to prove to me that Phil Jackson isn't half the coach he used to be. If he can't even slightly motivate his players anymore, he is not the coach for this team.

Seriously...why the hell did they give up? They were up by 11, then they just fell asleep. Denver didn't even call a timeout, we just acted like the game was over.


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## Theonee (Dec 5, 2006)

They are letting a guy who averages 6 points on 39% shooting to have a career day.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bah, this is turning pathetic fast. What a lazy foul for an and one by Brown. Pathetic.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

I've officially lost all hope. The "wait until Luke and Lamar come back" excuse is now out the window.

I can't take another month of this. We're probably not going to win 3 more games this season.

When's the lotto?


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We suck.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

Damian Necronamous said:


> I've officially lost all hope. The "wait until Luke and Lamar come back" excuse is now out the window.
> 
> I can't take another month of this. We're probably not going to win 3 more games this season.
> 
> When's the lotto?



Did you seriously expect a magical turn-around in their first game back? geez. nothing will please you, nothing


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

I've tried to be optimistic. I figured hey, they will find motivation once they are healthy. But they really put little or no effort into playing defense. And when you have a medicore offense, you gotta play at least a little defense.

Right now they dont deserve NBA uniforms. Kobes the only one out there that deserves a uniform, the other guys need to go to the CBA or D-leauge. Until you can learn to bring the energy and effort, you shouldnt get to put the Laker uniform on.

I wouldnt care if they were losing but playing hard and trying to get the stops. They dont even try to defend.

PATHETIC.

FREAKING HORRIBLE AND PATHETIC.

 :no: :hurl: :hurl: :hurl: :hurl: :hurl: :hurl: :hurl: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :whatever: :whatever: :whatever:


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Silk D said:


> Did you seriously expect a magical turn-around in their first game back? geez. nothing will please you, nothing



I didnt. But I did expect effort and passion. Rather they win or lose, I'd have been satisfied with simple effort. I this was in staples center I'd be booing them for thier pathetic effort. Im sick of every teams scrubs having career nights vs the Lakers. Just totally pathetic basketball IQ by the majority of the team.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Silk D said:


> Did you seriously expect a magical turn-around in their first game back? geez. nothing will please you, nothing


I know...how can I not be pleased when we throw away an 11pt lead and then proceed to let Linas Kleiza drop 30 on us while Denver kills us and rapes our dead body? 

If we had kept this game close, I wouldn't be happy. Who the hell in their right mind would be cheerful when the team gave up in the second quarter?

Season's over, folks. The sooner you all realize that, the better.

It's time for the optimists to turn into realists. There is nothing positive about this team right now, nor has their been for the past two months. It isn't going to just magically turn around.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

after the initial surge of luke of and lamar being back, we got deflated. shots weren't falling, freakin klaza wouldn't miss, ballgame. I'm very displeased with our effort in the 3rd, but I hardly think it's worth jumping off the cliff. we looked great in the first half, we finally looked like the last year's play-off team. I sure hoped we could substain that level of play for the whole game, but I knew it was unlikely. it's going to take a while.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I don't know that I've ever been more frustrated with the Lakers...


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Lakers really should look up the term "defense" in the dictionary...I don't think they can comprehend what it means.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

Damian Necronamous said:


> It isn't going to just magically turn around.


that was my point. look, you wanna quit watchin/postin that's fine. I don't think anyone is going to miss hearing how horrible of a team we are. my point w/ you is that unless we go 82-0 and 16-0 in the play-offs, you'll always find something to complain about. Which is fine, just don't expect anyone to take you seriously


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

the PG situation on this team SUCKS. Good god... if the Lakers do not get a competant PG this offseason, they can forget about winning any championships anytime soon. 

Smush Parker is Smush Parker, Sasha is Sasha, and somehow Farmar makes more boneheaded decisions with the ball than either of them.


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## koberules24 (Nov 12, 2006)

What the hell is wrong with this team? The only reason Lamar is playing through injury is because he knows that if he doesn't that he's a sure lock to be traded in the off-season for Kevin Garnett or Jason Kidd. That's the only way you can get this guy to try is by repeatedly whispering "TRADE" in his ear, then he gets off his ***. It's ridiculous. Once the team starts to faulter they do away with their defense and neglect to even try on the most basic plays. THIS TEAM NEEDS TO WAKE UP!!! OR THEY'LL ALL WAKE UP NEXT SEASON PLAYING FOR DIFFERENT TEAMS!!!


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

Silk D said:


> that was my point. look, you wanna quit watchin/postin that's fine. I don't think anyone is going to miss hearing how horrible of a team we are. my point w/ you is that unless we go 82-0 and 16-0 in the play-offs, you'll always find something to complain about. Which is fine, just don't expect anyone to take you seriously


Thanks for educating me about myself. For the first time ever, I feel like I know who I really am!

Yes, I won't be happy unless we go 82-0. No. Don't be stupid.

Why am I so negative? BECAUSE I'M A REALIST! A lot of you guys still don't realize just how bad we are. It's better to be a realist and see what needs to be done to fix the team than keep some sort of ridiculous false hope alive that will only end up getting you disappointed.

And what the heck have I had to cheer about regarding this team since December? Of course I have been complaining...we have won 7 out of our last 26 games. That is absolutely inexcuseable.

Seriously, open your eyes. It's not all flowers and puppy dogs in Lakerland right now.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Just when you think this season can't get any worse...it does.


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## Theonee (Dec 5, 2006)

In west the it doesn't matter whether you are 6th, 7th or 8th seed. You have date either with Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio. So as long as they make the play-offs and knock one of these teams off I will be happy, otherwise go on a huge losing streak and get a good draft pick and dump Useless parker.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

whatever man. a realist knows that this season has been a disaster with all the injuries. a realist knows how important luke and lamar are to this teams success, and we also know that bringing them back, at less than 100% mind you, isn't going to be like turning on a light switch. a realist knows that this team had a decent shot going deep in the play-offs at the begining of the season, and now we'll be lucky to not get swepted in the first round. there is nothing to smile about, and we all know that.

a pessimist thinks we won't make the play-offs. a Pessimist thinks we are the worst team in the L. a pessimist wants to fire phil and blow up the team. 

there is no false hope. I'm very realistic about this teams capablities. I see us gaining a little momentum so long as we stay healthy, and being handled by whatever team we face in the first round. sorry if I don't jump off the ledge and wait for the lotto.


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

SoCalfan21 said:


> everyone here will be disapointed with the ending result of the game..


I did post this ealier this week...you all should have listened.


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## Eternal (Sep 7, 2005)

I don't see why everyone is getting all worked up... I mean honestly I hope we drop down to the 7th or 8th seed. I don't want to face the Spurs come playoff time... they'll be alot tougher for the Lakers then the Suns or Mavs would.

That said this season is not lost yet... Our team looked good in the first part of the half, with Walton and Odom back. Then obviously they were fatigued from just coming back from injuries. You can't expect this team to just click right away when those two come back. It will obviously take a few games maybe even more to get these guys back into the rythmn of things.

We'll make the playoffs, but even if we did... it would be hard for any team to beat the Spurs, Suns, or Mavs this year, which we'll be vsing one of those teams come playoff time...


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

Damian Necronamous said:


> Thanks for educating me about myself. For the first time ever, I feel like I know who I really am!
> 
> Yes, I won't be happy unless we go 82-0. No. Don't be stupid.
> 
> ...


lol seriously you guys are acting like weve never been bad before...how about BEFORE we won the 3 championships lol...we werent that good....as for this season. I could see us being an 8th seed. Win 1 game in the first round. Then get booted.


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## Truth34 (May 28, 2003)

At least you guys have Bynum, a future star in the making.


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## ElMarroAfamado (Nov 1, 2005)

i hope the Lakers get it together, why are they playing so crappy these past 7 defeats when they had a stretch that they were playing stellar ball????
damn
but those of you saying you have a bad PG situation, Smush, Sasha, Farmar , Shammond i mean compared to a team like the Clippers you guys have an all star cast at PG haha

we have an injured Sam Cassell and.........then? ? ?


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I think I'd rather have an injured Sam Cassell than who we have right now.


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## nguyen_milan (Jun 28, 2005)

Just wonder how low can we go?


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

watching kwame Brown play you have to wonder, does he even care? Look @ his hair, it's like a lil' girl braided it...Your in the NBA son, act like it


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

we're gonna be alright. Odom and Luke ran outta gas and Smush quit playing once again like the Scarecrow without a brain. 

I'm not mad at the team anymore we're playing bad just need 1 win to turn it around. 

I would seriously consider releasing Smush though if I were the Lakers. He's playing terribly and with his attitude so bad it is hurting the team's chemistry. 

Releasing him I think might purge some of the negative energy. 

Too much negative energy around the team, the focus on injuries and Kobe's suspensions and fouls trouble I think we've lost total focus. 

We have time to recover and pay the Nuggets back for this loss.


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## Jizzy (Aug 24, 2005)

Jason Kidd.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Jizzy said:


> Jason Kidd.


Dude, STFU. Your team is a lot worse off. 

It was pretty obvious to me that Odom, Walton, and even Kwame ran out of gas with this game. I'd like to say give them time to get the conditioning down, but we don't have a lot of time. It's already been mentioned that we would be better off not playing the Spurs in the first round. Just hold on to a playoff spot and we have sometime to make a little noise. Everyone played atrocious defense in the second half. I don't want to single him out, but I am very dissapointed with Kobe's defensive effort. The "he has to cover everyone else" excuse doesn't fly, simply because it's not true. He is a below average defender right now. If it's the knee, ankle, foot, etc., fine. But lack of concentration and effort? I would expect that from Smush or Kwame, but never Kobe. This team is playing with fire right now and I'm really getting sick of the "everything will be alright" attitude Phil and company are pushing. Show some ****ing sense of urgency.


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> It was pretty obvious to me that Odom, Walton, and even Kwame ran out of gas with this game. I'd like to say give them time to get the conditioning down, but we don't have a lot of time. It's already been mentioned that we would be better off not playing the Spurs in the first round. Just hold on to a playoff spot and we have sometime to make a little noise. Everyone played atrocious defense in the second half. I don't want to single him out, but I am very dissapointed with Kobe's defensive effort. The "he has to cover everyone else" excuse doesn't fly, simply because it's not true. He is a below average defender right now. If it's the knee, ankle, foot, etc., fine. But lack of concentration and effort? I would expect that from Smush or Kwame, but never Kobe. This team is playing with fire right now and I'm really getting sick of the "everything will be alright" attitude Phil and company are pushing. Show some ****ing sense of urgency.


What he said. Especially the Kobe part.


Damn bro I was shocked when I checked the scores today, LA was playing good ball yesterday, Lamar was aggressive, Luke was playing Walton basketball and Kobe was actually off to a great start, that same swagger and energy was there. I actually didnt even watch the second half because I was really confident that the win is ours...then KABLAM!Denver bags a win, and to add insult to injury they went off with a 29 pt lead.


I dont know BH, I sincerely commend you for keeping this positive attitude for so long, but myself personally, I cant wait for the offseason, some changes are reeally needed IMO.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

Fellas its alright. Luke Odom and Kwame are all not 100%. And they looked excellent in the 1st half. It'll be ok.

:chill: <----take one fellas.


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

jazzy1 said:


> we're gonna be alright. Odom and Luke ran outta gas and Smush quit playing once again like the Scarecrow without a brain.
> 
> I'm not mad at the team anymore we're playing bad just need 1 win to turn it around.
> 
> ...


Dude i would love to agree with you on this one..but i cant until we get a win..I do agree with you on the releasing smush...**** parker is worthless


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## Theonee (Dec 5, 2006)

CubanLaker said:


> :chill: <----take one fellas.


Taken enough of those. These teams gets to a fast start most of the games and completely gives up in the second half.
Please sign my name on Release Useless Parker petition.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

To tell you guys the truth. I dont give a rats *** what position were in as long as we get into the playoffs. We match up extremely well against all the tops teams except maybe the Mavs and we all know that in a series Kobe and Phil are very VERY dangerous because both know how to adapt to the other teams weaknesses. I feel like we arent really a big threat during the season because we only get one chance to match up against our opponents then were off to another city and another team. While in a series we play that same team 7 times and we get seven consecutive chances to adapt to said team. I contend that this team is built to be dangerous in the PLAYOFFS.

as long as we get in, i dont care about the regular season.


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

CubanLaker said:


> To tell you guys the truth. I dont give a rats *** what position were in as long as we get into the playoffs. We match up extremely well against all the tops teams except maybe the Mavs and we all know that in a series Kobe and Phil are very VERY dangerous because both know how to adapt to the other teams weaknesses. I feel like we arent really a big threat during the season because we only get one chance to match up against our opponents then were off to another city and another team. While in a series we play that same team 7 times and we get seven consecutive chances to adapt to said team. I contend that this team is built to be dangerous in the PLAYOFFS.
> 
> as long as we get in, i dont care about the regular season.


The Lakers don't match up well with anyone when they play the type of defense theyre playing and they will get swept accordingly.


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