# Game #63: Los Angeles Lakers (50-12) @ Portland Trail Blazers (39-23) [3/9]



## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

> The Lakers start a 3-game road trip against the talented young Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers are one of the NBA’s deepest teams, one that always plays the Lakers tough. The Lakers are looking to snap a six-game losing streak at the Rose Garden. The Lakers have dropped their last two road games and the defense was horrible in both. The team should be well rested, focused and ready to play.
> 
> The Blazers have the third best home record in the league at 25-6, but barely held on to beat the T-Wolves. They were clearly looking ahead to tonight’s match up, everyone gets up for the Lakers and the team needs to be ready.
> 
> ...


http://thelakersnation.com/blog/2009/03/09/tln%E2%80%99s-game-preview-lakers-blazers/#more-9522​


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## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)

I am pissed. I have class on monday nights.


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## elcap15 (Aug 8, 2006)

Ugh! **** the Rose Garden


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## Luke (Dec 7, 2008)

This is going to be the toughest strech of our season until the playoffs; I really hope that we can pull this one out so that we can put an end to all that Rose Garden curse bull****.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Tonight is not a good night to lose to the Blazers. Please, just give me this win.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Game is underway! Let's go Lakers!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

The Rose Garden is ****ing loud tonight. Not that it's unexpected.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Ugh, down 7 early. Sadly, this is what I expected to start.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Slow this pace down.


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## Luke (Dec 7, 2008)

Awesome start guys!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We're getting a lot of good looks - just can't put the ball in the basket.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

How many open shots can we brick?


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

16 of the 21 points for the Blazers have come in the paint - nice job by the defense.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

God, I hope our bench plays well...


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

What a terrible 1st quarter. This is reminding me a lot of the game against Denver.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

If we play the Blazers in the playoffs, I would not be at all surprised if it went 7 games.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Hopefully Mbenga can give us a good defensive presence in the paint.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

If you guys want to hear some world class idiots, click over to the Blazers broadcast. I'm not sure how, but I continue to be amazed every time I listen to these bumbling morons. It makes anti-Blazerism that much worse.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Basel said:


> God, I hope our bench plays well...


not a chance in hell


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> If you guys want to hear some world class idiots, click over to the Blazers broadcast. I'm not sure how, but I continue to be amazed every time I listen to these bumbling morons. It makes anti-Blazerism that much worse.


They are calling DJ, "Ma-Benga".


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Yeah, the Blazers announcers are bad. Good thing I'm not listening to them.

Lead's at 12 right now for Portland - hopefully we end the half well and can regroup at the half and come out strong in the 3rd quarter. This certainly doesn't look like a team that many consider to be the best on the road.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Wow. Back-to-back 3's by the Blazers and down 16 again. ****.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Tough to watch right now..


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I thought last week's game against the Nuggets was the worst the Lakers had played all year. Tonight, they have played even worse. And that's saying something. Down 19 to the ****ing Blazers.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

we just can't win. If DJ comes in, blazers nail 3s. When Gasol comes back in, blazers dunk.
l


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

Jesus Christ. We it doesnt matter how good we are and how bad portland is... we will never beat them in portland.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

21-point deficit, our largest of the season. Sad.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Luke Walton guarding Brandon Roy. This is a ****ing disgrace.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

this team is tired

its going to be tough the rest of the way


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Are you ****ing serious? What a pathetic ****ing effort by the Lakers. Play with some ****ing heart.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I wouldn't at all be surprised if we lose our next two on the road as well.


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

This is Beyond Pathetic.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Kobe needs to just keep driving into the lane


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Looks like the Lakers have called it a night already. Sad to see from our championship contender team.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Blazers are 20-0 when leading at the half. Make that 21.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

23 points...

No excuse.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Fewest points we've scored in the 1st half all season long. Awesome.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

We've felt shakey since the Nuggets game this here is horrible. Our defense is non existant and our offense is dead tonight so far. 

We gotta rally here. I think we can but its gonna be tough we make Outlaw look like a star in Portland.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

jazzy1 said:


> We've felt shakey since the Nuggets game this here is horrible. Our defense is non existant and our offense is dead tonight so far.
> 
> We gotta rally here. I think we can but its gonna be tough we make Outlaw look like a star in Portland.


We make Batum look like a Hall-of-Famer.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I don't even care if we lose this game anymore; that's what I'm expecting to happen at this point. I just want the Lakers to look like they care just a LITTLE BIT.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Odumb reverted back to garbage. Big surprise.

There are two players trying to take on a team.


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## kobesthegoat (Jul 14, 2005)

we need to take odom out and put in powell


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

I hope Phil sits Gasol and Kobe for all of the fourth.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Alright, I'm done watching.

Worst game since the Celtics bent us over.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I stopped watching.


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## kobesthegoat (Jul 14, 2005)

this is the most pathetic game all season


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

we are getting crushed. Our defense has been a joke. our offense even worse. This hasn't happened to us all season but oh well.


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

If any of you say you didnt enjoy seeing ariza level rudy the spaniard then you are lying to yourself.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

whoa whoa whoa

just as I was about to close the window , a fight almost broke out.


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## kobesthegoat (Jul 14, 2005)

it wasnt on purpose he just fell wrong


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

My friend just texted me and said there was a fight and that Rudy's being taken away on a stretcher or something...I just turned back to see what happened. It didn't look like the foul itself was bad, but rather the fall. Hope Rudy is okay.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

get up Rudy and stop acting like a lil *****

it didn't look THAT bad


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Oh no LO will be suspended for Wednesday's game and so might Ariza after this foul. 

Which makes this loss is even more costly incredible. 

a game to forget. 

wasn't a bad play by Ariza he swiped at the ball and his arm got tangled in Rudy who got leveled when he hit the ground.


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## clien (Jun 2, 2005)

is odom gonna get suspended for coming off the bench


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Looks like he broke some ribs to me


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I didn't notice on the first replay that Ariza hit him in the head, though it didn't look intentional. This always sucks to see, though, regardless of which player it is. I really hope Rudy is okay.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

clien said:


> is odom gonna get suspended for coming off the bench


Probably.


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## clien (Jun 2, 2005)

arizas foul wasnt that hard at all


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## clien (Jun 2, 2005)

rudy just fell funny(unfortunatley)...and why the hell didnt roy get a T, he started the fight, he pushed ariza


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

What a terrible night all around for the Lakers. I really don't want to play Portland in the playoffs for the sole reason that it will probably go 7 games when it really shouldn't have to. It's so sad how often Lakers to lose to teams who are clearly inferior to them.

Yes, the Blazers are a good team and will make a ton of noise in the playoffs in the next few years, but they're not on our level. But that hasn't stopped them before. Lakers & Rose Garden just don't mesh well together.


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## clien (Jun 2, 2005)

i know LA has been playing pretty horrible this game, and the blazers have been shooting lights out...but i gotta say the officiateing has been piss poor, seems like the blazers got an extra guy on their side


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Basel said:


> What a terrible night all around for the Lakers. I really don't want to play Portland in the playoffs for the sole reason that it will probably go 7 games when it really shouldn't have to. It's so sad how often Lakers to lose to teams who are clearly inferior to them.
> 
> Yes, the Blazers are a good team and will make a ton of noise in the playoffs in the next few years, but they're not on our level. But that hasn't stopped them before. Lakers & Rose Garden just don't mesh well together.


I don't think it would go past five games, that is, if Bynum is back and healthy.

Oden can be out for as much as six weeks.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

oh man

Kobe


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## clien (Jun 2, 2005)

wtf was that call on vujicic...bs is what it was...at half court he had an arm bar on roy..n its a foul????..dumb


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

Whatever. Well beat them when it matters in the playoffs if they make it.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

the refs have made the NBA a joke

"best guys in the world" lol yeah right


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

This is like a championship game for the blazers.. they aren't really playing for anything.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Well...that sucked.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Shannon Brown's dunk and Mbenga's two dunks were the only good things that came from this game.


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## azn kobe jr (May 6, 2006)

I'm not as intelligent in basketball as you guys are, so I'm just going to say my thoughts.

This game made me depressed. I didn't see any effort, no heart. Frankly, this game made me feel like this is the beginning of a slump, and we're gonna drop our best record in the league. Also, I don't see how it can be against the BLAZERS. It's quite obvious we're better than them. Why must we lose against teams that are no match for us?


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

For POTG, do you guys actually want one or should I make like the Denver game and just give it to nobody?


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

this is a game where you hope the guys just forget all the relevant details no one showed up no one. 

we are struggling right now for some reason I can't quite put my hand on it. I think it has to do with Kobe shooting too much and not spoon feeding guys, got something to do with Pau not playing a lick of post defense and it has something to do with LO tanking badly. Not too mention the bench cratering and Walton being non existant on the floor.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

What an embarrassing game if your a Laker fan. No effort whatsoever, and we got smacked down. The officiating sucked, but this was a good old fashion beating. And Portland deserves the win. 

Why oh why don't we give Shannon Brown a few more minutes when Sasha is doing utterly nothing on either end? It's not like Sasha was getting us closer to closing the lead. Shannon Brown might have given us a little defense at least. 

Lamar Odom has returned. The last few weeks he put away any thoughts people had about having Bynum come off the bench when he returns. Odoms energy was there tonight, but his focus was piss poor and it matched a lot of his poor choices.

The bench is in a slump, and Farmar is a total vagina on the road. That much hasn't really changed, having Lamar return to the bench will give them more confidence and a boost.

Not sure I'd want to see the Lakers and Portland play in the first round. To many match up issues, and we can't do anything against them on the road.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Basel said:


> For POTG, do you guys actually want one or should I make like the Denver game and just give it to nobody?


Haha, give it to DJ.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

That would mean DJ gets it two games in a row - who saw that coming?! 

:biggrin:


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

I don't think I'm the only one that thought the Lakers have been playing substandard basketball lately. They have now lost 4 straight games on the road against team above .500, with the last 3 being by over 10 points. Also, their wins on the road lately has been anything but impressive since they needed 4th quarter comebacks to beat bottom dwellers like GS and Minnesota. 

I'm not sure what's going on but it's clear that this team looks nothing like the team that beat Boston and Cleveland on their home courts. Kobe is in chucking mode almost every game now. The interior is back to being soft. The old Lamar Odom is back and the bench sucks bad. 

I hope things turn around soon because the schedule ain't getting any easier and Bynum is still a long ways from coming back.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

sylaw said:


> I don't think I'm the only one that thought the Lakers have been playing substandard basketball lately. They have now lost 4 straight games on the road against team above .500, with the last 3 being by over 10 points. Also, their wins on the road lately has been anything but impressive since they needed 4th quarter comebacks to beat bottom dwellers like GS and Minnesota.
> 
> I'm not sure what's going on but it's clear that this team looks nothing like the team that beat Boston and Cleveland on their home courts. Kobe is in chucking mode almost every game now. The interior is back to being soft. The old Lamar Odom is back and the bench sucks bad.
> 
> I hope things turn around soon because the schedule ain't getting any easier and Bynum is still a long ways from coming back.


Yeah I agree with this. 

Kobe has gotta shift back into facillitator mode, help other guys get easy baskets because defenses are loading up on him and he needs to be setting guys up. 

Our perimeter defense defending the 3 has been comical. Luke Walton has gotta be the worse rotation defender in league history. He hardly ever recovers back to the perimeter. 

I think we'll come outta this glaze, we seem to have gotten too comfortable after the 6-0 road trip and now are in full scale lack of confidence and lack of cohesion mode.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

sylaw said:


> I don't think I'm the only one that thought the Lakers have been playing substandard basketball lately. They have now lost 4 straight games on the road against team above .500, with the last 3 being by over 10 points. Also, their wins on the road lately has been anything but impressive since they needed 4th quarter comebacks to beat bottom dwellers like GS and Minnesota.
> 
> I'm not sure what's going on but it's clear that this team looks nothing like the team that beat Boston and Cleveland on their home courts. Kobe is in chucking mode almost every game now. The interior is back to being soft. The old Lamar Odom is back and the bench sucks bad.
> 
> I hope things turn around soon because the schedule ain't getting any easier and Bynum is still a long ways from coming back.


It's actually 3 in a row we've lost on the road, not 4. And believe it or not, the rest of the way, the Lakers have the 3rd easiest schedule as far as SOS (strength of schedule) is concerned. Yeah, a lot of them are road games, but they are all winnable games.


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

Basel said:


> It's actually 3 in a row we've lost on the road, not 4. And believe it or not, the rest of the way, the Lakers have the 3rd easiest schedule as far as SOS (strength of schedule) is concerned. Yeah, a lot of them are road games, but they are all winnable games.



I said 4 in a row against winning teams, which I think is correct. The SOS may not be that tough but the struggles lately has come on the road. With more road games than home games remaining, I am definitely concerned about what type of momentum the team will have going into the playoffs.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

sylaw said:


> I said 4 in a row against winning teams, which I think is correct. The SOS may not be that tough but the struggles lately has come on the road. With more road games than home games remaining, I am definitely concerned about what type of momentum the team will have going into the playoffs.


Oh, I didn't notice that. My bad. And I too am concerned with the type of momentum we'll be heading into the playoffs with. The team has talked all year about how home court advantage would be huge for them, but it seems like they're just expecting to coast the rest of the way and still have it.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Most teams tend to slump a few times a year. It's not the end of the world, but this lackadaisical defense is still concerning. Defense was never this teams strongest points, but right now they are setting themselves up for a total repeat and failure in the playoffs.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

we have enough games to come outta this funk and finish strong but its gonna take more cohesive play on both ends. 

The Shaq and Kobe Lakers would dial it up the last 10 or so games I hope thats what we do here.


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

jazzy1 said:


> Yeah I agree with this.
> 
> Kobe has gotta shift back into facillitator mode, help other guys get easy baskets because defenses are loading up on him and he needs to be setting guys up.
> 
> ...


You made some nice points. 

I like Kobe when he's passing the ball around. We all know he's going to get his so there's really no reason for him to be taking so many bad shots.

Our perimeter defense has been rather mediocre the whole season. It just looks a lot worse when nothing is going right. The defensive rotations needs to be a lot better, especially in the playoffs. 


I forgot to rip Farmar a new one for sucking on my previous posts. I haven't been impressed with him since his rookie season and I am growing more and more impatient with him. He is terrible on the road and has been pure garbage in the playoffs. I know he's young but I don't think Kobe has enough years in him to wait for Farmar to grow a backbone. I think it's time the Lakers thought about getting a PG for the future. This guy is just not starting material for a championship caliber team.


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