# Game #23: Minnesota Timberwolves (4-18) vs Los Angeles Lakers (19-3) [12/14]



## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)




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## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)

*Re: Game #23: Minnesota Timberwolves (4-18) vs Los Angeles Lakers )19-3) [12/14]*

No reason this shouldn't be a 20+ blowout, but knowing us. Lakers by 8.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

should be an easy win though Smith and jefferson are physical and may disrupt our bigs and Miller has been a thorn in our side for some time now regardless what team he plays for.


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

We should win by 20 and hold them under 100 but we probably will win by 10 and give up over 100.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Lakers break out of their slump and obliterate the bottomdwelling Wolves 134-78.

Go Lakers!


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

This SHOULD be an easy win...


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## ceejaynj (Oct 9, 2005)

PauloCatarino said:


> This SHOULD be an easy win...


It SHOULD be. However, we have let a few "gimmes" slip away lately...and barely hung on to beat teams we should have blown out. The way we have been playing...you never know. We can't seem to put teams away lately. Our defense has sucked...plain and simple. We seem too complacent, with no "killer instinct". Not that it means anything...but the Celtics have gone ahead of us in the Power Rankings for the very same reasons I just mentioned. We are less than two weeks from our Christmas Day showdown with them...so we better wake up. It seems like we are looking ahead to that game and not taking care of the business at hand. A loss to them on Christmas Day could be devastating for us...IMO.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

We're going to win by 20+ and hold them to 85 or less.

...


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## 77AJ (Feb 16, 2005)

The Lakers should blow this team out. I've been holding my tongue regarding the Lakers start due to hoping they would just continue to reel the wins off. Seems like to me their problem has been a lack of focus and passion at times during the games by most of the players outside of Bryant/Fish/Pau. Or it's possible players like Farmar/Ariza/Radmanovich were playing at a level above their true ability right now, and are just leveling off, and it's having an impact on the games, so hence a few losses. Hopefully this game can get the Lakers clicking, and dominating again. I sure expect it to at least.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Close game coming right up! High scoring too!


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I might miss the game tonight.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> Close game coming right up! High scoring too!



:yes:

Should be a nail biter!


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Okay, so I'm staying up for this for reasons unknown to me. I hope you'll post here so I'm not having long *** monologues for 3 hours. 

Oh and I hope I can find a decent link tonight, I've been out of luck lately.

Go Lakers!


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## Shaolin (Aug 6, 2004)

Amazing, how many garbage *** scrubs are in the league these days....


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Plastic Man said:


> Okay, so I'm staying up for this for reasons unknown to me. I hope you'll post here so I'm not having long *** monologues for 3 hours.
> 
> Oh and I hope I can find a decent link tonight, I've been out of luck lately.
> 
> Go Lakers!


You know it's impossible to stay away from the Lakers even when they are playing like garbage.


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## Lynx (Mar 6, 2004)

Free Tacos tonight!


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Here we go! Hope the stream doesn't die on me. Go Lakers!!!!! Wooooohjooo!


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Okay start, nothing flashy. Bynum asleep on D tonight...


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

I don't mind Luke shooting, but a fadeaway? Seriously, Luke?


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

5 points in 25 seconds. And here I was thinking to myself how nice it is of the Lakers to hold them to 1 13 first quarter points.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Farmar... my god.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Plastic Man said:


> Farmar... my god.



hows it going, my fellow Slovenian?


shooting horribly out there


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

^^I'm wondering why I stayed up for this and seriously thinking about going to bed. Just horrible basketball.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

It really is hard to express in words just how disgustingly bad Farmar and Sasha have been for this team the last two weeks.

My God, they are terrible.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

I don't even enjoy watching them lately


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

I missed most of the first quarter.. But it looks like were playing decent at defense (comparatively at least).


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Ariza has been struggling the last three games or so.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Kobe getting absolutely no love from the refs this season. This is pathetic.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Plastic Man said:


> Kobe getting absolutely no love from the refs this season. This is pathetic.


Although I agree he has been hacked many times this season without getting any calls..

The main reason his free throws are down is his lack of driving to the rim.


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## King Sancho Fantastic (Jul 19, 2005)

We have a lead but it has been an ugly 1st half. I dont know why we dont just keep pounding the post. Pau and Bynum were eating them alive in the 1st quarter and we just stopped going to them. This team doesnt seem to recognize when they have an advantage.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

CubanLaker said:


> We have a lead but it has been an ugly 1st half. *I dont know why we dont just keep pounding the post*. Pau and Bynum were eating them alive in the 1st quarter and we just stopped going to them. This team doesnt seem to recognize when they have an advantage.


That makes to much sense honestly.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Checking in just in time to see the halftime score... interesting...


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Although I agree he has been hacked many times this season without getting any calls..
> 
> The main reason his free throws are down is his lack of driving to the rim.



Nah, his FGA inside the paint vs. FGA outside the paint are pretty much the same as they were each year since 2002/03. He just isn't getting the D-Wade treatment. Maybe he doesn't know how to sell them anymore...


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## Marcus13 (Jul 17, 2002)

Plastic Man said:


> Nah, his FGA inside the paint vs. FGA outside the paint are pretty much the same as they were each year since 2002/03. He just isn't getting the D-Wade treatment. Maybe he doesn't know how to sell them anymore...


yeah...but in the past when he went to the line more, those weren't counting as FGA's (except for the and-1s)


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## Laker Freak (Jul 1, 2003)

Haha Rick Fox's 8 year old daughter got called for 3 seconds in the key 6 times in her game today.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

heh i think Andrew is wearing Jefferson out a bit


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Good to see that the 1st half defensive effort was not permanent. Idiots.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Plastic Man said:


> Good to see that the 1st half defensive effort was not permanent. Idiots.


I hope we give up 40 in the fourth.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Hahahahahaha.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

who would've thought that after our great start, we'd be losing and barely beating the worst teams in the league.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

How much total time do we spend practicing defense? Maybe 10, 15 minutes per session? This is ridiculous.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

please take out luke


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Tie game. lol.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Okay enough of this Luke Walton crap. Free Vladi!


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

i'll say this again...TAKE LUKE OUT!! HE SUCKS


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## Lynx (Mar 6, 2004)

Man, we suck


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

Lynx said:


> Man, we suck


Understatement.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

I can't believe we're losing in rebounding 38 to ****ing 25. With to freaking 6'7 midgets playing on the opposite side of our 7+ footers. This is embarrassing.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Wow. Luke making his best Vladi impersonation,.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Luke whiffs a rebound, then hits a three. Defense looks better.


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## Lynx (Mar 6, 2004)

Plastic Man said:


> Wow. Luke making his best Vladi impersonation,.


:laugh: atta boy!


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

No offensive rebounds tonight. When did we start sucking so badly in rebounding, for ****'s sake. We've got like 5 7-footers on this team,.


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

we have a week and half to shape up for Boston

lol


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

8 point lead! Now that's ****ing dominant.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

The officials sure are missing a lot. Kobe's layup when Gomes clubbed him in the forearm and Love's pile drive into Odom's neck are a few of the highlights.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

If Sasha was addicted to meth, he'd look like Mike Miller.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Okay, guys, I'm gonna say it... we're all thinking it. Maybe, just maybe it will happen. Maybe we're finally going to hold an opponent under 100 points.

Maybe. Remember, this isn't a jinx.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> If Sasha was addicted to meth, he'd look like Mike Miller.


:lol:

I think that he thinks funneling penetration towards the bigs means getting completely out of the way while holding up a sign that says, "Welcome to our basket." Same with Farmar and Fisher. Kobe and Ariza should steer clear of Vegas at all costs. Luke needs to be called, Chucky Walton.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

That's it. I'm done with this team. I've said it a couple of times now, but until I see some change I'm not waking up for these games anymore.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Plastic Man said:


> Okay, guys, I'm gonna say it... we're all thinking it. Maybe, just maybe it will happen. Maybe we're finally going to hold an opponent under 100 points.
> 
> Maybe. Remember, this isn't a jinx.


Only cause they are missing wide open shots.. If Wolves had talent we'd be in trouble.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> :lol:
> 
> I think that he thinks funneling penetration towards the bigs means getting completely out of the way while holding up a sign that says, "Welcome to our basket." Same with Farmar and Fisher. Kobe and Ariza should steer clear of Vegas at all costs. Luke needs to be called, Chucky Walton.


:lol:

Sad but true.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

That was a beautiful shot from Lamar.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Wow. Lamar.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

sasha should not be out there without kobe.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

The step back, I like... Sasha looks like dog****


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

I don't dress nice for steak dinner btw.. that's a dumb commercial


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## MojoPin (Oct 10, 2008)

what the? did you just see them triple cover Jefferson


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Our rebounding is seriously in the toilet.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

MojoPin said:


> what the? did you just see them triple cover Jefferson


Oh that? That's only one of the vast array of defensive moves our team has at it's disposal...


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

It's so sad that we are not winning by 40 right now.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

You could make a fortune by betting against the Lakers' spread.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> I don't dress nice for steak dinner btw.. that's a dumb commercial


If she's hungry she can eat my steak dinner.


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## The One (Jul 10, 2005)

Plastic Man said:


> Our rebounding is seriously in the toilet.


the wolves are a great rebounding team so i expected this.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Kobe! Weee.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

KB needs 4 points to pass Drexler on the all time scoring list.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

I guess he heard me and decided to jack up that awful shot.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Plastic Man said:


> KB needs 4 points to pass Drexler on the all time scoring list.


I think he knows it too.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Gasol is defiantly the most consistent person on this team.


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Bryant with one game shooting over 50% and one game under. Then he hits a slump of 3 games under and has three games over. Good to see such consistency from our best player! I know it's December, but still...


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

20-3...


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## Plastic Man (Nov 8, 2004)

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering. I'm really glad I stayed up for this. Brilliant game!


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## Shaolin (Aug 6, 2004)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Gasol is defiantly the most consistent person on this team.


Agreed. He's been the one anchor and dependable player as of late.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Although Ariza had an outstanding game, I choose Gasol for POTG. I believe that consistency should be awarded heavily at this point.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> Although Ariza had an outstanding game, I choose Gasol for POTG. I believe that consistency should be awarded heavily at this point.


Agreed.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Got to give Rick Fox some credit. He's calling it straight right now.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

some observations

-we got beat on the boards at one point by this awful team simply because we were playing scrambling trapping defense we were trapping guys we shouldn't have been trapping. 

- PJ's pulling of Bynum at games end makes no sense,especially when he was forcing jefferson into misses. 

- Kobe missed damn near every time he caught and shot, why he has turned himself into this catch and shoot guy is beyond me. most times he dribbles around and drives to the hoop something good happens even when he dribbles to set up his jumper he scores but he's stuck in Olympic mode for some reason he just catches stares the guy down and fires. and bricks abound. 

- we struggle to even beat back this sorry team we just seem to be totally confused on defense at one point a man got behind Bynum and it was like he didn't even recognize it. 

our team confidence is pretty low right now though we're winning but only because the opponent's suck. We gotta find a way to work out of this malaise or this up coming road trip could turn out bad.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Got to give Rick Fox some credit. He's calling it straight right now.


Turned it off.. what did he have to say?


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Bynum to me was the Player of the Game. His defense on Jefferson kept them from scoring with him as a focus, the times he scored were mostly when Bynum was helping on someone else but man up Bynum's man defense was steller on him 1on1


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> Turned it off.. what did he have to say?


Just that there isn't a point of having two seven footers in the game at the same time if were not going to make the effort to work the inside game out. Especially considering the defense is going to suffer in terms of transition, with a the decreased speed two bigs will bring. 

Mostly just said the things people have been screaming about for the last few weeks.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

jazzy1 said:


> Bynum to me was the Player of the Game. His defense on Jefferson kept them from scoring with him as a focus, the times he scored were mostly when Bynum was helping on someone else but man up Bynum's man defense was steller on him 1on1


I can live with Bynum or Gasol getting it. They were both playing the best ball tonight.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

jazzy1 said:


> Bynum to me was the Player of the Game. His defense on Jefferson kept them from scoring with him as a focus, the times he scored were mostly when Bynum was helping on someone else but man up Bynum's man defense was steller on him 1on1


I only watched the second half, but the box score backs you up. I sure wish he would start closing out games. I understand that a young player must have certain habits broken, but he needs to develop the habit of closing out a game. When June rolls around, it's going to be too late.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Just that there isn't a point of having two seven footers in the game at the same time if were not going to make the effort to work the inside game out. Especially considering the defense is going to suffer in terms of transition, with a the decreased speed two bigs will bring.
> 
> Mostly just said the things people have been screaming about for the last few weeks.


So true. Just bring one off the bench if you're not going to feed the post. If we're going to be jumpshot happy, the disadvantages of the seven footer lineup magnify that much more.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> I only watched the second half, but the box score backs you up. I sure wish he would start closing out games. I understand that a young player must have certain habits broken, but he needs to develop the habit of closing out a game. When June rolls around, it's going to be too late.


Yeah. I don't agree with benching Bynum in the fourth. I know his defense is not at the level it was pre-injury... But it's not like Gasol is playing better defense than Bynum, or Odom for that matter.. But they still get the minutes in the forth no matter how badly Odom is playing. 

It's just Phil's typical way of dealing with young talent.


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> So true. Just bring one off the bench if you're not going to feed the post. If we're going to be jumpshot happy, the disadvantages of the seven footer lineup magnify that much more.


Yeah. Norm had a good point about perhaps running a different defense when Bynum and Gasol is out. Instead of trapping. Because of the amount of times Gasol and Bynum have left the block to help with a trap leaving a guard wide open under the rim.

I think the main point is.. We should be spending far more practices working on defense.. Our offense was never the problem.


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Just that there isn't a point of having two seven footers in the game at the same time if were not going to make the effort to work the inside game out. Especially considering the defense is going to suffer in terms of transition, with a the decreased speed two bigs will bring.


Our transition defense sucks not because we have 2 bugs in there, it's because we have trigger happy guards that shoot bad shots early in the shot clock and don't run back for defense. Kobe is a prime example of that.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

I diagree with the notion that we should be working them inside out with the 2 7footers basically when teams in the past have had 2, one is the primary option the other is the garbage man thats how we're using them with gasol as more of a feature, problem is Gasol doesn't have an advantage every game sometimes its Bynum so the offense gets all congested because Gasol is incapable of being a garbage man type player. 

defensively Bynum is getting screwed by PJ he's locked down Bosh forced brand and jefferson into struggles and bothered the shot of David West and Amare when we played them. 

He's our man up stopper as far as bigs is concerned. He's gonna be the guy who helps us neutralize KG if we beat them.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

The issue is, as it always has been, that the Lakers switch too much and leave their man on defense.

Why was Jefferson being double-teamed 14ft from the basket? First off, Bynum was handling him in the post all night long, so he didn't need any help anyway. Secondly, he certainly didn't need any help that far from the basket. If Jefferson was going to shoot from out there, we would have let him.

It's just retarded to see our guards double down on guys like Craig Smith and Kevin Love, leaving a guy like Mike Miller open on the perimeter. The fact that our guys have the same defensive strategy, regardless of who we're playing shows that they have no idea what they're doing out there.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

Damian Necronamous said:


> The issue is, as it always has been, that the Lakers switch too much and leave their man on defense.
> 
> Why was Jefferson being double-teamed 14ft from the basket? First off, Bynum was handling him in the post all night long, so he didn't need any help anyway. Secondly, he certainly didn't need any help that far from the basket. If Jefferson was going to shoot from out there, we would have let him.
> 
> It's just retarded to see our guards double down on guys like Craig Smith and Kevin Love, leaving a guy like Mike Miller open on the perimeter. The fact that our guys have the same defensive strategy, regardless of who we're playing shows that they have no idea what they're doing out there.


i agree


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## elcap15 (Aug 8, 2006)

I am actually rather pleased with this game. WE held them to 86 pts, on 36% shooting. It took Al 24 shots to get 20 pts. They got a lot of offensive rebounds, but it is partially because they missed so many shots. The defensive rotations were missed a few times and for some reason we always have a big out around the perimeter trying to double a guard who still has his dribble, but all in all, a pretty good performance.

Odom should get some credit for his play last night. He grabbed a lot of rebounds and played some aggressive defense. Ariza and Odom were our 2nd unit basically, no one else even contributed.

On offense, Kobe took 24 shots (made 9), Pau/Bynum took 23 (made 13). They are so efficient, I just cant understand why Kobe cant get in touch with that. Pau/Bynum also combined for 9 assists! They move the ball as well as anyone on the team. I am starting to come around to Luke starting games. Everytime he gets the ball, he gives it to the bigs. Hello! Its really that simple.

I think Pau gets the POTG. (18/11/6/3) is a damn fine night, just barely better than how Drew played. Bynum's D on AL was huge, but Pau came up with some big defensive plays himself, and I love the 6 assists he tallied.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

elcap15 said:


> I am actually rather pleased with this game. WE held them to 86 pts, on 36% shooting. It took Al 24 shots to get 20 pts. They got a lot of offensive rebounds, but it is partially because they missed so many shots. The defensive rotations were missed a few times and for some reason we always have a big out around the perimeter trying to double a guard who still has his dribble, but all in all, a pretty good performance.


Come on, though. The only reason the T-Wolves got 86 points was because they shot the ball so poorly. There were consistent breakdowns in the Lakers' defense, the Wolves got 11 offensive boards in the first half (16 in the game), and they got to the basket almost at will. The only reason they were out of the game was because Foye and McCants consistently missed open jump shots (6-23FG combined).


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## sylaw (Nov 7, 2002)

Damian Necronamous said:


> Come on, though. The only reason the T-Wolves got 86 points was because they shot the ball so poorly. There were consistent breakdowns in the Lakers' defense, the Wolves got 11 offensive boards in the first half (16 in the game), and they got to the basket almost at will. The only reason they were out of the game was because Foye and McCants consistently missed open jump shots (6-23FG combined).


I agree totally with this and your previous post about the Lakers double teaming and switching people for no good reason. Still, I think the defense last night was better than what they've done recently.


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## elcap15 (Aug 8, 2006)

Damian Necronamous said:


> Come on, though. The only reason the T-Wolves got 86 points was because they shot the ball so poorly. There were consistent breakdowns in the Lakers' defense, the Wolves got 11 offensive boards in the first half (16 in the game), and they got to the basket almost at will. The only reason they were out of the game was because Foye and McCants consistently missed open jump shots (6-23FG combined).


It wasnt a night of lock down defense. For some reason, it seems like everytime the other team sets a highscreen and roll, we have a 7 ftr out around the 3pt line trying to contain a guard who still has his dribble. This is mind bottling to me. But it was a big improvement over what we have been seeing. Notice both our bigs had 3 blocks. We funneled their guards right into our shot blockers and took them out of their comfort zone. Their go-to scorer had only 20 pts on 24 shots, a good defensive stance. They had a lot of offensive boards because a) they missed so many shots and b) because they missed so many shots so badly that the rebounds were abnormal and our guys were out of place.

This wasnt the end of our problems, but I think this was a step in the right direction.


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