The Lakers pull out what at once was a blowout game tonight.. ..but boy was it an ugly game. Once again, the Lakers offense stalled and Kobe jacked up ill-adivsed shot after ill-advised shot until finally draining a 3 pointer with a hand in his face. The Lakers obviously still haven't found their offensive groove yet 7 games into the season, but already we are seeing the same pattern of lapses on offense rearing its ugly head. In years past this would have meant the opponent creeping back and overtaking ala game 4 of the finals last year, but what's promising is that the Lakers' D has improved vastly this year.
The Laker's suffocating defense is going to be the real difference maker this year. The one thing the three-peat Lakers had in common with this current group is that they both had the tendency to blow big leads and let teams back in games. The thing that the three-peat Lakers had that the current group did not until this year is defense. Whatever it is that makes the Lakers go through offensive droughts, I don't know, but if they can continuing playing the defense the way they've been playing, they can ride out those dry spells and hold off the opponent; something they couldn't do last year.
The other promising thing is the intensity that the Lakers have shown thus far. Pau Gasol, in particular, has shown that he's not afraid to back down this year. In tonight's game C3PO, arguably one of the cheapest players in the league, tried to intimidate Gasol, but Gasol didn't back down.
It's still early in the season and the Lakers have already shown signs of vulnerability despite the 7-0 start, but if they can continuing executing and playing with intensity like they have in stretches so far, I'm predicting 60+ wins.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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6 comments:
Well, considering they were on the road against a formidable opponent in a hostile arena, and on a back to back - I'd say that what ended up happening was to be expected. Lets face it, the Lakers are good but they are still slightly out of shape and finding their groove.
Bynum was amazing on the defense, but he was looking gassed out by the 3rd and 4th quarter. This is how NO came back into the game, because when Bynum was out there, Lakers were +20. PLUS TWENTY!
Like I tell everyone else, the Hornets and Spurs are a bunch of overrated contenders (I still can't believe SI picked Spurs to represent the western conference, oh yeah, they also questioned the lakers' depth going into the season...What does it take to be an "expert" these days???). The only team that will scare me in the playoffs in Houston (assuming they're healthy). The Lakers just got bored last night because the game was too easy. That's the only reason I think they're not going to go 82-0. It's almost impossible to stay focused when there are no challenges. I sound like Bill Simmons for the Lakers but whatever, it's true.
woops, i meant overrated pretenders.
Good point Terry. I think the reason why NO will have trouble getting to the WCF or the Finals is that they lack a bench.
The Lakers were on the road. That is what happens on the road against a top 8 team. It's very rare to blow out a team on the road for all 4 quarters, much less on a back to back this early in the season.
I have no worries about how that game ended, and how NO came back. Both were expected, and what it really comes down to is executing down the stretch. Lakers weren't executing perfectly, but they managed to hang on because of their experience and poise.
I think the biggest reason the Hornets won't make it out of the West is that they only have two reliable options in Chris Paul and David West. But West isn't the prototypical inside presence, which means that when the outside shots aren't falling, they won't win.
As far as the Lakers go, I don't see anyone in the West being able to beat this team in a 7 game series. I actually worry about the Spurs (after they get healthy and make some midlevel trade at the deadline) more than anyone else. The Rockets still have the two softest superstars in the league in Tmac and Yao, and we all know they're getting hurt at some point this year. Dallas is down, Phoenix is down and aging, Portland is not ready yet, and the Jazz are still the Jazz. The Lakers' depth is going to be key, because these guys on the bench could be starting for a lot of teams out there. And I really think Ariza is going to be the difference maker this year when the Lakers beat the Celtics in the finals this year.
I think the Spurs will be a 5-7 seed but I don't understand why some "so-called" experts are still picking them to win with the bs reason of "they always win in odd" years". The only reason the Spurs were able to win those few years is because they really didn't have any legit challengers that played championship level defense. Now that the league has the Celtics, the improved Lakers defense, in addition to the Spurs' age and lack of bench, they're finished.
I wasn't expecting a blowout in NO either b/c of the reasons you all stated and b/c it was a back to back game, but the fact that they reverted to the "Kobe jacking shots while everyone watches" offense is what's disappointing. It shows that when the pressure is on and the lead is slipping, they still rely too much on Kobe which is what got them killed in the finals last year.
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