Game #44 Bobcats @ Lakers 1-27-09 7:30 PM FSN

[DEEP3CL]

And the lakers still havent learned how to annihilate subpar teams....... boooooy oh boy....
How many consecutive yrs of this will we loyal fans have to put up with?

and i dont care if the came into Staples on steroids...They are who we say they are!!! Lakers gotta learn to put away these teams by 3rd qtr!

I couldn't agree more Frantik, you have to absolutely crush these teams. I've been pitching a fit about this for a while here. Why must the Lakers continually flutter around with teams that have no business what so ever of being on the same floor with them ?

I can see being in close games with teams that are on their level, the first tier and second tier teams but the rest is unacceptable.

[wfiles]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

[iamworthy]

Ive been watching basketball for to long to get to high or low over a regualar season game. Im looking to the playoffs (big picture) without Bynum playing at a high level home court wont even matter. Or do you not agree with that?

I'm just not down with moral victories. At all, in any way, shape or form. Especially not when they come against crappy teams, at home, in a game that we played like garbage and still had numerous opportunities to put them away.

If we're talking big picture, why would you want to put yourself in a position where you'd have to beat Boston (currently 22-2 at home) or Cleveland (21-0) at least once, probably more, on the road to win the Finals? To think that's not going to hurt our chances tremendously is just stupid, in my opinion.

I've been watching basketball for a long time as well, and as much as I know not to take a January loss too hard, I also know that bad losses like this add up, and can really cost you in the long run.

We just have a fundamental difference when it comes to basketball (Obama ) You believe we need home court to win, and I believe the best team will win no matter where you are.

[dockingsched]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

honest question, did u watch the game?

[Sedale Threatt]

I didn't say we need home court, I said our chances will be greatly hindered without it. Some teams are tough enough, mentally and/or physically, that it doesn't matter where or who they play. This team, in my opinion, is not one of them. It certainly seemed to hurt our chances last year.

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

Win some, ya lose some. Hope trevor's ok. Time to nut up on that road trip coming.

[laka4life]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

Because we don't annoint Odom has a great player, we don't expect Odom to step up with that big basket or that big rebound.

We didn't trade for Odom to put us over the top.

We didn't tweak the triangle for Odom to adjust to his skillset.

We didn't believe Odom got over his frequent mishaps in the Boston game.

We still believe Odom is a somewhat inconsistent player, who is better suited coming off the bench.

Need I name more reasons?

To be regarded as a great player in this league, an all-star, bad shooting nights happen.

WHAT SEPERATES THE GOOD FROM THE GREAT IS THE ABILITY TO EFFECT THE OUTCOME OF A GAME WITH A BAD SHOOTING NIGHT.

Face it people, Drew is our number 2 option. Period

[microfib4thewin]

We did deserve to lose, but for once I commend their effort. Fisher and Farmar stayed infront of their assignment as opposed to getting blown by all the time from the second quarter on and the team as a whole didn't make too many mistakes until Kobe fouled out. Even though Bobcats have always struggled offensively shooters are being closed out properly and Bynum has taken off from wher. There were some open 3s they miss, but the way they defended was much better than their FG% indicate.

Like Duncan said, you can't win every game, you have to treat every game as a small step toward win or lose. And losing against bad teams do happen, especially tonight when the Bobcats play consistent defense and refuse to give up. Let's just move on to the next game.

[Sedale Threatt]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

He didn't do much either, but his role is totally different - he doesn't play as many minutes, he doesn't take as many shots, he doesn't carry nearly the same load. Pau's one of my favorites, but if he has even an average game, we probably win pretty easily. No excuses, he just completely sucked tonight. Getting worked by KG or somebody like that is one thing. But to be unable to physically exert your will against Boris Diaw is pretty weak.

[iamworthy]

I didn't say we need it, I said our chances will be greatly hindered without it. Some teams are tough enough, mentally and/or physically, that it doesn't matter where or who they play. This team, in my opinion, is not one of them. It certainly seemed to hurt our chances last year.

I agree with you 100%. But this team wasnt on the floor last year in the finals because we didnt have Bynum or Ariza...but you already knew that. Im not saying Im walking around here jumping for joy over the loss But we really, really need Bynum to come around this year so we can get the chip.

[Anklebreaker702]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

Lamar probably gets more blame in these threads than anyone. Pau is getting it tonight because he should. What you guys are not understanding is it's not about a guy having a bad game, it's the fact that Pau has a stigma on him about wilting under tough physical play & he caved in to the pressure again. Now if you didn't fully read the thread, Lamar was called dumb numerous times because most times he is. Tonight he's the reason they tied the game at the end. I just dont see why you can't see that Pau's bad game was due to him being soft

[wfiles]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

honest question, did u watch the game?

no, i didn't get to watch the game. looking at the boxscore, pau shot 4-16 for 10 points, 6 offensive rebounds, 1 defensive rebound, and 1 assist. he didn't shoot the ball well but he did rebound well on the offensive end. he just had a bad game.

[laka4life]

Thank you Sedale Threatt.

Thank you, thank you thank you.

I have no clue why this is so hard to understand

[Sedale Threatt]

I agree with you 100%. But this team wasnt on the floor last year in the finals because we didnt have Bynum or Ariza...but you already knew that. Im not saying Im walking around here jumping for joy over the loss But we really, really need Bynum to come around this year so we can get the chip.

I don't disagree. But I'm not going to take solace in a bad home loss because Andrew played well. It's absolutely fantastic to seem him blossoming, especially on the defensive end. It really is. But again, in my opinion that does not negate the fact that we just took a terrible loss to a bad team as an extremely difficult portion of the schedule looms. I'll make them a deal -- beat Boston and/or Cleveland on the road, and we can call it square.

[wfiles]

i'm sorry but i can't get mad at pau. we went from a team fighting for a playoff spot to making it all the way to the nba finals and becoming champioship contenders because of pau. he turned this franchise around.

[dockingsched]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

honest question, did u watch the game?

no, i didn't get to watch the game. looking at the boxscore, pau shot 4-16 for 10 points, 6 offensive rebounds, 1 defensive rebound, and 1 assist. he didn't shoot the ball well but he did rebound well on the offensive end. he just had a bad game.

ha, had a feeling u didn't watch. take everyone's word for it, pau was TERRIBLE. no overracting is possible to how bad he was.

actually, now that i re-read your initial post, it kinda comes off as odom hate. he has way more bad games than pau? great, we are talking about this game. why is no one blaming odom? because we actually watched the game and say pau absolutely stink it up.

[microfib4thewin]

a lot of you guys are overreacting. pau had a bad game. it happens. how come no one blames odom? he has way more bad games than pau.

He didn't do much either, but his role is totally different - he doesn't play as many minutes, he doesn't take as many shots, he doesn't carry nearly the same load. Pau's one of my favorites, but if he has even an average game, we probably win pretty easily. No excuses, he just completely sucked tonight. Getting worked by KG or somebody like that is one thing. But to be unable to physically exert your will against Boris Diaw is pretty weak.

You do know that Diaw has always been a good post defender right? He has been playing well since joining the Bobcats and it wouldn't be surprising if Larry Brown whipped him into shape. Gasol was also guarded by Diop and Okafor, both are known as good defensive bigs. I guess I am not as disappointed in Gasol as others because Gasol always underperforms against physical matchups, and with Larry coaching the team it only made the situation worse.

I know everyone complains about Gasol needing to hit the weight, but he's been doing that(or so he says) so further complaints about him being a paper weight is pointless because he's not going to suddenly pump 10 pounds of muscle overnight.

[Anklebreaker702]

i'm sorry but i can't get mad at pau. we went from a team fighting for a playoff spot to making it all the way to the nba finals and becoming champioship contenders because of pau. he turned this franchise around.

Where did you get that analogy from? He was a missing piece to a puzzle. I like Pau a lot too. But to say I can't get mad at Pau means no matter what he does it's going to be OK with you, that's where the term Homer comes from. You have to be able to call a spade a spade. Also if he had more stones we might have won the title not just played for it. That's why everyone is hoping Drew will be there to depend on in June this year

[AceFresh]

Rofl wfiles

[Sedale Threatt]

You do know that Diaw has always been a good post defender right? He has been playing well since joining the Bobcats and it wouldn't be surprising if Larry Brown whipped him into shape. Gasol was also guarded by Diop and Okafor, both are known as good defensive bigs. I guess I am not as disappointed in Gasol as others because Gasol always underperforms against physical matchups, and with Larry coaching the team it only made the situation worse.

I know everyone complains about Gasol needing to hit the weight, but he's been doing that(or so he says) so further complaints about him being a paper weight is pointless because he's not going to suddenly pump 10 pounds of muscle overnight.

He very well might be -- although to be honest, that's not a quality that I've noticed or heard attributed to him, ever. I guess I'm expecting Pau, at 7-foot, to be able to exploit a primary matchup against a 6-8 defender, no matter what the circumstances.

Maybe not Dennis Rodman. But Boris Diaw, most definitely.

At any rate I don't think there's any room to make excuses for him when he goes 4 for 16, and does virtually nothing else, in a double-overtime loss. He was a big, big reason why we lost, if not the reason.

Oh well, the last time he played this poorly he dropped 33 and 18 on the Warriors. I'm hoping for a similar bounce back, not just from him but everybody not named Kobe and Andrew.