Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors

[wfiles]

Farmar was decent this game. He shot 1-4 for 4 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 3 turnovers. he's improving a little. that's all we can hope for. we need him in the playoffs.

[Anklebreaker702]

Ok Family, I'm out!

[DEEP3CL]

I'm not worried about this team..I'm worried about farmar!

Agree, not worried about the team as a whole, but Jordan is trippin hard. But I'm going to try an put a positive spin on this. Phil left Jordan in when the stuff hit the fan. He's telling Jordan,"I'm not going to bail you out and pull you out the game, stay in and straighten out the ship". Jordan has to gain confidence from this and not worry about his offense but just try to execute the offense and control the tempo. Our problem is we don't control tempo.

[Sedale Threatt]

Maybe it's because he's set the bar so low, but I didn't think Jordan was all that bad tonight. Kobe, on the other hand, has been miserable these last two games: 14 for 40, 10 turnovers, one free throw attempt. Again we've got a huge mismatch with Pau, yet our best player insists on settling for one low-percentage jumper after another.

[kobeaki]

i called al naipo, i told him to hold off on taking "out" sasha "fredo's dead to me now" vujacic...

[dockingsched]

I'm not worried about this team..I'm worried about farmar!

Agree, not worried about the team as a whole, but Jordan is trippin hard. But I'm going to try an put a positive spin on this. Phil left Jordan in when the stuff hit the fan. He's telling Jordan,"I'm not going to bail you out and pull you out the game, stay in and straighten out the ship". Jordan has to gain confidence from this and not worry about his offense but just try to execute the offense and control the tempo. Our problem is we don't control tempo.

in fairness to farmar, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time during that stretch. ariza gave up an and 1, kobe had some to's. it really didn't have that much to do with farmar.

[Sedale Threatt]

I thought the same thing. Other than that stupid bounce pass he tried to Pau on a fast break, I can't remember anything he did that was too terrible. He got lit up by Ellis, but considering he'd probably struggle to guard a chair that was to be expected.

[DEEP3CL]

I agree dcash, Jordan really wasn't at fault with what went down. But tempo was not in our favor and the PG always gets the blame for that. Bottom line is this, guys have to take accountability for their actions on the court.

[Danny Darko]

No way dcash... I disagree. I specifically saw two bad passes lead to turnovers down that stretch and that is Jordan's M.O.
Phil is being a jerk about keeping this or that struggling player in during important parts of the game, be it Luke, Jordan, or whoever. I understand he's trying to show some confidence in them, I also understand it might help. I'm conflicted between home court and thinking, "ok, we need homecourt vs the Celts... we may not vs the Cavs"



Sasha proved tonight that he is both our eternal whipping boy and a guy we need. I hope he can turn on the machine more consistently down the stretch.

[BallAboveAll]

Sasha was solid last night. He didn't rush his shots, they seemed more in rhythm. And he made a solid pass or two off the pick and roll.

We should draft Collison out of UCLA. He'd be like a late 1st rounder. He's a solid defensive PG.

[hermes]

yay lakers win


i'm a fan of getting into routines, but they need to stop this giving up leads busniess

[Anklebreaker702]

Farmar was decent this game. He shot 1-4 for 4 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 3 turnovers. he's improving a little. that's all we can hope for. we need him in the playoffs.

Yeah but his court awareness & decision making was still poor. He made a lot of dumb passes & plays.

[hermes]

one step at a time

[semi-sentient]

Maybe it's because he's set the bar so low, but I didn't think Jordan was all that bad tonight. Kobe, on the other hand, has been miserable these last two games: 14 for 40, 10 turnovers, one free throw attempt. Again we've got a huge mismatch with Pau, yet our best player insists on settling for one low-percentage jumper after another.

Farmar is the new scapegoat, much like Radmanovic before him. This team has issues as a whole and it has to be addressed from the top down, not the other way around. If Kobe is still leading by example, then he did a poor job of showing the rest of the team how to keep a lead by taking some ill-advised rushed shots and playing poor defense while we had a large cushion. They got back into the game because we started screwing around too much and that should be something that is easily fixable. Yet, here we are.

I wouldn't have a problem with us playing this way if we had homecourt advantage locked up, but we don't. In fact, we're chasing the Cavs who have a much easier schedule remaining than we do.

i don't even care if we win this game. i'm just disappointed now.

I felt the same way watching the game last night.

[LLcoleJ]

I love Laker Warrior games theres no better feeling then beating La in La La land, sex is the only thing better then that

Let's hope you are getting the Ladder....

[Sedale Threatt]

Farmar is the new scapegoat, much like Radmanovic before him. This team has issues as a whole and it has to be addressed from the top down, not the other way around. If Kobe is still leading by example, then he did a poor job of showing the rest of the team how to keep a lead by taking some ill-advised rushed shots and playing poor defense while we had a large cushion. They got back into the game because we started screwing around too much and that should be something that is easily fixable. Yet, here we are.

I wouldn't have a problem with us playing this way if we had homecourt advantage locked up, but we don't. In fact, we're chasing the Cavs who have a much easier schedule remaining than we do.

Yeah, if you're looking to assign blame for the past two games, you have to start with Kobe. He relies so heavily on the jump shot any more, and difficult jumpers at that, it's inevitable that he's going to go through some slumps. It's only been two bad games, so probably nothing to get too worried about. I'd just like to see him be a bit more aggressive and decisive.

I'm more disappointed in the team as a whole that we're failing to utilize Gasol as much as we should. If he's getting covered, or not playing well, fine. But he's been in a nice groove over the past few games, yet we almost treat him like a last resort. I just don't understand that at all. Granted, he had 15 shots last night, but with the guys who were guarding him, we should have gotten him 20 or 25. Same goes for the Philly and Dallas games.

Simply baffling, and that includes everybody on the coaching staff, too. It's basketball 101 -- somebody's feeling it, get them the ball. You learn that stuff in junior high.

Regarding homecourt, I've pretty much written that off. With Cleveland's schedule, it's totally out of our control now. The main focus should be staying in front of the Celtics, so we'll at least have the advantage over them and anybody else we might face in the Finals. Get the second-best record, Boston beats the Cavs in the ECF, and it's a totally moot issue.

[shobe_81]

Regarding homecourt, I've pretty much written that off. With Cleveland's schedule, it's totally out of our control now. The main focus should be staying in front of the Celtics, so we'll at least have the advantage over them and anybody else we might face in the Finals. Get the second-best record, Boston beats the Cavs in the ECF, and it's a totally moot issue.

I don't think it's written off yet, yes the Cavs have an easier schedule but if somehow the Lakers sweep or go 6-1 on this road trip, I think Lakers will finish with the 1st seed overall. Because the only game to be worried about will be @Portland, but the rest will be home games besides @Sac (LA should win it)

Cavs still have:

@ New Jersey - Fighting for a playoff spot
@ Washington - They sometimes struggle against the Wizards in the regular season match-ups.
@ Orlando - Obviously Orlando will be looking for revenge
Vs San Antonio - Pop will have his team ready to prove that they are contenders
@ Philadelphia - probably will be fighting for the 4th seed with the Head
Vs Boston - Doc will let them know, if they want to beat the Cavs they'll have to win on the road
@ Indiana - They play well against the top teams.

Given those games, most of them are 10 days within each other, I think the Cavs will drop a couple.

But the most important part will be how the Lakers perform on this road trip, think about it, 1 cavs loss puts the Lakers at a tie-breaker. Lakers just have to take care of their business.

And I really want Home-Court even if it means facing the Cavs in the Finals.

Home-Court = Bench Performance

[Sedale Threatt]

I can definitely see us going 6-1 or 5-2 on this trip, and I can just as easily see us dropping three or four games. I just don't know what to expect lately with our lack of focus. We've risen to the occasion before, most notably with the Boston-Cleveland sweep, so here's hoping we can circle the wagons and finish this things up strong.

One thing that bodes well about the Cavs -- as good as their record is recently, they've been pushing their luck to the absolute limit with some of these fourth-quarter comebacks and OT games. Hopefully the law of average starts to catch up to them. As well as LeBron is playing, I wouldn't count on it. But maybe they will indeed stub their toe.