CAN WE SAY WAKE UP CALL?

slifersd · Post #21 » by **slifersd** » Tue May 5, 2009 2:24 pm

Haven't we had a few big losses this season already that caused us home court advantage throughout the postseason? If those losses didn't wake us up, then why would this game do that? The thing is, this team wants the championship, but they don't seem to be willing to work for it. Every time they lose, they go around like "we just had a bad game, that's all." And the next game, they show up with the same attitude without any sense of urgency whatsoever. They have the desires but not the heart of the champion and the drive to get it done. They want to pick up the hot chick sitting across the room badly but don't have the balls to even go talk to her. This is the playoffs, if we need to be beat by Houston at home to jumpstart us, then we have bigger problems than Ron Artest, Aaron Brooks and Yao Ming manhandling our lousy frontline.

SALMIEN · Post #22 » by **SALMIEN** » Tue May 5, 2009 3:58 pm

do we have a choice?

TonyMontana · Post #23 » by **TonyMontana** » Tue May 5, 2009 4:08 pm

Ya we need to chill and stop panicing, we were way out of sync and this isnt exceptable but it was expected. Thats why I dont like the time off between series, it jacks up your chemistry and makes us lazy. We looked like ish out there and honestly I did expect this to happen. Oh well we lost and its not the end of the world, let win the next 4 and call it a day.

Dexmor · Post #24 » by **Dexmor** » Tue May 5, 2009 4:27 pm

Wake up call my a**
Teams who lost in the finals the year before don't have wake up calls. Besides we have had to many. Were a little weak mentally. Clearly not everybody on the team but some are.
Not only that the coaching was really stupid. I never ever believed Phil only has 9 rings because of MJ,Pippen,Rodman and then Shaq,Kobe but after watching last night's game I was thinking it.
Im not saying it's true but last night if you asked me I would have said yes.

ddubb · Post #25 » by **ddubb** » Tue May 5, 2009 4:49 pm

ShaY wrote:Don't panic people , you guys hadn't played in a while and were really out of sync and Kobe wa sick , I still souldn't worry too much if I were you , you guys have shown you can win Toyoyta Center and not once.

But also another thing I think we deserve some more credit , we won this game and deserve it we didn't win just because of you guys.
And it was by far not the best game we played all season , Wafer was a non factor , Landry was a non factor , we turned it over a lot and passed up a lot of open shots that resulted in shot clock violation or bad shots.

This guy is right. Houston went out and won this game by dominating all the matchups and dictating the pace; this wasn't a case of LA giving away another big lead with lazy play.

LA will need to make some adjustments to get back to the pace of ball they want to play. When Yao dominates the paint, Houston gets to control the tempo. Playing in the half court allows them to set up their defense which is a huge advantage.

I would be a little concerned if I was a Laker fan. LA doesn't have an anwser for Yao or Brooks, and if those two continue to exploit LA coupled with more great defense by Battier/Artest on Kobe -- Houston will win more games in this series.

To be successful in spite of Houston's favorable matchups, LA will need to get away from Pau and Kobe taking 60-70% of the teams shots. The defense of Yao/Artest/Battier is too good, LA needs to run the floor and get their role players heavily involved to score in the 100's.

They won't win against this team playing half court, grind it out ball. They'll need to rebound and get stops, and frankly I'm not convinced they can do that consistently with Yao playing at such a high level right now.

lakersfanatic · Post #26 » by **lakersfanatic** » Tue May 5, 2009 4:56 pm

it was basically a game of they did everything right where as we did everything wrong. I mean sasha and ariza 0-10 3pts? that won't happen again. LO was what 1-6 free throws.? probably won't happen again. Maybe it was the long rest that got us.. or maybe it was just luck... but i think game 2 is the crucial game. The turning point or the downward turn...

biggamejames2 · Post #27 » by **biggamejames2** » Tue May 5, 2009 5:09 pm

seriously like others have said this is about as bad as were going to play. The first half was one of the worst halves of basketball we played all season and we went into the locker room down 3 points. I do think the Rockets played about an A- game for them and they could probably play a LITTLE better but if were playing that bad and still going to be in it all game then i think were okay

BballFanAddict · Post #28 » by **BballFanAddict** » Tue May 5, 2009 5:10 pm

The Lakers lost last night for the same reason Portland lost Game 1 in the first round to Houston. Houston came out and imposed their will by playing VERY physically. LA was not ready for it last night.

During the Portland / Houston series, Phil Jackson commented on how much more physical the series between Portland and Houston was when compared to LA and Utah. I am sure Phil understood how Houston was going to come out, but apparently the Lakers, like the Blazers, had to live through one game before knowing what exactly to expect.

The Lakers will adjust, like the Blazers, and they will take Game 2 with relative ease. I then expect LA to win 1 of 2 in Houston, too - probably even the first game in Houston. Lakers will win in 6.

I want Houston to win, but that does not cloud my logic and understanding of the game. LA is simply the better team.

ddubb · Post #29 » by **ddubb** » Tue May 5, 2009 5:13 pm

lakersfanatic wrote:it was basically a game of they did everything right where as we did everything wrong. I mean sasha and ariza 0-10 3pts? that won't happen again. LO was what 1-6 free throws.? probably won't happen again. Maybe it was the long rest that got us.. or maybe it was just luck... but i think game 2 is the crucial game. The turning point or the downward turn...

Likewise, I wouldn't expect Houston to have another poor 3pt shooting night where they only hit 28%. Or get out-rebounded by LA again.

HTown34s · Post #30 » by **HTown34s** » Tue May 5, 2009 6:22 pm

lakersfanatic wrote:it was basically a game of they did everything right where as we did everything wrong. I mean sasha and ariza 0-10 3pts? that won't happen again. LO was what 1-6 free throws.? probably won't happen again. Maybe it was the long rest that got us.. or maybe it was just luck... but i think game 2 is the crucial game. The turning point or the downward turn...

We did get a few lucky breaks but this was a far cry from our best brand of basketball. We had an alarming number of untimely turnovers and shot horrific from beyond the arc at a 27% clip. Something we're not accustomed to doing. I never can understand why some fans have to devalue the other team to make their situation seem brighter. Trust me; we can play better as well.

Post #31 » by **snaquille oatmeal** » Tue May 5, 2009 6:38 pm

I think we all got distracted by "The Ass" in the game thread and that is why we lost.

Dexmor · Post #32 » by **Dexmor** » Tue May 5, 2009 7:29 pm

We have to have been rusty.

79% of teams who lose the first game lose the series so this had to have been rust. I think the series doesnt start until a team wins on the road well this series has begun. This next game is a must win already and they need to at least win 1 of 2 in Houston after that. If they do those 2 things then I feel just as safe as I did yesterday before the game.

YiYaoYue · Post #33 » by **YiYaoYue** » Tue May 5, 2009 7:33 pm

snaquille oatmeal wrote:I think we all got distracted by "The Ass" in the game thread and that is why we lost.

Just made it my avatar

Time to distract Houston

lakersfanatic · Post #34 » by **lakersfanatic** » Tue May 5, 2009 7:57 pm

^ lol

TonyMontana · Post #35 » by **TonyMontana** » Tue May 5, 2009 8:05 pm

HTown34s wrote:
lakersfanatic wrote:it was basically a game of they did everything right where as we did everything wrong. I mean sasha and ariza 0-10 3pts? that won't happen again. LO was what 1-6 free throws.? probably won't happen again. Maybe it was the long rest that got us.. or maybe it was just luck... but i think game 2 is the crucial game. The turning point or the downward turn...

We did get a few lucky breaks but this was a far cry from our best brand of basketball. We had an alarming number of untimely turnovers and shot horrific from beyond the arc at a 27% clip. Something we're not accustomed to doing. I never can understand why some fans have to devalue the other team to make their situation seem brighter. Trust me; we can play better as well.

No one has done that, well at least I know I havent.
I actually give you guys props, you guys came out and balled and balled strong. You guys were focused and we were lost and being lazy. The Chemistry just wasnt there and you guys took advantage of that and I give you guys credit for the good effort and hard work.

Now is this going to happen in the next game............. **** NO.
We are awake now and I beleive we got our head out of our asses and me personally am glad we lost and sparked the fire we need to get us going. See you next game and good job on a good game.

Oh an Yie, take down my girls booty off your avatar.......... :wink:

lakersfanatic · Post #36 » by **lakersfanatic** » Tue May 5, 2009 8:10 pm

awe man .. LOL

ShaY · Post #37 » by **ShaY** » Tue May 5, 2009 10:40 pm

cavsfan_osiris wrote:
The Laker Kid wrote:lol you guys... it's ONE effin game

It's the first game at home in the 2nd round of the playoffs. I don't want to hear the 'it's one effin game' talk. You lose the next one and the series is over.

This isn't a series for Shannon Brown. I think that experiment should end right now and give Farmar his minutes back. They might need Farmar to play more minutes than Fish depending on how Brooks is going. Fish just can't guard him.

The Lakers are going to have to create a more hectic type of pace to the game. They can't let Yao feel so comfortable. Run his ass up and down the court, harass him do anything you can to make him uncomfortable. When he gets frustrated his quality of play decreases significantly. Yao looked like he was in the practice gym, that's unacceptable especially given the Lakers had ample time to prepare as we all knew they were going to win their series.

ShaY wrote:And it was by far not the best game we played all season , Wafer was a non factor , Landry was a non factor , we turned it over a lot and passed up a lot of open shots that resulted in shot clock violation or bad shots.

Wafer and Landry are nothing but role players. They aren't consistent contributors. You don't expect much out of them especially on the road. If they give you anything significant it's a bonus.

They are the 2 leading scorers off the bench , yes we expect contributions from them.

daddyfivestar · Post #38 » by **daddyfivestar** » Tue May 5, 2009 11:00 pm

I truly hope it was just a Wake Up Call.
I'm having flashbacks to the Lakers 1990 title run that was halted in its tracks unexpectedly by Phx in round 2. Same scenario, Lakers play flat and lose a tight one at home in game 1 and never recover.

Never should've been Detroit - Portland that year. It was LA's year for revenge on the Pistons after a 63 win season and #1 seed.
Not bitter about it though...

They need to learn of lessons past and come out swinging tomorrow to even it up and make it a best of 5.

DEEP3CL · Post #39 » by **DEEP3CL** » Wed May 6, 2009 4:35 am

YiYaoYue wrote:Game 2 is all on Lakers. I say it is time to panic if Lakers lose game 2. Barely winning will keep me a bit anxious. A blowout win for Lakers will ease the discomfort.

Blowouts can be deceiving also, it can either be that the team was content with what they did the game before or the winning team played way above their head. We have to dissect how the blowout came about to get a real analysis.

ManuteBol69 · Post #40 » by **ManuteBol69** » Wed May 6, 2009 6:19 am

wake up call ??? are you effin kiddin me? this team should have already received a kicked in the groin then getting stomped on the head repeatedly by now. its a lack of focus and effort. which boils down to the coaching staff *cough* phil *cough*. pj might have been a great coach but i just dont see him trying any longer. Rick Aldeman a.k.a Col. Sanders clearly outcoached pj. same as last year against celtics. pj either refuses to change his game plan due to arrogance or ignorance... i think both.

"Why are you all sweaty?"
"I was watching COPS"