Lakers @ Sonics 7:00 PST KCAL, Radio 570AM

[TylersLakers]

You know what I hate right now.. Canada.

This year I've been able to watch barely any Lakers games. It kills me.

Especially when its a game like this and I'm sitting here reading your guys' posts with NBA.com updating basically 5 minutes late.

Ah, I wish I lived in LA.

Yeah, this year has been horrible for showing games.

[b shaw20]

Big time game by Kobe, coming through in the clutch like that.

Next up: Phoenix. I think we have to give Kwame, Odom touches in the post early. Get their confidence up.

whhhaaat? Touches are the last thing Kwame needs. This guy could eat Mohamed Ali for lunch and Michael Jordan for dinner and still could not muster up enough confidence to play decent basketball.

He is what he is... a big bodied, brute that has boxing gloves for hands and will always, always underperform because he just doesn't have it.

Only thing I pray for now is that he picks up quick fouls early (which he tends to do sometimes) so that he gets his rightful place - on the bench.

[8'sReverse]

Owners of the largest current winning streak in the NBA.
Owners of a big 7 game winning streak, first since our last Championship run.
First place in the Western Conference.
Kwame starting, Bynum out.

One of these things is not like the other.

[jimmywolfrey]

Million dollar move, 5 cent finish as usual for Kwame.

that sums up Kwame's offensive game "Million dollar move, 5 cent finish"

[TylersLakers]

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whhhaaat? Touches are the last thing Kwame needs. This guy could eat Mohamed Ali for lunch and Michael Jordan for dinner and still could not muster up enough confidence to play decent basketball.

He is what he is... a big bodied, brute that has boxing gloves for hands and will always, always underperform because he just doesn't have it.

Only thing I pray for now is that he picks up quick fouls early (which he tends to do sometimes) so that he gets his rightful place - on the bench.

This is the last chance for him in his career, to make something of himself. It's a contract year, and he has to step up if he wants to be a good player.

It's always been about confidence for Kwame. Give him the ball early, let him have a feel for the ball, especially against a small team like the Suns. It worked in the playoffs until the collapse, so let's try it again.

[dockingsched]

i'm late to the game thread but i just wanted to mention that lamar's pick n roll defense last night was freakin horrible. it was worse that smush parker's. with smush you at least knew he wasn't even going to try. teammates knew how they had to adjust. with lamar last night, he pretended to help out and then just let the pg go. he gave farmar/dfish a false sense of security.

[b shaw20]

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This is the last chance for him in his career, to make something of himself. It's a contract year, and he has to step up if he wants to be a good player.

It's always been about confidence for Kwame. Give him the ball early, let him have a feel for the ball, especially against a small team like the Suns. It worked in the playoffs until the collapse, so let's try it again.

He has been in his contract year all year long and he has yet to show that he wants it. Bottom line is he has made good change over his career and he's complacent with that. We never hear stories about him staying late or coming in early to work on his game. To me, he does not care enough to make himself better. The least he could do is shoot better free throws.

He sucks and needs to go now. Period.

[Squirrel Boy]

Kobe's back to Kobe status. To those haters that think he was washed up...well, get used to see him back to his scoring title ways for the new few weeks.

Aint nobody on this team is gonna step up for Bynum's loss and we do not have a legit a second option either. Yea LO, Im callin you out.

[zen_4_10]

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that sums up Kwame's offensive game "Million dollar move, 5 cent finish"

That's a Stu Zantz saying in case you didn't know.

[milesfides]

i'm late to the game thread but i just wanted to mention that lamar's pick n roll defense last night was freakin horrible. it was worse that smush parker's. with smush you at least knew he wasn't even going to try. teammates knew how they had to adjust. with lamar last night, he pretended to help out and then just let the pg go. he gave farmar/dfish a false sense of security.

This was literally the worse pick-and-roll defense I have seen ever. Not only from Odom and Kwame, I mean ever, from any instance of watching organized basketball.

Watson and Ridnour combined for 20 ASSISTS. They were running pick-and-rolls ALL night long, and getting their big men easy baskets because Odom and Kwame would jump out, misread the pick or couldn't recover. I swear, whenever Ridnour had the ball, in every instance, Odom would immediately leave his man. I just don't get it, EVERY SINGLE time.

It was a one-man trap in his mind, and he just ended up in no-man's land all night.

At the end of the game, I realized that Kwame and Odom are very limited defenders. They only know how to play individual defense, single-coverage. They have no concept of team defense, pick-and-roll defense, basket protection whatsoever.

If they don't improve, we know how teams will attack us every night until Bynum returns.

[MAMBAEMD]

I only mean this in a basketball IQ sense, but when it comes to team defense and making smart bball decisions, Kwame and Lamar are Dumb and Dumber.

[jimmywolfrey]

I only mean this in a basketball IQ sense, but when it comes to team defense and making smart bball decisions, Kwame and Lamar are Dumb and Dumber.

its one game.

I'm under the impression they were told to keep doing that or else Phil would have been yelling at them or calling time outs or taking them out of the game.

I'm thinking they were trying to pressure the ball due to the Sonics having a high turnover rate. However, Ridnour is a pass first point guard and makes pretty good decisions.