#74: 3/31 - LA Lakers @ Charlotte Bobcats. 4:00pm.

[shobe_81]

Here's the common sense I'm referring to:

Wallace had 21 Points on 10-16 shooting, he's a 30% 3'point shooter

He attempts 1 3'pointer and 1 long 22 foot jumper, the rest of the 14 Shot attempts were right in the basket!

So he took 14 inside the paint shots and made 10 of them.

Where's the defensive brains for the players to say: "hey I should make this guy shoot outside jumpers"???

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/shotchart ... =290331030

And you look at Kobe shot chart: he took 23 Shot attempts outside of the paint

[Verbal]

1. Execute the Game Plan

It absolutely killed me to see our team playing ISO ~70% of the time.. or so it seemed.

Disgusting.

It would have been nice to see us blow them out and Kobe sit the 4th quarter w/ ice packs around the knees/pinky like how MJ/Pippen took care of business in '96.


2. Rest Kobe

Kobe's "shooting slump" doesn't seem like anything more than fatigue. A few days rest could do him wonders.

Kobe shouldn't be playing over 30 mins right now... in fact, if he's feeling bruised/battered I hope the coaching staff can convince him to sit out a few games or at least 2-3 days to heal up.

We're a championship contender that has already clinched home court advantage up until the NBA Finals. And with the 2-3-2 format, we're good to go.

3. Supporting Cast

Besides, it'd be good to see what the "supporting cast" has to offer.

Odom, Gasol, Fisher, and Ariza should be dependable enough to "hold the fort"... and the bench will get more playing time - which can lead to better bench production, or at the least gain more valuable experience for them when they're called forth to deliver in the playoffs.


4. Quick assessments:

-Gasol needs a few more touches, especially in the 2nd half.

-Odom seems to have found his nitch on offense by being more aggressive (yet more collected) and by improving his jumper noticeably (at least to me).

-The Triangle looked good for 2-3 possessions today. Maybe the team just gotta calm down and run the half court game (triangle & set-plays) and leave the uptempo style for slower teams.

*edited bold

[DEEP3CL]

I agree with you Verb, other than that the family is running on fumes moaning about the way we're playing. When you think about it after Milwaukee, we won't have to go east again (hopefully) until the Finals (knock on wood). Breath easy family, we just need to get back home and get some rest.

Glad to see you check in Verb !

[Slava]

Past 4 games including tonight, Sasha Vujacic combines for 3/24 FGs. That's as pathetic as it gets. Lost in all of this is the fact that Luke has been producing some very good plays in an otherwise bad execution game. I'd much rather have him in the starting 5 than Ariza right now. Trevor can atleast add some energy to the bench.

[Verbal]

I agree with you Verb, other than that the family is running on fumes moaning about the way we're playing. When you think about it after Milwaukee, we won't have to go east again (hopefully) until the Finals (knock on wood). Breath easy family, we just need to get back home and get some rest.

Glad to see you check in Verb !

Good to see you too, man.


I'm getting excited about the playoffs already.

[Slava]

Verbal

RealGM playoffs ain't the same without some Verbal Voodoo.

[Verbal]

Hey man.

[vinnycorleone]

hey

[Verbal]

Hey there. ^


Have I missed any important threads while I was AFK/MIA?

[hermes]

so are the lakers in "waiting for the playoffs" mode?

[lakersdynasty]

PJ got to shake things up, its getting ugly, but those east coast trips are not easy, i think kobe is felling the ankles that he twisted on the game vs detroit i think, untill when will PJ insist on farmar??
the thing that get me calm is that we have almost a week before the playoffs begin, thats even better if you think that bynum will already be back and will have one week to practice with the guys...
and hey if we beat bucks today, we´ll end the trip 5-2 thats very good

lets keep it up, playoffs are coming!!