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Pau Gasol @paugasol

Very proud of our team's effort today. We had our chances against the Heat on our 8th game in 13 days, 7 of them on the road. #GoLakers

moonpie wrote:Hopefully there's some kind of minor deal to be made out there that will net us a SF that can shoot the three and know his damn role. Any defense is gravy, all I ask is for effort.

Metta is a major problem for us. His defense has been decent but at this point his lack of offense is really keeping the Lakers from being an elite offensive team. His presence causes spacing issues and he takes entirely too many shots considering his poor percentages.

I don't know what the solution is. We can't move Kobe to the 3 and start Meeks at the 2 because we get a lot worse defensively, so we're kind of stuck with Metta sucking. I would be willing to give Ebanks a shot because I think he at least understands his place and won't be a ball stopper, not to mention he runs the floor well and gives us a bit more youth in the starting lineup. His mid-range jumper is decent and I probably trust that more than I do Metta's, and defensively he's no worse. I know Ebanks isn't well liked but Metta is really hurting us and has been for a while now.

Anyway, look at these numbers for Metta since Christmas:

11.7 pts (.361 fg%, .289 3p%), 5.5 reb, 1.3 ast

That's pathetic considering how many wide open shots he's gifted. This is what he's done on the current road trip:

9.0 pts (.283 fg%, .226 3p%), 5.2 reb, 1.5 ast

Brutal.

Gasol still optimistic and ever supporting. Get well soon, big fella. We'll need to in the playoffs.

Lakers played well. Kobe played well, nash played well, clark did good. I thought howard had trouble sealing his man. Howard had to be a superstar today but he just wasn't.

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semi-sentient wrote:

moonpie wrote:Hopefully there's some kind of minor deal to be made out there that will net us a SF that can shoot the three and know his damn role. Any defense is gravy, all I ask is for effort.

Metta is a major problem for us. His defense has been decent but at this point his lack of offense is really keeping the Lakers from being an elite offensive team. His presence causes spacing issues and he takes entirely too many shots considering his poor percentages.

I don't know what the solution is. We can't move Kobe to the 3 and start Meeks at the 2 because we get a lot worse defensively, so we're kind of stuck with Metta sucking. I would be willing to give Ebanks a shot because I think he at least understands his place and won't be a ball stopper, not to mention he runs the floor well and gives us a bit more youth in the starting lineup. His mid-range jumper is decent and I probably trust that more than I do Metta's, and defensively he's no worse. I know Ebanks isn't well liked but Metta is really hurting us and has been for a while now.

Anyway, look at these numbers for Metta since Christmas:

11.7 pts (.361 fg%, .289 3p%), 5.5 reb, 1.3 ast

That's pathetic considering how many wide open shots he's gifted. This is what he's done on the current road trip:

9.0 pts (.283 fg%, .226 3p%), 5.2 reb, 1.5 ast

Brutal.

I thought Metta played his best ball for us coming off the bench at the backup PF, it hides his slow, aged feet on defense but still allows him to be aggressive and physical against backup bigs. He also can score easier against backups though I really don't want him shooting a whole lot-lesser of two evils I suppose.

As for options at SF, I wouldn't mind giving Ebanks burn either. Maybe Mitch can find another gem out there that isn't getting PT but would shine in our situation like Clark. Names like James Jones, Anthony Morrow, Marshon Brooks, Linas Kleiza, hell maybe even go to our D-League farm team and see what guys like Jamario Moon and Elijah Millsap can give you.

I agree. 15/9 from Howard inn 41 minutes won't cut it. But he is injured so it is understandable. All I want from this team is to compete. And they did that tonight. So I'm not mad we loss.

I wish we play the Heat in the finals with a complete, healthy line up. Dream pipe, I know.

Some other quick standings watch to look out for.

BOS currently leading against DEN
ORL currently leading against POR
HOU plays SAC later tonight (SAC won last night against Utah)

Speaking of Dleague shooters at the 3, anybody watch Marcus Landry this year? Id like to see him get a shot over doghouse Ebanks.

sponsored by the walking dead

The Heat are just a damn good team.
When Lebron and Wade play like that (30/30) not sure if there's a team that can beat them.
There still the favs imo and there play as of the past 10-12 games proves my point.

As for our squad, there is no such thing as a moral victory.
They fought tonight for the first 3 quarters and just broke down in the 4th.

4-3 on this Grammy trip definitely felt it should of been 5-2 if we didnt lose in Phoenix.
All Well next game back home at Staples Center against Phoenix. Time to get some revenge.

On to the next one.

When Dwight did get his hands on the ball in the post he was a monster today. Unfortunately we couldn't get the ball in his hands frequently enough in the 4th Q. The turnovers caused by trying to force entry the ball killed any chances we had of winning.

Rox_Nix_Nox wrote:sponsored by the walking dead

Just a couple more hours!!!!!

Machone goes crazy and kills everybody in the prison fort. LoL

reporters be trolling

Dave McMenamin @mcten

Kobe was asked who was a better post player: Bynum last year or Dwight this year. Bryant: "That's a silly question"

I thought we played pretty well considering the match up.

Miami is just a force like very few in closing games. Just glad the guys competed hard and kept it close.

dockingsched wrote:reporters be trolling

Dave McMenamin @mcten

Kobe was asked who was a better post player: Bynum last year or Dwight this year. Bryant: "That's a silly question"

Seriously.
Anything to stir up more dirt.

For all we know Kobe and Dwight could be like the best est friends off the court.
Just on the court were obviously not playing the best doesn't mean these guys want to kill each other. Metaphorically speaking of course. LoL

Does anyone notice that Kobe and Nash stop passing the ball to Dwight since the shoulder story broke out? It looks like we are playing two completely offense systems now. When Kobe and Nash are playing, we only do Kobe iso. When they are on the bench and Dwight is with the 2nd unit, they play inside out. I don't understand why we can have a little bit more variety. Heat completely figured out our offensive scheme in the 4th quarter and basically kept trapping Kobe and caused numerous turnover. And Dwight is like Bynum that when he doesn't get touches, his defensive effort drops significantly. How can we get out rebounded by this Miami team by nearly 10 and only grab 29 rebounds? It is sad that it is obvious that this team has enough talents to challenge any elite teams in the league. Just there is no chemistry to speak of.

I am a huge Kobe fans. I think he is the most skillful basketball player currently in the league. But I think it's time for him to show some leadership. Start by mending the relationship by passing the ball to Dwight more often earlier in the game. By trusting Dwight, I am sure he will put more effort in defense in the return. It is sad that he stop passing to Dwight because I think he is one of the best passer to big man. If he could make Kwame Brown look like a decent C in 2006, I am not sure why he can't make Dwight to score 20pts per game easily.

Also, I notice that when Kobe is in facilitator mode, he only passes to players that he expects to shoot right away so that he can push up his assist number. Even though the passing lane is not clear some of the time and may cause turnover. Sometimes, I wish him pass back to Nash and let Nash decides who to pass next. Even this takes away his assist number, but he should think of what's the best for the team first. I think Lebron has this problem early in his career too. But he figures it out now and become such an unstoppable force. I think if Kobe does the right move, his overall stat will only improves even he may not have as many touches as before.

I'm just happy we kept it close and gave ourselves a chance to win. You'd have to be a homer to think that we should win this game at Miami on the end of a road trip while Lebron is going through a historical phase in scoring efficiency and while playing without a back up center, especially one of Pau's caliber. The only loss that stung on this road trip was the surrender to Phoenix but we more than made up for that with the win at Brooklyn.

If we can keep this consistency we can climb anywhere up to 7th in the playoff seeding. Beyond that anything in the 2nd round is gravy to me after a roller coaster season.

I'm pretty sure that has more to do with Dwight no longer setting screens (he's slipping everything) than Nash and Kobe making some sort of conscious effort to blackball him. He's played far more tentative since he's come back.

Also, there's been a ton of Kobe post-ups lately (not a bad option according to Synergy). A Kobe post-up = Dwight not touching the ball.

Nevertheless, they turned the ball over 2-3 times trying to get him the ball in the fourth. Defenses are fronting him, and not having Gasol hurts in those situations.