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"I gave up on the notion that we're going to be a possession team earlier in December," Jackson said. "It just looks like this team has a rhythm that they like to play. That's the way they feel comfortable."

"You have to take the personality of your team and work with that," Jackson said. "If you want to be a 90-point defensive team, you have to shorten the number of possessions. Now you're not playing 100-point games; you're playing 90-point games, so you walk the ball up."

So he did think that this Lakers team can play possession style basketball at the start of the season.

Our starters are very much capable of playing that type of basketball consistently. All that's needed is for Fisher to slow things down a bit. If you think about it, he's the only one that really rushes back and chucks up shots when given the opportunity. He does seem to hit them about 50% of the time, but in some instances I wish he would wait for the rest of the team to get back and set up the offense properly.

I think the bulk of the blame goes to our bench for playing at such a high pace though. All they want to do is run and that's what kills our defense. I had some analysis in another thread a while back that showed how much a difference in defense (FG%, rebounding) there was between our starters and bench players, so I'm convinced that the solution is for our reserves to settle down a bit. This falls largely on the shoulders of Sasha (and Farmar) as they are the ones who dictate the tempo out there. I know it's exciting to watch, but it's sloppy as hell and it's not championship basketball. Once they let other teams get on a scoring spree (by playing at such a fast pace) it builds momentum that is hard to stop even when our starters get back on the floor.

As Phil stated though, Sasha does not use his brain out there so I don't see this changing anytime soon. There's still hope for Farmar though. He seems to want to succeed and I like that he talked with coach just before his injury. If you recall, he went into Phil's office and asked what his role was, to which he responded by playing some EXCELLENT defense and a smarter offensive game (in fact, one of his best performances of the year). Unfortunately, he was injured in that game (@MIA) so I don't know if that was the start of a new trend or not. I certainly hope so.

First sorry about my english because i dont know if im going to be able to said what i think.
i dont undestand why soo many people are so worry about the points we get, defense isnt only about the points they score on us mainly because thats something like the numbres of posesions make a huge impact. Insted look for the f.g.% like a better way to masure our defense, of course the lakers dont have a great defensive team but they are more than a decente defensive team

So there is only one gear for a team? I don't agree here. Is he saying that he can't get the team to play a few different tempos by design?

I agree that he should let them be themselves and play their natural game, but you can also drill them with an alter ego to be used at the right times. This team is good enough to be able to purposely play different paces, depending on things like the opposition and the running speed of our bigs that night, etc.

Personally, I would like our starters to play three-peat style triangle slowball, going inside out on every trip down the floor. It establishes dominance because the other team doesn't feel that they have the ball enough, they get frustrated and it's hard to get in a rhythm offensively when you have to play defense all the time. Also, long shot clock milkings make for high percentage shots and defensive fatigue for the opposition.

The second unit, that's a whole different story. I'd like to see them run even more than they already do. I'd love to see them go small at times with Odom at the five and Powell at the four, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar. Shock and awe style massive attack.

Shouldn't purposeful tempo control be a part of this team's strategies?

Erik Eleven wrote:So there is only one gear for a team? I don't agree here. Is he saying that he can't get the team to play a few different tempos by design?

I agree that he should let them be themselves and play their natural game, but you can also drill them with an alter ego to be used at the right times. This team is good enough to be able to purposely play different paces, depending on things like the opposition and the running speed of our bigs that night, etc.

I don't think that's what he's saying, unless I'm mistaken.

The problem is just as you mentioned... there is only one gear when it comes to our reserve unit. Run, run, shoot, shoot, and that's it. They need to know when to slow things down. I'm not suggesting that they stop running entirely, but they have to know when to run and when to settle things down.

Erik Eleven wrote:Personally, I would like our starters to play three-peat style triangle slowball, going inside out on every trip down the floor. It establishes dominance because the other team doesn't feel that they have the ball enough, they get frustrated and it's hard to get in a rhythm offensively when you have to play defense all the time. Also, long shot clock milkings make for high percentage shots and defensive fatigue for the opposition.

100% agree.

Erik Eleven wrote:The second unit, that's a whole different story. I'd like to see them run even more than they already do. I'd love to see them go small at times with Odom at the five and Powell at the four, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar. Shock and awe style massive attack.

This is where we disagree.

Our 2nd unit doesn't know when to turn it down. When other teams start going on runs and building momentum we play right into their hands with our sloppy up-and-down style of play. They need to know when to slow things down to get the game under control. I do agree that they should be playing at a faster pace than our starters, but considering how much playing time they are getting (noting that we want our starters rested during the regular season), I just feel that they have to start playing smarter basketball and know when to turn the tempo up/down. You get back (or at least stop momentum) by slowing things down and playing solid defense, not by pushing the ball constantly and being out of position defensively when there's a long rebound or missed fast break opportunity.

Actually, we don't disagree. I agree with the above 100%. I made a post just like that a few weeks back. They need to know when to run at what speed, indeed. And, it should be a calculated move, not by chance. But when the coaches decide that they want the second unit to run, let's say against a slow transition defense team, they should run like possessed and go smaller, in my opinion. I'd like for this team to be a bit more bi-polar in terms of tempo, but by design and in control.

Ah, I see. I misunderstood then.

I think we should play with the ball touching Bynum or Pau's hands on every possession. That will slow down the game. Like EE said.. inside and out basketball.

Yeah I like low post triangle offense. Let us save the high rolls with Kobe if the game is close.

Bynum has to get more touches. Because with the few touches that he gets, he is determined to shoot it, which makes him a blackhole, and discourages teammates to go back to him. Continue feeding him so he is more comfortable kicking out.

You can tell if the Lakers will win the game or not depending on the rhythm they are playing. They have their own rhythm, not slow, and not too fast. Kinda like 82% of the SSOL speed.