GT #68: Wizards @ Lakers 10:30 PM CSN

[dobrojim]

I think the Wizards shooting coach deserves the max. Not only are Wall and Temple hitting 3s now but Ariza/Webster are having career years from 3 and obviously Beal had a stunning midseason turnaround.

Who said we can't develop talent?

Who said the medical staff would mess Wall up?

[dobrojim]

Just got done watching the game. Ruz is right about Kobe's hero ball contributing to their loss. They were up 3 with 2 minutes left and he went iso after iso.

Nice to see Wall ice the game with 4 straight foul shots at the end.

Ariza was on fire and you could see Wall was looking for him constantly. There was never a time where Ariza was open and Wall didn't get him the ball.

who said Wall wasn't clutch.

Even when I and everyone else was criticizing JW for his mediocre
play, I pointed out that his FT shooting was a ray of hope.
Without those 4 crunch time makes, maybe we lose either in
regulation or OT.

[MikeTheKid]

I got really drunk at the bar after the W but even though I want to tank this was every one at the bar after they beat the Lakers


GIFSoup

[Upper Decker]

Mea Culpa on Wall. I was one who thought he would never get it. I was wrong and he is well on his way to becoming a star player in the NBA.

I think it's still too early to tell if he finally got "it". He could suddenly go from playing great to average like last season.

Agreed. Last February Wall put up 19/9/5 on 48% shooting. Then in April he was back down to 15/9/4 on 40% shooting. Up until his recent hot streak many, myself included, were very critical of his play. I my mind he'll need to sustain this level of play until the seasons over before I'll say he's got "it".

[Kanyewest]

Based off of the ESPN highlight package, you'd have thought the Lakers won by 20.

With Kobe playing distributor, they get a lot more highlight-worthy plays, and they play well - with everyone contributing. With Kobe playing hero-ball, they blow big leads. Considering D'Antoni's history with Nash, why does he let Kobe play hero ball and Nash fade into the woodwork. If you're not going to let Nash have the ball during crunch time, why use him at all - since he's a limited defensive player?

The Lakers blew the lead in the 3rd quarter before he was playing hero ball. Hero ball works for Kobe because the officials bail him out when he takes some tough and contested shots. He missed free throws so I'm glad it didn't work for him this time.

I agree though that the Lakers should have gone more through Nash down the stretch in the 4th quarter with some pick and roll with Kobe. When Nash had the ball, it looked like the Wizards were denying Kobe the ball when the lakers were doing pick and roll and Nash was getting some open looks.

Even with Kobe playing hero ball, t is better to have Nash out there twho could stretch defenses and drain open looks then Blake who is only a marginally better defender than Nash IMO. The point should be said of the Lakers why did they bring in Nash in the first place- probably a more defensive minded point guard who could knock down the 3 would have been a better fit next to Kobe. Perhaps they thought that Nash's sucky defense would be made up by Dwight Howard who isn't the same player defensively since his back surgery. Also looked like Artest got the ball more than Nash down the stretch with that offensive foul turnover with less than a minute to go.

[Kanyewest]

Based off of the ESPN highlight package, you'd have thought the Lakers won by 20.

And there were some nice Wizards highlights. There were a couple of alley oops to Martell Webster. Wall breaking Steve Nash ankles. Seraphin with a monster block on Jamison who as a result injured his hand on the play. Nene's buckets against Howard down the stretch. Ariza's 7 made threes. Wouldn't surprise me if ESPN just showed Lakers' highlights and Kobe missing the last second 3 pointer.

[Ironpanthr]

Yes, all ESPN showed on their telecast was one of Ariza's threes, Nene's late drive, and a bunch of Laker highlights. When they showed the final score, they showed Kobe's stat line and Gasol's stat line. No single mention of Wall or his 24, 16, 6, 3 steals and 1 TO.

Not sure why I was surprised. The ESPN online highlights were a bit more even, however.

[nuposse04]

I didn't get to watch the whole game, I had to take the mcat this morning, which I thought was going to be as fun as this game for us....turns out I was wrong, lol. Just looking at the box scores, I see we were down but fought back...I'm seeing Wall had an insanely great game again. The Lakers Defense has been better lately so I think that is a bit encouraging we scored 100+ on the road.

I see Seraphin was 4 of 9 with *gasp* more than one board. Good to see him actually contributing as well. Wall played 44 minutes though...Hope he has enough for tonight, although Curry isn't really much of a defender.

[sfam]

Wall played great yesterday. It was very nice to see him close out the game. Aside for his 3 pt attempt down the stretch, he really played with confidence, as did the team. Ariza played out of his mind, but perhaps that was due to him wanting to show the Lakers what they missed.

If Wall keeps playing like this, our Tank is really gonna suck.

[dobrojim]

Yes, all ESPN showed on their telecast was one of Ariza's threes, Nene's late drive, and a bunch of Laker highlights. When they showed the final score, they showed Kobe's stat line and Gasol's stat line. No single mention of Wall or his 24, 16, 6, 3 steals and 1 TO.

Not sure why I was surprised. The ESPN online highlights were a bit more even, however.

it was pretty annoying to have the espn mediots harp about how the Wizards
are a bad team. Well, based on the entire year, yeah. Based on games that
both Wall and Nene play in, they probably are about as good as the Fakers.

[MikeTheKid]

Yes, all ESPN showed on their telecast was one of Ariza's threes, Nene's late drive, and a bunch of Laker highlights. When they showed the final score, they showed Kobe's stat line and Gasol's stat line. No single mention of Wall or his 24, 16, 6, 3 steals and 1 TO.

Not sure why I was surprised. The ESPN online highlights were a bit more even, however.

it was pretty annoying to have the espn mediots harp about how the Wizards
are a bad team. Well, based on the entire year, yeah. Based on games that
both Wall and Nene play in, they probably are about as good as the Fakers.

Not as good, BETTER!!! Our W-L with Wall healthy is a better % than the Lakers!