LA Lakers @ San Antonio Spurs, Game #40, on ESPN

Post #321 » by **milesfides** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:54 am

Actually, I didn't think Kobe was gunning. The first possession, I think he wasn't doubled, was surprised, and took a shot, that missed. The second, Duncan jumped out at him for the double-team, Kobe turned around and took the shot.

It was great defense. They switched up defenses on Kobe, made him second-guess, but it also didn't help that his teammates around him didn't MOVE.

What makes Kobe a passer isn't just him. His teammates (guys like Turiaf, Farmar, Fish, and Vujacic) cut, move, dive, etc. They do what basketball players do, move without the ball.

Guys like Kwame, Odom, and Walton just stood around.

Let's not forget that Kobe and others tried getting the ball to Kwame - he missed two point blank dunks. Odom committed offensive fouls when a 6'5 guy was guarding him. Fish was just cold.

So, I mean, who was our best offensive option?

When guys like Farmar, Vujacic, and Turiaf came in, the ball moved around a lot more, predictably. We just couldn't cut into the deficit. But I'll give the second unit and Kobe credit - we're just as good as the Spurs' best unit.

It's our starting lineup that's the problem. We have no chance. Too much pressure on Kobe to score.

ak777 · Post #322 » by **ak777** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:54 am

Phil_2.0 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Relax Chief.

The point is LO's value is low now and his salary is high. Those players you listed are more valuable to their teams the LO would. So when you say as a " center piece" you are assuming that a) they would want to give up those players for LO and b) want to add more players to that deal, for LO.

When you are talking about Wilcox and Maggete you are talking about 5-6.5 million in "filler" for LO that makes a deal impossible.

So while its nice to say we could trade LO for X player , it would hold about as much weight if I were to say we should trade Vlad for David Lee.

I think the kings would do artest plus kenny smith for odom and 1st

Seattle can dump wally + wilcox for odom and maybe a filler

LAL4Life · Post #323 » by **LAL4Life** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:57 am

After today's collapse, Dallas becomes a must win game. We can't let up at all when playing the elite teams. We need 48 great minutes of basketball. We had 24 tonight, and for whatever reason, that's where it stopped

Rox_Nix_Nox · Post #324 » by **Rox_Nix_Nox** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:59 am

Seriously when lakers were winning titles they had fisher, Kobe, shaq, fox, horry. Which one of those was soft? The softest guy was the 15th man on the bench. Two soft guys start for use now and that's our problem.

DEEP3CL · Post #325 » by **DEEP3CL** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:00 am

Luke is starting to be a liability on the floor, he's not aggressive on offense, looks to pass when he has open shots, has no go to move, can't slow anybody down on defense, barely rebounds the ball.

He has a good game like once out of every 6 or 7. If he's hurt then why don't they just shut him down and tell him not to come back until he's right. He's hurting the team.

Post #326 » by **LLcoleJ** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:01 am

ak777 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

I think the kings would do artest plus kenny smith for odom and 1st

sweet and then for whatever reason Artest bounces to NY and we are stuck with another tweener who disappears and gets paid alot.
And dumping Kenny to get LO's contract isnt reall a win win for Sac.

Seattle can dump wally + wilcox for odom and maybe a filler

You dont think SEA watched the games too? They would trade a cheap , young beastly PF for Odom?

But again it wouldnt matter, Obviously we would have then said 6 million in filler. In which at the end of the day, SEA would have the same salary but worse players. Call em up!

Griever24 · Post #327 » by **Griever24** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:01 am

LAL4Life wrote:After today's collapse, Dallas becomes a must win game. We can't let up at all when playing the elite teams. We need 48 great minutes of basketball. We had 24 tonight, and for whatever reason, that's where it stopped

Not MUST win .. i consider the two after at home must win then we can go on the trip with a little confidence .. Mavs beat the Cats today so i expect them to be ready Thursday ..

we do have to show up for the mavs though .. i feel a blowout could deal a huge blow to our confidence .. and last thing we need is low confidence going into the road trip

Post #328 » by **dockingsched** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:02 am

i hear kenny smith is busy these days.

Sedale Threatt · Post #329 » by **Sedale Threatt** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:04 am

No doubt our starting lineup did not do its part. They were stagnant and passive, and that definitely played a major factor in our demise.

But again, it wasn't like we wallowed around for four or five minutes before Kobe decided to take over. He was forcing -- yes, forcing -- terrible shots and making poor decisions from the opening possession.

Did we have better options? With everybody spaced out, maybe not. But I fail to see how Kobe putting his head down and forcing the action, regardless if it was there or not, can qualify as good decision making on his part.

That's just the game I saw. No big deal, we move on to Dallas.

zen_4_10 · Post #330 » by **zen_4_10** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:07 am

Rox_Nix_Nox wrote:Seriously when lakers were winning titles they had fisher, Kobe, shaq, fox, horry. Which one of those was soft? The softest guy was the 15th man on the bench. Two soft guys start for use now and that's our problem.

Right now...3. Not 2.

zen_4_10 · Post #331 » by **zen_4_10** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:11 am

Sedale Threatt wrote:No doubt our starting lineup did not do its part. They were stagnant and passive, and that definitely played a major factor in our demise.

But again, it wasn't like we wallowed around for four or five minutes before Kobe decided to take over. He was forcing -- yes, forcing -- terrible shots and making poor decisions from the opening possession.

Did we have better options? With everybody spaced out, maybe not. But I fail to see how Kobe putting his head down and forcing the action, regardless if it was there or not, can qualify as good decision making on his part.

That's just the game I saw. No big deal, we move on to Dallas.

Just attach a zen_4_10 +1 to all your posts

Rox_Nix_Nox · Post #332 » by **Rox_Nix_Nox** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:13 am

zen_4_10 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Right now...3. Not 2.

indeed my friend forgot about the cake thrower

Post #333 » by **milesfides** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:14 am

No, I don't think Kobe was putting his head down and deciding to shoot his way to victory. He took the first couple of shots, but he wasn't jacking up threes. He got into the high post. No cutters. No movement.

He tried to force the action, he wasn't successful, but what else could he do? He was trying to be aggressive and get things going with a passive group of teammates.

I mean, ok, if somebody can give me a reasonable alternative, then fine. Kobe should have passed to Odom...then what? Offensive foul? Go into the post and get owned by Duncan? Take a perimeter shot?

Or should we try to establish Kwame against Duncan?

Or, gasp, Walton, who's clearly a liability right now.

Fish took 12 shots in 28 minutes, 3 above his average, and he was 4-12. Ice cold.

That was the lineup that Kobe was playing with. So please, considering that we're Laker fans and know our players, let's go ahead and bury kobe as a selfish idiot and propose an effective alternative strategy.

Oh I know, let's go back to what was working for us in the first half, like, putting in Turiaf, Farmar, and Sasha around Kobe.

I don't know, I guess Kobe is a schizo or a complete idiot. He's just selfish. He must have had the sudden desire to score 100 points after halftime.

zen_4_10 · Post #334 » by **zen_4_10** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:16 am

^^ Miles. 2 (maybe 3 words that sum up the start of the 3rd) over-dribling isolation. Again...isolation. He got what he wanted. It was apparent from watching. It was just the wrong way to go.

orry for all the edits but I started this before finishing your post

As for Fish and the rest of the team...
You're on the road. Your momentum has been snatched away and you are playing the champs. Playing desperation mode after abanoning what was successful for you earlier is a recipe for failure. Eveyone began forcing shots and running around like chickens with heads cut off.

The flow was wiped awy within that first 3 - 4 minutes and that was a big part of our downfall.

ak777 · Post #335 » by **ak777** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:18 am

Cut DJ and sign Chris BIRDMAN Anderson

Tommy Trojan · Post #336 » by **Tommy Trojan** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:24 am

ak777 wrote:Cut DJ and sign Chris BIRDMAN Anderson

Better yet, how about Chris Mihm's sister?

She is tall enough to get some rebounds and block shots

ak777 · Post #337 » by **ak777** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:26 am

Big_Bad_LA wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Better yet, how about Chris Mihm's sister?

She is tall enough to get some rebounds and block shots

how many games have you watch him play???? or atleast do you know who he is? and why he isnt playing right now?

Erik Eleven · Post #338 » by **Erik Eleven** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:26 am

ak777 wrote:Cut DJ and sign Chris BIRDMAN Anderson

Where were you last week when I was pushing for that? Could have used your help...

Sedale Threatt · Post #339 » by **Sedale Threatt** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:28 am

Isn't he strung out on heroin?

HarlemHeat37 · Post #340 » by **HarlemHeat37** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:30 am

GG guys..

a few comments from me as a Spurs fan..

-I didn't think the refs were as bad as a few people in this thread were saying..Kobe did get hacked a few times, but it wasn't anything that would have changed the game..calls that refs miss every game..BUT I do find it strange that KOBE doesn't get some of those calls..simply because I watched my Spurs play Lebron last week, and while they missed a few hacks against him too, he seems to get away with A LOT of **** that Kobe doesn't get away with..not to mention the 2 horrible calls for Lebron at the end that was partly the reason the Spurs lost(I don't blame the refs, we should have easily beat Cleveland)..

-I don't really know what to say about how Kobe played..I'm usually a Kobe hater as many of you know, but I've enjoyed his game a lot more this year with the emergence of Bynum and his supporting cast..he's playing some great team ball, while his team has been one of the best..

I don't know what to think about him being "selfish" in the 2nd half though..the shots he was taking weren't bad..the 1st two were very well played by Bowen and Duncan, so you can't blame Kobe for that..a lot of the credit should go to San Antonio's D in the 2nd half for making adjustments to Kobe..and none of the other players stepped up exactly..so not really Kobe's fault..

-I like Turiaf's game..I think he could be a starter in the NBA for a long time as his maturity keeps involving and his game evolves..nice energy..played good D..good finisher..

-Lamar Odom is an embarrassment though..I remember him in his Heat days, and while he wasn't great, he wasn't as bad as he is now..he isn't a bad player of course, but he is always ranked by his "potential"..I don't think that can be applied anymore..at first I didn't like how Finley was guarding him, and other smaller players..but as the quarter progressed, I was actually cheering for Odom to get the ball so he can turn it over :rofl:

-Luke Walton isn't bad, but I didn't even notice that he was on the floor at any time during this game..