Los Angeles Lakers @ Atlanta Hawks Game Thread #48

The Laker Kid · Post #161 » by **The Laker Kid** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:35 am

If we can't beat the Atlanta Hawks how do we beat Phoenix with the MDE?

tayzer · Post #162 » by **tayzer** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:35 am

Yea, that's y we need Bynum and Ariza back these guys can match the energy of the young and atheletic players that are inconsitant but sometimes can surprise u, like today.

LAL4Life · Post #163 » by **LAL4Life** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:35 am

Telling stats of the game:
Kobe shoots 4/16
Lakers shoot 10/16 FTs
Horford with 20 rebounds (7 offensive)

Lue and Josh Smith also had great games, and Pau's 5/14 didn't help. They just outplayed us, plain and simple. It happens. I don't exect Kobe and Pau to shoot a combined 9/30 very often.

ChocolateThundr · Post #164 » by **ChocolateThundr** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:36 am

What exactly happened with Kobe's to? Im reduced to watching playbyplay because of kcal's entrapment in the bronze age

Post #165 » by **milesfides** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:36 am

I don't know. Pau had good looks, didn't knock them down. He couldn't get easy baskets tonight because Al Horford played big and Josh Smith was swatting everything.

Pau's toughness has always been questioned, and tonight showed those criticisms do have some merit. Two 6'9" guys completely took away the paint.

On the plus side, I thought Odom has been showing much more confidence in that midrange game, so that's nice to see.

Tommy Trojan · Post #166 » by **Tommy Trojan** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:36 am

Damn how the hell did we loose this game

critical_beatdown · Post #167 » by **critical_beatdown** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:37 am

Kobe can play, he's just got to realize that he shouldn't be taking 16 shots and only making 4, especially when he is injured, and when there's other hot shooters/scorers on the floor.

This has always been something Kobe needs to work on though, as well as Phil, because we saw it to an extent against Phoenix in the playoffs last season, Games 1 and 5, when Lamar was hot and we went away from him in the 4th.

It's a work in progress, I'm not too worried about it with our deep club.

LAL4Life · Post #168 » by **LAL4Life** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:37 am

Telling stats of the game:
Kobe shoots 4/16
Lakers shoot 10/16 FTs
Horford with 20 rebounds (7 offensive)

Lue and Josh Smith also had great games, and Pau's 5/14 didn't help. They just outplayed us, plain and simple. It happens. I don't exect Kobe and Pau to shoot a combined 9/30 very often.

critical_beatdown · Post #169 » by **critical_beatdown** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:38 am

It might not even hurt to get a tough loss like this early in Pau's stint with us, to get our heads out of the clouds, end the honeymoon, and start bearing down and taking each of these games (and our opponents) very seriously.

Whateva · Post #170 » by **Whateva** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:39 am

Bryant just 8.5 ppg after the Gasol trade, and Gasol is not playing his game, he just scores from passes, he should play more of his own repertoire

Post #171 » by **LLcoleJ** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:39 am

we lost. Bad plays at the end by both Kobe and Sasha. Kobe's shot is off but we still could have won if we played better D and didnt make those boneheaded mistakes

Post #172 » by **milesfides** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:39 am

ChocolateThundr wrote:What exactly happened with Kobe's to? Im reduced to watching playbyplay because of kcal's entrapment in the bronze age

He had 10 assists, 0 turnovers, until what was supposed to be the last possession of the game (we were down 2). As he was running the shot clock down, he made his move, slipped and lost his handle on the ball, went back to get it and committed an over-and-back violation.

The game wasn't over, we were down by 3 after our intentional foul, we actually had another chance, but with 3 seconds left, Sasha went for the layup instead of kicking it out for the open three-pointer.

Kobe was like WTF we're down by 3 and yapped at him.

BrianFellow_17 · Post #173 » by **BrianFellow_17** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:40 am

We always manage to lose to Atlanta, even when we were winning championships at the beginning of this decade. Can't say I'm surprised, but definitely disappointed.

I'm not going to panic and read too much into this loss though. The team is still figuring out how to play with Pau, and vice-a-versa.

zen_4_10 · Post #174 » by **zen_4_10** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:43 am

Atlanta has beaten PHX and the Mavs at home as well this year. They have talent and play well against top tier teams at home.

I missed the game - glad I did - but I hate seeing Ronny with avg only 10 min since Pau arrived. He needs to be more involved with our rotations.

incontrol__ · Post #175 » by **incontrol__** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:44 am

...Oh well.

Kobay · Post #176 » by **Kobay** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:44 am

here's kobe shots tonight.

Bounce off rim, roll around rim, in and out. Basically, back to injured kobe ball. Horrible shooting game by kobe but team defense was crappy as well. Ill give em a break due to back2back road with injuries.

B-Scott · Post #177 » by **B-Scott** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:51 am

Our defense let us down tonight and our shot selection. Should have take advantage of the Hawks poor shooting early and taken more quality shots. We could have gone up 15 to 17 had we done that. It's like we are in a rush sometimes.

ChocolateThundr · Post #178 » by **ChocolateThundr** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:52 am

From the sound of it we plainly sucked tonight. No excuses, we just sucked. Good game to Atlanta, from the stats almost everyone of the Hawks played well. Smith was dominant tonight.

But, I'd rather get the suck out of us playing with teams like the Hawks than playing teams like San Antonio. I knew Pau was going to suck with us in the beginning, although not yesterday but today. I'd hope and Im confident that they will be confident but not arrogant, self-critical but not self-defeating, focused but not narrow-sighted, respectful of the opposition but not without a purpose to win, rational but not passionless, and unselfish but not inefficient with the way they play.

Minhee · Post #179 » by **Minhee** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:53 am

Well this is what happen when everybody including the fans get too cocky. Have the Patriots not teach us anything? This is what happen when you proclaim yourself the champions after one trade. If the fans thought we were champs, the stupid players probably thought they were going to cruise tonight. Well, reality was a bitch and so was the entire team tonight

Odom and Fisher both missed critical free throws. Fisher normally a reliable shooter missing that FT was just bad. Then Kobe comes up with a key turnover with 8 seconds left, I don't know what he was doing. If your hand hurts then don't have the ball in your hands. Let someone else make the play, you are only hurting the team. Of course Sasha not shooting that wide open 3 was also stupid.

Post #180 » by **milesfides** » Thu Feb 7, 2008 2:54 am

I won't give em a break...we were winning for the most of the game, but we were cruising because we were hitting our perimeter shots, and Kobe was finding our shooters.

But not establishing anything in the paint bit us in the behind. We played soft the entire game, and when our perimeter shots stopped falling, we had nowhere to go.

Horford and Josh Smith owned the paint tonight. If I were the Lakers, I'd question why we're willing to try to take shortcuts in the game.

I'm not just talking about Pau, Kobe himself only had 1 rebound. Dislocated finger or not, he's got to help out on the boards when our team is getting pounded on the boards. Before we got Pau Gasol, Kobe was averaging 10 rebounds a game for the past 5 or 6 games. Kobe can clean up the boards if he wants to.

I think Kobe is a little giddy about the Pau trade, and thinks he can just waltz to victory every game just passing to his teammates. He needs to score, he needs to rebound, he needs to defend, and he needs to keep playing like Kobe.

Cut the crap and start playing basketball.