Phil has a challenge for his team.

[TommyTheCat]

-= original quote snipped =-



still love Marty regardless of the stick incident. Worked for Wayne... could work for Kobe

stick incident vs the habs? i still have nightmares about that..................should have been 2-0 coming home

[ab40]

EL SEGUNDO -- Everybody seems to be giving the Lakers their best shot these days

[Gerald3Wallace]

-= original quote snipped =-




???

lol..its just that kobe leads the league in techs...and i think 3 more? he will get a suspension..thats what i meant.

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

-= original quote snipped =-



tackles? punches have you ever seen the early detroit bulls series? c'mon now

Remember when the bulls finally got passed the pistons in a series. The pistons got up and walked off the court before the game was over.

[EHL]

I'd rather Gasol and Odom get used to their roles at PF and SF, respectively, while Mbenga and Turiaf (and Gasol at times) switch off at C. Might as well get it started, though perhaps Phil just doesn't have faith in Mbenga.

[milesfides]

Sure, teams want to beat us in any way they can. Why did Kobe get suspended? He was getting hit all game. He lost it that game, but he's done a good job of playing through it since then.

We have a target on our backs. Everybody wants to play well against us. For many teams, the Lakers coming to town is the highlight of the year.

On top of that, we're a very talented team. When teams are short on talent, they try to win games in other ways, one of which is playing physically.

We're soft in the middle. Say what you want about Kwame, nobody was pushing Kwame around.

But we've got guys who can play physically. Kobe plays physical. Fish is another. Sasha can get under people's skin. Turiaf is physical. But other players can take it upon themselves to be more aggressive without crossing the line, and not letting other teams rattle them.

Odom seems to be particularly susceptible to this - he lets calls and other teams to get to him, and it affects his game. But he also sometimes crosses the line out of frustration.

He needs to do a better job of keeping his stuff together.

But everybody on our team needs to be on the same page, and when we're playing defense, we need to ATTACK people on defense, be aggressive, and take teams out of their offense. That's what we were doing earlier this year, and we need to all commit to it again.

[dockingsched]

odom doesn't seem susceptible to physical play, he's susceptible to horrible calls from the refs. has nothing to do with physical play.

[milesfides]

Yeah I noted the bad calls, but a lot of those bad calls come from physical play, and Lamar responds by complaining instead of playing through it.

[milesfides]

Also, during the Boston game, KG was being so aggressive defensively, I think he also blocked Odom a couple times, and Odom responded by tackling Ray Allen.

He's just not a guy who deals well with an aggressive defense.

[Gerald3Wallace]

Yeah I noted the bad calls, but a lot of those bad calls come from physical play, and Lamar responds by complaining instead of playing through it.

thats the same with any player...kobe does it just as much or even more

[milesfides]

The difference though, is that Kobe is an aggressive defender. He complains a lot, and he definitely could do a better job containing his emotions.

On the other hand, Odom isn't an aggressive defender. Imo, I think that's why he doesn't get a lot of respect from the refs.

As much as Kobe bitches, he was thrown out for the first time in his career recently. And he's generally shown a lot of respect from the refs, and is given a lot of latitude in how aggressive he defends.

[milesfides]

Actually I love the way Turiaf plays defense. Tough and aggressive, but if he gets called for the foul, raises his arm. Classy, and I think he'll get more and more respect as his career develops.