Game 63: LA Lakers vs. Sacramento Kings (6:30PM/FSN)

[Kobay]

Lamar is teh biggest pussy, he's afraid of contact. Thats not going to help our defense.

[JES12]

Stupid Stupid play. Somebody posted a thread about his a few days ago. Phil Jackson always runs a predictable play to end the game. Having 2 laker circle around while Kobe comes to the ball, the defense already knows how they play is designed. Phil Jackson is by far the worse game ending coach, this is no longer the 90s and you cannot run the play as if it was Michael Jordan vs the Knicks.

I will trade you Avery Johnson for Phil Jackson.

[Chubby Chaser]

We would of won this game if Sasha didn't fall at the end of the game. Beno was driving and Pau was shading him ready to block it.

[Lakeshow2008]

There is no doubt in my mind that Kobe is the most dominant player in the league today. There is no doubt in my mind that he can take over a game whenever he pleases.

However, I have not been sold this year on his last second shot heroics. Blame phil for lousy play calling but can someone provide us with stats of how many gamewinners ( actually shots, not free throws) that Kobe has hit this season?

Fact is, we must improve our game when we play close, tough games, 3 points or less because come playoff time, we will be in alot of these.

Either way, this game was not lost on the last play. It was lost in the first half. Giving up 70 points to the kings in the first half is unacceptable.

Congrats Kings fans. Good win for your young team. You guys have a bright future with young talent. I would trade Artest and get yourselves an inside threat and you guys could make the playoffs next year.

[Erik Eleven]

I think this will be a blowout. The only reason they were even in the game last time was the lack of focus by the Lakers in the first three.

And, as Kobe said, they play an unorthodox kind of basketball and it took some getting used to. Well, unless he was BS-ing, they should know what's coming tonight.

Kill them off in the first half!

Nice defense and execution in the first half...

[Erik Eleven]

Without Bynum the Lakers are very similair to the Phoenix Suns the last 3 seasons. Great regular season record and excite the fans,but get eliminated in the playoffs because of poor defense.

Funny that you bring it up. I started a thread about just that, last week.

[Big Bird]

There is no doubt in my mind that Kobe is the most dominant player in the league today. There is no doubt in my mind that he can take over a game whenever he pleases.

However, I have not been sold this year on his last second shot heroics. Blame phil for lousy play calling but can someone provide us with stats of how many gamewinners ( actually shots, not free throws) that Kobe has hit this season?

1 of 2? He missed yesterday and he made the one against Seattle. I honestly don't remember another game where he had the chance to tie/win it with the last shot.

The last close games in 2008: vs Cavs - we didn't get a shot off; vs Pistons - Lamar missed; vs. Hawks - Vujacic with the layup and Fisher missed from way outside.

I had a feeling he was going to miss yesterday. I mean he's made some unbelievable shots in his career, but he was just non existant in the 4th and that jumper was ridiculously hard. In fact I think someone else shoudl've taken it yesterday. Don't know, maybe it's just me.

Tough loss to swallow. First quarter D was pathetic, I don't understand why can't they play like in the 2nd half (mostly) for the entire game. I hope they get it together, because there'll be no mercy on the upcoming roadtrip. Save for the Clippers game this is now the 4th mediocre/bad game. Perhaps they've started to take teams for granted and think that they'll just surrender without a fight. Oh well, should be a good wakeup call.

Go Lakers!

[snaquille oatmeal]

We would of won this game if Sasha didn't fall at the end of the game. Beno was driving and Pau was shading him ready to block it.

here is a question about that play- Sasha was on the floor sitting with both feet planted and his butt making contact on the floor, that means he had position outside the circle and if he had position why did he get call for the foul when Beno ran over him?

anybody?

[PT_Lakers_fan]

An unexpectable loss for us

I watched till the half-time and i realized that this wasnt going to be an "easy" game.

The main problem was we got 70 points, i guess, at the HT. This happens and the Kings have good players too. Other teams will get this kind of games too.

GO Lakers!

[daddyfivestar]

"We suck again"

from the Waterboy

[hermes]

nice sig^

[SashAlex]

That was a game we deserved to lose, we didn't play at all defense, we let them score easy baskets, and somehow, this game shows that with such an approach we have 0 chances to win in the playoffs...

Everyone in the world knows that Kobe shoots the ball in the final seconds...everyone ! Let's bring Horry back ! He'll make those shots ! But something new has to be made, unexpected for the enemies.

It's not an excuse that we don't have Bynum ! With Kobe, Gasol and a good supporting cast it's a shame to lose to Sacamento at home, a team that headn't beaten until this game a single team in the pacific !

If you want to win, you have to play defense !
Who knows how well this team is going to play when Drew comes back ? Better defensively ?! Yes ! Offensively ?! We'll see...

It's all about willing and execution ! I hope such games are a good lesson for them ! This team is not defensive minded, at all sometimes. We played a lot better defense down in 2006 in march-april.

We have very nice players, I should say that this team is one of the brightest of all Lakers teams, even better than that from 1999 - 2002, of course if you look only at offense. Defensively I'd pick the 3-peat team any time. They have to learn to shut down players, as many of those journeymen did during the 3-peat ! Even if you have a bad game, if you do well defensively, you'll get the win, if you don't, you'll lose. So great teams always do, especially in the playoffs where almost every game is tight and close throughout the entire game. Phil has to do something, not because we lost to the Kings, but we need to improve that aspect of the game, it's vital for us if we want to have title aspirations. Defensively, Phil has always been, or almost always a good defensive coach.

Hopefully this game will definitely wake up some of us to reality ! Too many out here had already booked tickets for the NBA Finals ! Why so early ? There's San Antonio, Houston( they are doing a great job in defense ), there's Utah with some nice defensive players, mostly AK - 47.
Defense wins titles ! Let's pray for the best ! The 4 game road trip will tell us where we are, what we can and what we should work on...

This game reminded me of last year's team so much, unfortunately.

[Crooked-I]

This was a good loss for us. Now we realize we can't go soft against suckier teams and we can't always rely on our offense(no matter how good it is). Yeah it's good, but it's not always there.

Fact is we have to play this team 2 more times and this loss should guarentee us wins for those games.

[xX_BabyBoy_Xx]

no such thing as a good loss. So dissapointed. I almost feel ashamed.