Game Thread - Friday, March 28th 2008

[Ballings7]

Another serious loss by the Lake Show - I definitely was surprised to see that, turning that game on with 5 seconds left. Very cool win for Memphis! Even without Gasol, you'd think that's a pretty easy win for the Lakers. But Memphis while young and everything, actually do have quite a bit of talent and athleticism, and are playing free-minded.

Just goes to show once again, anybody can beat anybody on any night in the NBA.

----

Spurs get their 6th win in a row for 50 wins - Michael Finley returning to form lately now after a bad slump there for a little bit. Fantastic to see that.

Houston on Sunday will be fun

[Kobay]

Its the laker curse. They can't break that 50th win.

[at87on]

When Barry comes back, the Spurs definitely can use his ball handling and outside shooting. Udoka is not a replacement for Barry. Defensively he's better than Barry, but everything else it's downgrade Udoka from Barry.

[francishsu]

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Why does everything that Kobe does and doesn't do have to have some underlining reason to it. Could it be that he sees that this is just one loss with his whole team on life support and doesn't feel the need to overreact. No that can't be it, he must be happy that he scored 53 points. Do you realize how stupid you sound.

You sound rather defensive. And generally, yes, there usually is a reason why people react a certain way. You could be right, maybe he was thinking bigger picture when they showed the closeup of his face as he walked off the court. Or maybe he was thinking that he did everything he could to set his team up for victory, so he could take some solace in that.

[Kobay]

Lakers will fall~~~~~~ Basically, the lesson is you can always trust your defense to be there but offense...well, lets just say offense is as trust worthy as Michael Jackson in a day care center.

[RocketPower23]

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You sound rather defensive. And generally, yes, there usually is a reason why people react a certain way. You could be right, maybe he was thinking bigger picture when they showed the closeup of his face as he walked off the court. Or maybe he was thinking that he did everything he could to set his team up for victory, so he could take some solace in that.

Just don't want to hear any idiotic rammbling, that happens to often on this board. Seems like you changed your tone since the post that I quoted you on.....

[JDawg]

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But for some reason laker fans don't want to take it into account when looking at LeBron this year. Maybe reminder is a better word?

SIMPLE REASON.....

The Cavs defend adn REBOUND....

its what your coach wants.

you know what the lakers are like??

The Denver Nuggets.

They rank high on defensive efficiency UNTIL you actually watch just HOW MUCH THEY SUCK at it!!!

Its actually quite hilarious.

lebron's team WONT LOSE To the pick and roll by Kyle Lowry>

Kobe's Lakers???? SURE HTEY WiLL. WHY??

Because TO THIS DAy, wihotu John Back, PJ has not figured out HOW To defend it and thats hilarious!

[JDawg]

Lakers will fall~~~~~~ Basically, the lesson is you can always trust your defense to be there but offense...well, lets just say offense is as trust worthy as Michael Jackson in a day care center.

Exactly right.

When the shots arent falling, the lakers cannot rely on their Defense to win them games because they have TERRIBLE defensive players!

[INKtastic]

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Umm, Lakers have had their fare share of injuries over the years, and are pretty injury ridden right now, if you didnt know...

THere are two parts to it, number of injuries and team depth. These last couple of games kobe's teammates looked like what LeBron has gotten from his teammates many nights this year.

And like I said, I don't blame kobe for the loss tonight. His teammates made many bad decisions and Memphis clearly went all out to slow Kobe in the 4th quarter.

And for the poster above talking about rebounding. The gap in rebounding between Cleveland and LA is less than the gap in rebounding between LeBron and Kobe (i.e. LeBron's teammates don't rebound better than Kobe's).

[JDawg]

if you cant watch that game and come away thinking that is the most PUTRID display of defense you've ever seen, I dont know WHAT to tell you.

That layup and FT line was simply a DISGRACE.

BUT, you wnat the best part????

its the best they can do.

Everyone keeps talking about how talented this team is.

Im sure any laker fan would trade you Vlad, Fisher, Farmar OR Walton for DEVIN FREAKING BROWN.

At least Brown can handle the ball, pass, penetrate AND MOST IMPORTANTLY DEFEND1!!!

Id liek to see Lebron with THOSE Guys running a turnstyle at 1.

[Ballings7]

When Barry comes back, the Spurs definitely can use his ball handling and outside shooting. Udoka is not a replacement for Barry. Defensively he's better than Barry, but everything else it's downgrade Udoka from Barry.

Yup, Brent will definitely be nice to have around again soon

Udoka's also a better rebounder. I don't think Udoka was really thought of as a replacement for Barry, though. At certain times, he did with his shooting, but outside of that no.

[HarlemHeat37]

Udoka is a bench version of Bruce Bowen..him and Barry are completely different..Brent changes our team a lot though..gives us an extra shooter that helps our weakness, which is the inability to keep the offense going once we have a lead, and spreading the floor..

[INKtastic]

Id liek to see Lebron with THOSE Guys running a turnstyle at 1.

Snow/Damon/Devin/Z with Dwane Jones and 2 d-leaguers who were brought up that day were LeBron's supporting cast one game this year. Snow/Damon/Devin/Z were all playing injured. Snow hasn't played since and is out for the year with arthritis, Z went out soon after with a buldging disk, Damon and Devin were both injured the game before and it wasn't clear they were going to play. THe rest of the active roster was traded away the day before and the new guys weren't there yet. One d-leaguer shot 3-11, all 3 point shots. The rest of the bench didn't score. LeBron had to play PF and C that game. His line - 33/15/8 on 11-20 shooting and hit the game tying and game winning foul shots.

[JDawg]

^^ Fair enough man.

Im not trying to say he doenst have it bad....im just saying this has been Kobe's cast for the last 8 games.

I cant f'in believe they were 4-4.

Then again, they were hitting shots on the road.

Thats the simple answers to laker wins.

LOOK at the 3 point shooting percentage.

If its high, thye probalby won.

IF NOT, then no!

[B-Scott]

Problem with the Lakers is we were not a great defensie team even with Gasol, but we could simply outscore teams. Now with Gasol out the lineup,that defense is more noticed.

Kobe has not played D in years

[incontrol__]

Lamar is a matador.

I can make idiotic statements and make it seem as if it's a fact, too.

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

Ariza and bynum two better defensive players for the Lakers are injured.

[B-Scott]

In Control - How am i make up things about Kobe's D

Baron Davis, Jason Richardson and many other players have blown by him all season. With Bynum the lakers were a very good defensive team because when guards blew by Kobe and Fisher they had help.

With Gasol, he's not the shot blocker that Bynum is, but we could outscore teams. Now without both, Kobe defense gets exposed even more. He can't stay in front of anyone it seems.

[dingclancy]

In Control - How am i make up things about Kobe's D

Baron Davis, Jason Richardson and many other players have blown by him all season. With Bynum the lakers were a very good defensive team because when guards blew by Kobe and Fisher they had help.

With Gasol, he's not the shot blocker that Bynum is, but we could outscore teams. Now without both, Kobe defense gets exposed even more. He can't stay in front of anyone it seems.

What I am going to hate is the fact that the Lakers are limping to the playoffs and not develop any chemistry. Damn. Why Injuries Why?

Also B-Scott No player can stop a great offensive player by themselves.

I am disappointed that we cannot capitalize on this easy stretch after earning wins on the hardest stretch of our schedule. Good thing that we are just .5 games behind the top in the West and we still have an easy stretch ahead of us. But if we cannot play to win this easy games...

[B-Scott]

Agreed. Good Point