#78. LA Lakers @ Portland Blazers. 7:00pm. KCAL Live

[DEEP3CL]

Thats what I'm saying Phil, what is this new era of wanting to coast to a title. Its suppose to be a battle its what makes your players playoff harden.

If it ain't a battle I don't want to be part of it.

[MAMBAEMD]

no easy way to the finals....never.
I know my boys from back in showtime would never want any easy times to the finals.. they are champions..

Worthy to Magic ..Magic to Kareem back to Magic to Big game....SLAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM DUNK!!!!!!!!

no prisoners

Chickie baby...is that you?

[slickgreek]

[DEEP3CL]

Watch the Blazers lose their next game. It always happens when teams play the Lakers.

[slickgreek]

ive noticed that too...lol it kills me!

[O.C Brandon]

Watch the Blazers lose their next game. It always happens when teams play the Lakers.

they won't win if they play a defensive team, you saw they scored 66 vs the spurs sunday.

they were under .500 before our lakers came in.

[bobobolas1]

The defense was bad and Kobe did throw up some bad shots. Horrible substitutions by Phil and Farmar made some really dumb plays out there. I don't know if it comes down to the friction between him and Kobe but that certainly doesn't look good for the playoffs.

I predicted this game to be a big test and it turned out to be just that. Kobe couldn't defend Roy 1 on 1 plain and simple, tough to admit it but he looked ugly on defense tonight. The lack of help defense didn't help either.

+1

plain and simple as you said..... We dont have the winner or play-off mentality in the first week of april...sth is going wrong

[DEEP3CL]

On a more serious note this is why last week Mitch was quoted as being hesitant on resigning Odom. Next season the Lakers and Blazers games will have a different twist once Oden and Bynum are full time combatants. A match up Bynum should win in the beginning.

If anybody was in Vegas last summer you saw how often Oden was pushed out of his position much like Bynum was during his first 2 seasons. Until he improves his lower body( he has skinny legs) he'll struggle and Bynum has massive calf's which gives him superior lower strength . So Bynum will pretty much cancel out anything Oden gives them. Kobe and Brandon will also go blow for blow.

But we need a match up that we can constantly exploit to our advantage and I think that position is the 3 spot. While LO has one more season with the Lakers he'll be on a 82 game audition.

Several things work in the Lakers favor so don't be surprise to see Mitch pull off a major deal once again next February. We all know teams are always looking for expiring contracts and LO's will be one of the biggest next season. Bottom line is Portland match up pound for pound with us better then any other team in the league.

Webster and Outlaw are two guys we have major problems with,we need somebody who can eliminate one of them mainly Webster.

I'm not saying getting rid of LO is the answer for sure, I'm just saying his contract give us some leverage. Because weather you guys like it or not Portland is going to be a problem.

[FukaX]

okay i will do a break down of roys last play

roy was dibbling from the left side of the court toward the middle( not yet cross the half court line.) Kobe is in proper stance frontin him. Sasha comes to the left side of kobe to discourage roy from driving left?

Roy sees a double comming on the left, drives to his right and cross half court and dribbles past the blazer logo at a slower pace. kobe sees this fron about 7 ft away. It wasnt a ankle breaking crossover

Meanwhile kobe follows BEHIND roy as roy dribbles past the enormous logo at about the same pace.

Roy sees that he is one step closer to the 3 pt ring with kobe lagging. Kobe wasnt event right up close to him so he quickens his pace and drives toward the rim.

Gasol was at high right post. and Ramodovich was at the right baseline with lamar at the left block.

you have to be seriously blinded by homerism to not believe that kobe was trying at all on that play for defense.

i can live with
Kobe lagging behind after roy crosses him over with less than 4ft of distance between him and roy.

Or roy draining a jumper

but the way kobe just idly follows him after he changes direction at half court is just unacceptable. If it were farmar or lamar or fisher, i bet you everyone here would be calling for their heads.

yes everyone had their mistakes today, but to say the last play was out of kobe's control is just blind ignorance.

Tonight, kobe failed us on a crucial play just like how lamar pops a air ball during knick game or how ramadovich pops a air ball 3 againt newjersy for game winner.

With all that said lakers would not had been in a position to be tie the game with less than 60 sec left if it werent for kobe's performance on the final 12-2 run before roy's bull and 1.

[Slava]

Well there's confusion all the way around on defense. The perimeter guys do not know when the help does come and when it does, both of them do not understand what to do. Fighting through screens is another important aspect that we fail to do repeatedly. I wouldn't hesitate to say right now that Odom is our best defender because he plays hard 1 on 1 defense without thinking about anything else.

They need to run and practice defensive plays other than just the fullocurt press that they have fallen in love with of late or else there is no purpose going to the playoffs like where we are at now. We need to get steals to run the fastbreak and get some easy points time to time or else its just too tiring and an overload on Kobe or Gasol.

[chefy]

rewatching the game, 1st quarter just started after 20 secs. roy already got fouled is roy the new nba's golden boy/dwhistle??

the refs suck kobe got fouled on his first two shot attempt
and there is no call

kobe actually did a good job at guarding roy at the 1st two quarters specially at the 1st quarter, roy got most of his points on sasha

its 2nd quarter now, kobe striped the ball to roy cleanly and the refs called a foul

[farzi]

rewatching the game, 1st quarter just started after 20 secs. roy already got fouled is roy the new nba's golden boy/dwhistle??

the refs suck kobe got fouled on his first two shot attempt
and there is no call

kobe actually did a good job at guarding roy at the 1st two quarters specially at the 1st quarter, roy got most of his points on sasha

its 2nd quarter now, kobe striped the ball to roy cleanly and the refs called a foul

I'm not trying to incur your board's wrath, but really? Whining about the calls THIS much?

You guys are a superior team this year, but just got outplayed tonight. All teams get their fair share of questionable calls, Kobe especially. You're going to the playoffs as one of the favorites...should we really be crying over those calls? Let alone ones in the 1st and 2nd quarter?

[b shaw20]

This loss hurt, no doubt about it. From the outset it just did not feel right....we were content to spar with them and freakin Frye got off to a good start (not to mention key 3's by Jones) that let their confidence swell as the game progressed.

On offense, I don't think there is enough ball movement to develop a flow and get better shots. I think that when we rely on taking the first available open shot, we tend to settle for jumpers. Had Kobe attacked the rim more at the beginning, it may have changed the outcome.

On defense - we could not get stops when we needed and that is a bad sign.

I'd like to see more team unity and have them huddle by the freethrow line and make a committment to step up their team defense. (a la Showtime era)

More than anything, I wanted the top seed so that we could win the race and also help Kobe win the MVP.

But this aside, we really do not play great basketball at home. So I am not sure HC "advantage" really applies to us at all.

At the end of the day, keep it in perspective: we have a legitimate chance to come out of the west THIS YEAR. On any given day, we can ball with anyone in this league.

More than anything, its important to go into the playoffs with a win streak and some swagger. Win out and let the chips fall where they may.

Time to ball.

[O.C Brandon]

okay i will do a break down of roys last play

roy was dibbling from the left side of the court toward the middle( not yet cross the half court line.) Kobe is in proper stance frontin him. Sasha comes to the left side of kobe to discourage roy from driving left?

Roy sees a double comming on the left, drives to his right and cross half court and dribbles past the blazer logo at a slower pace. kobe sees this fron about 7 ft away. It wasnt a ankle breaking crossover

Meanwhile kobe follows BEHIND roy as roy dribbles past the enormous logo at about the same pace.

Roy sees that he is one step closer to the 3 pt ring with kobe lagging. Kobe wasnt event right up close to him so he quickens his pace and drives toward the rim.

Gasol was at high right post. and Ramodovich was at the right baseline with lamar at the left block.

you have to be seriously blinded by homerism to not believe that kobe was trying at all on that play for defense.

i can live with
Kobe lagging behind after roy crosses him over with less than 4ft of distance between him and roy.

Or roy draining a jumper

but the way kobe just idly follows him after he changes direction at half court is just unacceptable. If it were farmar or lamar or fisher, i bet you everyone here would be calling for their heads.

yes everyone had their mistakes today, but to say the last play was out of kobe's control is just blind ignorance.

Tonight, kobe failed us on a crucial play just like how lamar pops a air ball during knick game or how ramadovich pops a air ball 3 againt newjersy for game winner.

With all that said lakers would not had been in a position to be tie the game with less than 60 sec left if it werent for kobe's performance on the final 12-2 run before roy's bull and 1.

this guy knows.

; )

[xSABOx]

one thing I learned from this game is that Brandon Roy is one of the smoothest players in the league... that crossover of his might be the most underrated in the game... amazing that he always gets guys without having to go 100 mph...

[Andrew Bynasty]

Your avatar is sick SABO... Thats my favorite play of the season.

[DEEP3CL]

-= original quote snipped =-



I'm not trying to incur your board's wrath, but really? Whining about the calls THIS much?

You guys are a superior team this year, but just got outplayed tonight. All teams get their fair share of questionable calls, Kobe especially. You're going to the playoffs as one of the favorites...should we really be crying over those calls? Let alone ones in the 1st and 2nd quarter?

We always feel Kobe never gets the benefit of the doubt on the road. Yeah at home they call those hack job fouls they try on Kobe but when he's on the road no way no how.

Not everybody here on Real GM shares your beliefs about our team. I saw on your very board where some of your fellow Blazer fans feel the Lakers a not for real. Every game everybody thinks the Lakers will lose. But the bottom line is we got 53 WINS without EVER having our full squad.

The whole league cried like b*tches when we got Pau but yet we're still not a contender in the eyes of most because I see it on every board I read. You don't believe me visit some boards. I see stupid stuff on boards like "who do you want Lakers or Mavs in first round ?" like the Lakers are just cotton candy to be easily disposed of.

Keep in mind that Pau and Drew haven't play one count'em not one game together yet but everybody thinks the Lakers can easily be beaten. I'm not saying they can't ever lose but you gonna have to earn it.

[chefy]

-= original quote snipped =-



I'm not trying to incur your board's wrath, but really? Whining about the calls THIS much?

You guys are a superior team this year, but just got outplayed tonight. All teams get their fair share of questionable calls, Kobe especially. You're going to the playoffs as one of the favorites...should we really be crying over those calls? Let alone ones in the 1st and 2nd quarter?

I know its should not be an excuse but those bad calls took the momentum away from us not only on offense but also on defense everytime we try to play physical defense to you guys its an automatic foul and about "All teams get their fair share of questionable calls, Kobe especially. " you have no idea man