CAN WE SAY WAKE UP CALL?

[slickgreek]

Everyone needs one, the Lakers beat themselves today. They did nothing right, and yet we still kept it close. I actually think this is a good thing because the Lakers need a wake up call. They need to have their back against the walls. They worked so hard all year for this home court advantage throughout the west, and they gave it away because of no urgency in their game. Game 2 is do or die, and the Lakers will wake up!!!!!!

[Slava]

We've had one wake up call too many and I don't expect this game to change anything in terms of our mindset and approach.

[slickgreek]

The mindset of the Lakers will definately change. There backs are against the wall, and if the Lakers lose game 2 this series will be over. Their mindset MUST change and play with urgency. Its common for teams to relax on teams who they beat 4 times in the season. We all play sports and I know that if you continue to beat a team in sports, you relax, its common. And the moment you think you can beat a team because your use to it, is when they walk all over you, just like Houston did. With an experience coach and a nothing to lose attitude, they clearly wanted it more then the lakers...

[TylersLakers]

If we need a wake up call in round 2 of the playoffs.. That's not a good thing. It's ridiculous how we can come out and be so complacent when we're hunting for a Championship.

[Asianiac_24]

We should of had our wake up call LAST YEAR game 4 in the Finals..sadly, this team will never learn

[slickgreek]

Some of the laker players just dont have the drive in them. Some of these athletes are not competitors. I love to win, i love to win any game I play, whether if its on the playground or in a tournament. You always get those players on your team who have no motivation, but thats the coaching staff and Kobe to keep players motivated...

[Durantist]

The real wake up call....Bynum is a BUST

[DubaLakers]

Slickgreek you're annoying me, stop raining doom and gloom, it's one game. That's the best I've seen the Rockets play all season. Artest was making tough shots all night, I've never seen him shoot outside that well. The LAL weren't patient on offense, they were messing up defensive assignments, and Brooks was tearing up everyone they threw at him. The LAL couldn't hit crap and a lot of that was HOU D, but a lot of it was just missing wide open looks. Pau has to play a bit stronger. HOU D was long and agressive, they played well.

[DubaLakers]

The real wake up call....Bynum is a BUST

The truth is you're not an expert and you don't wouldn't know what a bust was if Dolly Parton threw her chest in your face. AB17 is not a bust, but yes he isn't playing well as of yet.

[slickgreek]

If I am annoying you, then so will all the articles that come out tomorrow about the Lakers. Im not raining doom and gloom, Im just expressing the fact that they need to wake up. The Lakers have no reason to be down in any series, let alone lose on your valuable home court. The Lakers are the best team and the west, and they need to learn how to play like it better.

[The Laker Kid]

lol you guys... it's ONE effin game

[slickgreek]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-39-101/Losing-Game-1--Inside-the-Numbers.html

•Teams with home court advantage that have lost Game 1 have gone on to win the series 44.3% of the time (significantly better than the 21% that most people assume).

•Teams with home court advantage that have lost Game 1 but won Game 2 have gone on to win the series 53.2% of the time, but teams with home court advantage that won Game 1 and lost Game 2 went on to win the series 65.2% of the time (possibly because of the difficulty of winning back-to-back games against the same opponent).

[YiYaoYue]

Game 2 is all on Lakers. I say it is time to panic if Lakers lose game 2. Barely winning will keep me a bit anxious. A blowout win for Lakers will ease the discomfort.

[TruSkool]

i agree...we've had like 10 wake-up calls during the season...and the biggest one was game 4 of last year.
seriously typing, there is really no more such thing as a "wake-up" call for the lakers. they either show up for the game or they dont. its as simple as that.

and the reason all of us are making a big deal about "ONE EFFING GAME" is because we are so used to the lakers winning and never being underdogs. having the best record in the western conference by a wide margin, and then losing game 1 of the 2nd round is a quite scary scene; especially when anything short of a chamionship is a failed season.

[KObe Bryant]

this is also a good thing. we're bored all season long and finally i've seen a team fighting that kind. Lakers won't let Houston go away with this.

[Kirk Moon]

a championship caliber team doesn't need wake up calls.

[ShaY]

Don't panic people , you guys hadn't played in a while and were really out of sync and Kobe wa sick , I still souldn't worry too much if I were you , you guys have shown you can win Toyoyta Center and not once.

But also another thing I think we deserve some more credit , we won this game and deserve it we didn't win just because of you guys.
And it was by far not the best game we played all season , Wafer was a non factor , Landry was a non factor , we turned it over a lot and passed up a lot of open shots that resulted in shot clock violation or bad shots.

[Dr Aki]

it was an aberration from 3pt land.

probably something that allowed houston to pack the paint.

i wouldnt have bet ariza and fish going 0-4 from 3 or kobe going 1-7 from 3 for a 1-15 statistic ever again

[cavsfan_osiris]

lol you guys... it's ONE effin game

It's the first game at home in the 2nd round of the playoffs. I don't want to hear the 'it's one effin game' talk. You lose the next one and the series is over.

This isn't a series for Shannon Brown. I think that experiment should end right now and give Farmar his minutes back. They might need Farmar to play more minutes than Fish depending on how Brooks is going. Fish just can't guard him.

The Lakers are going to have to create a more hectic type of pace to the game. They can't let Yao feel so comfortable. Run his ass up and down the court, harass him do anything you can to make him uncomfortable. When he gets frustrated his quality of play decreases significantly. Yao looked like he was in the practice gym, that's unacceptable especially given the Lakers had ample time to prepare as we all knew they were going to win their series.

And it was by far not the best game we played all season , Wafer was a non factor , Landry was a non factor , we turned it over a lot and passed up a lot of open shots that resulted in shot clock violation or bad shots.

Wafer and Landry are nothing but role players. They aren't consistent contributors. You don't expect much out of them especially on the road. If they give you anything significant it's a bonus.

[lakersfanatic]

true, it is a wake up call for the lakers. They have to be more physical and show that they want it more than any team in the league.

But then again, phil jackson also has to have the right substitution methods.. Sometimes he just confuses me.. for example fisher sucked yesterday.. but how many mins did he play. Farmar scored 3pts in 3 mins.. give him more time.. as well as shannon... o well.. we'll see in game2 .