What concerns you more heading into the playoffs?

[Patterns]

Our piss-poor PGs(Fisher, Farmar, and Brown) or our lack of 3pt shooting?

When we were rolling in 07-08, we had Sasha, Radmanovic, and Fisher all shooting 40%+ on 3s. Even Farmar and Kobe were shooting 36%+.

This year, we have NO player shooting higher than 37%. The Cavs have 3 players shooting at 42%, 42% and 48%.

Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah, Denver, Atlanta are all in the top 10 in terms of 3pt %.

We are 21st and we have been getting worse and worse from the 3.

I have a feeling that we were to get eliminated in the playoffs, it would be because teams will double the post and the Lakers will brick 3pt shots after 3pft shots.

[Kilroy]

Right now, I think more than anything, it's that this team seems to lack an identity...

We still seem to be trying to figure out who we are on the court.

Are we a defensive team? At times, but then guys have career nights on us.
Are we an offensive team? Not really anymore...

We used to be the team that was a threat to drop 140 on you any given night unless you played awesome D. With our new focus on D, that seems to have gone out the window.

I think we have a group of natural offensive threats who have decided to play D first, which has caused some inconsistancy across the board.

At this point last year, we had started learning how to crush opponents.

So my biggest fear is that we don't seem to have found our rythm yet... And I worry we won't find it in time.

[chefy]

Right now, I think more than anything, it's that this team seems to lack an identity...

We still seem to be trying to figure out who we are on the court.

Are we a defensive team? At times, but then guys have career nights on us.
Are we an offensive team? Not really anymore...

We used to be the team that was a threat to drop 140 on you any given night unless you played awesome D. With our new focus on D, that seems to have gone out the window.

I think we have a group of natural offensive threats who have decided to play D first, which has caused some inconsistancy across the board.

At this point last year, we had started learning how to crush opponents.

So my biggest fear is that we don't seem to have found our rythm yet... And I worry we won't find it in time.

+1

[Patterns]

Part of the reason why we don't have an identity right now is because we can't shoot 3s.

[chefy]

+ bench sucks

[Asianiac_24]

ball movement just has to be better. Our passing last year was fast and crisp, this year the ball moves really slow and I think this is part of the reason why our 3 point shooting sucks this year. The ball more often than not would stop in one of our players' hands. Our inability of making quick decisions with the ball is one of our major problems imo

[microfib4thewin]

I usually like to dog the Lakers for bad defense, but I think the cause of the struggles this year had to do with our offense. No one knows what they're doing, guys don't move without the ball, no one knows how to shoot outside consistently. It doesn't help that our five best players are better scoring close range than long. At this point I am lost at what the Lakers should do, Phil has declined as a coach, Gasol has been terrible pretty much against anyone, and Kobe is not going to inspire his team to play better defense. All we can really do is hope they can turn this around.

[stunnar0b]

Our piss-poor PGs(Fisher, Farmar, and Brown) or our lack of 3pt shooting?

When we were rolling in 07-08, we had Sasha, Radmanovic, and Fisher all shooting 40%+ on 3s. Even Farmar and Kobe were shooting 36%+.

This year, we have NO player shooting higher than 37%. The Cavs have 3 players shooting at 42%, 42% and 48%.

Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah, Denver, Atlanta are all in the top 10 in terms of 3pt %.

We are 21st and we have been getting worse and worse from the 3.

I have a feeling that we were to get eliminated in the playoffs, it would be because teams will double the post and the Lakers will brick 3pt shots after 3pft shots.

i like that analysis keep up the good work

[stunnar0b]

people just knew there roles better with ariza around

[laka4life]

Our piss-poor PGs(Fisher, Farmar, and Brown) or our lack of 3pt shooting?

When we were rolling in 07-08, we had Sasha, Radmanovic, and Fisher all shooting 40%+ on 3s. Even Farmar and Kobe were shooting 36%+.

This year, we have NO player shooting higher than 37%. The Cavs have 3 players shooting at 42%, 42% and 48%.

Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah, Denver, Atlanta are all in the top 10 in terms of 3pt %.

We are 21st and we have been getting worse and worse from the 3.

I have a feeling that we were to get eliminated in the playoffs, it would be because teams will double the post and the Lakers will brick 3pt shots after 3pft shots.

Piss poor PG's. Three's are great, but they have nothing to do with defense.

WE GET RAPED BY OPPOSING TEAM'S POINT GUARDS.

[Free Rider]

Yeah, our point guard situation has to be our biggest weakness right now even though the 3-pt shooting is a major concern. We get lit up by opposing point guards all the time and we don't have the personnel to do anything about it. We're lucky were not going to be facing guys like Aaron Brooks and Chris Paul in the playoffs but God help us if we end up facing Utah and Oklahoma City. DWill and Westbrook are going to have career numbers against us.

[DEEP3CL]

Our piss-poor PGs(Fisher, Farmar, and Brown) or our lack of 3pt shooting?

When we were rolling in 07-08, we had Sasha, Radmanovic, and Fisher all shooting 40%+ on 3s. Even Farmar and Kobe were shooting 36%+.

This year, we have NO player shooting higher than 37%. The Cavs have 3 players shooting at 42%, 42% and 48%.

Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah, Denver, Atlanta are all in the top 10 in terms of 3pt %.

We are 21st and we have been getting worse and worse from the 3.

I have a feeling that we were to get eliminated in the playoffs, it would be because teams will double the post and the Lakers will brick 3pt shots after 3pft shots.

Piss poor PG's. Three's are great, but they have nothing to do with defense.

WE GET RAPED BY OPPOSING TEAM'S POINT GUARDS.

Agree laka4life, this shooting 3 theory has nothing to do with defensive rotations. The Lakers didn't shoot a lot of 3's in last years playoffs. Some of these guys need to learn or should understand by now that the reason a lot of other teams shoot the 3 a lot is because they have little or next to nothing resembling a post game.

Bottom line is this........our biggest concern is defense and understanding the personnel on the other team, reading the scouting reports, analyzing film. Like tonight for example, the Lakers sagged in the paint on the Hawks........who have NO post game at all. Now clogging the paint is pretty much the scheme the Lakers deploy on most nights, I'm fine with that but know who the hell to use it against and who not to it's pretty simple.

[SashAlex]

Ron Artest.

[supaflash]

I'm not really that concerned, the 3 pt shooting is somewhat disturbing and the PG play will be frustrating, but face it, this team has a lot of miles and minutes last 2 years, I think the effort is just minimal at this point. I think they'll do just what they need to do to hold the seed.

My biggest concern is just getting Bynum and Luke back in the rotation for a few games.

Come playoff time the rotation will tighten down and the effort will tighten up. I'm actually less nervous this year then in previous years because I've seen our D straight up lock down at times and we're winning overall on our D which will always be more consistent the offense. Our shooting may be off but we can still win with great D. I'm pretty confident these guys will put it full gear for 4 quarters come playoff time.

I'm a bit concerned that the competition is better this year, and the matchups are not quite as favorable (mainly Dallas) but overall I still don't think any team out West can handle us.

Denver - still scary, but without KMart they have little chance imo and even with him 100%, they are still inconsistent and the Ron factor will be big in that series

Utah - Playing really well, and more worrying me then Denver, they have talent all over the court... but they don't have the size or physicality to match us and they gave up their best Kobe defender. They'll give us a run in a series but won't win.

Phx - We own them now, no paint D = easy series for us. They are hot and playing well, but they can't handle us. Somewhat scary because of the offensive talent, but no.

Spurs - Ginobli playing on fire and Hill makes them a little scary, specially if Parker comes back rested, but their front court is sad. We can flat wear Timmy out and we can also bottle up Manu and wear him out with Kobe. Tough opening series, but they can't beat us.

Thunder - easiest match for us imo. Despite the win the other day, a playoff intense Ron will be a nightmare for KD. THey just dont' ahve the front court to beat us 4 times, no way no how. Not enough talent come playoff intensity.

Portland - They play us well, but losing Travis and Blake is big imo. Don't think they can keep u for 7 games.

Dallas is really the only team that can match up with us and really imo the only team with a shot, maybe Utah too, but really only Dallas. Even then, just think we're better overall. They are still a jumpshooting team and we can play inside on them all day.

imho...

[slickgreek]

NOTHING!

There is 82 games in a season! We are 1st in the W.C. and yeah they might be playing very lackadaisical, but I would too, if I was in the finals the last couple of years and knowing that the odds of returning to the finals this year are still in our favor.

The Lakers are ready for the playoffs. You might not think so by there recent play, but the bottom line is ,they want this regular season to end, and just start the playoffs. This is the same thing that all the writers/analyst said last year before/during the playoffs, and it really isnt any different this year.

Bottom line is that I don't have any concerns heading into the playoffs...

[Free Rider]

Saying that nothing concerns you about this team seems a bit silly. You can still have confidence in your team's ability while acknowledging certain flaws and weaknesses in their performance. Whatever you think about the Lakers chances you certainly can't ignore that we have weaknesses that other teams can exploit and those are weaknesses that should worry anyone who is a fan. We struggle against quick points guards, we don't shoot threes very well and our bench has been rather lackluster for most of the year. Hopefully we can compensate for that in other areas especially when Bynum returns but these issues shouldn't be dismissed lightly.

And it's not all just because of the recent lack of effort on the part of the players. These are problems that have been there all season. We really haven't played that well against the top teams so far and we've had to rely on Kobe to escape some really close games that should never have been close anyway. I still like our chances to repeat but we can't pretend that there aren't areas that teams like Cleveland and Denver can hurt us.

[Minhee]

My main concern is that this team is not a championship team. Are we a good team? Sure good enough for 1st seed in the West. Don't expect the playoffs to come and this team will turn it on and go through people as easily as we have the last 2 years. Teams have caught on to us....to start off the season teams were afraid of us so we started off well. But then our weakness started getting exposed. Teams are narrowing the gap.

Our record against the elite teams this year is pathetic. 0-2 vs the Cavs, 1-1 vs Boston, 1-1 vs Boston, 2-2 vs Mavs, 1-2 vs Denver. Unlike last year our record against the elite teams was excellent, we also had the best road record in the league. Can anybody remember any impressive road win against an elite team? We won at Dallas before Butler/Haywood and we won at Utah prior to the All Star before they started clicking.

Our defense in the final 2 minutes of the quarter is also horrible. Does anybody realize that we don't close out anymore? We giveup leads or we allow our opponents to stretch the lead in the final 2 minutes. New Orleans and Atlanta both did it to us.

Maybe I am overreacting or maybe everybody will finally see our weaknesses as something not to neglect when we get eliminated by Denver/Dallas or get dethrone by the Cavs.

[96 Til Infiniti]

My biggest concern is that there is absolutely no sense of urgency, the team is acting as if they can turn it on as soon as the playoffs start. Yet we haven't seen consistently solid play since before Christmas in my opinion. I don't doubt that we can still win it all but with everyone gunning for us as defending champions and (still) favorites in the west we need something to spark the team. Maybe it'll be Kobe going off for a huge game, or Luke/Drew coming back and bringing back some energy. Right now our sources for a spark look limited...the bench has been beyond disappointing, Ron continues to struggle to hit from outside and besides can championship "swagger" really been switched on and off?

But don't forget the 2000-01 team that steam rolled through the playoffs after having somewhat of a tough regular season with the ups and downs of Kobe/Shaq drama won they're last 8 regular season games before going 15-1 on the way to repeating.

[chefy]

people just knew there roles better with ariza around

[joe.linnen]

my main things is that we have players missing and I don't like that. I want Walyon and Bynum back so my team cann be complete.



SF:Artest/Walton/Marrison
PF:Gasol/Odom/Powell
C:Bynum/Mbenga
SG:Bryant/Brown/Vujacic
PG:Fisher/Farmar