Why are we losing so bad?

[LAKESHOW]

ive said it before, the leader of the team is unquestionably KOBE bryant. others can be pointed out. others can be blamed. but the buck stops where the buck stops. whether his fault or someone elses, the LEADER OF THE TEAM must step up and make adjustments. whether shooting more. passing more. something more. but he knows the offense like the back of his hand and he must address the problem. if he cant see it, from newsclips he seems to be even in a daze, then there is trouble.

i believe that this is crossroads. he passed the test of doin it without shaq. but now, if he wants to surpass or catch jordan, in all time greatness . . . he must take the mantle and make this thing work.

[Asianiac_24]

Lack of effort. This is the source for all our struggles. No one moving in offense = stagnant Kobe Bryant 1 on 1 show = bad basketball

[H00PDREAMS]

The Magic has numerous players that can Score 20+ a night. the Lakers ( Kobe, LO, Pau, Ron, Matt, Drew) have just as much fire power. How come those guys whom been together for 15 minutes can do it and this Laker team can't?

[picc]

The answer to this question is the same reason LA will still be a force come playoff time. The players are old, unathletic, and somewhat apathetic.

Come April/May, the game slows down and speed/energy becomes less of a factor. As we all know, the corpse of Derek Fisher doesn't reanimate until that time either. I don't know what to expect of Ron, as of this point I really just don't like him on the team and would rather have Ariza back (did not feel that way last year), but i'm holding out hope he's conserving energy too. But the truth is he's just extremely unathletic, and along with the rest of the old team that is what's killing us this year in the regular season.

I also don't think Kobe in the post is good for the team, despite how it may look, but thats for another day.

Also, as someone intimated, the Killer B's have cooled off shooting wise, Blake/Brown specifically. And because of all the problems, individual weaknesses are being magnified. ie. Shannon Brown being the dumbest player in the history of basketball.

[Kilroy]

I'm going out on a limb here and saying it seems like Kobe and Pau aren't on the same page anymore...

Is anybody else seeing that?.. Over the last few seasons, no matter what happened, Kobe and Pau were in each other's head. It kind of seems like Kobe and Pau aren't communicating like before.

Maybe there's something more to Pau's slow-down over the last month or so than just fatigue.

Or am I tilting at windmills?

[H00PDREAMS]

Kilroy i think you have something. Kobe is "slowing" because of age... Pau is slowing because of fatigue due too many minutes. check the stats more touches for Pau = wins. Kobe is aware but guess what pau is dragging. So Kobe tries to fill the gaps over extends and Lakers struggle. Pau is only efficient when he isnt playing a huge amount of minutes.

Pau is just not one of these guys(Amare, West) that can ball the full 48. Thats why Memphis struggled with just him. Too many minutes. Pau can't cary the load when he is playing out of position out of his weight class if you might say all the while Kobe is struggling.

But we have at least 2 other legit 15 - 20 point per game players, so where are they?!!!

[semi-sentient]

I don't think Pau's minutes are the biggest issue right now. Since Bynum came back, he's had a single game over 40 minutes and has averaged 34.4 overall, which is right about where he should be. What I've noticed is that his touches have decreased, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that our guards aren't doing much play-making and that Drew is also taking away some of his touches.

I think Kobe is going to have to make more of an effort to be a play-maker so that we get our ball movement back. He's going to have to be less aggressive for the good of the team. It's not like guys don't want the ball on offense -- they're just not getting as many opportunities.

[Mahhcuss]

I don't think Pau's minutes are the biggest issue right now. Since Bynum came back, he's had a single game over 40 minutes and has averaged 34.4 overall, which is right about where he should be. What I've noticed is that his touches have decreased, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that our guards aren't doing much play-making and that Drew is also taking away some of his touches.

I think Kobe is going to have to make more of an effort to be a play-maker so that we get our ball movement back. He's going to have to be less aggressive for the good of the team. It's not like guys don't want the ball on offense -- they're just not getting as many opportunities.

This.

[DonKilluminati]

Yeah, seriously, I haven't seen a string of consistent 5+ assists nights in what seems like forever.

I remember back in 07-08, analysts were raving about Kobe's passing, and they'd constantly shove it down the viewers throats about how dangerous the Lakers were when teams had to prepare for both Kobe the facilitator and Kobe the scorer. Now we can't even tank our way into convincing Kobe to facilitate more.

[DubaLakers]

if everyboidys healthy we gonna have another lakers celtics bash in the finals

[J the Drafter]

The Magic has numerous players that can Score 20+ a night. the Lakers ( Kobe, LO, Pau, Ron, Matt, Drew) have just as much fire power. How come those guys whom been together for 15 minutes can do it and this Laker team can't?

Hedo was with the Magic for a while before leaving and he, along with Arenas, are both good playmakers. J-Rich moves well off the ball, though he had a few struggles with us. The big thing the trade did for us was increase our passing, though with Gilbert, Hedo and Richardson all able and willing to push the ball the team has been much improved on the fast break.