So the Lakers ARE good when they play fast

[Patman]

The Lakers' version of fast is moving the ball. The ball moves faster than any player on the court.

[H00PDREAMS]

Thats the conclusion you have come to? I disagree. I think they played smarter on offense and hustled on defense. The ball moved better. Everyone gave a much better effort when defending. Gasol stepped up and Kobe is a great offensive 'decoy'.

[MelosSoreWrist]

The Lakers are better off faciliating through Kobe and Pau... in high or low posts.... maybe they should go back to the triangle.

[Speedlot]

Really now. Don't expect meeks, jamion, and mwp to make most of their shots every game.

[Speedlot]

Really now. Don't expect meeks, jamion, and mwp to make most of their shots every game.

[Dr Aki]

Really now. Don't expect meeks, jamion, and mwp to make most of their shots every game.

lol, dont expect durant and westbrook to stink up the joint with bricks every game

[JohnVancouver]

Fair enough, but you also have to ask how much of that was them having a bad night and how much defense caused it. Making people have bad nights is how you win games.

[Dr Aki]

Fair enough, but you also have to ask how much of that was them having a bad night and how much defense caused it. Making people have bad nights is how you win games.

lol, then look at the bigger picture? ask yourself:
1. has the lakers' defense been able to contain premier scorers?
2. has durant and westbrook shot as bad this season? how well durant and westbrook usually shoot against the lakers?

what's more likely? that the lakers magically were able to contain durant AND westbrook? or that they both simply had an off-day?

i dont want to be a debbie downer, but guys, sample size, sample size, sample size

[H00PDREAMS]

To me it seems the Lakers play slow enough to take the Thunder our of their usual dunk fest offensive onslaught.

Props to the assistant coaches and scouts who got the intel on what the dynamic duo form OKC are doing on the court these days. It seemed like the word got the Laker defenders to play physical with Durant. So, they laid some wood on him here and there. Got in his head and frustrated him. Didn't stop him but made him think a bit too much.

Slowing Durant triggered the expected response from Westbrook. Westbrook jacked it up like there no tomorrow. Feeling he had to step up and become the man since Durant was bogged down.

Witout KD and Westbrook NOT going off in tandem this team rarely survives a consistent level of defense.

[Doormatt]

Really now. Don't expect meeks, jamion, and mwp to make most of their shots every game.

lol, dont expect durant and westbrook to stink up the joint with bricks every game

no actually you can expect that from westbrook.

lol, then look at the bigger picture? ask yourself:
1. has the lakers' defense been able to contain premier scorers?
2. has durant and westbrook shot as bad this season? how well durant and westbrook usually shoot against the lakers?

what's more likely? that the lakers magically were able to contain durant AND westbrook? or that they both simply had an off-day?

i dont want to be a debbie downer, but guys, sample size, sample size, sample size

again, not sure why you think westbrook usually shoots well against the lakers.

in 16 games against the lakers Westbrook averages 21 points on about 49TS%, 40% from the field, 29% from 3.

[Dr Aki]

Really now. Don't expect meeks, jamion, and mwp to make most of their shots every game.

lol, dont expect durant and westbrook to stink up the joint with bricks every game

no actually you can expect that from westbrook.

lol, then look at the bigger picture? ask yourself:
1. has the lakers' defense been able to contain premier scorers?
2. has durant and westbrook shot as bad this season? how well durant and westbrook usually shoot against the lakers?

what's more likely? that the lakers magically were able to contain durant AND westbrook? or that they both simply had an off-day?

i dont want to be a debbie downer, but guys, sample size, sample size, sample size

again, not sure why you think westbrook usually shoots well against the lakers.

in 16 games against the lakers Westbrook averages 21 points on about 49TS%, 40% from the field, 29% from 3.

well then what were the odds of durant shooting 10/26? 9 of the last 12 times theyve beaten us now

its not that we're fighting uphill, stars still have to align before we can even claim victory let alone win a PO series

[AcecardZ]

What our offense has been sorely lacking is that playmaker that can get dribble penetration then dish to an open shooter or cutter. We've had that player all along in Kobe but he wasn't being utilized in that role. Hopefully he can keep doing what he's been doing and teams don't have a fix for it.

If teams decide to double Kobe early to take the ball out of his hands we have another great playmaker in Nash the ball can be swung to. Get rid of the ball and when defenders rotate back the ball can swing back to Kobe in the post to make a play. Defenses would absolutely wear themselves out if they had to play this style all game long. Dwight and Pau would crush down low with man coverage cause by teams inability to pack the paint due to doubling Kobe. He just needs to keep making smart passes and no worry about his point production.

[Dr Aki]

What our offense has been sorely lacking is that playmaker that can get dribble penetration then dish to an open shooter or cutter. We've had that player all along in Kobe but he wasn't being utilized in that role. Hopefully he can keep doing what he's been doing and teams don't have a fix for it.

If teams decide to double Kobe early to take the ball out of his hands we have another great playmaker in Nash the ball can be swung to. Get rid of the ball and when defenders rotate back the ball can swing back to Kobe in the post to make a play. Defenses would absolutely wear themselves out if they had to play this style all game long. Dwight and Pau would crush down low with man coverage cause by teams inability to pack the paint due to doubling Kobe. He just needs to keep making smart passes and no worry about his point production.

nice in theory, but its only a matter of time before teams adjust again and we're wondering where the season has gone.

i still think we need another player capable of dribble penetration before we can be taken seriously.

[AcecardZ]

nice in theory, but its only a matter of time before teams adjust again and we're wondering where the season has gone.

i still think we need another player capable of dribble penetration before we can be taken seriously.

You very well could be right but there's no reason not to wait 5 or 6 more games to see if our changes continue to yield victories. If we can win 5 of next 6 would you be ok with keeping the team as is?

[Dr Aki]

i no longer trust pau to be a world beater, i only trust him to shrink when the going gets tough

pau for gay trade opportunity presents itself, im all over it

[AcecardZ]

i no longer trust pau to be a world beater, i only trust him to shrink when the going gets tough

pau for gay trade opportunity presents itself, im all over it

I thought Pau carried himself magnificently the past two games. He didn't take Millsap's bs and he even barked back at Randy Foye. This tells me he's feeling a lot better than he was just aomth ago when he was seemingly backing down from any and all confrontation or contact. If that Pau returns trade him for anything we can get our hands on.

[AcecardZ]

@ Aki

What would you think of a Pau + Metta + Ebanks or Clark for Z-Bo + Gay? Assuming the numbers match of course.

[Patman]

@ Aki

What would you think of a Pau + Metta + Ebanks or Clark for Z-Bo + Gay? Assuming the numbers match of course.

Z-Bo (or any post scorer) won't work as long as Dwight stays stubborn and thinks he's a back-to-the-basket player. Marc would be a better fit, but there's no way MEM is doing that.

[AcecardZ]

@ Aki

What would you think of a Pau + Metta + Ebanks or Clark for Z-Bo + Gay? Assuming the numbers match of course.

Z-Bo (or any post scorer) won't work as long as Dwight stays stubborn and thinks he's a back-to-the-basket player. Marc would be a better fit, but there's no way MEM is doing that.

Yes I agree but Z-Bo would make a great 6th man imho. Start Dwight Metta Kobe Gay Nash.. Have Z-Bo and Clark come off the bench with Meeks and Blake. Not a bad rotation.

[chefy]

Really now. Don't expect meeks, jamion, and mwp to make most of their shots every game.

+1

lakers played perfect basketball that game. from the starters to the bench everybody did they're thing and contributed. don't expect that to happen every game.

i still think there's a lil too much kobe in that game. there were some possessions were he held the ball too long. triple-double is nice but thats not how you wanna win. you still want to go back to the natural way of playing basketball: your pg/nash making the plays, kobe&artest focusing on D and just spreading the floor on offense, dwight&gasol as your main scoring options. but of course i would rather have kobe being aggressive trying to be a playmaker rather than being aggressive as a scorer. and i'm starting to think the team would be better with nash playing more of a shootingguard role.