Blazers(13-3) at Lakers(9-8),Sunday December 1st,6:30 PM PT

[kblo247]

We didn't need a three, we were down by 1 when Meeks was put into the point guard role.

Putting players in positions where they aren't successful is bad coaching, period. That's on D'Antoni. Run a play. Don't just put the ball in Meeks hands and expect him to create off the dribble. That's almost always comes up empty, Meeks is a good catch and shoot player and he can sometimes get to the rim on the break. Telling him to break down an offense and make plays is putting him in a position to fail.

Coach. They must practice plays. They're pretty good at inbound plays. They should try to run plays that lets players what they do best. That didn't happen. That's on the coach.

We didn't have a pg.

You put that ball in x hands with them having no fouls to give and he's shooting at the ft line where he struggles. Nick is hurt. Common sense has to come into play watching that and understanding why Meeks had it. Blake was totally gassed as he basically wrapped up on the bench when he left the game with a towel, warm ups and Gatorade.

Again Dantonis lone fault is keeping Pau and Hills garbage asses on O and D out there for so long in that third.

[Mirjalovic]

Assuming the worst and Jordy misses a few weeks and Nash still isn't ready, we'll need a stopgap point I'd assume. Some names out there?

-Shannon Brown?
-Sasha Vujacic?
-Leandro Barbosa?
-Kendall Marshall?

Kendall, hes worse than Shannon etc, but we're good with bust.

[kblo247]

We don't certainly need a pg. Nash and Kobe both practice these off days. If anything this can be a good experiment to see how X handles backup of responsibilities if you're thinking of brining him back and letting Farmar star when. Blake walks and Nash is stretched.

[kblo247]

Assuming the worst and Jordy misses a few weeks and Nash still isn't ready, we'll need a stopgap point I'd assume. Some names out there?

-Shannon Brown?
-Sasha Vujacic?
-Leandro Barbosa?
-Kendall Marshall?

Kendall, hes worse than Shannon etc, but we're good with bust.

Luke Walton could beat Kendall in a foot race and jumping contest

[Dr Aki]

Aki... Is that rhetorical???

KG for Pau? Expiring for expiring? Contract for contract?

KG isnt an expiring, he earns 12 mil in 2014-15

of course, that also means BKN dumps another 5 mil on us

[milesfides]

^Nah, those are lame excuses. Common sense is you don't tell Meeks to create in crunch time. I'd rather have Nick or X or Blake run the point, no matter what their shortcomings, because they at least have that ability. Meeks doesn't have that ability, so there's no chance, and that's backed up by everything we know about Meeks, what he is and what he isn't.

And even if we don't have a true point, run a play. Give Meeks a few screens. Something. There was nothing. There was only giving the ball to Meeks and telling him to be a baller, and that's just not going to happen. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken crap, and shame on you for putting that on my plate.

[kblo247]

You rather have Nick, who the one time he tried to cross to his left lost the ball on the floor? His hand was dead right there and even on the quick two, he didn't use his left at all.

And Henry had just missed another free throw that Williams tapped in so I get fearing he would be scared he would be fouled again. We needed a semblance of a play with Shawne and Wes fouling out, but you can tell we have never expected to play those rotations. They gave everything they had out there and Dantoni out guys out there who competed and tried to win the game.

To me his biggest fault is allowing Pau and hill to play more than 5 mins of that 3rd, when they came out more lethargic than they did in the first which also got us killed.

[moonpie]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/LakersReporter/status/407375093572984832[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan/status/407382654833537024[/tweet]

[crazyeights]

Yeah, I agree Miles.

I think D'Antoni just lost his head for a little bit, which he hasn't done so far this season. He got caught up in the group that brought us back and got the momentum and he wanted to ride that group regardless, and it backfired those two possessions where Henry and Meeks turned the ball over.

Steve Blake definitely needed to be in the game once it was a new ball game.

I think considering Nash's situation and Farmar's hamstring, we need to sign another guard with these couple days of practices coming up. Barbosa has an NBA out, is he ready?

Hindsight's a bitch. IMO, this is what makes MDA a good coach. He's riding the hot hands. To bring Blake into that situation after sitting so long would be a pretty great risk in and of itself.

Guys saying coaching lost this game are not realizing what they witnessed tonight. Oh well, your loss.

[dockingsched]

like nash's back/nerve issue, pau's legs are seemingly never going to be right again.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/mcten/status/407382862741008384[/tweet]

[KB24TBOTB]

Pau using the injury to justify his short commings hahaha

[Anklebreaker702]

Great come back guys. This one is on D'Antoni

You mean Pau?

No D'Antoni for not wanting to pull him when clearly he didn't have it tonight

Sent from my SPH-L900 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[leeprettyp]

Ahh the Pau apologist are here. Start watching the game with your glasses on if you cant see how horrible he played.

haven't seen anyone defending pau, is this one of those things you made up in your head like you usually do?

Your original response said, "We shouldn't blame just one player for tonight's lost." I've seen your post over the years and if this was Kobe Bryant having a bad shooting night you'd be all over it because that's what closet Kobe haters like you do. No excuses for a 19mill per season big that's shooting WIDE OPEN jump shots and only being single covered in the post not to leave and imprint not just on this game but on this season. All you ever hear Gasol do is WHINE about it being somebodies else's fault when he doesn't bring it one night. All I want this guy to do 1 time just 1 time is admit he dropped the ball and didn't perform. But knowing Pau he'll say he's hurt or its Kobe's fault he shot so bad.

Also Doc weren't you basically "Pro-Pau" in another thread pushing the cheer-leading squad on making sure we resign this guy this offseason. At this current time I realize like most people on this forum its time to move on from Pau Gasol, if he resigns for 8mill or less I'm all for it anything more than that is a horrible idea. We can find another big who will pound and rebound out there and actually play some defense and try to protect the rim.

[kblo247]

like nash's back/nerve issue, pau's legs are seemingly never going to be right again.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/mcten/status/407382862741008384[/tweet]

He's becoming like Big z minus the effort and skill set. He's seriously slow footed and reliant on shooting jumpers like as, but unlike as can't make the shot or use his length to cover the rim in a defensive concept

[gotokyo]

It's starting to bug me that people keep generalizing our starters as terrible while praising our bench as being phenomenal.

Our starters tonight were

Blake - Been playing great so far this year.
Meeks - Has his ups and downs but overall pretty solid.
Johnson - Has had an excellent couple games recently
Hill - In a bit of a slump but just the other week he was getting MIP nominations from a lot of people around here.
And finally Pau - All around terrible.

I get the feeling that since the starting 5 has changed a few times since the start of the season that people on here start to overlook who the actual starters are on any given night and just classify (Pau, Nash) as the starters and think of (Blake, Farmar, Meeks, Young, Henry, Johnson, Hill) as "the bench" even though the majority of them are starters right now.

[leeprettyp]

It's starting to bug me that people keep generalizing our starters as terrible while praising our bench as being phenomenal.

Our starters tonight were

Blake - Been playing great so far this year.
Meeks - Has his ups and downs but overall pretty solid.
Johnson - Has had an excellent couple games recently
Hill - In a bit of a slump but just the other week he was getting MIP nominations from a lot of people around here.
And finally Pau - All around terrible.

I get the feeling that since the starting 5 has changed a few times since the start of the season that people on here start to overlook who the actual starters are on any given night and just classify (Pau, Nash) as the starters and think of (Blake, Farmar, Meeks, Young, Henry, Johnson, Hill) as "the bench" even though the majority of them are starters right now.

Most of those guys played their best when they were on the floor with the 2nd unit. Our starters as a whole have been horrible for most of the season. Our biggest bright spot this season has been the bench play. they've dug us out of alot of deficits all season long. Tonight Farmar injury showed how much this team misses his grittiness, play-making and self confidence out there

[kblo247]

@KamBrothers: Well played. AK RT @WstCoast_Johnny: RT @KamBrothers @MarkG_Medina: Pau says he's getting MRI tomorrow on his ankle" Is he doing it himself?

@KamBrothers: I imagine after the results of Pau's MRI come in, he'll then go to himself for a second opinion. AK


@KevinDing: Pau, planning MRI on sore right ankle Mon, "wasn't upset" about sitting whole 4Q b/c D'Antoni likes "units" and team was making a big run.

[kblo247]

If ny would take them I would sell Hill and Pau ass there for Melo now in a second.

Just start Kaman in place of Pau and Melo at the four and roll with it. Get on the damn phone Kobe and say Melo drop a trade request by telling them you're leaving.

[dockingsched]

Ahh the Pau apologist are here. Start watching the game with your glasses on if you cant see how horrible he played.

haven't seen anyone defending pau, is this one of those things you made up in your head like you usually do?

Your original response said, "We shouldn't blame just one player for tonight's lost." I've seen your post over the years and if this was Kobe Bryant having a bad shooting night you'd be all over it because that's what closet Kobe haters like you do. No excuses for a 19mill per season big that's shooting WIDE OPEN jump shots and only being single covered in the post not to leave and imprint not just on this game but on this season. All you ever hear Gasol do is WHINE about it being somebodies else's fault when he doesn't bring it one night. All I want this guy to do 1 time just 1 time is admit he dropped the ball and didn't perform. But knowing Pau he'll say he's hurt or its Kobe's fault he shot so bad.

Also Doc weren't you basically "Pro-Pau" in another thread pushing the cheer-leading squad on making sure we resign this guy this offseason. At this current time I realize like most people on this forum its time to move on from Pau Gasol, if he resigns for 8mill or less I'm all for it anything more than that is a horrible idea. We can find another big who will pound and rebound out there and actually play some defense and try to protect the rim.

my original response was actually meant for people trying to blame MDA and the all too common witch hunt that ensues after every single loss. people don't have to always be angry when the team loses and looking for a scapegoat even if a player/coach is deserving of it.

as far as being pro-pau, i'm pro-pau in the sense that i would like to see him brought back for one more yr simply cause i don't want the team to waste their cap in 2014 since i don't think there's any worth targets. i'd rather see a team with a bunch of guys i like, of which pau is one. i don't expect a title contender, so i'd prefer to have players that are good people that i can cheer for.

as far as your comments about if this was kobe i'd be criticizing him, you're right, i probably would. what you need to understand is that not every player is the same and each player has differing abilities. pau gasol's legs are done, so i'm not going to jump on his case if his jumper is off. thats the nature of shooting jumpers. sadly for him his body won't let him contribute in any other way at this point. kobe has never had to settle for jumpers, and thats where i'd be focusing my criticism. kobe has the ability to create for others or create for himself in the paint or the post. going forward who knows, but i'm just talking about kobe from the past if this was him and not pau tonight.

[gotokyo]

It's starting to bug me that people keep generalizing our starters as terrible while praising our bench as being phenomenal.

Our starters tonight were

Blake - Been playing great so far this year.
Meeks - Has his ups and downs but overall pretty solid.
Johnson - Has had an excellent couple games recently
Hill - In a bit of a slump but just the other week he was getting MIP nominations from a lot of people around here.
And finally Pau - All around terrible.

I get the feeling that since the starting 5 has changed a few times since the start of the season that people on here start to overlook who the actual starters are on any given night and just classify (Pau, Nash) as the starters and think of (Blake, Farmar, Meeks, Young, Henry, Johnson, Hill) as "the bench" even though the majority of them are starters right now.

Most of those guys played their best when they were on the floor with the 2nd unit. Our starters as a whole have been horrible for most of the season. Our biggest bright spot this season has been the bench play. they've dug us out of alot of deficits all season long. Tonight Farmar injury showed how much this team misses his grittiness, play-making and self confidence out there

My point is that if blake, meeks, johnson or hill have a solid game they get referred to as our group of "bench players" disregarding the fact that they've all actually been starting the games.

I think the biggest reason why our starting unit sucks while they're all playing together is Pau. He's been terrible with the starting group and terrible with the actual bench players. But since he's been one of the only constants in our starting lineup people generalize his play with the group as a whole.