The refs have been making bad calls all night. Brand travels plus a backcourt violation, and Lamar gets called for what was perfectly fine defense.
WOW- if kobe keeps shooting this many shots and not making them, he's going to lose his team. I don't care how good he is- watching someone take shots every other time down the floor and missing gets frustrating. Where is Phil Jackson? Is he not saying anything or is Kobe ignoring him? What happend to 50% ? 35 SHOTS FOR 36 POINTS? My god. If they moved the ball better Kobe would get easy looks, instead of going one on and one and throwing up fade-aways....I'm the biggest Kobe fan ever but this is getting boring/frustrating to watch. Phil better get a grasp on his player and his team b4 they fall into a hole too big to climb out of
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ilive4ball:</div><div class="quote_post">WOW- if kobe keeps shooting this many shots and not making them, he's going to lose his team. I don't care how good he is- watching someone take shots every other time down the floor and missing gets frustrating. Where is Phil Jackson? Is he not saying anything or is Kobe ignoring him? What happend to 50% ? 35 SHOTS FOR 36 POINTS? My god. If they moved the ball better Kobe would get easy looks, instead of going one on and one and throwing up fade-aways....I'm the biggest Kobe fan ever but this is getting boring/frustrating to watch. Phil better get a grasp on his player and his team b4 they fall into a hole too big to climb out of</div> word
I thought the offense was a lot better last night than it has been for the Lakers. Four starters scored in double figures, which is the first time this season. The players are spacing better, but still need to learn how to choose their spots in the offense. They are relying on Kobe far too, much and not playing within the flow. Smush Parker, Profit, and Sasha missed WIDE OPEN shots all night long when Odom and Kobe created for them. Combined those two were 1-6 from behind the arc. Lamar shot 2-7 from the free throw line, more missed opportunities for easy baskets. I know Kobe shot terrible, but even when he's taking it against double or triple teams and missing, it opens up easy baskets for the big men. Mihm got a couple of easy baskets just hustling on the offensive glass. Once the players start learning how to move when Kobe draws the defense they'll be more efficient on offense. The real culprit for last night's game was the Lakers transition defense. The Clippers were doing layup drills on the defense after the Lakers scored or missed. No one was communicating and getting back on defense. Maggette just caught the ball and sprinted right to the basket getting a layup or drawing a foul. He did it all night long against the Lakers. Also the Lakers lost Kwame Brown to a hamstring injury last night. He was playing well and giving Elton Brand problems. Kwame also had 8 rebounds and 3 assists before he left the game. With Mihm nursing his left ankle and Kwame out, Bynum was forced to play in this game. He got worked a couple of times by Kaman on the inside. I don't think he realized Kaman is a lefty, so he kept getting sealed off by him. Bynum however, was a vaccuum on the rebounding. He was limiting the Clippers to only one shot, and grabbed 5 rebounds in just 7 minutes. What I like about Bynum, is he actually plays like a big man. He takes full advantage of wingspan and boxes out. The Clippers were never behind in this game, but the Lakers had their opportunities. The foul on Odom was a momentum stopper, but the Lakers also got helped out on few calls. The Clippers are simply the better team right now. They have seasoned veterans who know how to play basketball and the Lakers defense made it easy for them. It seemed like the Clippers didn't have to work for anything on offense.
Odom was on fire last night. He really showed some aggression which couldn't come at a better time. Right now the Lakers need a huge uplift of some sort. Kobe's gotta forget about the media and satisfying everyone, and just play ball. 30 ppg is not required to get a team rolling.
