<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES, Nov. 27 (Ticker) -- Kobe Bryant had another big effort in the second half. Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets did not allow him to be the hero in overtime. Bryant scored 39 of his NBA season-high 46 points after halftime but Kidd's season-best 35 points were the key to the Nets' 102-96 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. NBA TV highlights from Nets-Lakers: Play On the heels of Thursday's comeback win against Seattle in which he scored 29 of his 34 points after the intermission, Bryant nearly duplicated the feat Sunday as he helped the Lakers rally from an 18-point second-half deficit. The league's leading scorer poured in 10 points in the final 1:32 of regulation, but it was Brian Cook's short jumper at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime tied at 91-91. New Jersey, which lost the first three games of its road trip, held Bryant to one point in the extra session by denying him the ball and forcing his teammates to make shots. </div> Article Box score Lakers can't seem to win when Kobe can't score...
Kobe shot pretty bad and usually I'd be quick to blame him for taking so many shots, but the whole team shot even worse than he did tonight. It's not like they were out of rhythm either because most of his 1000 shots came in the 2nd half and everyone was way out of sync already. The team's consistency is what is really hurting them, Phil needs to work on the offense to try to bring more stability within it. So far I am very disappointed in the team's start.
Dag it was such a horrendous, utterly disgusting first half!! I was ready to puke about the performance of our beloved Lakers during the first half. We got lucky to even get to OT...
The first half was really just a matter of getting the damn ball through the net, they we're getting lots of looks and shots off, but none of them would sink, it was pretty bad. On the upside, I liked watching Bynum play, Luke looked good in his first game back, and the defense improved in the 2nd half. Odom was no where to be found, Smush looked very ineffective on the offense and especially defending Kidd (I think Sasha guarded better, lol) and Mihm was in foul trouble all night.
Cook seemed to have a good game, everyone else STUNK! Yes, Kobe did score 39 points in the second half, but he's hoisting up too many shots. I heard we may be getting Carlos Boozer. Odom didn't score his 20, and where was Smush? Bynum also had a pretty good game.
Another heartbreaker and game the Lakers were capable of winning. Kobe Bryant has become a one man team for the Lakers and no one else is showing up on a consistent basis. Kobe scored 46, the rest of the team 50. Lamar Odom failed to show up again shooting 1 for 11 and only scoring 8 points in 47 minutes. The loss assured the Lakers would finish the month with a losing record. The next game is against the Spurs, which should be another loss for the team, because the Spurs are far too, good for this team to beat right now. Phil Jackson said Thanksgiving would be the deadline for Lamar Odom to show he can be a threat as the initiator. He played great in the Sonics game, but was terrible last night and with Luke back, I think Odom will lose his role in the offense as the initiator.
Bynum had a good night considering, Odom stunk, (what else is new), Cook had a good game, and Walton's return was much appreciated. That guys a damn good passer. I wouldn't mind if LA traded away Odom and put Walton as the starting SF.
Now I see why Kobe take those shots. I seen the entire game, and I was hoping he took 10+ additional shots. The team offense is horrendous and I'm okay with him taking those shots and if anybody seen the Lakers offense too, you too would be okay with him taking those amount of shots. But the only thing I'm against about the amount of shots that he take is the number of forced shots he attempts. If he doesn't have the shot simply pass it up, when he takes those shots it only hurts his FG%. As far as him trusting his teammates, Kobe is heading in the right direction. In the last two possessions for the Lakers in the 4th quarter he passed the ball up and the last play went to Lamar Odom attempting to win the game. In OT he looked to set others guy up and be the offensive initiator. That was without a doubt a sign of him starting to trust his teammates. I personally though he was going to try and go for 50 and win, but instead he looked to try and play team ball and win. So I give him credit for that. But as far as the Lakers season goes, it's going to be one longgg season. He must stay level headed and take things slowly and realize this team has a long way to go.
The rest of the team shot a combined 18/59 ... 30.5% field goal. Pretty much sums it up right there for this team. Kobe Bryant has been forced to be the 1st and 2nd option on the team, and the best defender on the court. It's unfortunate the organization is wasting his prime years trying to rebuild and hold out for 2007. The Lakers have one of the most dominating players in the game, yet they are adament about waiting until 2007 to start building around him. In the meantime they waste 4 years of Kobe's career. Brilliant planning.
Kobe shots dont bother me, its the forced ones like someone said. The Lakers have absolutely no shooters...the fact that Cook and George are the # 2 and #3 options (no I didn't forget about Lamar) but he went 1-11 last night, and when he got a chance to redeem himself with a wide open three (via Kobe) he missed it. Trade Kobe. I'm a Kobe fan first and foremost- put him in a winning situation.
The game against the Nets was horrendous. Odom was non-existant in the offense and it looked like everyone was depending on Kobe. Good news though, Luke Walton looked very good last night and I would be content with him playing like that all season. Odom needs to work on his consistency or the results are going to be Lakers going under .500 by 10000 games.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ilive4ball:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe shots dont bother me, its the forced ones like someone said. The Lakers have absolutely no shooters...the fact that Cook and George are the # 2 and #3 options (no I didn't forget about Lamar) but he went 1-11 last night, and when he got a chance to redeem himself with a wide open three (via Kobe) he missed it. Trade Kobe. I'm a Kobe fan first and foremost- put him in a winning situation.</div> Why would you trade Kobe, arguably the best active nba player in the league today, when you can trade away the problems around him(Odom, Kwame, etc) for a chance to improve the team?
I'd like to see the Lakers experiment with Odom coming off the bench. Maybe, just maybe, that will finally wake him up and get him to appreciate his talent. Let him flourish against second units and run the offense while Kobe takes a rest on the bench. Luke Walton is a lot better at being the initiator, and Kwame Brown/Chris Mihm will have to do a better job at rebounding. Maybe have Smush join Odom on the bench as well, so they can come in at the same time and play a more uptempo style off the bench. <u>Starters</u> PG - Laron Profit SG - Kobe Bryant SF - Luke Walton PF - Kwame Brown C - Chris Mihm 6th Man - Lamar Odom
I say trade anybody BUT Kobe or Odom. Only trade Odom if it's for an all-star type player. I wouldn't like to see Mihm go because there aren't any good centers that would come to LA and, I think, Mihm is starting to get things together and is playing pretty well. I wouldn't like to see Smush, Bynum, or Walton go because they are all good players with great potential.
Man I feel for K8 honestly... he plays his heart out day in and day out but it seems like the team isn't even there. It goes from the lakeshow to the Kobeshow. Lamar needs to produce, the game against the sonics we killed when Odom was getting his shots up. The same with Parker! Not only Odom but Parker needs to produce!! Everytime they do we are up for the W. Cook, inconsistent... Mihm... Inconsistent. IMO we should start Cook instead of Brown because at least Cook's inconsistent.. Brown has yet to show any signs of life. Mihm, inconsistent but hes starting to show some life, and with Bynum obviously continuing yo improve we should be fine.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting drunkenbarden:</div><div class="quote_post">Odom needs to score more. btw did Kobe get in a arguement with Vince?</div> Yeah they got into a little shoving match. Kobe fouled Vince hard and wrapped him up so he couldn't get the and 1, and Vince gave Kobe an elbow. So Kobe took exception to it and they had to be seperated. Not a real big deal, Kobe was frustrating Vince and held him to just 10 points.
Lasts nights game against the Nets started of bad and ended bad. The entire first half was a nightmare for me. Lakers only scored 10 points in the first quarter. I believe the Lakers were held to under 20% in scoring the first half. Thats horrible. Lamar Odom had a horrible game.......shooting 1 for 11. Odom has to start becoming more consistent. With the way he's going I dont see him averging 20 ppg. Luke Walton had a good game considering it was his first game since his injury. Brian Cook had a tremendous role in Lakers coming back from such a great defecit. Bynum is improving as every game goes by. I can tell that he is becoming more aggressive in the post. I have high hopes for the kid. Mihm and Parker had a pretty bad night. And their were to many missed free throws. The OT really annoyed me. Of all the shot attempts, Cook was the only player on the team that made anything. Other than the one point Kobe contributed from the foul line, Cook made the only 4 points of overtime. Another dissapointing game for the Lakers. I'm hoping they get bring their A game for the Spurs or else this next matchup dont look to good either.
All I can say is I am very displeased with the production thus far. I don't put the blame on Kobe or Phil Jackson at all. I am blaming management for putting mediocre players around him. I can see why he's chucking 30 shots a night. You saw what happend when he didn't shoot much for the early part of the game. It took them almost 5-6 minutes to score the FIRST TWO POINTS!!! It's awful. It's not just a question if these guys can understand the triangle, but it's if they have the will and hunger to win.
LA plays better when the offense is run through Odom. It seems that every time Kobe scores 40, the Lakers lose.
