<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The San Antonio Spurs look to bounce back from their first regular-season home loss since last season when they host the Los Angeles Lakers. The first-place Spurs had a 15-game home winning streak end Friday, 106-99 to the Chicago Bulls. The Spurs' last home loss in the regular season was on March 12, 90-87 to the Denver Nuggets. They went into Friday's game with a 52-6 home record since the start of last season, including the playoffs. The Spurs, who are giving up 90.8 points per game, allowed a team to reach 100 points for only the third time this season. "I'm not concerned about the offense -- it's the defense," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. Tim Duncan had 24 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Spurs, posting his fourth consecutive double-double and league-leading 11th of the season. Los Angeles is coming off a five-game homestand, having lost three of the last four, and has dropped the last five regular-season meetings with San Antonio. Despite Kobe Bryant's NBA season-high 46 points, the Lakers lost 102-96 in overtime to the New Jersey Nets on Sunday. Bryant scored all but seven of his points after halftime, but only one in overtime. Brian Cook added 14 points and was the only Los Angeles player besides Bryant to score in double figures. "It's setting up a habit that's not going to be broken unless we got some more support for (Bryant) out on the floor," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. Los Angeles forward Luke Walton played for the first time this season, contributing eight points, seven rebounds and five assists in 35 minutes. Walton hadn't played because of injuries to his left hamstring and right hip. The Lakers were without injured forwards Kwame Brown (hamstring) and Devean George (foot), and both are expected to miss Tuesday's game. STANDINGS (through Nov. 28): Lakers - 5th place, 3 1/2 GB, Pacific Division. Spurs - 1st place (tied), Southwest Division. PROBABLE STARTERS: Lakers - F Lamar Odom, F Cook, C Chris Mihm, G Bryant, G Smush Parker. Spurs - F Bruce Bowen, F Duncan, C Rasho Nesterovic, G Tony Parker, G Manu Ginobili. TEAM LEADERS: Lakers - Bryant, 34.2 ppg; Odom, 9.6 rpg and 5.2 apg. Spurs - Duncan, 21.7 ppg and 11.9 rpg; Parker, 5.7 apg. 2004-05 SEASON SERIES: Spurs, 4-0. LAST MEETING: April 2; Spurs, 95-94. At San Antonio, Parker had 17 points and nine assists as the Spurs swept the regular-season series between the teams for the second time in three years. ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Lakers - 2-3 on the road; Spurs - 5-1 at home.</div> link:http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview;_ylt=A...?gid=2005112924 well, ive noticed that in this board, no one is doing previews or anything for the game, and i dont have the time, so i just got this from yahoo. hopefully this will make the laker board more alive. all game time discussions should go here.
well, so far the lakers defense has been horrible, and the spurs have been scoring at will. the only positive thing i can see today is that odom is driving to the basket and settling for some close range shots instead of taking the threes which he usually misses. overall, this team has to pick it up if they want to win, or not get blown out.
Well, it's amazingly close at the half. After getting raped in the first, looks like they bounced back in the second. Lamar is having a good game with 9 and 9, but doesn't have any assists yet. I expect that to change, but almost don't want it to. He's getting his shots right now, and they're going in for the most part. Hopefully he continues to look for his offense in the second half, that way Kobe doens't have to do everything. Speaking of which, he's also having a good half with 14 points. If the Lakers can keep it within striking distance, I think they may have a chance to win this. At this rate though, they might not get blown out, which would make me happy, just to see we can be competetive with the best of the West.
lakers managed to get close and made it a game, but in the end they still couldnt overcome the all mighty spurs. andrew bynum was the player i was most impressed with, so was odom, who pretty much dominated. as for kobe, well.......9 for 33 in field goal attempts. he shouldve looked to pass the ball more instead of just forcing up shots. he, in my opinion, lost the game for us. if he wouldve passed more and taken less shots, we couldve won. in mean, 27 missed shots would equal a lot if you do the math. if we couldve gotton half the buckets, or maybe even a fourth, we couldve won. boxscore:http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2005112924
I couldn't watch the game, but just looking over at the boxscore 9-33 and 0 assists from Kobe was alarming. What happened, was he forcing shots or the rest of the team was relying on him again? I like to stay positive, I guess it's a victory the team only lost by 6 on the road to the mighty Spurs, despite an ugly stat line from Kobe.
It seems that for every game, there is always one or more instrumental players that dont play well. Last game it was Odom, Mihm, and Parker. Tonights game was Kobe and Cook. Lakers have to find some consistency. Kobe is taking far to many shots and we need to involve the bench more. I hope Lakers get back on rhythm soon because watching their games is killing me.
Lamar actually had a good game. But Kobe struggles. Just wish the big 3 Smush, Kobe, and Lamar could all play well at once like in the beginning for the rest of the season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting cliplove777:</div><div class="quote_post">It seems that for every game, there is always one or more instrumental players that dont play well. Last game it was Odom, Mihm, and Parker. Tonights game was Kobe and Cook. Lakers have to find some consistency. Kobe is taking far to many shots and we need to involve the bench more. I hope Lakers get back on rhythm soon because watching their games is killing me.</div> You're absolutely right, and this is what scares me about the current team. Usually when this happens there's a couple of possibilites causing it. A) The players are generally inconsistent The team has no chemistry & trust C) The parts don't fit It could be a combination of each, but each takes a lot of time to fix. The Triangle offense is going to take at least two years before it starts clicking for this team. However, in two years a lot of the current players won't even be around, unless the Lakers pony up and resign these guys. The key right now is for Kobe and Odom to accomplish A & B for the Lakers. Those two playing well and consistent can win a lot of games by themselves. If they can score a combined 50 to 55 a night on 45% shooting this team will be fine. The defense has really improved from last season, and it's allowing the team to be competitive every night. Now the offense just needs to catch up with the defense and the Lakers can get back in the playoff race. I really like the fight in this year's team and I hope they understand they are close to becoming a "team."
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">I couldn't watch the game, but just looking over at the boxscore 9-33 and 0 assists from Kobe was alarming. What happened, was he forcing shots or the rest of the team was relying on him again? I like to stay positive, I guess it's a victory the team only lost by 6 on the road to the mighty Spurs, despite an ugly stat line from Kobe.</div> your lucky you didnt watch it shape. i was pissed off after the game thanks to kobe. first off, this guy shoots 33 shots and makes only 9. his shot was off from the start of the game, and instead of passing the ball and letting other guys shoot it, like odom was hot the whole game, he decides to force his shots and settle for fade away jump shots over bruce bowen! and no, as you can see from the box score, he wasnt very succesful.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting cliplove777:</div><div class="quote_post">It seems that for every game, there is always one or more instrumental players that dont play well. Last game it was Odom, Mihm, and Parker. Tonights game was Kobe and Cook. Lakers have to find some consistency. Kobe is taking far to many shots and we need to involve the bench more. I hope Lakers get back on rhythm soon because watching their games is killing me.</div> Yeah I agree man. You don't know who's going to show up for the Lakers every night. YOu know Kobe is going to jack up a endless amount of shots. Then there are nights were you just get contributions from others. No one on this team is relyable on scoring points they are known for.
