<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OKLAHOMA CITY ? Before the Lakers lost their third consecutive game, 106-90, to the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday, Kobe Bryant said his favorites in the NBA to watch are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Detroit Pistons "for the way they execute." It's no wonder, then, Bryant has gotten sick of what surrounds him on this Lakers team. Their young players can't gun like James and Wade and are so imprecise with the mental aspects of the game that Bryant was shouting at just about every teammate at one time or another Saturday night. "We're not executing well at all," Bryant said. "That's what's frustrating." Ever since Bryant disguised the Lakers' core problems with his 81-point game for a comeback victory, opponents have been firm in not allowing him to dominate to that extent. The Hornets became the latest team to send aggressive double-team traps at Bryant from the tipoff, and while he managed 35 points on 13-of-26 shooting, the Lakers never got in sync after most of teammates started out missing shots off Bryant passes. "We're feeling sorry for ourselves because our shots aren't falling," Devean George said. "But that's going to happen." George said he wishes the Lakers could be a consistent defensive team in the face of bad shooting games. Instead, they lost focus at that end Saturday, allowing a season-high 56.8 percent shooting by the Hornets, whose rookie point guard Chris Paul (19 points, 13 assists) controlled the game. As Bryant's trust in his teammates comes into question, so does the Lakers' playoff candidacy. The Lakers (24-23) fell behind the Hornets (24-22) and into the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference, with Utah a game behind. The Lakers, playing a second consecutive game without injured Lamar Odom, used Bryant mostly at guard, and he had a season-high-tying seven turnovers for a second consecutive game. He had reached seven turnovers only once in his previous 43 games. Playing for the first time without injured Chris Mihm, the Lakers had minimal interior presence. Their 35 three-point shots fell one shy of the club record, and their 12 foul shots were a season low. Mihm said he has an injured tendon in his right shoulder, near his collarbone, and it's unclear whether he will be able to play again this trip. The Lakers play in Dallas on Tuesday and in Houston on Wednesday. Odom reported some improvement in his rib cartilage injury, though movement with his left arm still bothers him. Kwame Brown, badly needed without Mihm and Odom, hit the deck twice. He got poked in the eye by David West and pounded the floor in panic. Later, Brown howled in pain and went down again when he felt something in his previously strained right hamstring. Brown did not leave the game, however. He finished with a game-high 10 rebounds but did not play well. After the Lakers cut the lead late to 97-87, Brown twice did not box out on rebounds, allowing Hornets forward Rasual Butler to sail in for tip dunks to lock up the game. "Kwame had some tough times out there," Coach Phil Jackson said.</div> Source
Lakers should be happy the way i see it look at thier roster Luke Walton is NBDL material Devin Green nobody even knows him And Smush Parker starting in an NBA team just sounds wrong. Not to mention the biggest bust is playing Pf. Lakers need to trade. I was really hoping artest would come because he would turn the franchise around but now he'a a king. I heard Paul Pierce was on the block.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MVP_RonArtest:</div><div class="quote_post">Lakers should be happy the way i see it look at thier roster Luke Walton is NBDL material Devin Green nobody even knows him And Smush Parker starting in an NBA team just sounds wrong. Not to mention the biggest bust is playing Pf. Lakers need to trade. I was really hoping artest would come because he would turn the franchise around but now he'a a king. I heard Paul Pierce was on the block.</div> nah kobe and pierce wouldn't get along... the lakers should try and trade odom for a couple of good role players most preferably a PG
I don't think Pierce is on the block any longer, but K-Mart and Steve Francis are if we can make a deal for those guys that will bring us in contention for the 3rd or 4th spot in the West and a definite playoff berth.
Exactly. Steve Francis doesn't deserve to be on the Lakers. He's horrible off of the ball, he needs it to be effective. Steve + Kobe = Suicide.
^yep. i agree. stevie needs the ball a lot to be effective. you pair him up with kobe bryant who shoots 50 shots per game, its not going to be fun in laker land. they are better off now then they would be with stevie.
Does Buss care anymore? <div class="quote_poster">Quoting trenchteam:</div><div class="quote_post">I feel an urgency coming on. we are at .500 now...</div> The best thing that could happen to the Lakers this year is the lottery. Besides Kobe, no one on this roster would come close to even being a sixth or seventh man on any other playoff teams in the West. Bynum has potential. The rest of the roster are stiffs and overpaid mistakes. Jerry Buss could care less and actually looks worse than Donald Sterling for the first time in Laker history. Sell the team to someone who cares before this franchise is in shambles and the Clippers own LA.
