Lakers v. Minnesota

Another back to back for the Lakers who are coming off to disappointing losses. The Lakers are now fighting to hold onto the 8th seed after last night's loss to the Kings.

Tonight these adjustments need to be made ...

Without Chris Mihm, the Lakers need to put Odom in the post and use him as the primary player down low. PJax should start Odom at PF and use Luke Walton as the starting SF.

Instead of using Odom as the initiator, Walton will take over that role tonight to run the offense.

The game tonight is a MUST WIN for the Lakers. The TWolves are a mess right now, but they've given the Lakers problems all season long. The Lakers have to establish their homecourt by winning in convincing style. The TWolves only have 8 road wins on the season, which ranks as one of the worst in the league.

 

They just announced Ronny Turiaf is starting tonight!

 

We're so fortunate that Marcus Banks missed that wide open three. How did he get so wide open? He had a great game, too.

Some things I noticed:

1) For all you guys wondering about Jimmy Jackson, he's not in shape right now. He may look in shape, but he's not in game shape. Once he gets some more minutes logged and more practice, you can expect that shot of his to start falling and he won't look sluggish out there anymore.

2) Kwame Brown is really becoming an impact player off of the bench for us. 13 and 9 for us tonight, but the biggest thing is that he held his own against Garnett. His post defense is so underrated. Garnett shot a dismal 4-14 tonight, Kwame was on him like a maggot on rotten food. There is no reason why Kwame can't be a Ben Wallace type of player, but with a little more offense in his game. Expect Kwame to be a defensive monster for us this time next year.

3) Kobe Bryant started the game off something like 3-9, but finished strong. He ended up 12-25, but didn't get to the free throw line. He had two key baskets for us in the final minute that sealed the deal. He also had an assist to Luke that put us up for good. Kobe is tired, there's no doubt about that. He needs to have a good game, it seems that whenever he plays the Hornets, he always follows up with about 3 bad games. I'm looking for Kobe to come back to his old self, he only got the the free throw line one time tonight, and three times last night. We need him to start attacking again, it makes things so much easier.

4) Lamar was strong all game long. I love when he plays like this, we are so hard to beat. He was 7-10 in the first half, and finished 9-15. His shots always diminish in the second half, so we need to get him more shots in the 3rd quarter. He finished the game with 20, 12, and 8. He is always so close to the triple double, but never there. He'll get one very soon, especially with the way he's been playing lately. Lamar, over about the last 5 games (not including tonight), has averaged 18.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7 assists a game. If he can keep up this pace of play, we can stun Dallas in the first round of the playoffs (assuming they take over San Antonio, and we hold our 8th seed).

All in all, it was a tale of two halfs for the Lakers. We were lackluster in the first half, but in the second half, we looked great. We held off the Timberwolves when they would make runs and finished strong. It was a much needed victory before we go on the road.

 

Nice win by the Lakers, it's the first win in 5 games against the TWolves and was much needed. The Lakers need to create as much seperation from the Hornets and Jazz and still make a push for the 6th seed.

I felt bad for Ronny early on. He had back to back traveling violations and really looked like a deer in headlights as a starter. Once he settled down, he had some nice hustle plays for the Lakers.

Lamar Odom was big for the Lakers tonight and played strong in both halves.

The speed of Marcus Banks and Rashad McCants was killing the Lakers. I really wanted Banks in the original Celtics trade, and hopefully the Lakers make a run at him in the offseason. He'll be a free agent and would be the speed guard for this team, something the Lakers really lack right now.

Kwame played another solid game for the Lakers. 13/9 or 10/8 is the perfect target for him to go after every night.

Kobe is definitely tired and trying to hit jumpshots off the dribble too, much. He's at his best when he's around the FT line and in. I think he needs to start working that are of the court more so he can hit his turnaround jumpers, drive to the hoop, hit the player flashing to the basket, or drawing contact and earning points at the charity stripe. I remember Jordan used to abuse defenses in that area of the court, Kobe needs to start using his skills in the same way.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree. I just cant see a team with a GARBAGE backcourt like utah's outplaying the Lakers or Kings for the last spot in the playoffs. Even if LA continues to play .500 basketball they'll still probably get in.With the way the hornets are tanking the end of the season i think its pretty safe to say the Lakers and Kings are in the playoffs.</div>

I really want the Lakers to avoid a 1st round match up with Phoenix. Normally I would never cheer for the Kings to be ahead of the Lakers, but in this case I'm not going to complain if LA finishes 8th and Sacramento finishes 7th.