GT:Queens @ Lakers 114 points is too many to give up and expect to win an NBA game. No ifs, ands or buts! To come out of this key game tonight with a victory we will need to play a better game defensively. In our loss at Sacramento on March 14th we allowed the Kings to shoot 54% from the field (52% from the three point line and 93% from the free throw line). That is simply unacceptable for a team trying to stay in the playoff picture. This is the third time we are playing Sacramento in less than a month so we should know them well and they surely know us. As we pointed out before, the Kings are adding a little more low post sequences to their offense. However, they still hurt teams (including us on 3/14) with their potent combination of pick and rolls/pops and high post entries with ball and player movement creating open shots. They have also given Ron Artest the opportunity to isolate in various spots on the floor. In the March 14th game he was able to attack Lamar Odom off the dribble. Our help defense was a little late in rotating. While we did a pretty good job in defending his post ups we need improved results against Artest?s isolations and pick and rolls. Another area that we will focus on is after timeout situations. Coach Rick Adelman has always done a good job of putting in a little wrinkle after timeouts to a play that they have been running. They were able to hurt us in these situations on March 14th so we will have to be cognizant of this fact tonight and try to minimize these opportunities. We had 18 turnovers in the game at Sacramento which is too many, but part of the problem was the type of turnovers. Now don?t misunderstand, there is no such thing as a ?good turnover? but there is a difference between a 24 second violation and a steal that leads to a fastbreak. Sacramento was able to capitalize on our mistakes and hit four open three point shots in transition and ended up beating us in the fastbreak point matchup 21-9. Bibby is especially dangerous in transition because he is equally capable of just pullup up from three or making a move to the basket. We absolutely must contain Bibby and the rest of the Kings in this area. Sacramento Coach Adelman likes to use a tight seven man rotation. Last night in their win against Seattle he expanded this just a little. Rookie Francisco Garcia is back from a sprained left ankle and Jason Hart got off the bench for the first time in a while as Coach Adelman was trying to keep the troops fresh for tonight. A win tonight gives the Kings the tie breaker if we end up with the same record. New Orleans and Utah are still within striking range of the eighth playoff spot. We know the significance of the game so we must simply have the determination to be successful. Prediction: <font color=""red"">Must</font> win for the Lakers: <font color=""Red"">Kings 98 Lakers 105</font>
The Lakers must defend their homecourt the rest of the way. The last time the Kings came to Staples they lost by 26 points and the Lakers dominated the matchup. The Kings have improved since then, and gave the Lakers a shalacking in Sacramento. The Lakers have to run Artest into screens like they did in their victory at Staples. Being physical with Artest wore him down, and allowed Kobe to have more space to get his shots off. Mike Bibby has been on fire lately, and Smush has to step up again on the defensive end. Bibby loves to get his shot off by dribbling left, so Smush needs to force him right and push him towards the help defense. The Kings love running the pick and roll, so the Lakers better be prepared to defend it. Communication is the key to stopping the pick and roll, and the 1st and 2nd rotations must be alert and in their spots incase the first line of defense breaksdown. The Lakers will have the benefit of having a day off and facing the Kings who played a late game last night. Artest, Miller, and Bibby had to play 40 minutes last night, so they'll have some tired legs. The Lakers have to come out with energy and pace themselves for a competitive 48 minutes of basketball tonight. Any letdowns is going to give the Kings confidence to steal a game tonight. With the Hornets winning last night, this game becomes even more important for the Lakers to be victorious. The desperation is there, and I like the extra attention PJax has put on this game. He made the team sit through a lot of video to figure out how to stop the Kings defensively. The Lakers win when they are focused, and they will be focused in tonight's matchup. I expect a convincing Laker win tonight.
lakers must win, no doubt. to do so, kobe has to have a good game against ron, and all players better be ready and play good defense. i hope odom continues his good play as of late, and smush better not make any stupid mistakes. also, our bench has to step up big, and if luke can get involved like hes been in the last couple of games, it would be a huge bonus. you also must take in the consideration of the refs..........
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting playmaker15:</div><div class="quote_post">^phiLA is dat esther baxter in ur avy GOD DAAAAAAAYUM</div> haha. yeah. lol. and i thought i was the only one that knew about her.
So, I'm just checking the box-score cause I'm on vacation and don't have access to anything but sportscenter later on, and Kobe's KILLING. The dude is on pace for a quadruple double. He has 6 pts ( on 3 shots) 3 rebs 3 assts and 3 steals and the Lakers are up by 13...let's hope this game get's out of hand and Kobe can sit the second half
lakers clicking on all cylinders right now. kwame has been a force offensively and defensively, smush made his shots and the same with sasha. kobe is kobe and just hit a dagger at the end of the second. but we all know no lead is safe with this team, so im not celebrating yet. i have a feeling the 3rd is going to be a battle considering the lakers always come out flat after the half. hopefully they can prove me wrong and we will be able to get the victory at the end.
Looks like the Kings came out slow and got KILLED in the 1st quarter. When i checked the score on my phone and saw it was 14-30 in the first qt. I was HEATED ! Ive got faith that the Kings can make a comeback. Whats up with the lakers being a crappy home team yet playing perfectly whenever they play the Kings at home? Kwame brown on pace for 20+ pts is a perfect example. Kings can do this!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting phiLA:</div><div class="quote_post">haha. yeah. lol. and i thought i was the only one that knew about her. </div> I know of her too. Anyways whohoo Lakers up 15 in the third.
Kwame is beasting it. If him and Lamar stepped up every game and did what they are EASILY capable of doing, and LA got the usual 10-12 from Parker, they'd easily be 4th or 5th seed...but no lol we get 6 and 6 Kwame 98% of the time, oh well. He plays good D. And LA's up by 15
Lakers win it, 87-80. Very good game by Kwame, 21 points and 12 boards. Bryant scored below average, and Odom had a pretty nice game with 13-8-8.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting phiLa:</div><div class="quote_post">haha. yeah. lol. and i thought i was the only one that knew about her. </div> Who can forget Miss Freak-a-Leak?
dude, I think it's safe to safe Odom and Kwame are finally in their groove, Odom has been coming through every single game now and Kwame has been getting it done defensively, and tonight he proved he can also do it offensively. These two are only going to get better, I can't wait. How bout the refs tonight? You guys see that offensive foul they called on Kobe, it was unbelievable. They don't give up with that crap, something has to be done, Lakers have been prevailing so we're not b!tching like we have with the Cavs and Nets loss, hopefully we keep winning though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bahir:</div><div class="quote_post">Lakers win it, 87-80. Very good game by Kwame, 21 points and 12 boards. Bryant scored below average, and Odom had a pretty nice game with 13-8-8.</div> Bryant can afford to play below his average if Kwame and Odom can play like this all the time. Nice win against the QUEENS. They still know that the staples center still belongs to the home team!
I went to todays game. I was there really early so I got to see the players shoot around. Its surprising that sasha vujacic is automatic in practice but he is inconsistent in the game. I was really shocked to see that bynum can shoot 3 pointers consistently. He's going to be something. I thought todays game Lakers played really well in the first half but they let the queens come back into the game. Kwame had his best game of the season with 21, 12, 3. Looks like he's filling his role now. I would like to see Odom shoot the ball more sometimes.
