<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">McKie is starting today. Which I find pretty strange.......</div> well McKie left like in the first 30 seconds...lol...Farmar played well again, just didnt hit some shots...Radman has been making some nice passes (like the one to Turiaf for a dunk)...now let me go back and watch my comeback
Sorry I didn't have the play by play tonight, but I did watch the entire game. The 1st half was really ugly for the Lakers, they shot under 30% for most of it, and showed little effort on defense. The 2nd half was a lot better, and the energy unit of Farmar, Sasha, and Turiaf helped the Lakers climb back from a double digit halftime defecit. The Lakers took the lead at one point, but ended up losing the game at the end. Devin Green looked horrible in the 4th period and closing minutes of the game. He missed 3 WIDE OPEN mid-range jumpshots, set up perfectly by Farmar. He also got taken to school by John Salmons at the other end. He single-handedly killed the momentum of the Lakers down the stretch. Another disappoinment was Pinnock. He airballed a 3pt shot, and clanged the back iron on another one. He seems to be trying to prove he can stick the ball during preseason instead of doing what he does best, drive to the rim and hammer it down. Radman had another off night for the Lakers. He fouled out in just 14 minutes of play, and still can't make his open looks. His finger injury must be bothering him more than we think. At least I hope that's the reason he can't make his 3point shots. Right now he reminds me of Glen Rice when he came to the Lakers. For some reason Glen Rice went from a lights out shooter, to an average one. The Lakers really need to work on their transition defense during the remaining pre-season games. The Kings always had a player leak out for an easy layup and the Lakers didn't communicate to defend against it. The one positive tonight was Ronny Turiaf. He had another monster night for the Lakers and ended up (or came close to) a double double. He also played great help defense in the post and out on the perimeter. Ronny is also showing some passing skills from the high post. The last few games, it looks like the Lakers have some great chemistry on the court with Farmar, Sasha, Turiaf, Cook, and Walton out there. These guys speed up the game on offense, and really get after it defensively by deflecting passes and crashing the boards. Aaron McKie had back spasms during the first 3 minutes of the game and never returned. Unfortunately, neither Devin Green or Pinnock took advantage of the extra playing time and might have played themselves out of a roster spot. It also didn't help their cause that Sasha played very well tonight, and Shamu played well last night.
<div class="quote_poster">DynastYWarrioR6 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Shape admit it Sasha is impressive </div> Never! J/K ... Sasha played well tonight. He's not hesistating on his jumper anymore and he's doing a better job of getting to the rim. He still makes some mistakes that drive me crazy. Like getting picked by Bibby when he was trying to run a fastbreak.
Sasha is starting to develeped the player that he was projected to be. Remember he is only 20 years old. Man this kid has a lot of potential. If, Sasha, Turiaf, Cook, Kwame develeped to be great role players...I think Kupchack will be GM of the year...haha~ BUt honestly Bynum is starting to disapoint me...as a young player he should be able to just trained to be stronger and not get tired after 5 minutes of play. I don't think he is dedicating himself to basketball 100%.
Postgame Stuff courtesy of LG.net: Video Highlights: http://www.sendspace.com/file/i27pab (94MB) <div class="quote_poster">Quoting DancingBarry@LG:</div><div class="quote_post">Just as the Lakers subtract one player off the walking wounded list, they add two more in Shammond and McKie. Add them to Kobe, Kwame, Mihm, Phil and Vlad Rad's shooting hand. As we stagger toward the opener, at least the Lakers young guns have been given an opportunity to make their case. After the game, the two guys who left lasting impressions were once again Ronny Turiaf and Jordan Farmar. Sasha also gets a mention for some energy off the bench. That group dug the Lakers out of a hole. The rest of the Lakers worked on keeping us in the hole to eventually lose, 96-91 to the Kings. Both Devin Green and McKie made a case against a roster spot. McKie getting a strained back after a minute of play (looked like a bruised knee, don't ask). Devin Green became a liability on both ends of the court at the end of the game on several plays in a row. A good game here and Pinnock could have made some noise for claiming that roster spot. Little noise was heard. Wafer also has a bruise heel, but he was as good as done, anyway. The transition defense by the Lakers was somewhere at the YMCA league level for most of the night against the Kings. Rambis made some subs, benching Bynum, Smush and Evans. He seemed to be unhappy with the energy level of Bynum and Smush...and the lack of intelligent energy by Evans. At least that's my take. Turiaf and Farmar continue to build their strong cases for staying in the regular rotation when this roster is healthy.</div> Read full post
