<div class="quote_poster">Moo2K4 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Kwame is frustrating the life out of me right now. He's not playing well on defense and he can't make his FTs. </div>Kwame sucks. He has the competitive juices of a squashed piece of licorice.
<div class="quote_poster">Brok3n Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Damn, no one else on the Laker team can hit a shot right now, what's going on?</div> Mavericks have finally decided to play the good team D they played last year.
Talk about a horrible end to a game. We got so close, but couldn't close it out. No one was able to hit a shot and Kobe couldn't get an open look for his life. Dallas played some great defense down the stretch, but the Lakers also played careless and sloppy offense. There was no flow to it and when they got opportunities, they blew them. Walton missed AT LEAST three layups by himself. Kwame missed a couple of gimmes beneath the hoop and was blocked at least twice cause he didn't go up strong. The Lakers pretty much killed themselves. They couldn't defend consistently tonight and they missed easy shots all night. The Lakers should have come a lot closer, if not won tonight, but they made so many small mistakes and missed the gimme shots and just beat themselves. However, I will give full credit to the Mavs as well. They shot the ball extremely well all night and played great defense, especially down the stretch.
Im just glad Kobe wasnt seriously hurt. He scared me for a minute. talk about a fourth quarter meltdown. terrible. Actually, the 2nd half was all Kobe. No one else stepped up to the plate. Kwame had butter fingers, shots were not dropping from point blank range, Smush looked lost..... I hope PJAX hammers them. The suns are now back on top with our loss and their win. SUCKS.
Actually i am pretty satisfied with the outcome... if you take the fact that lamar was out, luke didnt find his shot and the mavs were one fire... losing to the mavs 110-101 isnt that bad... i mean 9 points! if luke found his shot then that would have been enough to beat the mavs... anyway Sh*t happens and we'll get the next one
<div class="quote_poster">kobe23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Actually i am pretty satisfied with the outcome... if you take the fact that lamar was out, luke didnt find his shot and the mavs were one fire... losing to the mavs 110-101 isnt that bad... i mean 9 points! </div> I think you're missing the point a bit, the point is is that LA has always had Dallas's number for some reason, and after beating Spurs and Jazz they wanted to get this game and send a message that this Laker team is stronger than last year and is a top team in the West. The body language of the Lakers said that they wanted this game more than the Mavs, they wanted to make a statement. They also played good team D for the most part. So to not get it was a dent in the confidence. However as you say that dent can heal easily with their next quality win.
Losing is never a good thing, but the Lakers were competitive last night. Luke Walton had his worst game of the season, and didn't step up in Odom's absence. Josh Howard was a tough matchup for him, because Howard has the length to bother Luke, and Howard is far more athletic. Luke was short on a lot his shots, and I think it had everything to do with Luke having to chance Howard around on defense, and work extra hard on offense. I was really surprised at the lack of minutes Turiaf received. I thought he'd be a good matchup against Dirk, because Turiaf is a physical defender and Dirk gets rattled when a defender knocks him around. Similar to what Haslem did last year in the Finals. Dirk stopped going in the post after Haslem roughed him up. The Lakers odds of winning always take a dramatic dip whenever Ben "the Rat" Salvatore is officiating a game. These next two home games are crucial for us, before an extended road trip. With the surge Phoenix has going, we need to win both of these.
