I'm not good at making game-preview threads, but just to hear comments and speculations before the game. The game will take place at Staples Center, Los Angeles. The 26-15 recorded Lakers will square off against the 19-22 Warriors. It should be a win for the Lakers, but as we all know. The Lakers have losed many games against easier teams. BUT, the fact is that GSW is 4-15 on the road and the Lakers are 18-4 when playing at Staples Center. All eyes will be on Kobe Bryant I think. He averages 25.7 points against the Warriors through his career. Lakers have won 10 out of 11 games against Golden State. Starting lineups: Los Angeles Lakers G - Smush Parker G - Kobe Bryant F - Luke Walton F - Brian Cook C - Andrew Bynum Golden State Warriors (I'm not sure about that) G - Baron Davis G - Monta Ellis F - Mickael Pietrus F - Al Harrington C - Andris Biedrins I expect that the Lakers are going to win 97-89. (I know that this game thread sucks).
Nice first attempt at doing a preview Flow. The Lakers have no excuses tonight, they have 3 days off after tonight's game so they better come out with energy and leave it all out on the court against the Warriors. This is not an easy matchup for the Lakers, because of the problems our team is having on defense. Golden State can light up the scoreboard with the best of them, and will try to turn this game into a shootout. Again, the athletic heavy roster the Warriors have is going to be an issue for the Lakers. Luke Walton and Brian Cook have been liabilities in every game for the Lakers because of their inability to guard athletic players. Ronny Turiaf is the best option, but he gets into foul trouble trying to cover the mistakes of other players. The Lakers have not lost 3 in a row all season long, and some homecourt cooking is just what the team needs right now. This will probably be the last game the team plays before Odom and Kwame return, so the role players better make the most out of this opportunity. The Lakers need an efficient game tonight and must keep their turnovers under 12. The Warriors are dangerous when you give them extra opportunities to score, because of all the offensive fire power the team has. The Lakers must do a much better job on rebounding. Andris Biedrins is very active on the offensive glass, so the Lakers need to put a body on him after every shot goes up. They also have to watch out for Al Harrington sprinting to the hoop for easy tip in opportunities. Both Harrington and Biedrins must be accounted for on rebounding assignments. The Lakers must also make a concerted effort to get to the free throw line. The Warriors frontcourt players all like to reach in and go for shotblocks instead of playing straight up defense. The Lakers have to be patient and use pumpfakes to get their defender out of position to draw the foul and then go for the And1 opportunity. The Warriors play zone defense almost exclusively, so the Lakers have to attack the zone similar to the way they did against Miami. Luke Walton blew the Heat's zone up with his ability to get in the paint and then score or pass to teammates. Luke has to be aggressive again tonight, and his teammates need to be active moving without the basketball. Both Luke and Smush have struggled in the last two games, so they need to step up tonight.
Thanks shapecity. You said about Luke breaking the zone defense. Yeah vs the Mavs he finished many nice layups which gave more courage to the young Lakers squad. Also, as illmatic said. Kobe needs to play 100% all game long. And he has to take it to the rim. I just watched the Spurs game. He had so many and-one plays and 2 sweet dunks there. He is a smart ball handler who always finds a window to score. Our bench needs to step out, too. We've got great shooters from the bench. If they can get hot or just hit their shots. It would give a lot to us. And like always, I hope to see a good game from both: Kobe and Bynum. A 30/6/7 (points, assists, rebounds) from Kobe would be very good and a 10/10/3 (points, rebounds, blocks) from Bynum would be great. But ofcourse, the most important thing is to get a W. OT: I hate to play against zone defense. You have to move a lot off the screens etc. You can't stay at one spot. Ofcourse, I'm 14 and from Estonia and that's how be play against the zone defense here at this age. Lol. ;D All the statistics are with us (GSW's bad road record and our good home record, Kobe's averages against GSW etc). It SHOULD be a win for us. Go Lakers !
Nice preview Flow. I expect the Lakers to win tonight, after coming off another dissapointing loss last night to a Chris Paul-less Hornets team. It should be interesting to see Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington in a Warriors uniform. The Lakers must start the game strong, because with the new additions, the Warrior's chemistry may not be completely there. PS: Aren't Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown supposed to return tonight?
<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Nice preview Flow. I expect the Lakers to win tonight, after coming off another dissapointing loss last night to a Chris Paul-less Hornets team. It should be interesting to see Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington in a Warriors uniform. The Lakers must start the game strong, because with the new additions, the Warrior's chemistry may not be completely there. PS: Aren't Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown supposed to return tonight?</div> Neither are playing tonight since the Lakers have 3 days off after this game. Buys them an extra 4 days to recover.
I don't care what the Warriors record is or their road record, what scares me the most is that they have new players after their trade. I'm worried about their running system with Al and Stephen and how our guys have to guard more athletic players like those two. This game should be tough.
Kobe playing VERY efficiently today. Taking it to the hole, being aggressive, making his shots, lovin' what I'm seeing. CHRIS MIHM SIGHTING!!! Just seeing Chris, I miss dude man, I feel bad he's still injured I hope he gets healthy soon. Andrew Bynum, gotta give this kid some props tonight. Playing an amazing game so far. Mo Evans playin real nice too Half time 61-57 Lakers, we need this one boys, Let's come out strong in the 3rd, let's go!
Yeah we won ! 108-103. Dammit, we let them shoot too much. Harrington got 30. But, we got a great game from Mamba. 42 points and 8 rebounds. Kobe shot 11-22 from the floor, 4-7 from downtown and 16-19 from the foul line (19 shots from the free throw line is niiice). He didn't get the assists what I wanted to see from him, he only got 1 assist. But who cares, 42 points speaks for itself. He got to the foul line much, so he problably drived-in many times. That's what I wanted (and I like) to see from Bryant. I wanted to see Bynum having a double-double and 3 blocks. But we got 10 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks from the young guy ! Incredible. Damn I'm happy.
Finally Bynum is playing well as he should do against a non-all star calibure center. He tends to only put in the extra effort when going up against All-Stars. We still haven't lost 3 in a row this season.
<div class="quote_poster">Flow Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah we won ! 108-103. Dammit, we let them shoot too much. Harrington got 30. But, we got a great game from Mamba. 42 points and 8 rebounds. Kobe shot 11-22 from the floor, 4-7 from downtown and 16-19 from the foul line (19 shots from the free throw line is niiice). He didn't get the assists what I wanted to see from him, he only got 1 assist. But who cares, 42 points speaks for itself. He got to the foul line much, so he problably drived-in many times. That's what I wanted (and I like) to see from Bryant. I wanted to see Bynum having a double-double and 3 blocks. But we got 10 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks from the young guy ! Incredible. Damn I'm happy.</div> So when Kobe does it, it's good and its because he's been driving in so much, but when Wade does it, its because "the refs love him" and he gets all the calls? Please refer to Chutney's sig.
Kobe got most of his FT not from driving to the basket (some were of cuz) . It was becuz the Warriors got into foul trouble too early in the 3rd and 4th quarter.
Andrew Bynum was a beast on the glass last night and ended up with a career high 15! He also had a huge block down the stretch and did a much better job defending the pick and roll. I thought the defense was disappointing again for the Lakers. They were jogging back in transition, while the Warriors sprinted down the court. The Warriors had several uncontested layups in the first half, and the Lakers played matador defense instead of contesting shots or sending the player to the foul line. The Lakers still haven't lost 3 games in a row this season, and they took care of business at home. Kobe Bryant played an efficient game, but he needs to do a better job of decision making. In the first quarter he kept dribbling right into a trap, and got stripped once by Baron Davis, and another time by Pietrus. He needs to get rid of the ball as soon as the defense collapses on him. Luke Walton had some big buckets down the stretch after starting off the game 0-8 from the field. Al Harrington did a great job on him defensively, and really wore Luke down by taking Luke into the post every chance he got.
<div class="quote_poster">XSV Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">So when Kobe does it, it's good and its because he's been driving in so much, but when Wade does it, its because "the refs love him" and he gets all the calls? Please refer to Chutney's sig.</div> Are you always this sour? Also don't know why you are attacking Flow, don't ever remember him making any remark like that towards Wade. If you're trying to derail this with bait then don't bother. Good win for the Lakers, Luke had a clutch bucket near the end of the 4th. Wish Kobe wouldn't have taken that stupid 3 though....
Luke Walton hit some clutch baskets after starting terrible. He's been in a major slump, maybe he's coming back down offensively? Bynum was a monster! There is no way we should've let the Warriors stay in the game for 47 minutes. We should have had them put away by the beginning of the fourth. We've got a terrible team coming up, we can't play down to their level. We've got an 8 game road trip that could really break light on our playoff standings.
<div class="quote_poster">Franchise4Ever Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Are you always this sour? Also don't know why you are attacking Flow, don't ever remember him making any remark like that towards Wade. If you're trying to derail this with bait then don't bother. Good win for the Lakers, Luke had a clutch bucket near the end of the 4th. Wish Kobe wouldn't have taken that stupid 3 though....</div> I'm not baiting or attacking Flow. I'm just wondering why all those people who have been talking about all these FT's ruining the game (in reference to Wade) are mysteriously silent about the fact that Kobe attmepted only one less FT than the entire Warrior team. I guess its alright when your favourite player is the one getting the calls.
I only saw bits and pieces of the game, so I can't really comment efficiently. But anyways, anyone notice how this team always goes through offensive droughts? I think it was mid way through the 3rd, we couldn't seem to hit any of our shots. Granted, we still won the game, but I would like to see more consistency from the offense because one day, it will come back and bite us in the butt Also, about Kobe's freethrows, I didn't get to catch the whole game, so again, I can't really comment on it, but are we going to have people come into our threads each and every time us Laker fans mention Kobe getting fouled? Seriously now
<div class="quote_poster">XSV Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not baiting or attacking Flow. I'm just wondering why all those people who have been talking about all these FT's ruining the game (in reference to Wade) are mysteriously silent about the fact that Kobe attmepted only one less FT than the entire Warrior team. I guess its alright when your favourite player is the one getting the calls.</div> I don't think anyone is going to argue Kobe doesn't get his fair share of questionable calls. Especially when he's at Staples and especially when all the hype surrounding him and his 81-Point Anniversary. I need to re-watch the game and track his foul calls. I was flipping back and forth between the game, Prison Break, and Serena Williams tennis match. The issue I have with the way Wade is officiated, is the melo dramatics he shows on the court by laying on the floor and also the timing of calls or no-calls. He has less calls in the "gray" area, where it could go either way, in Wade's case an overwhelming majority goes his way, especially in crunchtime or very early in a game, which completely changes what a team does defensively, when your inside presence picks up two cheap fouls.
