<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Game after game, opponents have been penetrating at will, beating them on the boards and scoring in the key. The small things ? calling out screens, calling for help ? have been shoved to the sideline in favor of a quiet on-court cast, at least at the defensive end. "We don't communicate," forward Lamar Odom said. "It's funny ? a team that's so close, everybody's so cool off the court, [but] on the court, we don't talk at all. "You go to South Jamaica [N.Y.], where I grew up, if you go to a playground, watch some guys play four-on-four, you'll hear them ? 'pick,' 'help,' whatever. They're talking. Right now, we don't do a good job of that." One play in the final minute of Sunday's game became an instant part of the nightly TV highlight package: LeBron James needed all of five seconds to take a rebound at one end and dunk untouched at the other as five Lakers stood around and observed. "Our defense pretty much caved," Bryant said. It got so bad that their scheme was indiscernible. Coach Phil Jackson smiled when asked about the unveiling of a zone defense in the fourth quarter. "We didn't go to a zone," he said. "It might have looked like a zone, but it wasn't." The Lakers were 23rd in scoring defense before Sunday, giving up 101.9 points a game. Their offense, on the other hand, has clicked much more often, jumping to fifth in the league at 103.1 points a game before Sunday. Maybe that's part of the problem. "We expect our offense to always get us out of [jams]," Odom said. "We have yet to win a game in a long time where we just lock down on a team and win games on second effort and energy. Whenever it seems like we win, is when everybody is happy offensively." </div> Link What do you think? A lot of times this season, I have felt that this team needs more talking on the court. Like Odom said, the team is close off the court, so why can't they be the same on the court?
Yeah i think that has caused the lakers some unnecessary defeats this season...i mean what is so hard about communicating with one of your good friends
Well its a good thing that they are close off the court, that has to help chemistry between teammates and willingness to put the team first.
