lol, I totally forgot this was an afternoon game until my friend called me. I just watched the last couple minutes of the half, and am leaving to my Uncle's house for Lunch so I'll watch the rest there. Hopefully we can win this one.
Smush actually played well today, I'm surprised. Kobe had a nice all around game, Turiaf was excellent when he was on the floor and Odom was solid as well. The problem laid on the defensive side. Bell absolutely torched us today with his 3 point shooting. By the way, him and Bryant were seen laughing and talking with one another on multiple occasions, so I think they've kinda let go of the whole incident from last year. Good game overall, but the Suns are just too good to lapse on them defensively like the Lakers did.
now we are the seventh seed. Tomorrow is the biggest game of the season. We have to beat the nuggets tomorrow night
I wasn't disappointed in the loss today. The Lakers competed in the game and gave themselves an opportunity to beat a superior team. You just have to tip your hat off to Raja Bell today. The Lakers forced him to beat them from the arc, and he stepped up going 6-6 from the 3point line. You can't really do anything defensively when a player has it going like that. I liked the energy displayed by some of the struggling players like Smush and Bynum today. Smush was a factor in the game for once, and did a lot of positive things to keep the Lakers close. He had a few mental lapses, but overall one of his better games on the season. If only he played with the same conviction every game, he'd be right in the mix for most improved player this season. Bynum was skying for rebounds and doing a better job of contesting baskets without picking up reach in fouls. You can tell the coaching staff worked on him to just focus on keeping his hands up, instead of swiping down at the ball. It's a lot harder to shoot over his wingspan, than when he lowers it to the height of a guard. If the Lakers do end up facing Phoenix in the playoffs I still love our chances at pulling off the upset. The Lakers will have to figure out a strategy to slow down Barbosa. His speed is unmatched on our roster, so the Lakers have to figure out some strategy to exploit him on the defensive end. The Suns like to gamble on defense in the post and they get whistled for a lot of reach in fouls. The Lakers have to stay disciplined and continously pound the ball inside, but also have a stop plug defender on the top of the key, incase Phoenix comes up with the loose ball or rebound, and quickly transistion into their offense. The Lakers are terrible out communicating on transition defense. If Smush or Kobe is driving, it's the responsibility of one of the forwards to rotate up and be the last line of defense. I see the Lakers give up a lot of easy layups when Kobe drives in and misses, Phoenix rebounds, and two guys are cherry picking on the other end.
Smush played well. He made a couple careless turnovers but he played good on the offensive end. He played okay on the defensive end but he let Nash penetrate way too easily a couple of times. Kobe played well. He tried to be the facilitator but at the end of the game it didn't work. Lamar Odom had an okay game. The key was Bell. His 3's were like daggers
I didn't watch the game, but judging by the responses, it was extremely close. I'm pretty sure we've only played the Suns three times this season, we won the first game, and lost the next two by a very close margin. It always seems like we play our best ball against the Suns, and with that being said, I'm pretty sure we'll have a slight chance of upsetting them. As long as we continue to play hard, anything can happen in a 7 game series. The Suns run, run, and run. That's all they do. There's nothing more to it, and sooner or later in the 7 game series, we'll figure them out. Will we beat the Suns? Probably not, but there is a slight chance if everyone continues showing up. I'm pretty sure Raja Bell won't always go 6-6 from beyond the arch. Btw, why does this thread say "last regular season game?" Don't we face them again?
yes trench, we do face them again. i posted the remaining schedule in the this thread...http://www.justbball.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69208
I don't see how we have a chance against them? We played one of our best games of the season, and we still lost. I honestly can see us being sweeped, PHX is just too damn good.
Until we are officially out, I have hope our team can pull through. We have the best player in the league on our side... Anything can happen. In the playoffs, we start with a clean slate. Intensity, focus, and will power goes up a notch. We all know Kobe will shine. Now lets see if the rest of his teammates can follow his lead.
So what you guys think Kobe and Raja were jokin' about and laughing today? Two different incidents of them laughing with each other. Weird. I personally stopped holding my grudge against Raja a while ago, he's a good dude, and honestly, although Kobe is my #1 road dawg, As a man, you don't let anyone punk you around and I respect Raja for holding his ground, except when he did that cheap clothesline, but hey, everyone makes mistakes....Just ask Kobe. I guess these two have finally somehow squashed it.
