This has been Kobe's points per game in the Lakers last eight victories. Scary stats for the Lakers heading into the post season. They can't expect Kobe to average close to 50 points four times in a seven game series. The supporting cast needs a gutcheck and realize they need to step up the production and play consistent basketball for an entire 48 minutes. No more lapses, no more laziness, and no more excuses. Die-hard fans have endured too, many half-assed games from this team. I'm tired of the injury excuses, I'm tired of the "we're still a young team" excuse, it's time for the players to get mentally tough and come out with a purpose. Bring on Dallas or Phoenix, I want to see this team come into the series and compete right away. Take the split, and take care of business at home. It's time to get hyped up. Lets go Lakers! Lets go Lakers!
The Lakers also haven't clinched a playoff berth. If the Warriors and Clippers win tonight, which is very possible playing Portland and New Orleans.
Where have you been dude? The Lakers clinched with their last win. They've got the tie breaker over the Clippers. Check your facts before you post...
The supporting cast definitely needs to step up. Lamar needs to play the way he did last postseason if we're going to go somewhere this postseason. Beyond him, Luke needs to continue to continue to get better since coming back, and hopefully Bynum can step up his recent play. It also wouldn't hurt too much if we could get some production from our PGs. As for the playoffs, I heard the Lakers clinched and according to Yahoo! they're in as well.
The supporting cast has done very well tonight against the kings. If they keep it up we have a chance against phoenix!
Every year I get excited about the Lakers making the playoffs whether we have a title contending team or not, this year is no different. All I can say is, did anyone expect Denver (8th seed) to beat Seattle (1st seed) especially after losing the first two games. Upsets do happen in sports so why not the Lakers. <font size=""6"">Let's go Lakers !!!</font>
<div class="quote_poster">Mamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Where have you been dude? The Lakers clinched with their last win. They've got the tie breaker over the Clippers. Check your facts before you post...</div> NBA.com didn't update the standings at the time...
<div class="quote_poster">Moo2K4 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The supporting cast definitely needs to step up. Lamar needs to play the way he did last postseason if we're going to go somewhere this postseason. Beyond him, Luke needs to continue to continue to get better since coming back, and hopefully Bynum can step up his recent play. It also wouldn't hurt too much if we could get some production from our PGs. As for the playoffs, I heard the Lakers clinched and according to Yahoo! they're in as well.</div> Yeah, that's pretty true, but I still think that there would be at least one game in which we get blown out. I think the only way for our team to win the series would be for us to outrebound them like hell, to score loads of points in the paint, and for them to distribute the ball well. Another one-man Kobe show would just give us another loss.
Essentially, we need to do what we did last year against them (for the most part). We need to feed Kwame and Odom in the post early and get them going, that way we can get attention drawn towards them and get open looks on the perimeter. Kobe can't be overly aggressive early on unless it gets out of hand. Smush, Sasha, and Farmar have got to play well. We can't have a second straight postseason where we get nothing out of our point guard rotation. And we really have to limit Steve Nash as a distributor and force him to be a scorer. In my opinion, we're safer off with him scoring 35 as opposed to dishing out 15 assists. To really be blunt, we have to be nearly perfect on offense, getting an inside-out game going early on, and we have to be effective on the defense. No giving up second chance shots, clearing off the boards and limiting open looks. Can we do it? Well, we almost did it last year, and I do think we have a pretty good shot at it again this year.
47.9 ppg is a very impressive individual stat, for 2-3 games in a season let alone to get it more than 10 times in a season.
