Half time. 59-49 Lakers. Kobe: 17 pts, 5 boards, 1 assist Drew: 17 pts, 6 boards Ron Ron: 8 pts, 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals
Adam Morrison FTW!!! The lineup of DJ-JP-Luke-SB-Farmar was bound to fail, I dunno what Phil was thinking leaving them out there so long. Nobody in that lineup can create their own shot. Decent first half, I guess. Drew playing very well, so I'm happy.
That portion in the 2ndQ with our bench unit was terrible. Drew is on fire. Even though it's pretty close, it feels as if the game is in the bag. Am I the only one feeling this? :|
We won. That's all that matters, at least we didn't get our asses embarrassed like the Heat. Not exactly thrilled with our team's overall performance. Kobe, Drew, and LO were terrific, everybody else was eh... First game of the season though. Can't wait until Friday when Pau returns, I want to see this team in action at full strength!
Drew finally came to play right off the bat. Usually he takes the first month or so before he starts beasting. Hopefully this is a positive sign. I'm not surprised at all with the numbers he put up today, I know what he is capable of. I just hope he can stay healthy for once.
Good game to start the season... Kobe was Kobe, but it would rather have him assist a bit more than jack up shots... was a bit unlucky that some of his shots (3-4) went in and out or rolled of the rim otherwise he would have shot 50%. Bynum was a beast, as long as he plays like this and the rest of the team stays healthy then we really are the favorites to repeat. Artest looked a bit lost in the offense and hasn't gotten used to being a spot up shooter... he should work on his catch and shooting coz this is where we'll need him the most on offense bec. most of the time he's open when he gets the ball. I remember one sequence when he tried to take it to the rim but was blocked of by odom or bynum in the paint LOL Phil should give shannon brown a lecture after that failed dunk LOL Odom was very solid, and i hope he stays like this throughout the season... All in all good game...
Khloe must have promised him some bomb ass head or something if Odom played like that. You know what they say, "Fat chicks give the best head."
Nice way to open the season with a victory and a strong showing by Bynum. What's impressive about our squad is the ability to post up and create mismatches. Kobe can post, Artest can post, Odom can post, Bynum can post, and our best post scorer Gasol wasn't even available last night. The Lakers looked rusty from behind the arc especially Fisher. They created several open looks playing inside-out basketball, but the shooters weren't connecting. If more of those three balls go in the Lakers probably win this game easily by 20+. I was really impressed by Eric Gordon from the Clippers. He has no fear going to the rim and also a quick release from the perimeter. Hopefully playing alongside Baron ballhog Davis doesn't slow his development. I wanted to also talk about Ron Artest on the defensive end. The little things he does on defense are amazing. I never realized how quick his hands are at swiping at the ball and causing deflections. He's also very crafty at using the sidelines and cutting off comfortable angles for offensive players to get a shot off. He was only credited with 1 steal last night, but he was forcing a lot turnovers by the Clippers with his hustle and help defense. Artest couldn't buy a free throw last night, but I'm sure he'll be at it early in the gym getting his shooting mechanics down.
Downloaded the game and just finished watching it - positive thoughts. Like everyone mentioned, Odom and Bynum were VERY good, but I liked Artest also. He missed some shots and needs to pracitce that but his defence is just awesome, very delightful to see someone like Artest in your team, who is big, strong and has quick hands. Lakers played well in the big picture, just some sloppy minutes at times. What made me smirk was that I completely forgot we had Pau on our team until camera showed him in the middle of 4th quarter. Amazing feeling to see a nice game and then have reminder that your secound best player is on the bench !
+1 I loved Ariza defensively because of his ability to pick up steals. And so far, Artest seems to be able to do the same, along with providing us with strong man to man defense. As for his shooting, it will come along. He's more used to shooting off the dribble than setting up for open shots. That'll come with time and more practice. All in all, very excited for this year. Can't wait until Pau gets back to see us at full strength. LO was terrific yesterday.
Artest on defense is nice. I also noticed him forcing his man out of bounds and cutting off lanes. That was a thing of beauty, I haven't seen defense like that in awhile. I love the big body, no homo, too. Pierce and James should have a hard time this year.
