Game Thread: Los Angeles Lakers @ Portland Trailblazers

I dunno.

I've read numerous articles justifying his play. At first it was because he wasn't used to Pau coming back. Then it was because of his respiratory illness. Then it was because of his knee. Then it was because he misses Rambis. For all I care, all that is just excuses.

He needs to get his head out of his ass and step up. I gave him a pass earlier because I thought there was seriously something wrong with his health, but I seriously cannot remember the last time I was impressed by him.

Quite strange actually. He was putting up 20/10 in his sleep earlier, now he really isn't giving us anything. He, along with the rest of the team (besides Kobe, who needs to miss a couple of games and heal) needs to step up. No more excuses.

 

Obviously. You're not the only one who knows this.

 

but pau didnt play tonight... is he just out of sync still you think?

 

Seems like you're blaming the refs for the loss.

I agree the officiating was terrible, but if you want to laugh at them, laugh at the team as well. Right from the opening tip off, you could tell the Blazers wanted it more. They outplayed us from the start. I wouldn't be making such a big deal out of this if this was a one time thing, but this has been happening again and again all season. Start taking the game seriously and respect your opponents, they won't lay down just because we won the championship last year.

I'm seriously growing sick and tired of this team's effort. Get it together.

 

WTF happened in this game? Roy gets 32 pts on 11 shots???? and Kobe took 37 shots and only had 4 fta's??? lol

 

You weren't down by 20 with 6 minutes left in the game due to the refs.

Yeah the refs were bad. They're always bad. The miss calls all the time - both ways. Some times you benefit from the bad calls, sometimes you don't.

The final FT difference ended up being +29 for the Blazers. That seems high, but there were several reasons for the large disparity.

First, when the Lakers were down by 20 with six minutes to go, they began fouling intentionally/deliberately to stop the clock. That led to 14 FTs for the Blazer in the last 6 minutes of the game. Take away those 14 intentional/deliberate FTs, and the disparity is down to 15.

Second, DJ Mbenga has perfected the art of the obvious foul. Seriously, I don't get to see this guy play much, but when he fouls someone, he flat out tackles them. Then in true Laker tradition, he immediately turns to the ref and complains. He may not have much talent, but at least he's coachable. His 4 fouls in 6 minutes led directly to 4 FTs (FT disparity down to 11), but more importantly, it caused the Lakers to get over the foul limit much sooner and allowed the Blazers to be shooting penalty FTs early in both the 2nd and 4th quarters.

3rd, the Blazers were much more aggressive attacking the paint and drawing fouls. Brandon Roy, Jerryd Bayless and Andre Miller are all very good at drawing fouls and getting to the line. With so many injuries, all three played more minutes than usual, and all three got to the line a lot. In spite of playing at the slowest pace in the league, the Blazers are 4th in FT attempts. It's part of their game plan. They run a lot of ISOs for their guards just for this reason.

On the other end, the Lakers were very passive and didn't attack the paint nearly as much as they should have with Oden and Przybilla out. 3-pointers got the Lakers back in the game in the 2nd quarter, and after that, they just seemed too willing to settle for perimeter shots and reluctant (someone said lazy) to drive. Kobe was much less aggressive than usual. He shot 8 3-pointers (to Roy's 2), and the Lakers as a team shot 28 to the Blazers 15. You just don't draw many fouls when you constantly settle for 25-foot jump shots.

Finally, with Oden and Przybilla out, the Blazers don't have any shot blockers or aggressive post defenders. 37-year old Juwan Howard plays good position defense, but he isn't going to challenge anyone's shot. LaMarcus Aldridge is also not a physical defender. Between the two of them, the Blazers starting bigs had 3 fouls. The more aggressive Bynum had 4, Odom had four and the previously discussed DJ Mbenga got his money's worth in his six minutes. As also mentioned, this put the Lakers over the foul limit all night resulting in more FTs for the Blazers.

Were the refs "fair". Hard to say. They weren't good, but they rarely are. The Lakers came out flat, settled for too many perimeter jumpers and had to foul deliberately to stop the clock over the last six minutes. Hard to blame that on the refs. If the game had been closer and the Lakers had been more aggressive on offense, you may have had a legitimate complaint, but when you get down by 20 because you aren't aggressively attacking the basket and are settling for perimeter jump shots, the blame belongs elsewhere.

Besides, did you hear that crowd last night. I can't really blame the refs for not calling too many in the Lakers favor. I know they are professionals, but they are also humans and I can't help but think they might not want to piss off 21,000 rabid, passionate fans. It's called home court advantage for a reason.

BNM

 

I assume you didn't watch the game. Kobe was much more passive than usual and settled for a lot of perimeter jump shots. His shot was off (someone mentioned he has a sore finger). You just don't draw too many fouls hoisting up 25-foot jumpers.

BTW, Roy does this a lot. He's been very efficient scoring the ball lately. He had 37 points on only 16 shots against the Warriors last Saturday. He rarely takes more than 20 shots in a game. He only took 11 shots to Kobe's 37. The big difference was Roy only missed 2, Kobe missed 23 (sore finger, no doubt).

BNM

 

It's an avulsion fracture.

 

Yes, i didnt watch the game... Its not a sore finger... its a "messed" up one...

Still... Kobe's %'s have been slightly decreasing the past few games from a high of around 48.9 this season, its down to 47.7... then again he averages 45% for his career...

w/ pau out maybe he can get back to posting up...

 

Is that some sort of repetitive stress disorder from all that shooting?

Seriously, that's the same kind of injury Oden had to his foot when he landed on Fisher's foot 3 minutes into the 2008-09 season opener. He ended up missing 6 games as a result. This type of injury usually heals itself. Rest helps. There is a lot more stress on the foot of a 285 lb. player than there is on Kobe's finger.

Kobe has played through this same type of injury in the past. The biggest problems are pain and swelling. Kobe did not appear to be playing in pain during Friday's game. He suffered the injury on 12/11 against Minnesota and scored 42 points on 15-26 shooting 4 days later. He's had his usual mix of good shooting and poor shooting nights since then, but has stunk it up in his last three games. Is the finger really bothering him, or is it just a convenient excuse for a mini shooting slump?

BNM

 

As a Blazer fan, I find it a bit difficult to feel sorry for anyone else's injury woes.

It's not like he's been playing like crap since he injured the finger. In fact, some of his best games of the season have come since the injury. He's just shot the ball poorly in his last three games - which coincides with Pau missing those same three games. Perhaps with Pau out, teams can double Kobe more. Perhaps he's trying to do too much by himself (that's what it looked like in the Portland game - Kobe going 1-on-5 with his teammates standing around and watching). Or, perhaps he's just in a little shooting slump.

BNM

 

It may have been a short post, but I was just clearing up the issue by giving the "sore" a name really. Nothing else meant by it.

 

No problem. As much as I wish it could be true, I know there is no way both teams will be at full strength when they meet again at the Rose Garden on Feb 6. I have tickets to take the kids to that one.

I took them to the Blazers/Lakers game last April and they still talk about that game as one of the highlights of the season. Both teams were at relatively full strength. The Blazers were battling for HCA in the 1st round and the Lakers were battling to secure HCA through the finals. It was a great game to watch - close all the way with the lead changing several times.

As much as I enjoy seeing the Blazers beat the Lakers, it's even more fun with the Lakers are at full strength and there is a lot at stake. That game had a true play-off atmosphere and was one of the top 2 or 3 regular season games I've seen since the Blazers moved to the Rose Garden.

Although the stakes won't be as high in February, I'm hoping for a similarly close game with both teams battling it out until the end.

BNM

 

Well, I hope you get what you wish for with the kids. I mean I'm only 20, but I know that quality time with your kids, especially as they get older, are getting harder to come by, so enjoy as many when they still are willing, have the free time, or just have to