Spurs are a better team than the Lakers, most Laker fans will agree with that but that doesn't mean the Lakers can't win tonight. The game is in L.A where I expect them to be very good this year, on the road is another matter but in front of their home crowd they will be very tough to beat. It's much easier to get your running game going on your home floor than on the road. Laker fans just need to hope Kobe doesn't try to get personal with Bruce Bowen, If he does they have no real chance. They really need to get something out of Caron Butler and Chris Mihm If they are to win this one, Kobe is going to get his no matter what. Should be a good game.
Someone mentioned the double team on Duncan. I don't know if this is a good idea, but that may be the only way the Lakers can handle Duncan in the paint. I say the Lakers need to play man for a little while...let Duncan get his points...but instead of Odom playing Duncan, it should be Grant. Odom can swing down to SF and start playing ball, instead of jacking threes and trying to draw fouls. The Lakers should experiment with the zone defense a little while, but do it early. They can't wait until they are down by 24 in the 3rd...they have to test their options in the first two quarters. The Lakers can win this game, as AllNet mentioned (to my surprise ), they are at home, and they aren't very happy about the last game against the Jazz. Losing a game, especially as bad as they did, exposed their weaknesses, and I'm sure Rudy T brought this up during practice MANY times. No matter how good or bad a team is, nothing goes unnoticed if you have a great coach...and I'm positive that Tomjanovich hit on their problems all day yesterday and will continue to do so throughout the game tonight, until they are fixed.
You cant count the Lakers out,but of course the Spurs should be the favorites.But I do beleive if the Raptors can beat the Pistons then the Lakers can beat the Spurs. Like many say Lamar Odom is going to have to pickup his game if the Lakers want to compete with the Spurs.Bruce Bowen has been known to contain Kobe,espically in the WCF,the Spurs championship year when they knocked the Lakers out of the playoffs. The Lakers have home feild advantage,if a few role players like Chris Mihm and Caron Butler step up,the Lakers will have an a lot better chance to compete in this game. My Prediction:Spurs 89-Lakers 81
The 'X-factor' in this game for the Lakers is Caron Butler. In previous matchups the Spurs would use a combination of Bowen and Gino to harass Kobe, because the Spurs were willing to let Devean George or Rick Fox try and beat them. Caron Butler is a much better scorer than George or Fox, and he has to be aggressive tonight to prevent the Spurs from focusing their defense on Kobe. Caron Butler is also capable of keeping up with Gino because he is a quick on the ball defender and does a nice job of penetrating. I think the Lakers should double team Duncan tonight and let the Spurs try to beat them with Bowen having to take the bulk of the shots for them. With Butler on Gino, Kobe could defend Bowen and cheat towards Duncan. I'd rather see Duncan get less shots within 10 feet of the rim, and 12 to 15 shot attempts by Bowen tonight. Bowen is a good shooter from outside, but when he's struggling, he really struggles and no matter how well he shoots tonight, there's no way he would be able to shoot better than if Duncan had the ball in his hands. I predicted the Spurs by 12, but I hope the Lakers can pull this one out and gain more confidence in themselves.
Not too bad so far. There was an offensive and defensive lapse for a little bit and it allowed the Spurs to take a double digit lead but aside from that, the Lakers haven't played too bad. If they can tighten it up we can make this a very close game and even win it. It isn't too far out of reach.
Lakers need to defend the penetration. This is the main reason why they are losing this game...a bigger reason than the rebounding, actually. Disappointments in this game so far... Kareem Rush - he's almost as good as Devean George. I'm already forgetting about his heroics in the Minnesota game. Tierre Brown - his defense is terrible. He's getting lost on defense, and ends up in the paint and leaving guards open. Cook - no defense, no shot right now.
Manu had the play of the game when dunked on Cook and Grant, that was amazing. Lakers keeping it semi close in the 4th.
Odom looked good. Too many turnovers on the Laker side and they kept playin catch up. I hope Odom continues to produce like this! GG San Antonio.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ace:</div><div class="quote_post">Time out?</div> Yeah...that was terrible. I think that we still would've lost, but Kobe would have a clean dunk after that steal, but geez...it was obvious that Brent Barry didn't even have the ball. Oh well. For whoever didn't see the game...Spurs win, 105-96.
The Lakers played the Spurs well. I think the Spurs are the best team in the West and showing that you can still play with them without Shaq has to boast their confidence.
some questionable calls by the refs. on both ends but still GG by the spurs. they did an excellent job in passing the ball. the lakers really need to defend against the penetration, tony and manu were killing them. anyways good and exciting game tonight. hope the lakers would improve on defense and chris mihms offense.
Good Job and Effort Lakers!! Great game as always cause this guys will always give you a 100% from what I've seen. We still need to work on some things they need to turn up their defense, less turnovers, and rebounding (thats what killed us in the last 1 or 2 min left). I'm more excited about this team than ever. The Spurs now know what we could do and remember Vlade wasn't playing. OH YEAH!!! GREAT JOB ODOM WELCOME HOME!!! We could have won that Utah game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jesseca328:</div><div class="quote_post"> We could have won that Utah game.</div>How do you figure?
Fun game. Lots of exciting plays on both ends. I notice Lakers are running a ton of isolation plays, particularly when trailing in the second half. Not sure how sound that strategy is, though they have been able to make comebacks in the two games they've lost. Still, I think their half-court offense needs some more polish.
For how bad I've criticized Slava in the past, we need him back out on the court. For one, Slava can hit open shots really well...and with Kobe feeding the ball to guys like Cook and Butler, he could easily do the same with Slava and get alot of buckets from it. The Lakers need to use the penetration more, and watch the sloppy passes while doing it. On defense, they should've defended the penetration much better. This pretty much lost us the game. Also, defensive rebounding! Come on...the Spurs pulled down way too many offensive boards against us...too many second-chance points. And finally...the paint is always open for guards. This isn't good...but with Duncan being able to hit shots farther away from the hoop than other big men, it pulls guys like Odom away from the basket... Which brings me to Odom. Great game offensively, decent defensive effort...but he's not boxing out quick enough. I hate this...because he's got the ability to grab easy boards (the free throw that Duncan got himself was pathetic). Let's fix this for the next game. Finally, I'll pick on Kobe. His shot selection is getting better, but he's gotta drive the lane and draw fouls against the big man, right before dishing it off to Mihm in the paint. If you watch closely, he tries to do this...but the guards are forcing him too close to the baseline, and he has to pull a jumper instead. He needs to use his crossover, drive with the right hand (depending on the side, though), and either draw a foul, or dish it off to Atkins or Mihm. Other than that...when the Lakers begin to develop more chemistry, and they start hitting more shots, I'll expect Kobe's FG% to go back up. Right now, he's almost obligated to take bad shots because of the lack of moving without the ball by the other players. Let's go Lakers. We're 1-2...which isn't bad at all, considering we've played the Jazz, Nuggets and Spurs. We caught up with the Spurs (by 6, after being down by 18 or so), which I was happy about. We've got alot of room for improvement, but we aren't looking as bad as everyone thinks. :thumbsup:
