Low Hoop IQ... I really don't know how much I have to say about the individual performances tonight. In fact, I'm not going to waste time describing the various plays made be each. Defensively, we gave up a few too many second chances and offensive rebounds. Still, we held the Bulls to .395 shooting and 92 points. Both numbers that should keep us in a game. Offensively, however, we just played stupid. Strategy-wise, a couple of things in particular were frustrating. First, the Bulls put Hinrich on Butler and we didn't attack that in the post. That's a mismatch and gives us a perfect opportunity to get some inside game going. Second, the Lakers did a great job attacking early in the fourth and getting in the bonus with 9:50 left in the quarter. We had the Bulls on their heels and instead of attacking and getting to the line for easy points, we settled for perimeter shots. If you get into the bonus that early in the quarter, you milk it. You go after it. The Kings did that to us in the third quarter of our game against us and instead of trailing by several points, they led by several points. We had all the momentum, we were aggressive and were poised to put the Bulls through the grinder and pull out a win. A "W" doesn't have to be pretty, especially on the road. You don't have to make the sensational pass or the big three on every play. Play smart, drive and draw contact, draw hand check fouls, post up a few times, don't settle for a three, pump fake and attack the lane. A hand check foul at this point in the game is worth 2 freethrows. It's not pretty, but it's two points. We were in the bonus early, and we finished with just 19 points in the fourth quarter. The Lakers shot 9-29 from three. That's absurd. Kobe shot 7 threes in the fourth, making 2. Lamar and Caron didn't even score in the fourth quarter. Surely, they couldn't have enjoyed watching the game. I know I didn't. Kobe -- -- Did a good job of setting guys up all over the court in the first three quarters. The D was completely focussed on him and he made them pay for the most part. Defensively, he should have respected Hinrich more and should have hit the defensive glass more. He gets a chunk of blame for not attacking aggressively in the fourth. He knows a variety of tricks to get to the FT line. When he hit a three one time down, he got greedy and tried to hit a three the next time down. In the end, he finished 3-11 from three. Yeah, a couple shots were trying to beat the shot clock, but some he settled for the big basket instead of attacking. Kobe finished with 28 points (14 in the fourth) on 9-21 shooting, 7-9 FTs, 10 assists, 6 TOs, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 steal. Rudy told the Lakers to keep doing what they were doing in the early part of the fourth quarter and make sure they secured the defensive boards. The Lakers did neither. Kobe could have used a little more direction in this one. He took 10 of the Lakers 16 shots in the quarter and had 0 assists. Kobe dug the Lakers out of a hole, but couldn't bury the Bulls even though we were poised to do it. In the Times, Kobe said his teammates "...came to me and said, 'You know what, you've got to get us going. I responded and got us back to a two-point lead and we just weren't able to close it out." If he and his teammates played a little smarter, it would have been an easy game to close out. So, let's get on to discussing the teammates. Mihm -- -- Poor game. We looked for him to do some iso type scoring. He threw up one pretty bad brick on a jumphook. Mihm played 16 minutes, scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting. He got 3 offensive boards, that's half of the Lakers team total. He didn't play in the second or fourth quarters. Odom -- -- Make your man play some D. If he's lighter and smaller than you, post him up. If he's bigger, try to take him off the dribble. If he keeps backing up, then shoot the short mid range jumper. Be aggressive, especially if the defender is foul prone. You had 7 points on 3-6 shooting...and no points in the fourth quarter. Make the Chicago bigs play a little more D and maybe they are riding the pine just a little more. Nothing much else to say. I saw Lamar bring the ball up the court once and set up the offense. We were in our offensive scheme two or three seconds early doing that. He doesn't get pressure D on him, we need to let him do that more. "It's my job to take some pressure off [Bryant] as far as making plays," Lamar said in the Times. "I wasn't able to do that tonight. That won't cut it. I've got to find a way to become a little more assertive." Damn right. Proud to see him saying that. Butler -- -- Hinrich is guarding you. Don't try to take him off the dribble. Don't try to hit jumpers over him. Don't get in the mid post, get in the low post. And when you do get in the post, don't settle for turn around fades. Post him up, get low position and over power him. Caron got one low post possession, and scored. Stay down low against him during the game. Suggest it to the coach. When a shot goes up, you can out board him. You got one offensive board doing that. You should have had more. No points in the fourth quarter? Not good. Atkins -- -- Watch the push offs. I've mentioned this in the preseason. Chucky likes to use his off arm. He got called for a charge and a push off on an inbounds play. Mindless turnovers in tight games are killers. And I don't know if Chucky said that he should be shooting FTs when Caron was, but let it go. Caron is a great FT shooter. Caron made both, then they decided that he was the wrong shooter, put Chucky on the line and he promptly short-armed the first one. Paul and Stu seemed to insinuate that Chucky told the ref, but they may have just been talking. Other than that, Chucky played a very reasonable game. We didn't get killed on the pick and roll as much. Chucky scored 19 points on 7-11 shooting, 4-6 from three. He also had 5 assists, but 6 TOs...like a mentioned, some just careless. Cook -- -- He needs to be careful on the flops. He got T'd up shortly after arguing about a call that went against him. Then he said something when another player got called for a foul and they gave Cook the T. Also, as Stu mentioned if you are going to take a charge on the break, make sure you know exactly where the line under the hoop is so that you are out of the restricted area. Cook didn't get as many looks tonight, but still went 3-6 for 7 points. He also pulled down 7 boards. Rudy went with a Cook/Jones and a Cook/Odom front court in the fourth quarter. Cook only had 1 rebound in the fourth. Vlade -- -- You know, the stats show very little from Vlade, other than 8 minutes and 0-1 shooting and 0 points. His one shot attempt from the perimeter was blocked. But, Vlade played pretty decently. He was surprisingly disruptive of shots on the defensive end. Jones -- -- Still had some trouble connecting from the outside. He made a great strip under the hoop on a hustle play and scored a basket in the fourth. Also, he took a nice charge stepping in under the hoop. Yeah, okay, his feet were on the line, but it was a right idea and got the call. Jones got more minutes at PF tonight...that's a tough assignment against this team. Rush -- -- Played a 4-minutes stint at the end of the first half. Looked aggressive, which is good. But, he missed both his shots. One of which he got completely tapped on. Brown -- -- At least Tierre is a little more gun-shy from three and often fakes the shot and tries to move in closer. He did take and make his only three in this game. And he had a surprising 4 rebounds in 13 minutes. As many as Mihm, one more than Kobe, one less than Caron. He and Jumaine Jones led the Lakers with a +5 in the game. Rudy T -- -- All of the criticisms in this game fall in one way or another on Rudy as a coach. The fact that we got three crazy. The fact that Caron had basically one low post opportunity. Or that the offensive went a bit too predictable at times. All of that can land on him. You just have to weigh it with how much you think a couch should know about this newly assembled team or how much they will respond, especially with the parts we are still trying to integrate. A loss to the Bulls by playing stupid, yeah, you can heap some blame on him. Even in December. Personally, I'm not too concerned. I get more upset at a coach when I see a team making strategy/IQ-type mistakes in the NBA Finals and playoffs, like we did last year... Like I mentioned, I'd like to see Lamar bring the ball up a little more. He gets little to no pressure bringing the ball up. And we are getting into our offense way too late sometimes... In the Times, Rudy said, "Our first half ... very non-aggressive, didn't take the ball to the basket like you've got to take it against this team. Just trying to do things on the first option into the teeth of the defense. Their energy on the boards just wore us down."
We dont need any more depth Rudys having problems because we have to much depth he doesnt know who hes goin to play we have mihm divac and cook he doesnt know which one to play i would like to see vlade and mihm more. Just because Cook had one good game doesnt mean hes supposed to be playing 35 minutes a game i mean cmon the coaching is horriblle they have to open there eyes and see what divac and Mihm can give to this team. I personally think if vlade was given the chance he could perform real good with Kobe they can have a bond like him and Malone did but the coaching is not allowing that to happen its sad how much potential we have but the coaching doesnt know how to use it. Oh and by the way fro mwhat ive seen so far and the way weve played. I beleive we have played like crap but the good thing is that we can play so much better than this, and were playing like crap but look at us were in the race for the playoffs and weve been playing like crap thats a positive.
Yup they definately should take advantage of weaker teams big time. They have been struggling with the Bulls for some odd reason as well as Golden State. But they don't have Shaq so they can't afford to lose these kinda games at all. The Bulls are even more horrible then they were last year and that's what makes this lost so sickening. I would think that this team would be more hungry especially after not winning the championship in the past 2 years. Hopefully no more losses to bad teams ever again this season. Right now the Clippers are doing better and I remember somebody asking a question about who would have more wins during the season between both LA teams. I still believe that the Lakers will ultimately do better in the end, but I can't even believe that the Clips actually have a better record at any point of this season.
why didnt rudy play vlade and mihm more? how does he expect this time to mesh if he doesnt play the key players?
realdealbneal, don't edit my posts because I was just asking why the people why people were brushing the blame off Kobe and onto the entire team when just a season ago many people were blaming shaq for all the Lakers problems. I know your pride and ego took a hit after this game but it is a reasonable question and is not "garbage". It it is a violation to misuse your moderator powers to try and censor people just because you didn't like what they said as long as they complied with the JBB Guidelines. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">JustBBall.com (here on "JBB") is a professional basketball resource that promotes mature, intelligent & respectful discussion in a positive & safe environment for everyone. Staff Members have the right to change any part of these Guidelines at any time without notification. By registering, you agree to all terms listed in these Guidelines.</div> Make sure that someone is in violation of the guidelines before moderating their post. I'm sure I don't have to look very far before finding a million of posts where you violated these guidelines.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 30 standing ver:</div><div class="quote_post">Yup they definately should take advantage of weaker teams big time. They have been struggling with the Bulls for some odd reason as well as Golden State. But they don't have Shaq so they can't afford to lose these kinda games at all. The Bulls are even more horrible then they were last year and that's what makes this lost so sickening. I would think that this team would be more hungry especially after not winning the championship in the past 2 years. Hopefully no more losses to bad teams ever again this season. Right now the Clippers are doing better and I remember somebody asking a question about who would have more wins during the season between both LA teams. I still believe that the Lakers will ultimately do better in the end, but I can't even believe that the Clips actually have a better record at any point of this season.</div> You better beleive it, as long as Brand or Jaric don't go down, and Maggette for not more than 5 games or so the team can keep it up. I bet KB wishes he went to the Clips or Suns now
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Miami's Finest:</div><div class="quote_post">realdealbneal, don't edit my posts because I was just asking why the people why people were brushing the blame off Kobe and onto the entire team when just a season ago many people were blaming shaq for all the Lakers problems. I know your pride and ego took a hit after this game but it is a reasonable question and is not "garbage". It it is a violation to misuse your moderator powers to try and censor people just because you didn't like what they said as long as they complied with the JBB Guidelines. Make sure that someone is in violation of the guidelines before moderating their post. I'm sure I don't have to look very far before finding a million of posts where you violated these guidelines.</div> <font color="Red">Don't worry, I took out the garbage, like I said...and it was rightfully so. If you don't believe it, ask an admin...since I was told by one to do so. Stay on topic. If you have a problem with a team leader/moderator, PM the person or an admin about it...simple as that.</font>
