I love this team, but one of the things I hate is that never have I heard anyone off this team mutter the words, "This one's on me." I cant even recall Kobe ever saying that. There are far more reasons than one player for losing lastnights game. But someone other than Kobe, because he did just about all he could, needs to stand up and say, "This one's on me."
The only complaint I'd have about Kobe was not setting the tone earlier in the game. He settled for jumpers instead of driving to the basket and drawing fouls. He was amazing in the 3rd quarter hitting 7 of 10 shots and leading the comeback, but no one else stepped up to on either end. The play where Odom stepped out of bounds after the steal was a momentum killer for us. The ball movement wasn't crisp and our shooters couldn't hit anything even though they had wide open looks. If I had to put the blame on one person though it has to be Pau Gasol. I can't even remember the last time he played this bad, shooting 6/14 and not taking advantage in the post. He'll have to do a better job of playing through the contact and just muscling his way to the rim.
Yeah my beef was mostly with Gasol. He was getting his shot he just wasn't converting. And he dropped/fumbled several passes into the post that turned into turnovers. And I though Kobe tried to set the tone early on but his jumper just wasnt falling. He could have been more aggressive and tried to take it to the basket though and create some contact and get the whistle.
Well Kobe said that they lost because they shot threes and free throws bad, maybe he indicated to himself and Lamar . I hope gasol proves me I'm talking too early, but he was a monster in the regular season but somehow faded away against Utah, when Kobe and Lamar took care.
Pau was definitely the guy last game, Kobe came through somewhat in the second half, we just got zero out of Pau.
Blame: Sasha's defense, Odom's retardness, Gasol's pussyness, and Jackson's coaching. Plus, Houston just played a damn good game.
this is so dumb, people who say "this one's on me" are people like tmac, look where he is now, it is a TEAM GAME. if you told this to any laker player they would luagh in your face. Every moment in a game is a deciding moment, just because one player went out of bounds it doesnt mean they lost us the game, the team lost the game for letting him go out of bounds, the team lost the game for not recovering successfully after a turnover. Its been said a billion times, and i'll say it once more, there is no I in Team. Your idea that someone needs to take the blame is retarded and would be really bad for the chemistry of the team, everyone has their role yes, but everybody has a role to support the rest of their teammates. The reason you've never heard kobe say those words "its on me" is because it isnt, its on the team, kobe understands very well it is a team game, you, on the other hand, do not.
People like T-Mac say anything. I never said this was one persons fault or anothers. You obviously don't understand the psychological impact that one player standing up and taking the majority of the blame for the team can have on role players like a Shannon Brown or any of the other Lakers. By someone stepping up and saying those simple words or something along those lines it shows leadership while also taking pressure off others around him. We can all "spin" the fact that this game was lost because of rust after being off for a week but the simple fact is that some guys like Gasol didn't show up period. All I'm saying is that it would be refreshing and encouraging for someone of his stature on that team to come out just once and own up to the fact that they played like shit and no just shrug it off as a "team" thing.
i think yes you have a valid point, but your argument is flawed as your asuming A) other players with shorter roles on the team are feeling the guilt and B)that by somebody taking the blame will automatically fix this issue of bad team play. I think alot of us are trying to find reasons to defend a loss, and a singular person to shoulder the blame is a very easy way to do that. But at the end of the day the team as a whole didnt step up, the rockets won by being a better team, THEY outplayed us as a whole, forget singular performances, forget singular stats, im talking straight up basics of how a team wins. I do understand the psychological impact for others when one player shoulders the blame, but it simply isnt true that they are olely responsible, and as long as the tem hides away from the truth then we will continue to play bad team basketball, and lose games.
Yeah I think we are on the same page to an extent. Im not at all blaming one person for the loss. It was horrible team play all around as you said. I just wanna see some humility in them. In an essence I wanna see the same frustration and anger that I see from alot of us that post in this forum. I just want someone to get mad and say this is unacceptable ya know. They are the freakin Lakers! Our standards are higher than most. Anyways, my post mas mostly out of frustration. I live in Houston and all these Rockets fans have been coming down on me hard at work and everyone is blowin up my phone lol. It's time to respond tonight.
When your main players step up and shoulder the blame it does two things. 1. It deflects pressure from the rest of the locker room. 2. The team will step up and rally around their leader.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-heisler-lakers6-2009may06,0,527840.story?page=2 This is pretty much the way I fell.
I can recall Odom taking the blame a couple times over the years. I can't recall which games exactly.
