I'm really hating to say this...

[Laker Fan]

This is the Laker team I expected through the year, not the one that was pleasantly surprising through January and part of February, barely above .500 and not a lot of cohesion, I sure hope they will pull it together after the Allstar break, this is pathetic.

[Reality]

The missed dunk by Smush Parker with under a minute and with the game on the line must have been painful.

I think Phil aged with that shot attempt.

[guest-koast]

The missed dunk by Smush Parker with under a minute and with the game on the line must have been painful.

I think Phil aged with that shot attempt.

LF your saying you didnt enjoy the Hawks having layup drills for 35 minutes last night?!?  :huh:

Two things that are frustrating me ALOT..

1) Why does this team insist on shooting so many 3s?  Even when they are up in points more times than not someone is taking a 3.  No one on this team is a great 3 point shooter.  

2) Defense.  Bad rotations, pitful boxing out, and bad transition defense.  The problem is that they go periods of time of playing very good defense and then hit an oil slick for 7-8 games where the defense is horrible.

[msc]

The missed dunk by Smush Parker with under a minute and with the game on the line must have been painful.

I think Phil aged with that shot attempt.

LF your saying you didnt enjoy the Hawks having layup drills for 35 minutes last night?!?  :huh:

Two things that are frustrating me ALOT..

1) Why does this team insist on shooting so many 3s?  Even when they are up in points more times than not someone is taking a 3.  No one on this team is a great 3 point shooter.  

2) Defense.  Bad rotations, pitful boxing out, and bad transition defense.  The problem is that they go periods of time of playing very good defense and then hit an oil slick for 7-8 games where the defense is horrible.

You hit the nails right on the head, westkoast.  The D has been atrocious ... 114 points given up to the Hawks ... at home ... inexcusable!  And I can't believe they continue to hoist 3's at the pace they do.  Vujacic must be shooting 10% from 3-point land, if he's lucky.  Take the ball to the basket!!!  Good things will happen ... I promise!!!  I think Phil should implement a no 3 policy.  I hate that it has to come to this because you don't want a player to be gun-shy when he has an open shot.  But at this point .... it's beyond ridiculous and Phil needs to take drastic measures.  If you take a 3, you're benched.  Period.  Kobe has a lifetime exemption from this rule, of course.  

The post that rickortreat, or maybe it was dabods, made regarding the 76'ers and just accepting that they are a 0.500 team really hit home with me.  It's the same thing with this Laker squad.  The youth, combined with a lack of talent and discipline results in a 0.500 team.  I'd like to think that they'll improve, because they're young and still learning, but they seem to be regressing as the season goes on.  Heck, last year they were 28-24 going in to the all-star break.    

[Laker Fan]

That's what's killing me, it is like the post presence just disappears for long stretches and people just waltz right into the lane like they own it. There would have to be a transition defense to complain about it being bad, and no one seems to know their spot, oppnents pass at will and their is no help defense to speak of.

They played offense more than good enough to win this game, shot .500 and were as balance in their scoring as you could hope for, Parker was the only starter that had a bad night shooting the ball and really there only weakness offensively was at the line, they make even 5 more of those 12 missed freebies and they salvage a game where they flat took the night off on defense, HOW DO YOU ALLOW ATLANTA TO SHOOT .557!!!!!!!!!! How do you allow a .320 team to score 54 points in the paint, and force the issue down low to the tune of forcing 31 freethrows? How do you allow Atlanta 13 fast break points? HOW DO YOU SURRENDER A 15 POINT LEAD AGAINST ONE OF THE WORST TEAMS IN THE NBA?!?!? I'll tell you how, you don't play defense, you don't deny the lane, you forget to rotate, help defend, or run back down the bloody court!

This has been an ugly stetch, the Hawks game was just a microcosm of the Lakers performance the last 15 games or so. Not the way you want to go into the break, no momentum, no team play (lol) no desire, what a sad state of affairs.

[westkoast]

That's what's killing me, it is like the post presence just disappears for long stretches and people just waltz right into the lane like they own it. There would have to be a transition defense to complain about it being bad, and no one seems to know their spot, oppnents pass at will and their is no help defense to speak of.

They played offense more than good enough to win this game, shot .500 and were as balance in their scoring as you could hope for, Parker was the only starter that had a bad night shooting the ball and really there only weakness offensively was at the line, they make even 5 more of those 12 missed freebies and they salvage a game where they flat took the night off on defense, HOW DO YOU ALLOW ATLANTA TO SHOOT .557!!!!!!!!!! How do you allow a .320 team to score 54 points in the paint, and force the issue down low to the tune of forcing 31 freethrows? How do you allow Atlanta 13 fast break points? HOW DO YOU SURRENDER A 15 POINT LEAD AGAINST ONE OF THE WORST TEAMS IN THE NBA?!?!? I'll tell you how, you don't play defense, you don't deny the lane, you forget to rotate, help defend, or run back down the bloody court!

This has been an ugly stetch, the Hawks game was just a microcosm of the Lakers performance the last 15 games or so. Not the way you want to go into the break, no momentum, no team play (lol) no desire, what a sad state of affairs.

One thing they lack is FIRE.  There is none.  The only person who has fire and drive on that team is Kobe and Ronnie Turiaf (the new Laker cheerleader).  If half those guys were as pumped to play pro basketball as Ronnie is then we would have a different team.  Sadly, that is not the case.  They stay going through the motions as if it were practice or the pre-season.  Or maybe its a lack of pride?  I dunno.....

The 3s have been driving me nuts and I would say thats almost as much as a Laker-killer as their pitful defense.  Not only is it one and done for them over on that side of the court the long rebounds are giving teams the chance to run.  Now all the years i've seen the triangle offense I could have sworn there is always one person who should be positioned in the backcourt  to stop a leak out.  Why is it that no one can seem to get back?  IF you are in position in the triangle then SOMEONE should be back.  Not the case.  

I feel Rick and Dabods pain.  People wonder why the Sixer fans and the Laker fans go from YEA to OWWWW to....its cuz our teams are .500 teams.  Of course we are going to flop around, thats what our teams are doing!

[rickortreat]

I feel Rick and Dabods pain. People wonder why the Sixer fans and the Laker fans go from YEA to OWWWW to....its cuz our teams are .500 teams. Of course we are going to flop around, thats what our teams are doing!

The problem is, I really thought the Lakers were a BELOW .500 team at the start of the year, and wouldn't make the playoffs.  Right now they are in the playoffs, which means I was WRONG.

In addition, I expected the 76'ers to be a better than .500 club by now, and they're not.  Webber has turned out to be what he was in Sacramento and AI is still at the top of his game.  Two stars plus decent role players should equal a winning team.  So that make me WRONG twice.

I hate being wrong, even though I am a lot of the time.   :angry:

Being wrong about the Sixers is no big deal, I don't bet their games, I'm just a casual fan.  But being wrong in the stock market costs money, so I try to be in the habit of being right with my predictions.

It's a good thing I'm better with stocks than I am on predicting how the Sixers and Lakers are going to do!

The joke is more accurate information is available about the Lakers and Sixers than there is about most stocks!   :crazy:  

[Guest_Randy]

Personally, I think it's a little early to throw in the towel.  I don't think the present Laker team is fair to judge them by -- basically, with the Lakers talent (or the lack of it) this team is going to falter when key players get hurt -- and right now some of those key players are hurt -- namely Odom and Mihm.  While those guys aren't All-Stars, when they are hurt it requires more of the Laker bench and that's not exactly a strongpoint for the Lakers.  You start playing these guys more minutes or start relying on Kwame to shore up the middle and suddenly the team goes for a bust.

Actually, notice the problem with last nights game?  Lay-ups are one thing but the Lakers got their butts kicked on the boards -- almost doubled by the Hawks (umm, yeah the Hawks are a great rebounding team!).  

The Lakers are doing better than I expected -- not because they are in last place but because when they are healthy, they are playing some pretty solid defense.  Now if they get healthy and they play like this, it's a whole different ballgame.

[guest-koast]

Personally, I think it's a little early to throw in the towel.  I don't think the present Laker team is fair to judge them by -- basically, with the Lakers talent (or the lack of it) this team is going to falter when key players get hurt -- and right now some of those key players are hurt -- namely Odom and Mihm.  While those guys aren't All-Stars, when they are hurt it requires more of the Laker bench and that's not exactly a strongpoint for the Lakers.  You start playing these guys more minutes or start relying on Kwame to shore up the middle and suddenly the team goes for a bust.

Actually, notice the problem with last nights game?  Lay-ups are one thing but the Lakers got their butts kicked on the boards -- almost doubled by the Hawks (umm, yeah the Hawks are a great rebounding team!).  

The Lakers are doing better than I expected -- not because they are in last place but because when they are healthy, they are playing some pretty solid defense.  Now if they get healthy and they play like this, it's a whole different ballgame.

I am not throwing in the towel by anymeans.  Just a little bit frustrated that this team played so well in december and then now are playing worse than they were in the pre-season.  To me that is hustling backwards and for the life of me I cannot figure out how they lost so many steps on the defensive end of the court in 5 weeks.

Mihm and Odom just got hurt.   Slava, Mckie, and Profit are hurt also but are not exactly major factors in the Lakers game.   This skid they have been on started prior to Mihm and Odom getting hurt.  You are correct in what you are saying about relying on our bench.  We do not have a good bench and as much as I like Turiaf's fire and seeing Bynum develop....those are not the kinds of players (at this point in their careers) that are going to be able to fill in and make a big impact or at least play equal to Mihm.

Yes the Lakers are young, yes they are some new faces and players who now have different roles (Kwame, Parker, Cook, Bynum) but that is no excuse for some of the defense ive seen.  If anything that youth they have should keep them from being so lazy and tired looking on the defensive end.  How can the 2nd youngest team in the league look like a team of 37 year old flat footer defenders???
 

[Reality]

yes but i think if they really buckle down and apply what the Artist Formerly Known as ZenMeister tells them, Kobe will finish at .500 for the 1st time in his career.

Minus that guy that had to be traded.

[JoMal]

What we all are suffering from this season is optimism regarding our chosen teams. Everyone is going to look like the frosting on a wedding cake in the pre-season, where their past is forgotten and the new surroundings is 'just what our new acquisition needs' to prove those other guys wrong.

Boy, if we could only bottle this stuff in October and force feed it back down our throats in April.