LOL@ Kwame. Poor guy was getting booed by the Staples crowd. Kobe?

[WayOutWest]

Only caught the 2nd half of the Laker/Suns game and it was painful.

There was a stretch where Kwame had a horrid couple of minutes and was getting booed every time he touched the ball.  He misses a point blank uncontested dunk, then follows that up with a bunch of TO's and lapses on defense.  I went from being pissed at Kwame to feeling sorry for the guy. 

I really don't know how to gauge Kobe anymore, more specifically I don't give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his actions.  Kobe hardly shot the ball at all, some would say he was trying to get his team mates involved but I would say otherwise.  Since much was made about him taking 44 shots in the previous win IMO Kobe was making the "see what happens when I don't shoot" statement.  I know he seems to have turned over a new leaf this year but he's already on my "s" list so I think he was being a bit of a punk yesterday.  When he did decide to shot he wasn't doing his bread and butter plays nor trying to get to the line, he was going for the glory 3 pointers it seemed.

The Suns played well, for a while they were putting on a clinic and the Lakers 2nd unit had to battle the Lakers back into the game.  That was really the ONLY positive I saw in the game.  In the past the Lakers 2nd unit went in the hope was they wouldn't lose too much ground to the opposing team.  Now they actually provide a spark and at times gain ground with their engery and hustle.  IMO the Suns definately look like they would be an underdog to the Lakers come playoff time.  IMO the Suns best days are behind them, this year is probably their LAST shot at a title.

[westkoast]

WOW please don't fall into the trap others have of never being satisfied with what Kobe does.  Phil Jackson specifically asked him to get his teammates involved in the second half.  They felt that if there was not a balanced attack that they didn't have a chance to beat them.  So he did what the coach asked him, like he is suppose to, and then at the very end you saw him trying to jack up some 3s.  He had to shoot the 3s as they were down a whole bunch and he was hitting em.  It was more then glory 3s..literally they needed em to counter PHX's 3s because the Lakers spent too much time helping everytime Nash so much as dribble around a screen.  They've won more games this year by sharing the ball then they have by him just shooting over and over so I think it makes sense to go that route.  Especially since they beat PHX two other times as a team.  Kobe is not superman and doesn't even make every shot himself.  I rather see him look for Ronnie and Luke for shots closer to the rim then anything.  Besides how can you complain when he went 3 of 4 from the 3 point line in the last 2 minutes?  I know he has to shoulder the blame as the star but going away from what got you to 26-11 doesn't seem like the way to go.

I was dying laughing at Kwame last night.  I do not feel bad for him.  He has been told over and over and over and over and over that he needs to DUNK a lot of his shots.  None of these cute little lay ups.  Another thing he has been told over and over and over and over is to slow it down, think, and then make your move.  He has still yet to do that.  It's like he has ADD or something.

Both the Lakers and Suns actually played horrible.  When both teams almost have 30 turn overs its not playing well.  The Suns just played one sucky notch above the Lakers last night.



Oh btw...Bynum is VERY overhyped.  I am starting to get frustrated with the amount of d-riding for Bynum.  Yes he is a good player.  Yes he is going to continue to get better.  However you would swear with the way Doug Collins talked about him last night that he was Shaq, Hakeem, and David Robinson all rolled into one during their primes.  Yes losing Bynum hurts the Lakers but again like you said his stats say 13 and 10.  Not 25 and 10.   What Bynum would have done last night would have been caught lobs and shovel passes then converted.   Kwame on his own literally gave up 10-15 points last night on missed layups from passes that would have been converted by just about anyone else.  He would not have helped on the pick and pop or the overall lack of defense on the perimeter.  He would not have stopped Diaw from taking and making 15 foot jumpers most of the night.  He also would not have had the ability to stop PHX from blocking Luke Walton 4 times, etc.

[WayOutWest]

koast,

I only caught the second half but I the announcers said Kobe had only taken 2 shots upto that point.  If that was true that's rediculous, he's was being a brat/beeyotch if he only put up that many shots.

[msc]

He had only taken two shots in the 2nd half at that point. 

He took several in the 1st, not a ton, but I believe he had 13 pts in the 1st half. 

Kobe was doing the right thing.  The Lakers have to have more of a balanced attack to win ball games, especially against quality opponents.  He can squeak out a victory jacking up 44 against the Sonics, but that won't fly against decent teams.  That Sonics game was atrocious and brought back horrible memories of the past couple of seasons; i.e., Kobe forcing up shots and everyone else standing around watching.... ugggh! 

Kobe at Phil's instruction was making a conscious effort to get everyone and primarily Luke and Odom to be more aggressive.  Odom certainly was and Luke tried, but man Luke has looked downright awful recently.  I like the guy and he's a smart player, but he hasn't looked like it recently.  Ariza may be starting soon and I'm not sure that's a bad thing, although I love his spark coming off the bench with that second unit. 

As far as Kwame goes, I almost felt bad for him.  I mean I'm not a guy who likes to boo my team and I wouldn?t' have booed him had I been there.  However, he's been sucking for what 8 or 9 years now in the NBA?  I mean, you'd think he'd show some improvement on the offensive end in that time, but he hasn't.  If anything he's regressed offensively.  His hands are horrible and he's missed like 10 uncontested dunks this season.  The boo's weren't just based on last night ... if you've been watching he's missed a truck-load of point blank dunks since his return.  Doug Collins was quick to point out that he's not fully recovered from his injury.  I don't give a hoot, if you're 7 feet tall, you should be able to throw down a two handed dunk even if one leg is severed at the knee!!

[westkoast]

koast,

I only caught the second half but I the announcers said Kobe had only taken 2 shots upto that point.  If that was true that's rediculous, he's was being a brat/beeyotch if he only put up that many shots.

He was on par with the number of attempts in the first half as he had all year save the Sonics game.  He didn't take only 2 shots in the first half.  I was a little drunk last night watching the game but I think he had 2 shots in the first few Laker possesions.

Everything msc said about it, I agree with.  They are not going to beat quality opponents strickly off him shooting.  They didn't beat PHX the last two times like that.

[WayOutWest]

He was on par with the number of attempts in the first half as he had all year save the Sonics game.  He didn't take only 2 shots in the first half.  I was a little drunk last night watching the game but I think he had 2 shots in the first few Laker possesions.

Everything msc said about it, I agree with.  They are not going to beat quality opponents strickly off him shooting.  They didn't beat PHX the last two times like that.

I agree but you do have to make adjustments.  MJ knew when to be MJ, Magic/Bird knew when they needed to be legendary.  Regular season or not, you need to send a message to the team that bounced you out the last two years in a row, not to mention the Suns comming back from 3-1 on the Lakers is one of the most embarrising things I can remember in recent LAKER playoff history.  There where a few times when the Lakers needed a bucket or in the least a quality attempt, but no, Kobe had to suspend reality and be a good little lemming.

Then again, for all I know this could be a deep lesson PJ wants the Lakers to learn, Kobe will NOT bail you guys out every time so everyone needs to step it up.  I'll cling to that......

[ziggy]

Lakers Floor time stats

Lakers lose 62.5% of the time during the minutes Kwame is on the floor.  Lakers win 54.5% of the time during the minutes Turiaf is on the floor.  I turned on the game about the same time as WOW.  Kwame was utterly pathetic, and the louder they booed the worse it got.

Player   Min   +/-   Off   Def   Net48   W   L   Win% Crittenton   8%     -24    94.7    102.1    -7.4     7     12     36.8 Brown   18%     -7    96.2    97.2    -1.0     6     10     37.5 Cook   3%     -9    93.7    99.8    -6.2     2     3     40 Ariza   23%     +4    103.1    102.6    +0.5     9     13     40.9 Mihm   14%     -16    101.5    104.6    -3.0     7     10     41.2 Turiaf   30%     +23    103.2    101.2    +2.1     18     15     54.5 Vujacic   18%     +13    107.3    105.5    +1.9     14     10     58.3 Farmar   42%     +93    104.8    98.9    +5.9     23     14     62.2 Fisher   56%     +162    110.3    102.5    +7.8     24     13     64.9 Radmanovic   31%     +145    114.8    102.3    +12.4     19     10     65.5 Odom   65%     +139    105.8    100.1    +5.7     22     10     68.8 Walton   47%     +142    110.1    102.0    +8.1     23     10     69.7 Bynum   56%     +239    111.8    100.4    +11.4     25     10     71.4 Evans   5%     +31    118.1    102.6    +15.5     5     2     71.4 Karl   1%     +5    112.2    104.0    +8.3     5     2     71.4 Bryant   76%     +255    109.1    100.1    +9.0     26     10     72.2