Aren't we Laker fans glad?

[Laker Fan]

Gald we don't have to face Sacramento in the playoffs? A matchup nightmare, reminds me of Dallas/Golden State last year.

Congrats on the win JoMal, have well aged Napa Merlot on me.

[JoMal]

Thank you Dan, but I spent the night drinking Lake Sonoma Zins, and a Preston Syrah. Still worked for me.

The Lakers should be a bit ashamed of themselves, for losing to the Kings at home. But then, this season the Kings are routinely playing their worst basketball against the Clippers, Wolves, Sonics, Heat, 76'ers and the like, while putting up a decent effort against the better teams.

Which proves to me they have the talent, but not the intelligence. A rudderless team that can play like that against certain competition while laying an egg against the Wolves at home the other night is the worst type of team to watch over the course of a year.

The Kings are now 1-10 against the other Pacific Division teams.  Wooo Hooo!! 

[msc]

Nice win JoMal.  After the hard fought battle up north last week I was worried about this game and Sac stepped up.  The Lakers defense was atrocious.  It was embarrassing.  I can't believe so many media types are picking them to win it all. 

[JoMal]

Nice win JoMal.  After the hard fought battle up north last week I was worried about this game and Sac stepped up.  The Lakers defense was atrocious.  It was embarrassing.  I can't believe so many media types are picking them to win it all. 

What was with the lane freeway? How many opportunities did the Kings have around the basket? It was what Theus has been pounding into his guys from day one, but believe me, other teams out there, like the Jazz, give up those baskets at a much higher cost then the Lakers were attempting to do. And 71 points in the first half...that is not what you think about when you think championship. It is true, the Lakers, of all teams, seem to have match-up problems versus the Kings, which would be a concern if the Kings were a match-up problem with the Clippers as well, for one.

And I have to admit, most fans in Sacramento gave a sigh of relief when it was Kobe who had the ball in the last five seconds. Derek Fisher was killing us all night, and in most previous games as well. Our announcers and anyone in Sacramento watching was dreading to see Fisher with the ball at that point, but Bryant...not so much. Which isn't a knock against Kobe, BTW, since he has proven himself time after time in that situation. It is just that other players on the Lakers are more notorious to us, Like Horry and more recently, Fisher.

[msc]

^^^Yeah, the lack of defensive intensity was embarrassing.  No doubt. 

Kobe wasn't active at all during the second half.  I have no idea why he dissapeared.  I guess you have to give credit to Sacs D, but I've never seen a defense completely shut down Kobe, so I have to think it was just an off night for him.  I knew we didn't have a chance in hell at making the shot coming out of the timeout with 4 seconds left.  The Lakers have been horrible at running last second shots this season.

We get to play each other two more times this season, so it should make for some interesting matchups. 

[JoMal]

I thought Garcia and Salmons both did a very good defensive job on Kobe, but quite often Kobe would pass the ball, even if he had the better shot, and on several sequences, the Laker who ended up with the ball missed the shot.

I thought the refs were errattic, to say the least. Gasol looked to have been fouled by Moore on his last basket, and Vujacic' 'phantom' elbow he took to the face from Moore that resulted in the technical on Mikki??? Never even connected, and Vujacic took a full two seconds to finally act like he was knocked silly. THEN, to make the play even more confusing, they call a foul on Vujacic. So the Lakers shoot a technical, but the Kings kept the ball. Only fair that later it was Vujacic who tripped and fouled Udrith from a lying position on the hardwood right before Kobe's last effort shot that resulted in the winning free throws.

Notice that Artest was on the bench in the fourth. It was said later by Theus that he liked how the squad on the floor was playing, and Artest had that foot issue, but I think it was because Ron was getting a bit Ar-Testy on the court and Theus benched him so he would not explode.

[Skandery]

I can't believe so many media types are picking them to win it all.

. . . yeah the utter gall of these media types.  Honestly what have the Lakers done?  They've only won 15 out of their last 18 games (and 2 of those losses by a combined 4 points), pulled off a coup in getting the absolute perfect offensive big for their system and have the deadliest starting 5 in the league, they only have the deepest (and one of the younger) benches in the league, and have managed all this success WITHOUT their young, talented 7 footer who should return for the playoffs. 

I don't know where these idiots are coming from either, msc? 

[msc]

Touche, Skandery 

While that's all true, they aren't playing good enough defense for sustained periods of time to win it all.  Detroit, SA and the Celtics are playing great D and for that reason should be picked ahead of the Lakers to win it all, IMO. 

Phoenix used to beat everyone up too and couldn't get it done in the playoffs becuase their D was/is weak. 

[Laker Fan]

Problem is LA has good defensive players, Kobe can be lock down if needed, Fisher is, flopping aside, decent, Walton has some skills, Odom can give certian bigs, Nowitski for example, problems, and Turiaf is a great pressure defender off the bench. The potential is there for at least decent defense, not sure why it doesn't gel. All the more reason why if Bynum or at least Arriza aren't back for the post season, LA may not have enough to finish off the big threat in the West, the Spurs, no other team in in the WC save maybe Utah is as much trouble, and if they DO manage to get past SA, Boston or Detroit either one have more than enough defense to get it done.

[JoMal]

Problem is LA has good defensive players, Kobe can be lock down if needed, Fisher is, flopping aside, decent, Walton has some skills, Odom can give certian bigs, Nowitski for example, problems, and Turiaf is a great pressure defender off the bench. The potential is there for at least decent defense, not sure why it doesn't gel. All the more reason why if Bynum or at least Arriza aren't back for the post season, LA may not have enough to finish off the big threat in the West, the Spurs, no other team in in the WC save maybe Utah is as much trouble, and if they DO manage to get past SA, Boston or Detroit either one have more than enough defense to get it done.

In this game, Gasol also showed some questionable moves both offensively and defensively. Our rookie, Spencer Hawes, blocked several of his shots around the basket, plus caused a jump ball with him. This kid did NOT come into the NBA known for his defense. When on defense himself, the same rook took down some hard dunks around Gasol and passed to a fairly open guy (Garcia) twice in a row with Gasol the man who was beaten. Not a good showing, though to his credit, Hawes is looking better and better out on the court when given some playing time.

[westkoast]

Problem is LA has good defensive players, Kobe can be lock down if needed, Fisher is, flopping aside, decent, Walton has some skills, Odom can give certian bigs, Nowitski for example, problems, and Turiaf is a great pressure defender off the bench. The potential is there for at least decent defense, not sure why it doesn't gel. All the more reason why if Bynum or at least Arriza aren't back for the post season, LA may not have enough to finish off the big threat in the West, the Spurs, no other team in in the WC save maybe Utah is as much trouble, and if they DO manage to get past SA, Boston or Detroit either one have more than enough defense to get it done.

In this game, Gasol also showed some questionable moves both offensively and defensively. Our rookie, Spencer Hawes, blocked several of his shots around the basket, plus caused a jump ball with him. This kid did NOT come into the NBA known for his defense. When on defense himself, the same rook took down some hard dunks around Gasol and passed to a fairly open guy (Garcia) twice in a row with Gasol the man who was beaten. Not a good showing, though to his credit, Hawes is looking better and better out on the court when given some playing time.

Gasol's defense sucks.  It doesn't matter if its Hawes, Curry, or Duncan...he is not a post defender.  They didn't teach that in Europe, Mike Fratello couldn't teach it if his life depended on it, and he sure is not going to all the sudden pick it up.  Not only did Hawes defend him pretty well, like you said he posterized him TWICE.  Badly.

I have a question for you....Do you think the team looks more competitive this year under Theus (minus injuries) then they did with Adleman?  Cuz Rick looks to be a shoe in for COY and get this, Houston's defense is better this year under him then last year under Van Gundy.

[JoMal]

Gasol's defense sucks.  It doesn't matter if its Hawes, Curry, or Duncan...he is not a post defender.  They didn't teach that in Europe, Mike Fratello couldn't teach it if his life depended on it, and he sure is not going to all the sudden pick it up.  Not only did Hawes defend him pretty well, like you said he posterized him TWICE.  Badly.

I have a question for you....Do you think the team looks more competitive this year under Theus (minus injuries) then they did with Adleman?  Cuz Rick looks to be a shoe in for COY and get this, Houston's defense is better this year under him then last year under Van Gundy.

Adelman's team showing great defense!!!! Doesn't that just make us King's fans blow bubbles, huh wk?

Rick's problem with the Kings was his relationship with the Maloofs. Adelman just is not going to be a pretty boy glad-hander at their Vegas casino and wasn't about to change. This, for some reason, irked the Maloofs. Somebody please tell me there is some billionaire bozo out there who does not once in a while act like a spoiled six year old who hasn't had his latest toy tarnished.

The biggest difference between last year's team and this years is definitely the coach. Theus at least has the ear of his players, while Musselman lost them completely and knew he was going through the motions until the season ended. The night before the Kings played the Lakers in LA, Theus called one of those player/coaches team meetings to air out all differences and voice what and where they envisioned the team and their place on it.

After sicko showings against the Wolves and Clippers recently, something had to be said, because regardless of the win against the Lakers, it makes absolutely no sense for the same team to eat garbage against the Clippers three times already, and now twice against the Wolves. If the team is good enough to have beaten the Lakers, Spurs, Jazz, among other teams above 600, then how could they be the same team losing TEN TIMES to teams with worse records then the Kings? With those ten victories, maybe we are just under the playoff radar. 

Anyway, the team is all jazzed now after that team meeting and at least for one night, the Lakers suffered for it. Only twenty-odd games left now to pull off a better finish then they did last year, though, when the Kings had practically the same record as this years through the same number of games.

And though I really do like the Lakers doing a number in the playoffs this year, I also acknowledge a big problem defensively against the dirtier teams coming your way, mainly the Spurs and Jazz. Offensively, the Lakers should take out anyone else they face.

Lucky for you, they won't be seeing the Kings.      

[WayOutWest]

Lucky for you, they won't be seeing the Kings.      

I wouldn't mind facing the Kings in the playoffs as long as they PROMISE to keep Ron Artest in the game durring the 4th quarter!

[JoMal]

Lucky for you, they won't be seeing the Kings.      

I wouldn't mind facing the Kings in the playoffs as long as they PROMISE to keep Ron Artest in the game durring the 4th quarter!

OO, OO

...and YOU promise that Kobe will again take the last shot to win the game if it comes down to that.

[westkoast]

Gasol's defense sucks.  It doesn't matter if its Hawes, Curry, or Duncan...he is not a post defender.  They didn't teach that in Europe, Mike Fratello couldn't teach it if his life depended on it, and he sure is not going to all the sudden pick it up.  Not only did Hawes defend him pretty well, like you said he posterized him TWICE.  Badly.

I have a question for you....Do you think the team looks more competitive this year under Theus (minus injuries) then they did with Adleman?  Cuz Rick looks to be a shoe in for COY and get this, Houston's defense is better this year under him then last year under Van Gundy.

Adelman's team showing great defense!!!! Doesn't that just make us King's fans blow bubbles, huh wk?

Rick's problem with the Kings was his relationship with the Maloofs. Adelman just is not going to be a pretty boy glad-hander at their Vegas casino and wasn't about to change. This, for some reason, irked the Maloofs. Somebody please tell me there is some billionaire bozo out there who does not once in a while act like a spoiled six year old who hasn't had his latest toy tarnished.

The biggest difference between last year's team and this years is definitely the coach. Theus at least has the ear of his players, while Musselman lost them completely and knew he was going through the motions until the season ended. The night before the Kings played the Lakers in LA, Theus called one of those player/coaches team meetings to air out all differences and voice what and where they envisioned the team and their place on it.

After sicko showings against the Wolves and Clippers recently, something had to be said, because regardless of the win against the Lakers, it makes absolutely no sense for the same team to eat garbage against the Clippers three times already, and now twice against the Wolves. If the team is good enough to have beaten the Lakers, Spurs, Jazz, among other teams above 600, then how could they be the same team losing TEN TIMES to teams with worse records then the Kings? With those ten victories, maybe we are just under the playoff radar. 

Anyway, the team is all jazzed now after that team meeting and at least for one night, the Lakers suffered for it. Only twenty-odd games left now to pull off a better finish then they did last year, though, when the Kings had practically the same record as this years through the same number of games.

And though I really do like the Lakers doing a number in the playoffs this year, I also acknowledge a big problem defensively against the dirtier teams coming your way, mainly the Spurs and Jazz. Offensively, the Lakers should take out anyone else they face.

Lucky for you, they won't be seeing the Kings.      

In all fairness they were already a solid defensive team before he got there but even Van Gundy said he thinks they are a better defensive team this year then they were under him.  Stats and winning streak agree.  Although it makes you wonder if maybe there were a few more Doug Christie type players on his previous squads if he could actually have made their defense a lot better.

So what your saying is they traded in the old,boring, sit at home and watch the History Channel coach to try to grab the Barack Obama of head coaches in the NBA 2 years later?  I think it's a great move.  Before I was spending a lot of money at their casino in hopes of seeing Rick Adleman playing black jack.  Now I think I will go there this summer during the playoffs since I know Reggie will have nothing better to do.

And I'll take my chances with Kobe vs Ron Ron in the 4th just to throw it out there lol