My thoughts...
It's not 100% Brooks fault for not passing out of the trap well. It takes someone to pass to, you know. Seemed like everyone just stood around or made bad cuts to the ball that were easily defended.
We couldn't shoot 3s or FTs for crap last night. Normally those shots fall. Last night, we were pushing too hard and rushing things a bit from 3. Shane looked tired since most of his corner 3s were short. Maybe working so hard on guarding Kobe took its toll there. We really could have used Budinger. The FTs...well, there's just no excuse.
Ariza pushed too hard and tried to do too much, despite what he may say in interviews. He needs to play within himself and let the game come to him.
Chuck is awesome.
Refs...sigh. Back to back offensive foul calls on Scola came back to be huge at the end. Ugh. Hand-checking, body-checking, and shoving out front threw Brooks off a lot too. He's got to learn to fight through that somehow if it's going to be allowed like that against certain teams. How that wasn't a shooting foul, I'll never know.
Landry was a beast.
Overall, if we hit a few more free throws (70.8%? Ugh) and/or another 3 (29.2% from this team? Really?) it's another ballgame. We showed some growth and also showed some areas we need to work on. Rick will get it figured out and the effort will always be there. Had you told me before the season started that we'd lose by 1 in OT to the Lakers after having off games from Ariza and Brooks, I'd have called you a dreamer.