This month has so many back2backs and with the 9 man rotation we have it would be quite impossible to run n gun for all our games-someone would probably get injured or we lose games cause everyone's exhausted. It might have been a strategy to not run n gun for NOH and CLE cause they are bad teams and our mediocre half court system would suffice to put them away. I can't fault if true cause it worked...
You know how the Rockets win a championship? Take Warriors players that they don't think is good. Remember Chamberlain? Robert Parish? Next? Jeremy Lin! LOL.
Just keep on attacking with Lin/Harden. Kobe picks up Nash's man quite often. Lin is too fast for Nash. Kobe can't guard our backcourt alone.
Too bad, I was rooting for the Lakers because Denver is right behind our tail. Lakers could have created some space for us.
The last we play the Lakers, Harden dominated the ball a lot; but now it's different, Lin has now turn into a weapon getting to handle the ball more and penetrate. So, it's going to be fun. I remember Kobe saying Harden need to learn to share the ball...it's funny because they just lost to the Nuggets tonight and Kobe was nothing but ballhogging lol.
cleveland played well or irving played well? it was their b2b game too. basically we play down to other teams too much and haven't been pushing the pace like we should be. that's always been our identity since we have youth on our side and that's been emphasized by mchale a million times. if it's your identity, you don't put it on the backburner when it's convenient.
Cr@p! We're going to be the victim of another milestone: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The @<a href="https://twitter.com/denvernuggets">denvernuggets</a> also tied a season-high w/ 33asts (just 10 TO) in the W. Nash had 13asts for @<a href="https://twitter.com/lakers">lakers</a> & is now 5 shy of 10,000 career asts</p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/288150755691606018" data-datetime="2013-01-07T05:11:08+00:00">January 7, 2013</a></blockquote>
so you're basically saying that since NOH and CLE are bad teams, then possibly mchale told them to play down to them? mchale's emphasized breathlessly that young teams like the rox tend to be inconsistant and can't afford to play down to their competition. they have to play hard every game cause the moment you let your guar down, you get beat by lesser teams. i'm pretty sure the coaching staff is always emphasizing their identity of pushing the pace and NOT to playing down to weaker teams.
The Lakers have now lost three in a row to drop to 15-18 and three games behind the surging Portland Trailblazers in the race for the #8 seed. If we say that a team needs to finish with 45 wins in order to make the playoffs in the West--and I think that's a reasonable estimate--then the Lakers are going to go 30-19 down the stretch in order to just MAKE the playoffs. Every game is turning into a must-win for the Lakers. Yet they're obviously not winning! Question: Is it a wise decision for the Lakers to fully commit to a future with Dwight Howard? Despite the fact that he is clearly not the player he was prior to the back surgery, and especially despite the fact that he is a remarkably immature and seemingly stupid man? And thus not exactly the sort of guy to commit $100+ mil to, and to build a team around? [Aren't you glad that the Rockets didn't get this guy, and got James Harden instead?] Everybody talks about what the Lakers should trade Pau Gasol for... why wouldn't they be looking to auction off Dwight Howard's dumb a$$ to the highest bidder? Just like Orlando did with him, for all of the reasons above? Would the Hawks cough up Josh Smith, Kyle Korver, and a first round pick for Howard? Probably! The Lakers should make that deal... but they won't, and they'll probably stick with Howard, and they may or may not even make the playoffs, which would surely make them the most star-studded team in NBA history to miss the playoffs. Anyway, yes, the Rockets may run this team out of the building. Houston would improve to 21-14 (.600 basketball!) with their fifth straight win. Take another look at the standings. The Jazz are now two games behind Portland for the #8 spot and have lost 8 of their last 12 ballgames. Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson are both unrestricted free agents this summer. The trade deadline is 44 days away. Big stretch for Utah, as well; if Houston continues to surge while Utah continues to fade, those Paul Millsap-to-Houston rumors are going to heat up.
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The Lakers are indeed old...i expect the Rockets to push the ball up w/ Lin. Nash, Gasol and Howard are like turtles, they're not going to be able to keep up with us. I also expect Gasol to sit a lot because he's going to be tired and slow.
I don't think Lin and Harden will have a lot of success inside the pain when both D12 and Gasol are on the floor.
I hope our team doesn't underestimate them, given that their struggling. Because we're going to see their best effort tomorrow night. Sadly we are the most winnable game of the next three for the Lakers. So I hope the guys are ready for tomorrow night, cause the Lakers are going to bring it.
