The Lakers are sliding fast...Kobe needs to try and take control of his team. Worst still is the fact that they're losing to a bunch of middle-of-the-pack teams and Odom is back. Looks like they're about to lose yet again to the unimpressive Cavs...
They overachieved. Seriously, having Farmar, Cook, Vujacic, and other rag tag players playing significant minutes is going to have them come back down to earth eventually. Even though they beat the Rockets, I still don't consider them as any challenge. Am I counting Kobe out? Absolutely not. Am I counting his teammates out? Aside from Odom (who's prove his worth in the playoffs already), absolutely yes. Although, they ARE one Jason Kidd from vaulting up in the rankings in the West.
1 Luke Walton. He is their chemistry player. Kobe trusts him and Walton helps glue the team together just by being on the court. He is more important to them than Odom. 2 Chemistry breakdown. Kobe's feelings about Odom, Smush and Bynum. PJ's feelings about Odom and Radmanovich. (Supposed) tension between PJ and Kobe. The Lakers' players don't seem to enjoy each other when on the court. There is a lot of tension. 3 Smush Parker is their version of Rafer Alston. He is talented and athletic enough to be a very good player but something is missing between the ears. More than any player I have seen play this season, Smush does some things on the offensive end that make me wonder if he's all there. He makes Rafer look like a great decision maker. If Smush's brain matched his physical ability the Lakers would be a championship contender. Alas, he's a hopeless case. 4 IMO, PJ is losing his grip on the wheel a bit. He's made some questionable play calls that defy logic. I'm beginning to think he should not sign the extension and go ahead and retire after the season. I still think he's a good coach, but maybe age is catching up to him. One undeniable thing is PJ cannot get through to this group of players like he normally can. That is unlikely to change. 5 The center position. Kwame's absence has left the Lakers vulnerable because Bynum isn't quite there yet. When he and Kwame were competing against each other both played better. For the long term, Bynum could turn out to be a special player. I have questions about his attitude and how hard he will work to become great. 6 Maybe, just maybe, the Lakers naysayers were right. The early schedule was very easy and now that it's toughened up the Lakers are being exposed. [I don't believe this at all]. I'm sure francis 4 prez will chime in and give us a more complete breakdown of the Lakers breakdown.
i want to, but the polishing nash's knob...err...i mean trophy thread and the last lakers thread have drained me. suffice it to say, odom is nothing like before the injury, their defense is atrocious (did you see eric snow just get an easy layup right before the half? if eric snow is blowing by you, you need to try harder. kobe is the only guy who can really guard his man), bynum can be great and then post a 4 point, 3 rebound game, they miss walton quite a bit, and most of their role players can really only do one thing (evans is just athletic, cook can just shoot, radman just shoots, vujacic just shoots, bynum is long and has some touch but doesn't really do much yet like all young players, turiaf can only hustle). plus, they're just inventing ways to lose now. they miss shots they shouldn't, or give up a rebound like on the lebron ft where they had position and their hands on the ball, the defense breaks down, odom takes a shot with 2 seconds left instead of kobe, etc. they're usually in the games, they just fall apart at the end. ok, so maybe i wasn't completely drained.
It's not that they're getting worse -- they were never that good to begin with. They had a cushy schedule for the first few months, loading up on home games and Eastern Conference opponents. And it'll only get worse: From this point on, 25 of their remaining 28 games are against the West.
their record is better against the west than the east. 17-10 vs the West, 13-14 vs the east. not that that guarantees that it'll stay that way, but they've done anything but load up on the east like most western teams (dallas 14-3, us 14-2, SA 14-7, pho 20-3, utah 15-7). there doesn't seem to be a reason they suck against the east b/c if you can go 17-10 against the west, you should kill the east. i don't think anyone's played fewer games against the east than the rockets, and since we kick their ass, that should help us after the ASG quite a bit. w/o any powerful offenses like dallas or phoenix, they have tons of trouble against us.
Jackson failed a long time ago. When they lost to the Pistons. Horrible display of coaching. I am not saying they should have beat the Pistons. But they completely folded. Its about time he go coach Cleveland or something.
So far Rox has a mediocre record against the west: 18-18, I think. That is a concern coming to playoffs time. JVG really makes his living by beating teams in the east. He seems have a special touch at doing that. There are no excuses for Lakers losing so many games to the east. None. I am a huge Phil Jackson fan but I have to say his coaching was disappointing lately. This young Lakers team may fall apart after the all star weekend. Young playrs are losing confidence fast. I hate to see that but it is happening.
The fans are hoping Pippen is going to save them. Lol, Pippen here was a disaster and imagine him there.
Several reasons: 1) They're not that talented. Kobe's great. But Lamar Odom's erratic. He can look like Scottie Pippen one night and Scottie Quitten the next. Bynum will be really good someday, but right now he's young and inconsistent. 2) They miss Luke Walton. You wouldn't think he'd be as essential to the Lakers' ability to win games as Nash and T-Mac are for the Suns and Rockets respectively, but it's looking like that's the case. 3) Their early season schedule was a joke. Granted, that doesn't excuse back-to-back home losses to the Bricks and Cavs(or that blown home game to the Spurs before their road trip), but I've been saying for months that their early record was fattened up on a very generous home heavy schedule. Now that things have evened out, the Lakers have come back down to earth.
francis 4 prez, you lazy bum. Suck it up and get typing. You never waxed a car before? ivanyy2000, I agree with you but the Lakers should burst out after the All-Star break with a 7-2 run. Very easy schedule. With Walton back, I predict they will right the ship. This 4-11 slump has only cost them playoff seeding.
Yes it would be, but you can flip a coin between the Jazz, Spurs & Rockets for the 3 ,4 and 5 seeds. Right now, it would be Jazz vs. Lakers. And let me say this again: If Nash misses a few games after the break, the Suns could slip to #3. I predict at least one of the three teams above is going to roll after the break. The Suns are 4 1/2 games behind the Mavs and will never catch them. They are only 4 ahead of Utah and 4 1/2 ahead of the Spurs.
I think things will hold the way they are. The Rockets may end up with a better record than Utah, but they'll still be the 5th seed. I don't see Phoenix slipping to 3rd. And San Antonio has a ton of home games coming up now that they've gotten the Rodeo Road Trip out the way.
Walton has been overrated by everyone outside of LA according to Laker fans. He's average on defense, has an inconsistent jumper and is certainly not a glue guy. This is a streak shooting team and when players outside of Kobe aren't knocking down jump shots, they aren't going to win. It doesn't help when Odom and Bynum are getting minimal points in the paint.
The Lakers have overacheived just like the Rockets have...the difference is in the team chemistry, we've got great chemistry, they don't. Now it's starting to show its effects.
