LAKER FAN TIL i DIE….AND THEN SOME MORE AFTER THAT
Archive for the ‘Classic Laker Posts’ Category
Not kissing that bicep now are ya little man????
Overmatched, outclassed, embarrassed. How does a team respond to that kind of thorough beating? Never mind Kobe’s attempt at minimalization with his loss is a loss attitude. At the very least, I want to see us mad….mad at something….acting like we care. If not for personal pride, what about for Lakers pride? What about the franchise, the history, the fans, hell even the haters?
The purple and gold is more than what happened last night. Yeah, the Suns played a helluva game but that game was increasingly helped by our barely lackluster play on what I guess was supposed to be the defensive end. How is it Phil hasn’t found a way to make any of his teams during his L.A. tenure understand defending the pick and roll? That oh so simple play has been the stick in our ass for years now.
And personally, Jordan Farmar was the only guy I saw step up last night. Lamar had a quick start but when his dunk got pinned and then stolen in mid-air by Amare, his fire extinguished. Kobe tried to facilitate but with no finish Kwame blowing layups like a hooker at the pointe, it became moot.
Simply put…lose Thursday, and we might as well call Mr. Clean and ask to borrow his dustpan cuz we will be swept.
The most interesting, and oddly enough, least reported stat from last night’s 115-111 loss is the free throws attempted. Denver was given, awarded, allowed — however you want to say it as long as the implication of bad ref’ing is noted — 49 free throws last night. The Lakers had what would be an average, maybe a bit above average 28.
The age old argument of free throws as a result of bad defense or bad referees…. last night it was bad referees. One example, and then it’s back to work. Ok, two that my beer fogged mind can recall. Luke Walton jumps for a rebound, receives an elbow to the face from Nene in mid air as the ball is tipped to Najera. Turiaf stands behind Najera and gives what can be described as no more than a bump; more like a tap if anything. Where does the whistle come? On the elbow to the face that if Kobe had done would have resulted in 7 free throws and the ball? Nope, that was missed…..Najera goes to the line.
Example two: Under a minute to go, Kobe feeds Brian Cook a pass underneath. Brian Cook attempts a layup, gets clobbered by — yep — Nene. No call made, scramble for the loose ball results in Nene tap dancing at the end line, throwing the ball to AI who trips — on his own feet — as Luke Walton jumps over his legs. Whistle – Luke Walton on the foul.
Lastly, — yeah I know I said two but this one just came to me — Kobe Bryant fronts Carmelo on an inbounds pass. Carmelo — with both hands — shoves Kobe to the floor to get open for the pass. Refs missed it. Which is fine except for the fact that it happened in front of two of the three refs, the one handing the ball to the inbounder and the one on the end line.
Horrible job, cost a game and likely a playoff spot. That’s not to say the Lakers aren’t at fault. After all, when you’re coming back in every game that means you were playing like shit for the previous 3 quarters. But when it’s eight on five, the task becomes even more daunting.
If you’re a Lakers fan wondering why we’re so close to the dreaded .500 season, you may be surprised to find out that it’s not because of our tough conference. In fact, we are 26-21 against our conference. It’s the under .500 record against the considerably weaker Eastern Conference. We are 14 -16 against the Eastern Conference.
There is no excuse for that. No amount of injuries can explain that away. If we were equally bad against the West, then injuries could be our crutch, pun intended. But we aren’t, indeed we have the 5th best record against the west in the western conference……
I just got a feeling…..and it ain’t a good feeling. I feel like we’re slowly collapsing. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how to stop it. But the feeling of optimism from the first two and one half months of the season has slowly begun to fade into fret.
We survived the Lamar Odom injury but it just seems that the high level that our role players were performing at has disappeared. Andrew Bynum seems to have plateaued recently and Radmonovic hasn’t produced consistently enough to be that third option.
And I don’t even want to talk about the road performances….I welcome the all star break.
Tony Mejia has long been on my list of ‘Paid Idiots with a Keyboard’. His ‘opinion’ pieces are based on little more than his like/dislike of a player, team, or coach. Naturally, his dislike of the Lakers franchise has made us archrivals though I’m unsure if he’s hip to me as his adversary.
Anyway, his latest piece basically states that the Lakers should have intentionally lost a January game in order to allow the Mavericks to continue winning until they get complacent. Yes, he is suggesting they should have thrown the game. Now when Dallas’ previous double digit win streak was broken, there was no suggestion of throwing the game. Why would a so-called expert ever suggest a team throw a game for the sake of the league? Idiot.
With that said, great game Sunday night. No Kwame, No Lamar, and a 9 point deficit headed into the fourth quarter made for another confidence builder a la the Houston game a few weeks back. These Lakers are showing the league a lot about heart. They are showing me a lot about teammates.
2nd Quarter
Starting out with 4 bench players trying to get a spark with Kwame being the lone starter on the floor. Normally, Lamar would be out there at this time for a bit of stabilization.
Good work Kwame…way to stick with the play! Fight for the rebound, wait for the steal on the lazy pass.
Looks like Phil’s plan is to lure the Heat to sleep, take the edge off.
Deeper Lakers squad makes me feel tons better about Kobe being on the bench for 5 minute stretches or more. V-Rad, aka the Geico Cave man, is slowly getting into a Lakers rhythm. Luke has definitely picked his game up. Maurice Evans has had some nice run too, despite just getting his shot jacked by Mourning….
Time for more eggnog and brandy. . . .
What the hell is ‘Curse of the Golden Flower’? What kind of name is that? Why does a martial arts flick have such a girly name?
Okay Sasha, that’s three straight shots….
Another bad call on Kwame, three personals and maybe one of those was an actual foul.
The fact that the Heat were given a championship last year still leaves a bad taste in my mouth….
Four straight threes from Sasha…
Phil…take Shootsha out….
Five possessions….five threes attempted…..one three made…..down by twelve,not surprising.
Why the hell is lebron wearing a headband in the pool?
Gotta hold my newborn, be back later…..
Lakers.com has a quick note on Kobe’s uniform change from 8 to 24:
#24 was Bryant’s first high school number, before he switched to #33. Kobe has said that he wanted #24 as a rookie, but it was unavailable, as was #33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The story as I understood was a little more than that. As you may know, Kobe was formerly signed to Addidas. Kobe later signed with NIKE who had the loyalty to stand by him through his legal troubles. However, apparently (no research done by me on this — I either heard it or read it somewhere) Adidas was still using #8 as a selling point even though Mamba had moved on to a different athletic company. So what’s the best move if a company is using you to make money that you aren’t getting a piece of? Change whatever it is that company is using to make loot. No association, no appreciation.
Xpinionated 