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[mosk33toe]

Good luck finding those for $3.5mil

Good luck to both of us

 

[essential1]

Good luck finding those for $3.5mil

Good luck to both of us

MITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[three6mafia2007]

Offensively, Sessions opens up and ***** all over Blake. They're not even in the same stratosphere

Defensively, Blake is better, but that's a relative term. I dont think anyone considers blake to be a good defender currently. Above average? Possibly, but certainly not good

Sessions>>>Blake

 

[kvsm23vs24]

Blake's defense>>> Sessions

 

[three6mafia2007]

Blake's defense>>> Sessions

and still, he's not a good defender

 

[pmatic]

Lakers detail adjustments for Game 2

f any one thing was established in Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers' series against the San Antonio Spurs, it was the Kobe Bryant-less Lakers intend to get the ball inside to Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol early, often and always.

"We're inside-out now," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said Monday. "We're full blown and we're going to keep doing that."

Howard and Gasol accounted for 28 of the Lakers' 73 shots Sunday (38.4 percent). But they also coughed up 10 of the Lakers' 18 turnovers.

It's a good thing L.A. is committing to Howard, a seven-time All-Star, and Gasol, a four-time All-Star, but the problem is if you go to the well one too many times against a solid, well-coached defensive team like San Antonio, your predictability hurts you.

"Let's see if we can have a little bit better ball movement before we try to get the ball in, because if we try to fight it too much and force it too much is when the turnovers came in, most of them," Gasol said. "So, we just got to move their defense a little bit better and swing the ball then try to post the ball up into Dwight or myself. Then it won't be as easy for them to front or make things hard for us."

D'Antoni said the goal for the two practices between Games 1 and 2 was "cleaning up our offense."

That entails cutting down on the 18 turnovers that led to 14 points for the Spurs, but also shooting the ball better. L.A. shot just 41.1 percent overall from the field, and an anemic 3-for-15 on 3-pointers (20 percent). D'Antoni said Andrew Goudelock, an undersized guard with a legitimate 3-point stroke who was in the D-League a week ago, could also get playing time.

"A lot of it is just not being familiar with what we’re trying to do, putting in new sets, guys not being in the right spots," D'Antoni said. "A lot of it is [the Spurs] are active and they're good. We have to be a little bit smoother in what we're doing in trying to clear out. Again, we're trying to put the ball inside all the time into a tight spot. We got a lot of guys in there, so it's just trying to clean and do a better job. Some of it was we just mishandled the ball. We just got to be a little more careful with the ball."

Gasol was asked to explain exactly what the "new sets" and "wrinkles" that D'Antoni was talking about the Lakers had planned, without giving away too much.

"We're just trying to move the ball and create a couple actions before we dump the ball in the post," Gasol said. "We got to move their defense so the passes are not so forced and it's not so predictable and everybody sees that we're trying to keep that path right now and everybody's looking at it.

"So, we change [the] ball side-to-side on the floor and that's it. It creates a couple actions where we can create some movement, the defense is not fighting from behind so much and then all of the sudden, boom. Post-up. Boom. Right there. So, that's what we're trying to do -- create some flow and move their defense before we put the ball in the post."

Gasol's "fighting from behind" comment about the Spurs' defenders was a thinly veiled shot at the referees, echoed by D'Antoni, who both felt as if San Antonio players were reaching through and around the Lakers' players' bodies to get deflections that led to their 12 steals.

Part of it is to be expected with the Spurs playing at home where they were 35-6 during the regular season at AT&T Center with the referees allowing them to set the tone for how much contact is going to be accepted.

Fighting back with force is a tricky tactic. L.A. is already undermanned not having Kobe Bryant out there. Should Howard foul out (he came close in Game 1, picking up five), they'll be putting even more pressure on their role players to play over their heads.

Success figures to come as much from playing intelligently as it does from battling hard.

"We just have to be able to flash guys to the high post," D'Antoni said. "We just have to do a better job of getting to our spots earlier, moving the ball, getting in the flow, having the discipline where if we're into a pick-and-roll or whatever that the ball is moved to the back and then in.

"We just can't come down all the time and telegraph where we're going and we have to have some kind of flow to get the ball inside, with the discipline of, 'Hey, we're going in.' I think we'll get that and the more games we play together, the better it will get."

They better get it, or there won't be many more games to play this season.

"We know how to play basketball," Howard said. "We just got to go out there and play hard and me and Pau have to dominate in the paint and we should win."

Link

 

[acbboyz84]

Can't believe this billion dollars plus organization can't find a decent point guard to help the team.

The best they got was Morris and Goudelock? You mean to tell me that out of all the college players and international players out there. Darius Morris and Goudelock is the best that you can find? Unacceptable.


They need to fire the team scouts asap.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

This isn't baseball, unfortunately for us. For however much money the Lakers make, we can't strong arm the market and grab the best PG. CBA ****ed us, it was meant to stop us.

 

[CP1708]

Jarret Jack. I wish he was ours next year. 1, so he'd stop killing us, 2, he's a perfect fit.

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

I'm ready to view the game tomorrow..

 

[lakerfan824]

Job interview in the morning.
Class

Then bout to post till the game starts!

 

[thegoldenchild]

This isn't baseball, unfortunately for us. For however much money the Lakers make, we can't strong arm the market and grab the best PG. CBA ****ed us, it was meant to stop us.

it wasnt the cba that f'd us, it was david stern.. still upset that the lakers didnt draft jamychal green from alabama (yeah im a homer!).. why cant we dump ebanks, morris, sacre for a decent pg? eric gordon maybe an option? I'dlove to have nate robinson on our team!

 

[SORIANOTRON]

nahhhh sess was legit, he could get his own shot anytime he wanted, he played at a faster pace than most cats on the floor....

on D he was more a liability on that pick and roll.....he struggled with that high pic with us, but athletically he had the tools to be a good defender, still think he does.

 

[girlslovewaffles]

I don't think I'll ever forget the first 2 points Sessions scored for us. It was off a hesitation drive to the basket, ending in a kinda awkward tear drop.

After Fisher, that sort of stuff was beautiful

 

[lakerfan824]

it wasnt the cba that f'd us, it was david stern.. still upset that the lakers didnt draft jamychal green from alabama (yeah im a homer!).. why cant we dump ebanks, morris, sacre for a decent pg? eric gordon maybe an option? I'dlove to have nate robinson on our team!

Eric gordon?

No thanks

 

[knightngale]

It has been clear that 3 point shooting is essential for a contending team. That is how the Mavs beat the Heat in 2011. The Mavs also oblitarated the LAkers with their shooting in 2011. Barea had so much space to kill the LAkers due to all the shooting. The heat won last year and 3 point shooting was one of the main factors. Lebron and Wade get to go 1 on1 because of 3 point shooting.

I have no idea how the Heat have been able to sign a million shooters. Their shooters can also play some defense as well.

Right now the Lakers do not have any shooters. Meeks seems to be more of a streaky shooter than a pure shooter and plays zero defense
Nash is the only real shooter but he is DONE.

I don't know if the Lakers will be able to afford to get a shooter next season so I will not be surprised if they have the same type of team as this year. They seem to like
non shooters like Artest, Ebanks, Morris or streaky shooters like Blake, Meeks, and Jamison. The non shooters can play defense but the streaky shooters can't. What a terrible combination. I think small forward is the most important position where they need a shooter/defender type. They main quality for a PG would be defense/athleticism.

I can see Miami signing the only pure shooters this offseason again :x

Was Glen Rice the last pure shooter this team had? :x

 

[noblekane]

so is antoni gonna start both blake and nash again? i hope not.

why not shake things up and start goudelock?

maybe that will light a fire under meeks butt to play better....

blake should be the back up for nash

no more darius morris please...

i think the spurs win in a blow out tonight. the 3 day rest probably helped them better with their injured players.

lakers missed a great chance to steal game one. that first quarter did us in...

 

[sea manup]

so is antoni gonna start both blake and nash again? i hope not.

why not shake things up and start goudelock?

maybe that will light a fire under meeks butt to play better....

blake should be the back up for nash

no more darius morris please...

i think the spurs win in a blow out tonight. the 3 day rest probably helped them better with their injured players.

lakers missed a great chance to steal game one. that first quarter did us in...

i would stark meeks to see if he can get going, if he starts 0/3 then take him out for the rest of the game, hes not going to do anything. 

 

[knightngale]

Dantoni and Brown do not know which players are more useful than others when it comes to the bench. He keeps playing Morris out of pure ignorance.

Can't fully blame him when the front office idea of depth is adding useless players like Sacre, Ebanks, and Morris.

 

[denni5themenace]

start goudelock? :x

 

[pmatic]

Kevin Pelton:

Lakers' answer isn't in the post

Kobe Bryant's Twitter account has received plenty of views recently.

@kobebryant To tweet or not to tweet.. I CHOOSE not 2. Focus should be on the team not my insight. @georgelopez voice "Can't DO nothin!" #vinospeare

@kobebryant Post. Post. Post.

@kobebryant What I would say if I was there right now? "Pau get ur *** on the block and don't move till u get it" #realtalk

@kobebryant I like how Nash is moving so far. Both teams a lil out of rhythm to start

@kobebryant I can't be on the bench because I cannot travel yet #surgery

The injured Los Angeles Lakers star live-tweeted his analysis of the Lakers' Game 1 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Afterward, when Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni was asked about the tweets, D'Antoni dismissed them by saying Bryant was "just a fan right now." In the wake of the mini-firestorm, Bryant declared that he will not be tweeting during games in the future. "Focus should be on the team not my insight," he explained on Twitter.

So just what was Bryant saying on Twitter that stirred up such a commotion? His main message throughout the game was similar to the one being delivered on the ABC broadcast and elsewhere online -- the Lakers needed to post up big men Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard. "Gotta get to the block," he tweeted early in the game. Later he amplified that message with "Post post post."

As that was playing out live, something funny was happening on the court: The Lakers' post-ups were a disaster. During the first half, the Lakers scored just once during the 11 plays where they entered the ball to Howard in the post -- a Howard left-hand hook late in the second quarter when the Spurs failed to bring double-team help.

Howard's post-up opportunities were somewhat more effective in the second half, but they still finished the game producing just eight points on 20 plays, a dismal rate compared to the Lakers average of 0.79 points per play. Gasol's own post-ups (four points on eight plays) weren't much better.

What went wrong? Well, the Lakers turned the ball over much too frequently when they went to Howard down low. They threw away the entry pass to Howard five times, and he committed two more turnovers trying to pass the ball back out when San Antonio collapsed on him.

However, what happened Sunday is also a reminder of something D'Antoni said during the news conference where he was introduced to Los Angeles media: "One of the least efficient plays in basketball is a straight post-up."

The vision of a bigger post player backing down his defender and scoring just doesn't happen in the modern NBA, where teams like the Spurs have sophisticated schemes for bringing help defense to protect weak post defenders like Matt Bonner. The best reasons to run post-ups are to get to the free throw line -- no good with Howard, a 49 percent shooter there -- and create open outside shots.

That's a problem for these Lakers, who severely lack 3-point shooting with Bryant out of the lineup and backup guard Jodie Meeks limited by a sprained ankle suffered during Sunday's game. The double-teams drawn by Howard generated good looks for teammates at times, but the other Lakers simply weren't capable of knocking them down. The team shot 3-of-15 from beyond the arc and missed four of the five outside shots created by post-ups.

Fortunately, post-ups aren't the only way the Lakers can take advantage of the size of Gasol and Howard. Here are two other options that were more effective in Game 1.

1. Stick with the pick-and-roll
While the Lakers' pick-and-rolls weren't a whole lot more effective than post-ups on Sunday, producing 21 points in 30 plays (0.7 points per play), they resulted in better shot attempts. The Lakers have the potential to do a lot more damage on offense if Nash and Gasol can find their touch from midrange.

San Antonio's big men sagged off the pick-and-roll to prevent penetration, conceding pull-up jumpers to Steve Nash. In his first game back after missing the last eight of the regular season with a strained hamstring, Nash's jumper was rusty. He missed six of his seven pull-up opportunities outside the paint. Eventually, Nash is bound to make those shots. According to Hoopdata.com, Nash made more than half of his shots between 10 and 23 feet this season.

When Nash wasn't open off the pick-and-roll, Gasol usually was. His shot chart shows a conspicuous number of missed shots from outside the paint. Gasol shot 3-of-11 from 10 feet or beyond, and he's usually a 38.0 percent shooter from 16-23 feet, per Hoopdata.com.

If Nash and Gasol make a few more shots in Game 2, the pick-and-roll could become a more efficient option for the Lakers. And if Spurs defenders are forced to step out to defend the midrange game, that in turn opens up driving lanes for Nash.

2. Get creative
A handful of other plays the Lakers ran during Game 1 show promise. Their elbow series -- where both big men are stationed at either side of the free throw line and the point guard can get a screen from either player -- offers a number of options. One of them is the 4-5 pick-and-roll, where Howard screens for Gasol and nearly guarantees an open jumper for Gasol from the free throw line.

On four plays, the Lakers broke out a double-pick for Nash, where both Gasol and Howard screened, creating some confusion in the San Antonio defense. On one of the double pick-and-roll plays, Howard ended up open in the paint for a layup.

Lastly, D'Antoni went to his Phoenix playbook to use Howard in a couple of "dribble-at" plays, in which he dribbles toward the point guard and hands the ball off to him, creating a natural screen. Both times the Lakers ran the dribble handoff with Howard and Steve Blake, it led to Blake scores. The Lakers don't want Howard dribbling too frequently and he must be careful to avoid being called for a moving screen, but the play can be tricky to defend because it starts with the point guard on the move.

With Bryant watching the game on his couch instead of playing on the court, the Lakers are always going to struggle to score. But they have enough talent to potentially leverage the kind of defensive effort they got on Sunday into a road win as long as they mix things up on offense and keep the Spurs off-balance. Bryant and everyone else with the Lakers would be happy to tweet about a Game 2 upset.

 

[licensed to ball]

Did someone say...Glen Rice?

Rice was my dude in his Hornet days. One of the greatest 3 point shooters of all time.

 

[tuna629]

Not sure if you guys were watching the same thing I did, but from what I remembered, Goudelock is definitely NOT better than Meeks in anything he does. They are pretty similar if anything, with Meeks being slightly better.

 

[pmatic]

@WojYahooNBA Three months after hip surgery, Lakers forward Jordan Hill is available and could play in Game 2 against Spurs on Wednesday, sources tell Y!

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Jordan Chill!!!!!!!