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[CP1708]

You guys are snowballing off each other.

Kobe doesn't respect MDA? Kobe wore number 8 because of that ************, what are you talkin about?

LTB, when you mention showing you something on Offense, how many times out of a timeout do the Lakers get a basket? Happens ALL the time.
How many times Phil call some stupid nonsense play that did nothing out of a timeout?

As for Kobe telling Pau to ignore the coach, and? That happens ALL THE TIME. The players play. Coaches command, deserve, and get respect, sure, but in the fire, the players have to figure something out. Spolestra is a very very smart dude, think he calls every set? Hell no. He puts the system in place, teaches it, preaches it, and then the players do their jobs. Pretty sure that job does not include 90 foot alley oops, or behind the back lobs, or fadeaway 3's over 2 defenders. The players have a measure of creativity they need to adapt to a defensive player/system.

Kobe/MJ/Shaq/Pip all ignored Phil on certain plays, calls, moments.
Kenny Smith just spoke the other night about Rudy giving this big speech, all these items on the eraseboard, step by step, and as soon as the game was about to start, Dream would pull Kenny aside and say ignore all that stuff for 4-5 plays and just feed Hakeem so he could set the tone, then we can run all those plays.

Those are HOF, Title winning coaches, players ignoring to do what THEY feel is best on the court. And that's what Kobe was doing with Pau. The STRENGTH of those coaches is seeing their players may be right, adapting to how they feel, and adjusting themselves within it. Phil did, Rudy did, MDA needs to.

Don't mean he's on their level, of course he isn't, but simply mentioning that player(s) ignore the coach on some plays is not an issue whatsoever.


Again, let the series play out, we can review and go over his performance after the year is done. He's up against it right now, we need the ghosts of Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller, Del Curry, Dale Ellis to enter into our guys tonight. Otherwise it will be Pau/Dwight on 5 all night long. And that won't work.

 

[al3xis]

I like to defend him often, but he probably isn't a good fit for you guys. Defense is a weakness as is managing minutes. There's no way he's having fun either..it's just not his kind of team. Put him with the kids in Houston and he'd look pretty smart again...something like that.

I thought Dwight would solve a lot defensively but he hasn't really, just not the same Dwight Howard..this year at least.

He needs shooters. You have none. He needs a healthy, dependable PG..you have none. He needs some youth on the wings/bench..again, none. The two lineups you guys actually had that kind of resemble what he needs:

Nash/Meeks/Bryant/Metta/Howard
and
Nash/Bryant/Metta/Jamison/Howard

Were lights out but unfortunately just were able to be used as your 6th and 7th most frequent lineups. Average of Off points per of 1.27 - .3 away from any of Miami's best offensive lineups, for example.

http://www.82games.com/1213/1213LAL2.HTM

Get him some juice on the wing and pray for health - you guys will be okay if he's back. But I know 'ok' isn't good enough - so My biggest concern is while he helped revolutionize the game - what now? Everyone has borrowed from him, yet has he evolved? That's my fear, that he hasn't. He has some major flaws to how he approaches things.

He completely KILLED that Knicks team, with horrible rotations, horrible minute distribution, horrible 'system' placement...he left and they instantly became better...

Not really though.

The Knicks went through 33 rotation players in 2 1/2 seasons. Not roster bodies (that number is closer to 50). Rotation guys. 3 freaking 3.

The one time there was a full training camp and a settled roster - we overachieved and we're a really fun watch (heck, that was the case with z-Bo and Crawford to the start of '09 too). Then they traded for Carmelo. Remember, Carmelo wanted no parts of playing PF - now..the guy loves it rolleyes). Woodson straight up jacked his offense, but the team is better now because Woodson is better on the other end, handles a rotation better and there is a settled roster with a PG who isn't Toney Douglas or Chris Duhon along with better and more shooters and ball movers.

I don't want to say the guy is cursed and just placed in unfortunate circumstances but the basketball gods do seem to be playing some games with him and he's paying back for the perfect storm that was created in Phoenix. NOBODY would have gotten much out of this depleted roster with injury on top of injury.

 

[licensed to ball]

You guys are snowballing off each other.

Kobe doesn't respect MDA? Kobe wore number 8 because of that ************, what are you talkin about?

LTB, when you mention showing you something on Offense, how many times out of a timeout do the Lakers get a basket? Happens ALL the time.
How many times Phil call some stupid nonsense play that did nothing out of a timeout?

As for Kobe telling Pau to ignore the coach, and? That happens ALL THE TIME. The players play. Coaches command, deserve, and get respect, sure, but in the fire, the players have to figure something out. Spolestra is a very very smart dude, think he calls every set? Hell no. He puts the system in place, teaches it, preaches it, and then the players do their jobs. Pretty sure that job does not include 90 foot alley oops, or behind the back lobs, or fadeaway 3's over 2 defenders. The players have a measure of creativity they need to adapt to a defensive player/system.

Kobe/MJ/Shaq/Pip all ignored Phil on certain plays, calls, moments.
Kenny Smith just spoke the other night about Rudy giving this big speech, all these items on the eraseboard, step by step, and as soon as the game was about to start, Dream would pull Kenny aside and say ignore all that stuff for 4-5 plays and just feed Hakeem so he could set the tone, then we can run all those plays.

Those are HOF, Title winning coaches, players ignoring to do what THEY feel is best on the court. And that's what Kobe was doing with Pau. The STRENGTH of those coaches is seeing their players may be right, adapting to how they feel, and adjusting themselves within it. Phil did, Rudy did, MDA needs to.

Don't mean he's on their level, of course he isn't, but simply mentioning that player(s) ignore the coach on some plays is not an issue whatsoever.


Again, let the series play out, we can review and go over his performance after the year is done. He's up against it right now, we need the ghosts of Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller, Del Curry, Dale Ellis to enter into our guys tonight. Otherwise it will be Pau/Dwight on 5 all night long. And that won't work.

Fair enough.

 

[knightngale]

The front office or coach should not get the blame? lol

I knew the injury excuse would come up. Just because there were injuries does not mean that Dantoni had to play his starters 40 min a game. Because there were injuries the front office should have gone after Delonte, Martin, or Birdman. Yes, the injuries played a role but so did the poor management by both the front office and the coach.

You can even argue that it was due to what the front office or coach did or did not do that led to even more injuries. Roster is depleted. What is the solution? Increase the starter's minutes

 

[scotthallwithapick]

I'm hoping for a good game tonight, but I wouldn't put any money on it. And I mean that literally...turned down the chance to buy some discounted tix for tonight's game.

Same here. But IF we do win tonight, I'm planning on being there Sunday.

Although things aren't looking very good right now I'm still rockin' with my Lakeshow until the final buzzer goes off in the 4th game lost in a series. Let's get this W and who the hell knows what could happen.

"It feels good to be in the 2nd round" ring a bell? Hopefully that McGrady never making it out of the 1st round curse continues



Over/under 10 times the camera cuts to Kobe on the bench tonight?

Edit: I was wrong. How can Kobe keep his foot elevated on the bench?

 

[mosk33toe]

You guys are snowballing off each other.

Kobe doesn't respect MDA? Kobe wore number 8 because of that ************, what are you talkin about?

LTB, when you mention showing you something on Offense, how many times out of a timeout do the Lakers get a basket? Happens ALL the time.
How many times Phil call some stupid nonsense play that did nothing out of a timeout?

As for Kobe telling Pau to ignore the coach, and? That happens ALL THE TIME. The players play. Coaches command, deserve, and get respect, sure, but in the fire, the players have to figure something out. Spolestra is a very very smart dude, think he calls every set? Hell no. He puts the system in place, teaches it, preaches it, and then the players do their jobs. Pretty sure that job does not include 90 foot alley oops, or behind the back lobs, or fadeaway 3's over 2 defenders. The players have a measure of creativity they need to adapt to a defensive player/system.

Kobe/MJ/Shaq/Pip all ignored Phil on certain plays, calls, moments.
Kenny Smith just spoke the other night about Rudy giving this big speech, all these items on the eraseboard, step by step, and as soon as the game was about to start, Dream would pull Kenny aside and say ignore all that stuff for 4-5 plays and just feed Hakeem so he could set the tone, then we can run all those plays.

Those are HOF, Title winning coaches, players ignoring to do what THEY feel is best on the court. And that's what Kobe was doing with Pau. The STRENGTH of those coaches is seeing their players may be right, adapting to how they feel, and adjusting themselves within it. Phil did, Rudy did, MDA needs to.

Don't mean he's on their level, of course he isn't, but simply mentioning that player(s) ignore the coach on some plays is not an issue whatsoever.


Again, let the series play out, we can review and go over his performance after the year is done. He's up against it right now, we need the ghosts of Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller, Del Curry, Dale Ellis to enter into our guys tonight. Otherwise it will be Pau/Dwight on 5 all night long. And that won't work.

You are right in that Kobe wore 8 for him and he loved him as a player, now he's tweeting and calling players at halftime telling them what to do. I mean he can like D'antoni but you going to tell me him calling players at hafltime and giving instructions through twitter isn't showing in disrespect to MDA?

This isn't a team where he can mold, that is my point. We have maybe 2 or 3 good years left of Kobe (this is being optimistic) and we have Howard for the long run, both of these players don't really fit MDA's style. I mean you can bring in Raja Bell, Barbosa, and even Marion, but at the end of the day your main cogs are going to be Dwight and Bryant and he just plain and simple doesn't know how to coach these players. Who on our team is ready to play the up and down game? I mean Meeks, Morris, Dwight maybe?

This is my question though, did he really think, or better yet, did Lakers management really think he'd be able to bring his style of play to this team? I think he did because in his initial interview he was talking about scoring this amount and that amount of points. Obviously he doesn't have the players to run his style, and salary constraints are probably going to make that not possible next year. So why would you want a coach who doesn't fit our players and isn't going to coach his style to coach this team? Putting a square peg into a circle hole if you ask me.

Bring in someone who can better understand this team and put them in situations to win. I don't need a coach telling me Pau needs to learn how to shoot a jump shot or he doesn't fit into the group, I don't need a coach forcing the pick and roll if that isn't their forte. I don't believe we'll ever get the Sun's Nash, but I do believe Nash can be a great shooter and a person who can create on occasion, putting him in the driver seat of this team right now looks bad at this point.

There are a lot of questions with this team, but when it comes down to it (In my humble opinion) none of them can be answered until we know what we are getting from our Coach, and currently if we keep this coach, a lot of the questions we have won't be answered.

 

[thadangerousmind]

The front office or coach should not get the blame? lol

I knew the injury excuse would come up. Just because there were injuries does not mean that Dantoni had to play his starters 40 min a game. Because there were injuries the front office should have gone after Delonte, Martin, or Birdman. Yes, the injuries played a role but so did the poor management by both the front office and the coach.

You can even argue that it was due to what the front office or coach did or did not do that led to even more injuries. Roster is depleted. What is the solution? Increase the starter's minutes

They should have went after somebody. We've had athletic players who could run on the team and the d-league team but they're gone.

 

[grittyman]

CP, I'm pretty much in agreement with you about D'Antoni.

Everyone knows that the Lakers have the size advantage in the paint, and that includes opposing coaches. So San Antonio (like many other teams this year) design their offense around stopping Dwight and Pau by doing things like fronting the post, sagging in the paint, etc. It's not that they aren't trying to get it there, the other teams aren't going to just let them do it. 

Ask yourself this...If you were coaching against the Lakers what would be your defensive strategy to the game?

Captain Obvious knows that the only real threats on this team are Dwight and Pau, so of course they're the focal point of every game. You're not just going to let them post up, especially when the new league rules allow you to zone up in their area. You make the Lakers beat you from the outside, or at least make their perimeter players prove that they can make some outside shots before you show them any respect whatsover.

Now you're Mike D'Antoni and you know this is how teams are going to defend you. What's your strategy for facing defenses like that? Kobe makes things so much easier because of his ability to penetrate and disrupt the defense but now the Lakers don't have anyone healthy who's capable of doing that. Now back to square one...

Anyways, whatever. This team looks a whole lot better when they're making shots from the perimeter and they look horrible when they don't. For the most part I think the effort and maybe even strategy is there on defense but it's hard to really be good on that end when you have no quickness on the perimeter and can't stay in front of your man. These are things that have determined the outcome of many Laker games this season but if people want to dumb it down or make up stuff while blaming D'Antoni for everything they have every right to.

 

[scotthallwithapick]

Yeah D'Antoni proved he can adjust this year. You guys just don't have the weapons. When the 3 isn't dropping you look like a lottery team. But when they do drop you put a whooping on my Nuggets of epic proportions Even Dwight hit one.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Edit: I was wrong. How can Kobe keep his foot elevated on the bench?

Cause it's already healed. He's playing tonight.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

CP, I'm pretty much in agreement with you about D'Antoni.

Anyways, whatever. This team looks a whole lot better when they're making shots from the perimeter and they look horrible when they don't. For the most part I think the effort and maybe even strategy is there on defense but it's hard to really be good on that end when you have no quickness on the perimeter and can't stay in front of your man. These are things that have determined the outcome of many Laker games this season but if people want to dumb it down or make up stuff while blaming D'Antoni for everything they have every right to.

That pretty much sums it up. The Lakers (D'Antoni?) found a good little groove with Dwight and Pau. They run some really unique stuff, like a 4-5 pick-and-roll from different angles. But it's too difficult to execute when there are zero perimeter threats and the Spurs can collapse on them. Pau can handle the ball and pass and basically play the ballhandler in a PnR, just not when Leonard and Tony Parker are sagging into his lap and disregarding their men.

D'Antoni gets the credit for designing this stuff for Pau/Dwight unless I hear otherwise. It's a shame it was also his decision to bench Pau and all that stuff. By the time he did figure it out, he had no perimeter guys to surround them with.

 

[TipsyMcStagga]

Coach Vino on the bench tonight

 

[drewsone]

Morris starting for y'all?

 

[essential1]

Y'all know who I want this offseason.. Throw Wright in the corner..

 

[thadocta]

Lol how are people defending dantoni?! Are you guys for real?

So a 7-man rotation in the thick of a playoff hunt at the end of the year is standard among NBA teams now huh? that's just a coincidence that everyone broke down before and during the playoffs?

Popovich has made it happen year after year with an aging roster as well. Nobody can sit there with straight face and tell me that the injuries weren't caused by Dantoni's absolute lack of consideration for this team's age.

Dantoni an imbecile, a mental ****** of the head coaching position.

well who do u want him to add to teh rotation? robert sacre?

 

[grittyman]

Maybe D'Antoni benched Pau as some kind of some zen-like motivational strategy...who knows.

The guy was struggling, and may or may not have been healthy. Team seemed to win quite a few games in his absence regardless

 

[westcoastsfinest]

Our only victory of the series will be tonight.

 

[knightngale]

He has not fixed anything on defense. The defense has improved because Howard got healthier. That's it.

I want to see what adjustments he makes today on the defensive end :x

 

[acbboyz84]

we lose tonight

 

[the natural mystic]

Goudelock and Morris starting? Shoot me now :x

 

[pmatic]

 

[mrdieselfuel09]

Goudelock will show the entire NBA why he's the D League MVP tonight

24 points , 6 assists , 4 rebounds.


That floater will be wet.


Let's go Lakers!

 

[moiety]

Goudelock and Morris starting? Shoot me now :x

If I was told at the beginning of the season that Morris and Goudelock would be starting in the Playoffs for us I would have laughed my *** off

..Not so funny now though


Mini-Mamba about to put the team on his back en route to #17

 

[lpheat22]

This the playoffs or pre-season?


I hope mini mamba goes nuts tonight

 

[tay1]

A little off topic, but is this Kobe's last year of his current contract?