We competed against two of the best teams in the West in the Clippers and Suns,the difference is being able to close out games and funny thing is we dont even have as much talent as them haha. Were definitely scrapping though its not up to our standards of Lakers basketball. Just gotta stay patient and have fun with it through the good times and bad times.
I was looking at the December schedule & it gets somewhat less difficult. There is some games in there I think we could definitely come out with the W. It gets more promising as the schedule gets less difficult, we get Ryan and Young back healthy, and Lin continues to find his way along with the team.
Some points to be optimistic about: 1. Davis. Davis has been a source of optimism throughout camp, pre-season, and the young regular season so far. He's just been great and for a minimum contract is a complete steal. He's solid all-around and there's no reason we shouldn't already be looking at avenues to keep him with this team for a long time. 2. Lin. FINALLY he showed some swagger on the court. When he hit that three and yelled in excitement I got fired up too. I've seen him play with confidence, swagger, and heart before so I know he's got it. Kobe has too, that's what he's been looking for. I know Lin is a deeply religious guy and has been fighting his own hubris, but it's time to unleash a little bit. Get cocky. Get fired up. Play like you're the best player on the court because sometimes he can be. It was awesome to see that from him last night and I hope he can bottle that and tap into it more often. 3. The defense. I know we played a bad team, but I'm starting to like the defense we're playing. We need to work on the defensive glass, but it's other than that it's getting better. In the second half we were all over the court. More specifically Ronnie Price was all over the court. Everything about this team is a work in progress, but that was fun to watch. Baby steps at first, but I hope this team watches tape of the defense they played and tries to get into that mode every single day. 4. Boozer was finally effective. Was it because Charlotte didn't have anyone to guard him?... Yes. But so what? I'm glad he recognized that and was effective offensively. If he can just help a little more it'll take a ton of pressure off of Kobe. 5. Kobe. Obviously it's been great to watch him play again. On this list 2-4 might fade in and out, but 1 and 5 should stay there as long as these two stay healthy.
Everyone needs to realize this is still a new team with new players and a lot of the old players that didn't play or haven't had much playtime with the team because of injury. The defensive rotations will get better over time as players start to recognize each other's defensive tendencies and deficiencies. When we've seen the defense click the players have been swarming, and that's a great sign of what they can do when they are all on the same page and everyone knows and understands their assignments.
Attitude...this crew has it even though not as skilled. It will be awhile until things are back to where they used to be but yep stay on the boat.
Boy, the next two games against MEM&SAS are going to be able to tell us a good ammount of the season. Cmon Lakers,bring out your inner "This is our NBA Finals" type performances. For the players, show us who wants to be paid and be here for the long run as we make our way to the top again. THINGS TO WATCH? Lin VS Conley/Parker Kobe VS Their D's (Leonard/Allen&Prince) Hill&Davis VS Duncan/Diaw/Randolph/Gasol.
He rested them the other night... I dont care about Ginobili to be honest cause its not like hes one of the lock down defenders to go up against Kobe, though it would be good experience for our D. But I hope Duncan does, because I want to see how our bigs do against him. Though he is past his prime, he still handles business and his duties.
So I saw some good things from this game despite the loss. No I don't count this as a moral victory. Hell with that. That said, I was impressed with the fact that despite being down 17 with about 5 minutes, the team didn't mail it in. They dug down defensively, made some shots, and just about pulled off that comeback. I did say this in another thread but that Jordan shot at the end was a bad play from start to finish but oh well. This team just may be alright as time goes on, especially when Young gets back and provides some much needed scoring off the bench, but it's going to take an effort on a nightly basis to get on track and get our record respectable again. We'll see how they do against Davis and co. tomorrow on a 2nd night of a back to back.
Happy with the teams performance tonight for sure. Going into it I was hoping we can win one out of the two and hopefully we can win one tomorrow against NO,than see what we have against SAS whose currently playing the Warriors. Kobe knocked even more rust off and by the end of the game has looked as good as he has PRE-INJURY which is effing awesome news. Overall I think the D played great for the most part and made solid adjustments it seemed after giving up all those offensive rebounds in the first. Honestly, If two of those Hill shots go in, we possibly win the game. If Tony Allen didnt have a career first quarter and played the entire game like himself which is scrappyness on D and trash on offense, we possibly win the game. That now puts Clippers,Suns,Grizzlies which are EASILY three of the best teams that made the playoffs last year...as teams we were neck to neck with and had a shot to beat...Without Randle,without Young who averaged 17 last year,without Kelly,without Ellington(this game). Oh yeah, with a team that hasnt played more than 6 games together and a new coach,Kobe 6 games back from missing practically over a year lol. I actually feel bad for those teams, not us.. Cause what does it say for them?
I really do believe that we are playing better and better each game. Tough to be playing against such tough teams early on but our D during stretches tonight was solid.
Still need to work on that pick and roll D, but the rotations are getting better. I can't stress enough that we don't need to help off shooters as tempting as it is.
Also, we could be the Knicks, they are getting beat by Eastern teams every night. Most of our losses have come against western playoff bound teams.
Before the Pelicans loss, @Daloyalfan18-Brandon , every team we played made the playoffs last year if im not mistaken. First half was great, I dont know if it was our lack of execution or we were simply too tired in the second half and the Pelicans made good adjustments.
^ Yep. I was proud of the way the guys were battling. Felt like the lack of a more balanced offensive attack, plus tired legs on the other side did us in late third quarter. Back to back night against a fiery young team while we were on the road - did a lot of people really think this was going to be a win going in? I had my doubts. Davis looked amazing, by the way. Kid is the real deal - unibrow and all.
