Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

We’re in the playoffs.

we also get to rest up until Sunday.

 

AD, Bron, DS, Rui, and Vando are ready for playoff basketball.

 

This was stupid: thought Minny got plenty of hmm calls. The Lebron foul on that dive was definitely not a foul. THe AD foul was a legit call but was a weak one to end a game.

 

Boo hoo, BS from BS... Never change

 

Going 41-29 since 2-10 is insane come to think about it.

 

The team has played 8 games in 13 days so it makes sense for them to be a bit sloppy as they battle fatigue. It's still promising that they have been able to gut out wins.

The team will benefit immensely from the 5 day break.

 

Down 15 in the 3rd, I was starting to get ticked off, with us leaving guys wide open at the arc. Where is that GREAT Laker D? Nowhere.

Ahhh! 4th Q: there it is. Gotta laff at dippy Chuckles Barkley saying, "I don't know what the Timberwolves were doing in the 4th." They were facing lock-down Laker defense, that's what they were doin' ya j******. Conley (who is one bad-assed mutha of a basketball player) hit a step-back 3 at 6:01 in the 4th for the T-Wolves's 9th points of the quarter. They wouldn't score again until Conley hit all 3 FTs with 0.01 left in regulation. 12 point Q. Wouldda been 9 had AD not fouled Conley to force OT.

Man, what a game. Glad I have health insurance.

Glad our guys get to rest for a few days. They deserve it.

 

That call on Lebron diving for the 50/50 ball is Exhibit A for why the challenge rule should change. Terrible, terrible call. AR made a lame in-bounds pass, but that was both buys going for the ball, and I didn't see a foul. I watched it 4-5 times. Stupid. Whine about that call, C-Bag licker Bill Simmons.

 

With the win over MIN we're now 19-8 since the trade deadline. It's almost as if - now hang with me here for a second, this is genius - it's almost as if Pelinka not only got us a bunch of guys who can play solid D and play smart and fast and hit shots and have all-around good games, but that he dumped some guy who was the main reason we were losing so much.

Man, I dunno. How do YOU account for the sudden extreme change in how good the Lakers are?

#BricksCanWeighYouDown

 

slomo and towns each committed more than 10 fouls. they called AD for a 4 inch shuffle of his pivot foot that wasn't even part of a move. the ref from the opposite side of the court called a pretty weak moving screen on rui just because they called one on slomo, who was lead blocking on that play.

and yeah, where are these refs who call fouls on AD closeouts when we had guys getting fouled to end games? we lost at least two or three on obvious fouls in which the whistle was swallowed this year.

chuck rarely has anything interesting to say, and in general, the press likes to talk s*** instead of give credit. had we lost the game, it would have been us not showing up instead of minny shooting lights out (which they did until the 4th--open or not, hitting 50% of threes on high volume as a team is not common).

oh yeah, with brick, that's a blowout loss. though i guess russell's performance last night was very westbrook-esque--though at least he wasn't just dribbling the ball out of bounds and stuff.

anyway, yeah, 5 days off is huge, even if it causes some rust. no back to backs in the playoffs. and we're in the playoffs!

i'm sure the barkleys of the world who counted us out many months ago won't talk about it. but they know.

 

Last nights game was what I always worried about with the play in game. We’d come out flat while the other team was shooting lights out.

To the team’s credit they never gave up and fought it out until the end.

we’ve had a couple of months of must win games and high pressure so this group is pretty battle tested at this point and has shown it can win in a variety of ways. Most importantly we can recover from a shot to the face and pull out a victory.

 

when conley hit that one crazy three, i figured the game was over. but it wasn't!

and i'll say this for ham--he was a lot calmer than i would have been in the timeout that tnt showed in the 4th. i think we were still down several points, and he was calm and getting guys settled.

 

This team has definite flaws but I wish people would be more appreciate the fight they've put up this year. Got to love guys like Schroeder and Lebron (and both are flawed, DS just has limitations and Lebron is old and coming off an injury) who are willing to dive. The team won't quit even if they seem to deserve to be beaten.

They've basically been in a must-win game since the trade deadline, while getting folks back from an injury and incorporating a bunch of new guys. Digging out of a 2-10 hole

Struggling to find an analogy but maybe they remind me of the Jake La Motta character in raging bull - gets his a** beat but refuses to go down?

 

Looking at the playoff schedule, and starting today, Lakers play 2 games over 10 days. More rest than we reasonably could have hoped for. Let's hope these guys go to Memphis tanned, rested, and ready. We need them at their most bubblicious.

 

Completely agree.

I’ve been a vocal critic of every aspect of the organization this season but I can still sit that to the side and appreciate what we’ve done and still have a shot at doing.

 

Can you believe this …. we are in the playoffs, HEALTHY, with a “should win” first round series if we gel quickly, hit shots at a decent rate, defend like we can DO! Run fresh legs Ham … when the talents are similar. And yes Ham …. he has to grow here quickly into a good and steady decision maker. Strategically and with his rotations and use of this literally deep roster.

Go Lakers!!

 

Look - it's always tough to beat a team that is short-handed but still has a ton of talent to win a game.

We knew the Lakers would come out flat cuz let's face it - they love to play down to their competition.

They went down 15, but never quit and kept it close going into the 4th.

This team has a shot of doing something special in the playoffs, and I"m relieved they have 4 days of rest before their next game, and even in this series, they're going to have 2 days of rest between a few of their games, and that's going to be sorely needed for our 2 superstars who are beaten and battered right now.

I just hope we can come out and punch the grizzlies in the mouth first. If we can grab that first game, that's huge for our confidence and it'll make Memphis doubt themslves.

I believe we can pull it off and win that series in 6 - but we cannot come out flat like we did against Minnesota, and can't have LeBron taking defensive plays off leaving his man open for 3, otherwise we'll get waxed early and the series will be a quick one.