Hopefully that turn around will be a result of that same Thunder nucleus taking our kids up the ladder. :Mitchthumbs:
Not sure if this qualifies for optimism but after looking at our upcoming schedule, tonight's game looks like the only realistically winnable game for the month of February. Go get that W!
For the past couple seasons I rewatch game 6 and 7 of that series once every couple months just to get a good feeling about the Lakers back.
Ok, only place I could figure to put this is in the optimism thread. Besides our win against the C Bags in Boston Garden this was my favorite game of the year, regardless of the fact that it ended in a loss. We were so competitive and we had the lead at numerous times in the fourth quarter against the second best team in the league who haven't lost at home in 27 straight games this season. There were tons of insane highlight plays for us and it came right down to the wire. Amazing game. Julius was outstanding, Kobe shot poorly but brought it when it mattered. Clarkson rocked, Russell had some clutch plays. Just fun to watch.
It sure was, we're really started to pick it up these last few games. I was very eager to see how we would play tonight against a great team when we had some momentum. Safe to say we played better than I thought we would personally. Russell had some big moments too which I loved. All-star break cant come soon enough because then like Byron said Russell will start and finish games.
That truly is a reason for optimism Battle Tested. Can't wait for that too! I want to see our young core play together again for long stretches.
I actually caught myself yelling at the tv tonight telling our players to get up on the screens & get up on their 3pt shooters. Close friends or family members could always tell when the Lakers games are competitive or we're playing better because I'm much more vocal and easily get frustrated because I expect us to execute on both ends.
It will be so BIG of Boron the clown coach to finally let happen what should have been the solid lineup all the way through the season, plus more Tarik Black. Telling you, either he or his buddy Magic or the FO will spin any obvious improvement from the young guys now as proof that his old school, hard a** approach worked.
These are exactly the kind of games the Lakers need. Competitive, fiery, and against great teams. It showcased the young guys' talent and what Kobe brings to the offense. These are the games a wing player can look at and say,"Hmmmmm. I can do that. I can do what Kobe does for this offense and we can be competitive".
This was a very fun game to watch. It was competitive and my family was actually into it, we haven't been that into a game since like 2011. We kept it close throughout the game and the kids were great, Kobe had an explosive 3rd quarter. Randle was a beast down low. Clarkson couldn't miss and Russell had some clutch plays in the 4th.
I'll tell you, I got very discouraged during part of the third when we went down 17, but it was awesome to see our young guys bounce back and get it close again. Then Kobe's barrage of threes was fun in the fourth until he started missing. But it was cool to go from terrible ball to another close game down the stretch where it could have gone either way.
My optimism thread is still on the top page!? Wild! What a lively and gung-ho group we've got here. Kind of a weird optimism, but watching the Skills Challenge... There's a LOT of really good young players in this league. Towns looks really good on this spindly little knees. Porzingis is absolutely real. Parker looked much better than I expected. Wiggins is better than I expected. LaVine is WAY better than ANYONE really expected. Mudiay and Okafor were better than expected. Booker's meteoric rookie rise continues to climb. Mario Hezonja and Nikola Jokic showed they've got some solid talent. I don't think much of Dwight Powell, but he probably worked harder than anyone else there. Even guys like Capela, Neto, and Hood knew their roles and filled them admirably. But you know what? Of all those very talented players we've got two of the BEST. D'Angelo looked great out there in his time on the floor. He filled up the bucket QUICKLY and then handed out an easy 7 assists as well. Sure there's no defense out there, but if you're there do your thing and he did. He had 22/7 with 2 steals in just 16 minutes because apparently he can't get off the bench even in an exhibition game. Jordan Clarkson looked fantastic and I thought he made a great case for himself as MVP. The only real issue was high shot volume without the results, but so what? He had 25/5/5/4 which is pretty damn comparable to the guy everyone is swooning over in LaVine (30/7/4/1). To think we've got two of the best young players in two great young draft classes is sooooo soothing to my tortured Laker soul. Oh and ps: Smart, Bogdanovic, Payton, and Lyles are all garbage. Especially Smart. He looked like he didn't belong on the floor with these guys because he really didn't. Julius should have had that spot. Julius could have easily chucked 1/8 from three. Okay, Payton might not be garbage, but he looked the part tonight. Yet another kid who should have been replaced by Julius.
The improvement of Randle, Russell and JC we've seen lately is a good source of optimism for the future.
Russell and Randle especially have been growing in leaps and bounds. Jordan has plateaued a bit. I'm not sure what it'll take for him to make the next step defensively, but that's his big problem right now. He's not a good defender and he finds himself out of position a lot. Right now he's still a very good player, but Russell and Randle are catching up quickly if they haven't caught him already. Still a ton more room for growth from all of them, but certainly encouraging to see the three of them be effective offensively lately.
