NBA discussion thread

Pretty much sums up alot of the Jazz fans, you expect the signs for Kobe but with Fish its a different set of rules. Leave the mans family out of it, especially if you were cheering for the same reasons last season.

Shame we couldnt silence them last game but we need to learn how to win in hostile environments if we are serious about winning the title. Gasol has to play more physical, i know its not his game but he has to stand his ground and not allow Okur to push him off the block. Lamar did a good job on the boards but if Gasol isnt giving us enough on offense then Lamar needs to stay aggressive the entire game (he will get Gasol some easy shots that way to). I also think we need to sit Farmar and go with Sasha as the first guard off the bench, Farmar is just too small and weak to handle D-Will. Sasha is a better shooter anyway and Kobe and Lamar can initiate the offense, Farmar will be much more effective against CP3 if we get through the Jazz.

Jesus, our FT shooting is killing us at the moment. We can take this game if we stay poised and knock down our FREE throws.

Terrible call to throw Ronny out of the game btw.

Man i thought we had a chance there after forcing OT.
Farmar has been terrible in this series, his confidence is shot and he doesnt match up well with Williams. Sasha on the other hand is playing well and doesnt seem to be afraid of the moment.
Evo, you'll probably hate me saying this but Kobe played an awful OT period. He was badly injured and still he tried to go 1 on 5 and ignored the same teammates that had fought back to tie it in regulation. I know he will bounce back but we had this game if he just played like the player that won MVP and used the guys around him. If he was 100% i wouldnt have minded so much but he was clearly struggling against AK and Lamar, Pau and Fisher were rolling.
Im not gonna say that we will be fine when we get back to Staples but i do think the Jazz got alot of home cooking from the refs, although a Jazz fan could say the same for us in the first 2 games. We need to exploit our mismatches more, close out shooters quicker and keep Farmar on the bench. He killed any momentum we had to start the 4th with his turnovers and horrible defense. Hopefully Kobes back will be fine because he is gonna have to have a virtuoso performance to knock the smiles of Utahs faces.

Yeah Kobe went into selfish mode in OT. He forgot it's not the same team as previous years.

Is that what happened? Well let me tell ask something KOOLRUNINGZ....

...could you explain how the 2nd half went? I fell asleep at halftime. Woke up right after the game ended and felt absolutely terrible when I went to ESPN.com to find out that we had lost. I also felt bad that I missed the game. Win or lose I watch all Lakers games but I hadn't gone to sleep yet and stupid halftime seemed like it was lasting forever. Damn. Sounds like we could have stolen this game though. I saw Kobe injure his back in the first half, if he's not ready to go on Wednesday, consider us done.

I missed the games sadly. I was moving. Probably will miss some more in the coming week due to continued moving.

Evo, we actually finished off the 3rd pretty well after the Jazz kept answering our runs and i think we actually tied it up to start the 4th. Then Phil goes with some 2nd stringers which had given us minimal production to start the 4th and Farmar just killed us. The Jazz started to pull away and it looked like we were going to get blown out, but we managed to rally behind some big Fisher 3's and some nice drives by Lamar (he even knocked down a big 3). Kobe was at the heart of the offense and assisted on pretty much every big shot by drawing doubles and finding the open man. He was pretty banged up at this stage (back and ankle) but he was taking what the defense gave him and was instrumental in getting us to OT.
I thought once we got to OT the game was ours because the Jazz really seemed like they thought they had it won in RT. Our defense really let us down but i just couldnt understand the way Kobe played the OT period. He went 1-5 i think and most of them were long jumpers early in the clock, i know he can make them but he was visibly injured and Pau, Lamar and Fish were playing well. I just think he would have been better served playing the facilitator and feeding the hot hands and trying to create for them, the announcers even commented that Phil has shouting to Kobe to "run the offense" but it never happened.
I know you think i have an agenda against Kobe so take my observations for what they are worth, he played a great game until OT and that was definitely ONE of the reasons we lost imo.

Well Phil's seems to think Kobe's teammates bailed on him.

Like i said its my observations, cant say i agree with Phil there.

I read that also

Kobe shouldn't have tried to take over the game. He was badly injured. D Fish and Lamar had it goin and only Lamar got a token dunk at the end. Fish never got a shot in OT and that's a shame

I love Kobe. Been a fan since his rookie days, him and Phil gotta shoulder the blame. Call a timeout, yell at Kobe and tell his teammates to take over

Farmar is doin badly. I have said it since we got Ira. Play him. Play him. He's in his 30's. So is Bowen. He plays good defense. Give the guy a chance

Kobe is goin to get treatment tomorrow. Hopefully, he can be upper 90% and the Lakers play as a team. It wil be a win

Unfortunately I didn't get to see it. But from what I heard from Phil, sounds like guys were either just giving him the ball and standing around, or giving him the ball and not running the offense. Phil knows best anyway. He called Kobe out when he went for 53 on Memphis, so obviously he saw something different to say that the team bailed on Kobe.

Play as a team for four quarters and they will be ok

I can respect Kobe trying to fight through his pain to help his team win the game. However, one play that made me lose a little respect for his was in OT. They were down by 2 close to the end of the game. Kobe caught the ball and had a wide open, uncontested shot from about 15-feet out. He dribbled the ball back behind the 3-point line, threw it up, and missed. I don't know what in the hell he was thinking there.

As a Lakers fan, I am scared. Hold me. 🙁

Originally posted by SpaceMonkey
As a Lakers fan, I am scared. Hold me. 🙁

😆 😆

Don't worry man. We have protected our home floor so far in the playoffs and Utah is the worst road playoff team.

Ah, I found a correction to my previous post. It was Odom who took that 3 point shot when the score was 108-106 with 13 seconds left in regulation. He made up for it of course, but it was still a very stupid thing to do.

My respect for Kobe remains intact. clap

Just would've like to seen Kobe as the decoy and Fish and Lamar carry the Lakers in OT

They will be ok

I feel better. Thanks, peeps!! 💃

Originally posted by guy222
Just would've like to seen Kobe as the decoy and Fish and Lamar carry the Lakers in OT

They will be ok

Exactly what I was telling my wife. She kept asking why he's in there if he's hurt. I told her he's in there to keep drawing double teams so his teammates will be open. Apparently Kobe didn't agree with that, though, and kept trying to win it himself.

That point blank missed layup that Odom put back in was a good indication of how much he was hurting.

Originally posted by celestialdemon
Ah, I found a correction to my previous post. It was Odom who took that 3 point shot when the score was 108-106 with 13 seconds left in regulation. He made up for it of course, but it was still a very stupid thing to do.

My respect for Kobe remains intact. clap

It was Odom, then they got the rebound, kick to Kobe, and he runs to the 3 point line and chucks it. They both shot 3-pointers while only down 2.