Lakers Thread

[benji]

mods help

6. Don’t post media that depicts pornography, graphic violence, dead bodies or otherwise objectionable content.

[stereoxide]

Sounds quite confident for a guy who was worried about losing 8th seed just two games ago.

Well Dwight is playing some good basketball right now. And I was afraid that they will lose the 8th seed if he doesn't step up his game.

[NovU]

What step up. He didn't. He's been like this for awhile, 'playing some good basketball'.

[Andrew]

D'Antoni isn't mincing words.

In a season in which the Los Angeles Lakers have pushed the reset button seemingly a half-dozen times already, Friday's 103-100 loss to the Washington Wizards left coach Mike D'Antoni sounding like he'd prefer to reach for the off switch at this point.

"This is a good team that just for whatever reason can't collectively mentally get stimulated to [play hard] every time," D'Antoni said after the Lakers wasted an 18-point first-half lead. "I told them today, we put our hands in [the huddle], and you guys have probably seen it, we say, 'Championship,' and go out [on the floor]. That's laughable. Championship? You got to be kidding me. Nobody understands the importance of every possession offensively and defensively. Every time they got to come out with some kind of determination to be a good basketball team, and [until] then, we're just, we're fooling ourselves. Right now, that's what we're doing. We're just making a 'sham-mockery' out of it."

"There's no explanation for it," D'Antoni said. "I can't explain it, but every time we get up 16 [points], it's like, 'Well, we're really good and we don't have to play hard,' and we start messing with the game. You start messing with not moving the ball. You start messing with, 'I'm just going to go one-on-one every time.' You start messing with the basketball gods, and they get you.

"That ball will roll around and go in for [the opponent] and it will roll around and go out for us because we're messing with the game. If we don't change that, obviously we won't make the playoffs, but if we do, we'll get blown out in the playoffs. You can't be a fairly good team or even a good team without passing the basketball, without understanding what we're doing defensively and honing in and doing it. You can't do it. You can't do it. It's impossible."

"You would think sooner or later they'd get the message, but no," D'Antoni said. "As soon as we get a little bit, like a 16-point lead or, 'Oh, we're ahead one game of Utah; now it's a breeze. Everybody says we're in the playoffs, we're one game ahead!'

"You can't mess with a game as you can't mess with a season as you can't mess with a schedule. You got to go out, you got to beat Phoenix, you got to beat Atlanta, you got to beat these teams. You got to come ready to play. We don't all the time, and we might come ready, but by halftime it might be gone. Or we might come out at halftime and be OK, and then the fourth quarter it's gone. Somewhere somebody is going to have to say, 'Enough is enough and let's play.' Every possession. But no. We don't. We don't."

[shadowgrin]

So a new coach during will be arriving in the offseason then.
It's the easy way out for D'Antoni to spit on his team.

This is a good team that just for whatever reason can't collectively mentally get stimulated to [play hard] every time," D'Antoni said after the Lakers wasted an 18-point first-half lead

lol, so much for a coach's job of motivating his players.

[NovU]

Sounds like he's fed up with the way his players are playing and there's nothing he could do to fix it. Sounds about right. But at least problem has improved from making a playoffs to talking about championship now. LoL

[Jackal]

It's sad the head coach of the Lakers can't find a way to coach the Lakers. He's putting all the blame on Kobe for stagnating the offense but can't see he's the one who has to reign him in? This is Kobe without an offensive system; here, take the ball & go do what you want. D'Antoni is too much of a pussy to actually say or do anything about it because he's got fuck all of a clue how to use bigs in his offense.

They have no offensive system, zilch. They just pick & roll and hope their three's fall.

[NovU]

First and foremost I thought D'antoni was right about not showing up though. Majorly because of perimeter defense. It's funny how commentators were saying the other day that Dwight often is late on help defense. LoL. If you actually pay attention to Lakers defense, it's not hard to see that nearly all perimeter defenders gives up his man and hope for Dwight to save their ass(or gives up uncontested jumpshot). How many unguarded penetration Dwight has to deal with, how many times he has to leave his man so he can cover for teammates, it's not even funny. Nash, Meeks are terrible. Kobe of course doesn't care on D. MWP has been average and is step slower now. Dwight's the only one that's actually trying.

And offense? It's a whole new issue but secondary.

[shadowgrin]

How many unguarded penetration Dwight has to deal with

[Stress Fracture]

Oh, shadowgrin.

[NovU]

World Peace out six weeks with torn meniscus

[buzzy]

11 champ;ipnsikp[ ringhs
-Phil Jackson

[NovU]

Fourth and fifth.

[Andrew]

Congrats to Kobe. At his current pace, he'll be passing MJ for third early next season.

[rise]

You want to know how Metta World Peace came back from his knee surgery so quickly? It's because he's too sexy for his cat.

[Andrew]

Unusual, even for him.

You have to admire his heart, coming back so soon after surgery, but I wonder how wise a decision it was. Further injury could put him out for a long time and if he's not at 100%, his presence out on the floor may end up hindering the Lakers more than it helps them.

[Patr1ck]

I think he was on pain killers.

[rise]

Unusual, even for him.

You have to admire his heart, coming back so soon after surgery, but I wonder how wise a decision it was. Further injury could put him out for a long time and if he's not at 100%, his presence out on the floor may end up hindering the Lakers more than it helps them.

This was the same injury Brandon Roy had before the 2010 playoffs, from which he came back like a week later. Take a look at where he is and tell me that coming back that soon from meniscus surgery is a good idea.


Then again, I trust Metta's judgment 100%. He always knows exactly what he's doing. /sarcasm

[Andrew]

Roy also had other issues with his knees, but it definitely seems risky.

[shadowgrin]

Adding to what Andrew said, Roy already had issues with his knees even before he got to the NBA. He had like 2-3 surgeries when he was still in college.

[Jackal]

Come tell me Gasol can't play with Howard or is a has been.

People wanted to give this guy up for Bargnani.

In april he's had lines of:

14, 10, 6
19, 9, 3
12, 13, 8
22, 11, 4
23, 7, 9

Welcome back Pau!

[_Steve_]

A fu**cked up season reaches it's climax as Kobe probalby suffers a torn Achilles tendon...

[Patr1ck]

I don't know he was standing on a torn Achilles.

[shadowgrin]

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

DAMMIT.

[The X]

Congrats to Kobe. At his current pace, he'll be passing MJ for third early next season.

Looks like your jinx worked again