Official Los Angeles Lakers Thread

[minew_m]

Originally posted by podstock
Shaq had a TREMENDOUS GAME- 27 points and 23 boards. Shaq shot 9-18 foul shots. This is what Shaq should be doing 80% of the time. How can the most dominant big man NOT be able to get around 20 rebounds a game?!?!?

Don't forget, Shaq had 5 blocks too, lol. Just had to add that in.

[skyracer3]

Was that Jordan playing in the 4th quarter??? It sure looked like it. =)

I'm not a huge fan of the Lakers, but KOBE is the MAN!

And I know Shaq had great stats last night, but he was not involved in the offense in the 4th quarter.. Suprised?? Im not.

[podstock]

Originally posted by skyracer3
Was that Jordan playing in the 4th quarter??? It sure looked like it. =)

I'm not a huge fan of the Lakers, but KOBE is the MAN!

And I know Shaq had great stats last night, but he was not involved in the offense in the 4th quarter.. Suprised?? Im not.

and this is where Kobe should stay

if he wants the attention, the fame, the publicity, the only other place that rivals LA is NY Knicks, or LA Clippers

[podstock]

3/17/04 update: Lakers defeat the Clippers by 3

this was a very disappointing game.

Lakers controlled the first 3 quarters, as they shot an amazing 80% in 1st quarter, and about 65% through 3 quarters.

There's a reason why the Clippers are an abysmal team - they do not play defense. No one contested any shots from a Lakers player in the 1st quarter, hence the 80% shooting from field goals.

amazing, huh? 80% for one entire quarter.

Then, the Lakers slacked off about midway through the 3rd quarter, after racking up a 17 point lead...and the Clippers played their way back to within 3, helped by the Lakers 20 turnovers.

Clippers Cory Maggette missed a last second 3-pointer to tie the ball game.

But, the more important point of this game: we just cannot play 46-48 minutes of defense.

When you struggle to beat Orlando Magic (coming from behind by 18 points), Chicago Bulls, and Clippers - the 3 worst teams in the NBA - how can you possibly say you'll play good defense vs. the Kings or Timberwolves??

what a disappointment!!

but, the Lakers won, and with Sacramento losing to Washington on the second of a back-to-back (that's 3 straight losses!!! and they end the road trip at Indiana, best team in the East), Lakers are only 4 games out of 1st place.

We won't over-take Sacramento unless they absolutely crumble; but, we do play them 2 more times (one on the 26th March, without Kobe, who's in Colorado that night).

We have a good shot at #2, as the Wolves had a rough road stretch for the remainder of the season, starting at San Antonio tonight (not sure if Duncan is playing or not)

next game: at Staples, vs the Clippers,...but this time, unlike Wed, we are the home team.

Gotta keep winning these last 14 games !!!

[skyracer3]

Hey Phil
Who would you want the Lakers to play in the first round of the playoffs? Right now its possible that the Lakers can play the Rockets in the 2vs7 matchup. Eventhough they will probably win that series, it may tire them out to the point where they'll have a difficult 2nd round.

[SingleDaddyof2]

Correct me if I'm wrong but don't the first 2 slots automatically go to the division winners? I believe that even if the Lakers & Kings have a better record than the Midwestern division winner, the Midwestern division winner still gets the # 2 slot. Or did they change it this season?

[skyracer3]

You are absolutely correct. It was my mistake. I should of said the Lakers could meet Houston with the 3vs6 matchup.

[stalking_WOLF_21]

hey i found out the pairings

rockets vs wolves

mavs vs lakers

grizzlies vs spurs

kings vs nuggets

[podstock]

yes, you are correct....

but, there's still about 14-16 games left (depending on which team you look at), and plenty of chances for teams to move up or down.

The Wolves better start improving, b/c right now, they are 3-5 for the month of March

They have been doing great up until March......

you don't want to go into the playoffs having lost 8 out of 13, for example

[podstock]

3/19/04 update: Lakers 106-100 over the lowly Clippers

back to back games with the Clippers in Staples Center, and the result of this second game is a 6-point margin

Quentin Richardson didn't play; Jaric didn't play, and 1 other Clipper "star" player also didn't play

and still, the Lakers barely managed to win by 6, allowing an incredible 100 points to the Clippers.

just ATROCIOUS defense, and you can't play like this against the big boys in the playoffs

Clippers had a 27-20 lead after 1 quarter, and extended it to 9 points in the 2nd quarter, let by UCLA's own Matt Barnes, whom Kobe decided he wasn't going to guard.

Matt had the game of his life (Matt graduated from UCLA last year, did a GREAT job for us, but never made an NBA team; he was in the NBDL this year, with the Long Beach Jam, before being give two 10-day contracts by the Clippers, who eventually signed him for the rest of the season - yah!!!!!) Matt had 14 points, 7 boards (probably had 3 offensive boards) and 1 assists in 32 minutes of play, as he started in the place of injured starter Quentin. Kobe took Matt lightly (I don't blame Kobe), and Matt roamed the court, getting loose balls, rebounds, and points.

Cory Maggette was very active, and showed how slow the Lakers are on defense, as he basically did what he wanted. Fortunately, he missed a ton of shots, going 7-21. He did go to the free throw line 20 times, and made 17

Elton Brand had a disappointing game, with only 15 points and 7 boards; this guy, KG, and Duncan almost always get double-doubles.

Lakers were led by Kobe, going 10-20 from the field with 27 points, 7 boards and 3 assists. He did take about 3-4 unnecessary shots when he had wide open teammates!

Shaq wasn't much of a factor, going 5-8 FG, with 18 points (including 8-16 free throws) and 10 boards; the Clippers basically had 2-3 guys on him every time

Karl had a bad shooting night, going 5-15, with 14 points and 6 boards

Payton had 16 points, 6 boards and 5 assists

Rick Fox looks like he's coming around (after missing most of the season with a broken bone in his foot), making 5-8 shots, with 10 points, 4 boards, and 6 assists....but he really really looks like he's slooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww

George did a good job off the bench, going 4-9, with 9 points.

The bench did a great job at the start of the 2nd quarter, as they took an 11-point deficit into a 3 point deficit before Phil Jackson put back in the starters.

I was almost going insane, thinking what the hell Jackson was doing puttin 5 subs on the floor and resting all 4 hall of famers (Shaq and Payton rested with 3 minutes left in the 1st quarter) for such extended time!!!

But the bench finally played great, Slava had 4, Rush had 3, Walton had 4, all with just 2-3 shots each.

all the starters logged at least 30 minutes (Fox with 30, Kobe with game high 40)....so the starters really didn't have much of a chance to put up much in the way of stats.....

Sacramento won, coming behind from a 17-point deficit, as Bibby hit the game winning shot with 1 second left. Ron Artest was suspended from this game for throwing an elbow in the previous game; otherwise, the Pacers might have had enough defense to stop the Kings

Timberwolves also won

Lakers still 1 game out of the #2 spot; 1 game ahead of Spurs, and 4 games behind Sacramento for #1. With Kobe not playing when the Kings come here next Wed, our chances of winning that game is NIL (hell, we couldn't beat Atlanta with Kobe in court in Colorado). We play Sacramento 2 more times; if we were to win both those games and win vs. the Wolves (next Friday), there'd be a good shot to be #1.

We have 13 games left, and only 2 of those are on the road (1 is at Sacramento)......if we can go 11-2 over that stretch, we are most likely #2, as the Wolves have a killer road schedule.......

we will seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee