Lakers blown out by the Grizz at home

[CelticG1]

I have a feeling the Lakers are headed for another mid-season trade (a la 2008) to revamp themselves.  They need another play-maker.

Insert Melo. Bynum is a nice trade piece to build a deal around. Spurs or Lakers still make it to the ship regardless of these regular season losses. Its only one game pre midseason.

yep I think this is exactly what may happen. And then we have to hope it backfires. Melo is an awful defender and he'll drive Kobe nuts, if its even Melo...they may just surrender and clear the decks soon for Dwight, IF they can see Kobe isn't regaining the step he has lost.

I really don't understand how Bynum is that great of a trade piece. He is just coming off an injury and has had an injury riddled career. It would be a MAJOR risk to take on such an injury prone player no matter what the potential. He is one of the most fragile players in the game, and especially being a big man I don't think thats a good sign. Not to mention his contract isn't really friendly either

An injury-riddled Bynum is better than not getting anything for Melo. Would the Lakers do it though? Just not sure.

Why would Denver get nothing if they don't trade for Bynum?  Aren't there other teams in the running for Melo who would be trading healthy players? 

exxxxxactly.. I don't think it's Bynum or bust. Not to mention I don't think that the Nuggets would want to trade Melo in the same conference

[RebusRankin]

Isn't the Nets offer of Favours etc plus multiple picks better.

[CelticSooner]

I have a feeling the Lakers are headed for another mid-season trade (a la 2008) to revamp themselves.  They need another play-maker.

Insert Melo. Bynum is a nice trade piece to build a deal around. Spurs or Lakers still make it to the ship regardless of these regular season losses. Its only one game pre midseason.

yep I think this is exactly what may happen. And then we have to hope it backfires. Melo is an awful defender and he'll drive Kobe nuts, if its even Melo...they may just surrender and clear the decks soon for Dwight, IF they can see Kobe isn't regaining the step he has lost.

I really don't understand how Bynum is that great of a trade piece. He is just coming off an injury and has had an injury riddled career. It would be a MAJOR risk to take on such an injury prone player no matter what the potential. He is one of the most fragile players in the game, and especially being a big man I don't think thats a good sign. Not to mention his contract isn't really friendly either

An injury-riddled Bynum is better than not getting anything for Melo. Would the Lakers do it though? Just not sure.

Why would Denver get nothing if they don't trade for Bynum?  Aren't there other teams in the running for Melo who would be trading healthy players? 

I imagine there are but reports say Melo isn't going to sign an extension with anyone but LA or NY. Only team I've heard willing to trade pieces to rent Melo is Dallas.

Melo is gone before the deadline, who knows where at this point though.

[Dr H]

Let's not forget that WE got blown out at home by the Grizzlies too, last year..oh and the loss to the Cavs this year, and the 1 pt loss to Toronto and getting walloped by Detroit a couple days ago. (you can bring in the key injuries, and I'll raise you one saying this team was labeled as having great depth)

Point is anything can happen. Don't forget that we played like crap for almost all of last season including losing to the 2nd? worst team of all time, the Nets. The Lakers will get their mojo back, don't forget last year Kobe did go through a little ball hogging stage until things straightened themselves out and they started playing team basketball.

IMO there is nothing to take out of this loss other than the enjoyment in seeing them get blown out at home.

I'll bring up key injuries, our best player has been hurt a lot of their year, and say that even the deepest team will be affected by injuries.  We have handled it extremely well all things considered.

And the Det loss was not embarrassing, KG's injury made the rest of the game pointless really.  And the Grizzlies loss was last year so who cares, and maybe the Cavs loss was the only embarrassing one and no loss by a couple points is embrassing, even if it is to a bad team, because things happen and any team can put together a competitive game on any given night.

I'd also remind you LA has had a cakewalk schedule so far.

All that being said I agree with you that the Lakers will right the ship but I don't think we can brush off all these truly awful games as nothing.  There is more there involving Kobe's drop off in play, Artests awful play, the poor ball movement, lack luster effort, and ignoring the post players that can't be all chalked up as nothing.  There has to be something to it. 

And either way, we are a much more impressive team that has, desptie injuries, played a much better season than LA has so far.

The only reason I mentioned us getting blown out by Memphis last year was because we still ended going to game 7 of the NBA finals...aka the same thing that happened to us is happening to them.

I'll agree we can't chalk up LA's woes as just nothing..it's complacency. It's just human nature to ease up off the gas once you've accomplished something like that..basically you say to yourself "I've done this before, I've won a championship, I know what it takes to win blah  blah"..and this losing will catch up with them and *should* wake them up and fire them up to play hard and play the right way to win.

As long as you're on a team with Kobe Bryant you'll go through stretches of poor ball movement and the like. He's the most motivated to win and to him, that = controlling the ball and jacking up shots to try and win. Ron Artest has always been there for his defense and locking down the opposing team's best player. Derek Fisher always stinks in the regular season then reminds everyone over and over in the playoffs why he's there..I mean dang, against us in the finals he won them game 3 and hit that dagger of a 3 in the closing minutes of game 7.

[indeedproceed]

To me this is a pretty silly thing to get excited about. The Lakers (for me) get a bye from regular season skepticism or doubt.

I wrote the Power Rankings for SBNation last week, and here is what I said about the Lakers:

It would be tempting to say something trite or overreactionary about the Lakers' recent losses. It would be easy to say something about how they've regressed a bit, or at least failed to elevate their play in the same way as the Spurs, Celtics, Heat and Mavs. Other people have done it, and there are even columns coming out about how maybe the Lakers might be a 5th or 6th overall seed in the league, almost guaranteeing they won't have home court advantage if they even make it to the finals. Maybe as a Boston fan I have stockholm syndrome or something, but I'm not buying any of it.

Sure, they're going to have to limit Andrew Bynum's minutes to make sure he's healthy come playoff time. Sure, Kobe isn't the same player now as he was 2 or 3 years ago. That's all true, and those will probably add up to losses like the one the Lakers suffered recently at the hands of the loveable Bucks. But if anyone, anywhere thinks that's a reason to lower expectations of anything but a finals appearance for these Lakers...well..I disagree, sir. Kobe has become the Grigori Rasputin of basketball villains. Only after Kobe has been poisoned, shot, clubbed to death, and then drowned will I believe he will miss the finals.  That, or some other team needs to beat him in a best of 7 series. One of the two.

[Snakehead]

Let's not forget that WE got blown out at home by the Grizzlies too, last year..oh and the loss to the Cavs this year, and the 1 pt loss to Toronto and getting walloped by Detroit a couple days ago. (you can bring in the key injuries, and I'll raise you one saying this team was labeled as having great depth)

Point is anything can happen. Don't forget that we played like crap for almost all of last season including losing to the 2nd? worst team of all time, the Nets. The Lakers will get their mojo back, don't forget last year Kobe did go through a little ball hogging stage until things straightened themselves out and they started playing team basketball.

IMO there is nothing to take out of this loss other than the enjoyment in seeing them get blown out at home.

I'll bring up key injuries, our best player has been hurt a lot of their year, and say that even the deepest team will be affected by injuries.  We have handled it extremely well all things considered.

And the Det loss was not embarrassing, KG's injury made the rest of the game pointless really.  And the Grizzlies loss was last year so who cares, and maybe the Cavs loss was the only embarrassing one and no loss by a couple points is embrassing, even if it is to a bad team, because things happen and any team can put together a competitive game on any given night.

I'd also remind you LA has had a cakewalk schedule so far.

All that being said I agree with you that the Lakers will right the ship but I don't think we can brush off all these truly awful games as nothing.  There is more there involving Kobe's drop off in play, Artests awful play, the poor ball movement, lack luster effort, and ignoring the post players that can't be all chalked up as nothing.  There has to be something to it. 

And either way, we are a much more impressive team that has, desptie injuries, played a much better season than LA has so far.

The only reason I mentioned us getting blown out by Memphis last year was because we still ended going to game 7 of the NBA finals...aka the same thing that happened to us is happening to them.

I'll agree we can't chalk up LA's woes as just nothing..it's complacency. It's just human nature to ease up off the gas once you've accomplished something like that..basically you say to yourself "I've done this before, I've won a championship, I know what it takes to win blah  blah"..and this losing will catch up with them and *should* wake them up and fire them up to play hard and play the right way to win.

As long as you're on a team with Kobe Bryant you'll go through stretches of poor ball movement and the like. He's the most motivated to win and to him, that = controlling the ball and jacking up shots to try and win. Ron Artest has always been there for his defense and locking down the opposing team's best player. Derek Fisher always stinks in the regular season then reminds everyone over and over in the playoffs why he's there..I mean dang, against us in the finals he won them game 3 and hit that dagger of a 3 in the closing minutes of game 7.

You may be right but I just get the feeling these are deeper issues.  Kobe has to fall off sometime and it looks like this year might be the year we really see him fall off.  He just isn't getting to the basket well.  And Ron Artest has looked really awful and he is also a guy who is going to fall off sometime.  You expect the D from him but in the Heat game for example he got worked by LeBron and looked pathetic, seemed like he was more interested in trying to p--- LeBron off instead of play good defense on him.

I'm sure it's hard to be motivated for the 3 peat regular season but there are certainly cracks showing in the armor that can't all be fixed when they hit the "on" switch later in the year.

[houseonfire09]

It's funny how the Lakers forums sound exactly like CelticsBlog last season, and I don't blame them.  The Lakers are probably not getting far in the playoffs right now.  The only reason why the Celtics made it to game 7 of the Finals last year was because they made Wade look like he was playing 1-on-5, Lebron quit on his team, and Orlando can't beat them in a 7 game series with Garnett at 75%.  That's not happening in the West.

[Who]

Ron Artest has been a major liability offensively + on the backboards.

He is a ball-stopper. A bad decision maker. Doesn't execute their offense. Stagnant. Hardly ever moves with the ball which hurts the Triangle considerably. And an inefficient scorer (TS% 47% both  this season and in the playoffs last year).

On the backboards, he has to be the worst starting SF rebounder in the league. He pulls down only 4 rebounds per 36 minutes which is pathetic for a small forward.

[j804]

Kobe and Phil bumping heads, this is now getting interesting and I'm loving every minute of it:

Coach Phil Jackson said a day off and lack of teamwork were the culprits.

"One of the things about having a day off with this team is that they lose focus," Jackson said. "They had a day off (Saturday), and I'll learn better from that."

Superstar Kobe Bryant, 10-for-22 for the field, got his fifth technical foul in six games and Jackson didn't appreciate his performance overall especially when he took 12 of the team's 22 shots in the third quarter.

"Kobe had to screw up the game and start energizing the team by going one-on-one," Jackson said. "That takes the rest of the guys out and as a consequence, that didn't bring us back in."

Bryant took his own shot at Jackson saying ""We've had days off and blown teams out, so I'm not buying any of that Zen (bulls---)," Bryant said.

 

[indeedproceed]

Kobe and Phil bumping heads, this is now getting interesting and I'm loving every minute of it:

Coach Phil Jackson said a day off and lack of teamwork were the culprits.

"One of the things about having a day off with this team is that they lose focus," Jackson said. "They had a day off (Saturday), and I'll learn better from that."

Superstar Kobe Bryant, 10-for-22 for the field, got his fifth technical foul in six games and Jackson didn't appreciate his performance overall especially when he took 12 of the team's 22 shots in the third quarter.

"Kobe had to screw up the game and start energizing the team by going one-on-one," Jackson said. "That takes the rest of the guys out and as a consequence, that didn't bring us back in."

Bryant took his own shot at Jackson saying ""We've had days off and blown teams out, so I'm not buying any of that Zen (bulls---)," Bryant said.

 

Ugh. That's a significant difference between Boston last year and LA this year..when things went bad and you could clearly see the effort wasn't there some night, the guys blamed themselves but didn't turn on each other. Kobe, despite his alleged 'mellowing' is still a pit viper waiting to strike, and if he's not getting fed regular he'll bite the hand that feeds him without a second thought.

[Snakehead]

Ron Artest has been a major liability offensively + on the backboards.

He is a ball-stopper. A bad decision maker. Doesn't execute their offense. Stagnant. Hardly ever moves with the ball which hurts the Triangle considerably. And an inefficient scorer (TS% 47% both  this season and in the playoffs last year).

On the backboards, he has to be the worst starting SF rebounder in the league. He pulls down only 4 rebounds per 36 minutes which is pathetic for a small forward.

All this plus who has he stopped this year?  I know on Christmas day he got worked over by LeBron and seemed more interested in annoying him then trying to check him.

Their SF position is a hole.




And I saw the Phil Jackson quote but the Kobe one?  Wow. Where'd you get it from?  I haven't seen that quote.  If he can't see he is ruining their offense I don't know what to tell him.  Like Indeed says above that is a BIG difference between us and the Lakers.  We don't have this kind of crap going on, even when we have struggled.

[nba is the worst]

It's funny how the Lakers forums sound exactly like CelticsBlog last season, and I don't blame them.  The Lakers are probably not getting far in the playoffs right now.  The only reason why the Celtics made it to game 7 of the Finals last year was because they made Wade look like he was playing 1-on-5, Lebron quit on his team, and Orlando can't beat them in a 7 game series with Garnett at 75%.  That's not happening in the West.

I completely agree, as unpopular this opinion is here.

But with the 6th-best record in the west, and a division close to as weak as last year's Atlantic, it would not be a surprise for the Lakers to "find themselves" by beginning of the playoffs, where in the West, only the Spurs look like contenders.

[Scalablob990]

Well, you guys did lose 2/3 games yourselves, so I wouldn't be throwing the confetti yet. Anyway, I know you guys will like this quote from Phil:

"We get behind early in the 3rd quarter, and then Kobe has to go and screw up the game..."

Referring to dominating the ball, etc. Can't say I disagree with him. The team is just not utilizing Pau and Bynum. Just how it is.

The spurs are going to burn themselves out, that 29-4 record is fools gold. In a 7 game series i'll pick the Lakers over the Mavericks or the Spurs. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Spurs or the Mavericks out in the first round.

Another thing is no other team has Kobe, and although I dislike him I give credit to him being able to literally win a game for them because he wants it. The Phoenix/Utah series last season made that apparent. He's probably the only player out west I see as a great player and not a choke artist, Dirk or Duncan have never impressed me. When the west games are in the playoffs it's a joke because it's 7 teams that are good during the 'season' (hello cleveland 06-10) and in the playoffs their all equal to eachother to the point where it's laughable.

I just want the Celtics to have HCA over them should we meet in the finals again, because we're not going to beat them w.o HC in my opinion. During the playoffs that's a nasty place to go and hope to win in.

As for Artest being washed up, I give him credit because he held Pierces numbers down just enough for the Lakers to pull out the win. That's always been a tough match up for Pierce.
It's also more enjoyable to talk to a Laker fan who isn't ignorant, i'm still trying to adjust to it. Oddly, I watch as many Laker games as Celtics games (i'm always wondering how the enemy is doing)

[wahz]

This will be wildy unpopular with any Laker folks who drop by but the Lakers didn't beat the Celtics in a fair fight. The Lakers had a very easy way to go through the west while the celts were dealing with Cle and Orlando and not having home court. Then we get La and not have hc. Then we lose Perk and then the refs also go nuts in the 4th q of game 7 after allowing plenty of contact both ways until then.  It was too much to overcome not that Lakers care.

Its likely we won't have anywhere near as many handicaps this time. And all Im really saying is the Lakers weren't better than us last year and they are now worse and we are much better. I think our Celtics biggest hurdle will be Miami and San Antonio.

[nba is the worst]

This will be wildy unpopular with any Laker folks who drop by but the Lakers didn't beat the Celtics in a fair fight. The Lakers had a very easy way to go through the west while the celts were dealing with Cle and Orlando and not having home court. Then we get La and not have hc. Then we lose Perk and then the refs also go nuts in the 4th q of game 7 after allowing plenty of contact both ways until then.  It was too much to overcome not that Lakers care.

Its likely we won't have anywhere near as many handicaps this time. And all Im really saying is the Lakers weren't better than us last year and they are now worse and we are much better. I think our Celtics biggest hurdle will be Miami and San Antonio.

After reading this, I'm curious:

How do you pronounce your screen name?