Comments on: It’s the Defense, Stupid

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 00:26:53 +0000

Great read man, I love your work. Maybe keep us updated with it on http://www.LetsGoLakers.com ?

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:48:06 +0000

Good offense (and I don’t just mean scoring points here, it’s about controlling tempo) can lead to good defense. Feed the post early, slow the game down, and there will be fresh legs on the perimeter to defend.

By: John (Vancouver)

John (Vancouver) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:55:06 +0000

(off-topic)

Apparently Nate Robinson bounced the ball to himself and tried to dunk, but was called for traveling.

In the middle of a game….

As Simmons might say, “The NBA – IT’s FANNNNTASTIC!”

By: Muddywood

Muddywood — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 03:19:02 +0000

I hate the sagging on defense that I’m seeing. Farmar is really the only one I can think of that fights thru a pick almost every time. Smush sure as hell doesn’t. Smush hesitates too much. When he plays instinctively he does pretty well. When he catches and shoots he does OK. When he tries to “run the offense” he just kills the flow entirely. Face it Smush is a 2, not a one. Farmar is a 1.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:30:13 +0000

ALI, the Lakers have won more than their share of close games this season. Over the course of 82 games, that’s a tough way to make a living, things tend to balance out. If the Lakers keep living on the edge, games like the letdown against the Bucks will even out the fast start, and the Lakers will drift back toward .500.

That’s the simplistic version, you can get more details of how to calculate it here if you want:

http://basketball-reference.com/about/glossary.html/#ew

By: ALI

ALI — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:11:50 +0000

Am I missing something? If the Lakers continue at their pace, winning 9 out of 14 (64%), they should end up with around 52 or 53 wins.

By: kwame a.

kwame a. — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:52:23 +0000

Although our offense is putting up good numbers and scoring at a good rate, the turnovers are defintely a problem. They may not prevent us from scoring 100 a game, but they ruin the flow of the game, give the other team easy buckets and momentum and stifle our maximum offense potential. Also, why can’t anyone on our team, besides Luke, make a decent post-entry pass, I mean I know that Bynum doesn’t get the best position, but for the love of the game we need to learn to fake it and make it in the post.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:43:37 +0000

On the Bucks second quarter run, it started against the second unit but the first unit came in it did not stop the bleeding, it got worse. then the third quarter started poorly with the first string. It was mostly the second string making that little late third quarter run, but when Odom subbed out for Lamar the Bucks started the run that gave them the win. Take from that what you will. Kobe led the team as a +8, Bynum was -11. Bynum and Kwame really can’t have off nights on the same night like that.

By: Craig W.

Craig W. — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:32:07 +0000

I don’t see an easy way out of our defensive malaise. I have slowly soured on Smush as I see his attitude deteriorate. I don’t see someone who is anxious to help out his teammates, but only worried he won’t getting ‘his’. However, I don’t think Farmar is the answer at this time. He tires when played too many minutes and then makes physical mistakes. He just needs more time and defensive practice.

Phil may try out Sasha if he performs as well as he did last night, but I don’t ever see him as a starter.

Kobe and Walton together may not be the best defensive combination either; at least until Kobe gets closer to 100% at the defensive end. I suspect we may see more of Mo Evans as Phil experiments.

I really feel the 2nd team will have to have Farmar, Walton, and Bynum to run the triangle correctly and balance the team out. It was the 2nd unit last night that really accelerated our collapse. I know, the 1st unit started the slide, but the 2nd unit occasionally has to bail out the 1st unit, especially against lesser teams.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:30:02 +0000

kwame a., that’s an interesting point about the sagging. I was basing my post more on season stats. I’ll try to chart how they are dealing with picks in the Utah game (and maybe the Clippers) and put together a post.

See, this is why I love this blog, people here know the damn game.