Comments on: Preview & Chat: The Houston Rockets

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:40:43 +0000

9 Games stick out in my mind from last year alone, the first loss against the Pistons, the ugly loss at Sacramento, the second half no show against New Orleans, Once again the lack of effort at Denver on Feb. 27th, the lack of defense against the Suns on March 1st, The Blazers owning them in Portland twice last season (which I know always gives them trouble) and a Hawks Bobcats 2 game span that was dismal at best. Say they give better effort in 4 or 5 of those losses and the odds of winning HCA is MUCH better. That’s all I was saying, because during the playoffs the Lakers will be fine, but against Denver and Boston HCA would be welcomed.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:32:08 +0000

Kurt, they stunk in the playoffs last year because they didn’t have Kevin Garnett, if he had played I’m not sure the Bulls would win more than 1 game and the Magic wouldn’t have won more than 2 games because the Celtics owned the Magic last year when KG played. Im not defending the Celtics because I hate them but look at the runs they go on and look at how they lose, that Pacers loss was an exception if you look at that past 2 years they typically lose because they cant score enough points but their defense is always there. And I watched that Pacers Celtics game it really wasnt that bad of a loss, I was cheering for the Pacers but the refs were giving the them some questionable calls, and Dahntay Jones dropped 25 points while shooting 15 three throws, when was the last time both of those things ever happened in a game? The Runs I was speaking of Boston going on last year was when they won 20 games, 12 games and 7 games in a row during the regular season last year. Playoffs are a different case, but as for winning home court advantage they have the odds of winning it on their side because of how weak the Eastern Conference is. They still finished 62-20 imagine if KG hadnt missed all the games he did Im sure they would have had the best record if he had been healthy. I DESPISE Boston, but losing one game like last night will come back to haunt LA, unless they correct these games where they give minimal effort and think their talent will win games on its own.

By: sT

sT — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:13:53 +0000

Thanks Don, this is not very good at all, you know Kobe will just keep playing and playing on that bad groin muscle and it will not get any better while he does that. Can he be forced to sit? Now, I just want to make the playoffs (8th seed is fine) with a healthy Bryant and Gasol, you know?

By: Kurt

Kurt — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:11:33 +0000

New brief post up. I’ll get more into the Lakers defensive issues tomorrow.

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:08:04 +0000

The Lakers simply lost because they didn’t have the big guy, that’s right, Luke Walton.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:50:47 +0000

And Eric, you’re right, Boston doesn’t have bad losses to teams like the Pacers…. oh, wait.

HCA matters, but it also is not decided yet. And the Celtics “always” have these runs of good games? They’ve been good for two years now, and last year they stunk in the playoffs. Unless you were talking about the Bird era Celtics in the 1980s, they did have a lot of good runs, but I’m not sure it’s relevant.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:47:24 +0000

Here is the thing about Fisher and others shooting tonight: The Rockets started doubling the post — they did it early, they did it late, they varied where and when it came, but they tried to take away the Lakers inside game. You make them pay for that by hitting outside shots. Fisher missed those, but so did everybody. Vujacic, Farmar and Brown from the outside were 4 of 13. Teams have made an adjustment to the Lakers post game this season, now the Lakers need to make the counter moves, and that starts by knocking down perimeter shots.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:29:04 +0000

Everyone should chill out. It’s only November.

By: Don

Don — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:24:06 +0000

Ok this answers my question – injured during the NO game? Why is he playing at all?

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10711/kobe-bryant-strained-right-groin-muscle

By: Don

Don — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:02:42 +0000

Yeah I don’t get the whole go into the post thing to save energy or your body, are the last two games a manifestation of Kobe being tired from being so aggressive in positioning early in the season? Any thoughts?

Also, while these losses may not kill our chances for HCA, every game still counts. HCA will come down to a few games as it always does and we can point to all the missed opportunities, even early in the season, if we’re not on the right end of that difference.