There’s really not a lot to say about this game so I’m going to keep this short.
Against the Suns the Lakers played like a tired team. After playing only 7 players against the Kings the night before, the same tactic was tried against the Suns and they simply didn’t have the legs to make it work.
They were beat to nearly every loose ball. Their jumpers hit front rim or rattled in and out. They were caught flat footed on defense and were barely moving to grab rebounds. The Suns, meanwhile, looked fresh. They cut hard and chased rebounds out of their area. They got out in the open court and finished on the break. They hit jumpers and moved around the floor freely. The difference in the two teams was reflected in the score, with the Lakers falling 99-76.
Really, my summary of this game could be summed up in two tweets:
This is one time where I'll basically put a loss on the coach. These guys are dead tired & nothing was done to try and counter that.
— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) March 19, 2013
The team is encouraged to still play fast, few timeouts were taken, & there's been no subs played on the 2nd night of a back to back.
— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) March 19, 2013
Mike D’Antoni deserves a lot of credit for how this team has played in turning their season around. He’s established roles, gotten the necessary buy in from his players, and has made countless tweaks to his scheme to try and get the most out of the skills of his guys. Many ignore these things when evaluating this team, but none of these positives are lost on me.
That said, tonight he didn’t put his team in a position to succeed. That hasn’t happened much lately, but it did against the Suns. The result was a loss.
Getting into the X’s and O’s of this game, then, really is pointless. What matters now is that the team doesn’t play again until Friday and the hope is that by that point they’ll not only be sufficiently rested but will also have Kobe and Pau back.
So, as frustrating as this loss was, it’s best to just put it behind you as quickly as you can. This team is still in the playoff hunt and is still a team that has a workable plan for success moving forward. Tonight was not a good showing from the players nor the coach. I’m pretty sure that won’t be the norm too many more times this year.
Ken says
All true Darius but being stubborn often is caused by not having the ability to adjust.
This game was just a poor example of a professional coach. Not giving Nash, Jamison and Metta a few minutes of rest early in the game is just foolish.
Lakers scored 10 points in the 4th and that was this coach’s fault. Giving away games like this because your “scared” to play more then 7 players is an example of how not to be a winner.
Tra says
The title of the Game Recap (and Darius’ Tweets) says it all. Hopefully, 1 of the teams that represents my city can hold on in Utah. That way, the night wouldn’t be a total loss.
Albert says
At least Utah lost tonight…
Harvey M says
Not going to defend Dantoni tonight as I agree that Dantoni can be inflexible and this is a real weakness and tonight he needed to use someone ()maybe Morriss and/or Duhon) if for nothing more than to give some of the trusted 7 a bit of a blow. But I do agree with the rest of Darius’s post, as if he is going to take the righteous criticism for tonights game, he also deserves praise for the good he has done is solidifying the roles of players and for getting more out of Blake and Jamison (and Earl Clark) than almost anyone could have imagined. And the reality is that after the first 10 (this 7 plus Pau, Kobe and Jordan Hill) we are talking about D leaguers. That is on Kupchak, and on the inflexibility created by the huge price tag the Lakers are paying, for that top 10.
Altemawa says
lol, so Utah helped us again.
we are not helping ourselves here.
lets face it, it would be difficult to match-up with SAS or OKC (though I would love to see MDA coach if we face them), so our aim should be for the #6 seed, and to get that, we need most Ws in our remaining schedule.
if we cant beat this crappy PHX team then we are not really sure if we can make the playoffs.
our schedule is the most favorable out of HOU, GSW and UTAH so we should pile up the Ws.
the fact that this was B2B game means we need bench guys on the floor to at least give breather to our vets. it never happened.
el lungo says
If Kobe was 6/18 6/17 in the game,a stream of comments I can imagine.
pio2u2 says
No bench, tired legs, no coaching adjustments equals no win. Let’s put this one to bed and move on to the next game. One game at a time. Go Lakers!
Blizzard says
What does it say when you make the wrong choice on a no-brainer?
* 7 players or less, old team, back to back (pringles)
* Pringles or the best coach ever (jimbo)
* Spero Dedes or Bill McDonald (jimbo)
How far the franchise has fallen in 3 years.
jameskatt says
D’Antoni = Tweedle Dum. He is an idiot of a coach. When Kobe last tried playing, he was the one diagramming plays for the players.
The players were the ones who threw away D’Antoni’s original run and gun style of play. It did not fit an old team.
But without Kobe, the Lakers simply had no coach. The remaining players played the wrong game plan by listening to the idiot D’Antoni.
Fire D’Antoni.
He was Tweedle Dee’s worse hiring of late.
BigCitySid says
This year’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde show a/k/a as the Lakers continues :-(.
Joel says
If there was any time to put in players like Ebanks, Duhon, Sacre and Morris. I would be against the worst team in the league. D’Antoni could have been creative by calling more time outs subbing guys out a little earlier than normal which would have given them intervals of rest to catch their wind. If he would have used some of the bench he could have made the line ups where nash or howard was on the floor with the bench at all times. Now if the lakers miss the playoffs, and there is still a good chance, we will have to look at the 2 losses to the Suns.
Robert says
Well it seems everyone wants to talk about a subject that I do not talk about directly. rr knows I only talk about this subject via innuendo : ) And I only do that 1/2 as much as he thinks I do : ) That said, I think I Harvey is being balanced in his post above.
There are 3 possibilities with regard to this subject at the end of the year:
1) The Lakers play extremely well and make it deep (you definition may vary) into the playoffs, in which case MD is safe all the way around.
2) The Lakers fall miserably short of “expectations” and Jimbo makes a coaching change
3) The Lakers fall miserably short and we keep MD anyway because of “circumstances”
In my case – I truly am waiting for results to determine where I sit. I feel that some have made up their minds. I think this is premature, but I think it is equally incorrect to say “fire him” as it is to say “keep him no matter what”.
It is inevitable that this will be the post season discussion. I already know that some will talk about injuries, and circumstances, and even if we miss the playoffs or get annihilated in the first round, they will support keeping MD. Others will say fire him at any results less than a championship. Moderate voices like me (LOL) are waiting for the results and will not read a verdict until the jury is in : )
dindo says
This was the chance to redeem LA’s loss from the game stolen by Suns before. Instead we get a blow-out loss. Suns must be pretty happy right now. The Coach was sitting on the other side of the bench.
Ebanks, Morris could have run with those Suns as well. Some call them D leaguers if u want. Heck, Suns players (some) you can call them D-Leaguers too. Why not try. Wonder what Melo and NY feels for LA right now 🙂
Fern says
Got to agree and change my tune from last night, the team was dead tired, MDA lost this one. Thank God for Utah.
trianglefan says
It’s way too early to heap any kind of praise on D’antoni. Give him credit for helping turn the season around, and let’s hope the team continues to improve. It’s not easy for to coach on the fly as he did, but he’s made a few mistakes on the way, some of them I would expect from a less experienced coach. I’m eager to see how Pau is brought back into the fold and how that affects the team’s flow down the stretch.
vhanz says
WoW, for one game saying the coach is bad without even giving credit for the turnaround?!
I’m done with this.