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Around The World (Wide Web): What Lies Ahead For The Lakers

Ryan Cole —  April 30, 2013 — 27 Comments

From Mike Bresnahan, LA Times: Steve Nash couldn’t finish this season because of injuries, but he knew where to start next season.With Dwight Howard. Nash was “very hopeful” the soon-to-be free-agent center would return to the Lakers. ”I think this is the place for him,” Nash said Monday. “He’s in the prime of his career. He’s got his best years ahead of him. He can play for one of the greatest franchises in sports and an amazing city. This has got to be the place for him and I’m hopeful that he sees it that way.” Howard, 27, can sign a five-year, $118-million deal with the Lakers in July or a four-year, $88-million deal with another team. Reserve guard Jodie Meeks, who built a solid bond with Howard during their first season with the Lakers, also seemed to think a reunion would be best.

From C.A. Clark, Silver Screen & Roll: The season from hell. A nightmare. The cursed year. These are the words being bandied about Lakers Nation now that the 2012-2013 Los Angeles Lakers has been mercifully put to rest. From the fans to the bloggers, the players and even the coach, everyone agrees this year was an abysmal failure on all fronts. Therein lies the problem … on all fronts. If the Lakers’ troubles were singular, or uniform, knowing what to do next would be easy. If the problems all stemmed from poor chemistry, or ill-fitting personnel, then the solution would be much simpler. If injuries were all that kept the Lakers from being great, there wouldn’t be a need to do anything at all. But the Lakers organization is not that lucky. Instead, they have many difficult decisions to make, and very little real information with which to make those decisions. That’s the worst part of the debacle that was the failed 2012-2013 Lakers season: Not knowing whether to try it again.

From Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk: The San Antonio Spurs didn’t just end the Lakers season, they put Los Angeles out of its misery. That was the first time the Lakers have been swept in the first round of the playoffs since 1967, but you could see it coming for a long time. From the injuries during training camp, to the firing of a coach five games into the season, to the hiring of a new coach with a radically different philosophy and style that didn’t match the roster, to more injuries, to fan dissatisfaction, to Kobe Bryant blowing out his Achilles, it was all building to this ugly sweep by the Spurs. The question now is how do the Lakers spend their summer vacation? What steps do they take to become the contenders they thought they were back in October. Here are five suggestions.

From Dave McMenamin, ESPN LA: Just before 1 a.m. on Monday morning, a few hours after leaving Staples Center following the Los Angeles Lakers’ season-ending loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Dwight Howard addressed his murky future with the team. ”I hope I get the chance to make it up to you! Thank u la,” Howard posted on Twitter. Whether that means Howard will indeed sign a five-year, $118 million contract extension when he becomes a free agent come July 1 and remain a Laker remains to be seen. Howard will be able to explain what he meant by the tweet when he addresses the media following his exit interview with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak on Tuesday, much like some of his teammates did Monday, including Metta World Peace, who said too much was put on Howard’s shoulders this season. ”I think we put a little too much pressure on Dwight and as responsible leaders, we gave him a little too much responsibility,” said World Peace.

From Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo Sports: In terms of overall word count, the NBA blogosphere probably broke the all-time record this season when it came to the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers. It’s true that the 2010-11 Miami Heat, fresh off of LeBron James’ annoying “Decision,” really turned on the content providers, but something about this collection of stars hit home with both writers and readers. It certainly hit home with me. The chance for the two greatest guards of their respective generation to mix with the NBA’s best center and most versatile big man had me salivating last summer. I didn’t appreciate Los Angeles’ borderline-cruel great timing as they seemingly fleeced both Orlando and Phoenix into acquiring the services of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. Even with the caveats – age, health, the presence of Mike Brown on Los Angeles’ sideline – I assumed that an 82-game season would last long enough for the Lakers to figure it all out and start to find their groove just as they hit the postseason.
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Around The World (Wide Web): Laker’s Tough Season Ends

Ryan Cole —  April 29, 2013 — 8 Comments

From Dave McMenamin, ESPN Los Angeles: After everything the season brought for Gasol – Mike Brown wanting him to play the facilitator; Mike D’Antoni wanting him to play back-up center; a laundry list of injuries, including a concussion, knee tendinitis and a torn plantar fascia in his foot causing him to miss the most games of his 12-year career — he still chooses to identify himself as a Laker and everything that is supposed to stand for. Being traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Lakers made Gasol a champion. It lifted him from being remembered like the Grizzlies’ best franchise player before him, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, as a very good player on a middling team, to a great player on a great team. To Gasol, the Lakers’ lore is real. While Dwight Howard seemingly has struggled to grasp what it means to be the next in the line of great big men following George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal, Gasol got it from the get-go, helping the Lakers to three NBA Finals appearances and two rings in his first two-and-a-half seasons. When asked about the crowd’s ovation for him during his postgame news conference, Gasol teared up. ”I am very appreciative and thankful for our fans and the support they show and their loyalty and their appreciation that they have for me,” Gasol said.

From Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk: Dwight Howard‘s final game as a Laker was ugly. San Antonio early on in its series against the Lakers took to the strategy of fouling Howard hard every time he went up for a shot. San Antonio fronted him in the post, was physical in taking away his position on the block, they collapsed on him (which they could do because there were no healthy Lakers guards to really fear), then finally when Howard would get the ball and start to make a move the Spurs would just foul him. Hard. Howard put up decent numbers through the series — 17 points per game on 61 percent shooting with 10.8 rebounds a contest — but he wasn’t the dominant force the shorthanded Lakers needed against the Spurs, either. He got frustrated early in the second half of Game 4, pickup up his second technical, and got ejected. He watched the end of the Lakers season from the locker room. Late Sunday night/Monday morning, Howard took to twitter to apologize to Lakers fans.

From Ben Bolch, LA Times: Staples Center held Pau Gasol in a warm embrace late in the fourth quarter Sunday, as fans stood to applaud when he left a game that had long been lost. Kobe Bryant then rose from his seat behind the Lakers’ bench to tenderly place two hands on his teammate’s shoulders. It was gracias, Gasol. It also felt very much like adios. The power forward who prompted Lamar Odom to exclaim, “The Beatles are back, baby!” on the day the Lakers acquired Gasol in February 2008 probably has played his last game as part of a not-so-Fab-Four. He stayed classy throughout the Lakers’ season-ending 103-82 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series, remaining on the court to congratulate conquerors who had swept him out of the playoffs.

From Drew Garrison, Silver Screen & Roll:The season has ended for the Los Angeles Lakers after the San Antonio Spurs swept L.A. in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. For the Lakers, it means the organization can finally focus on moving forward instead of trying to salvage a broken present. The 2013 off-season could be very interesting for the Lakers as they prepare for a new season that, hopefully, puts the nightmarish 2012-2013 season in the distance.

From Arash Markazi, ESPN LA: There have been many times over the course of this season when one could have wished to be a fly on the wall in the Los Angeles Lakers’ locker room, their training room or even the Buss family living room. The moments are far too many to number at this point and in the aftermath of the season just blend together like a marathon showing of “Jersey Shore.” But perhaps the most fascinating moment came Sunday night as Dwight Howard was inexcusably ejected from a game in which he was one of only two players from the Lakers’ regular rotation able to walk. Howard already had received a technical in the first half for complaining about a call, then picked up a second technical a little less than two minutes into the third quarter with the Lakers down 55-34. Many Lakers fans hadn’t even made it back to their seats from halftime as Howard walked back to the locker room.

From Stanley Lee, Lakers Nation: This postseason has most definitely not been what we all expected when this team began their post-All Star break turnaround. The injury bug has bitten the Lakers all year, but the list of hurt players is piling up like never before at the worst possible time. Already missing four guards—Kobe Bryant, Steve Blake, Steve Nash, and Jodie Meeks— in Friday’s humiliating loss to San Antonio, starting forward Metta World Peace now joins the list. After one of the most embarrassing losses in Laker postseason history in which the Lakers fell to the Spurs by a score of 120-89, Mike D’Antoni would once again be forced to trot out one of the worst lineups he has fielded all season—forced to start Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock against a champion-level Spurs team.

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Friday Forum

Dave Murphy —  April 26, 2013 — 14 Comments

Maybe you thought the injury bug had passed, that Kobe’s Achilles tear would be enough to appease the dark basketball gods who inexplicably dogged the Lakers all season long. Wrong and wrong again. The maladies cycle and regenerate in direct correlation to whatever the team’s greatest needs and weaknesses are at any given moment. It is beyond reason now, it has gone viral. It has become a macabre plot device – the last man standing, a post-apocalyptic scenario in which the remaining players exit the bunker and look around – are we the only ones left? Until some sadistic winged creature swoops down and grabs another one in its wretched scabby grip. There is no safe place to be. Give us more.

The Kamenetzky Bros offer up another fine podcast on their Land O’Lakers blog – on injuries, the future of Mike D’Antoni,, PJ scenarios and trips to Mars.

C.A. Clark for Silver Screen and Roll examines the Lakers gift that keeps on giving – turnovers.

Dave McMenamin for ESPN Los Angeles writes about the likely loss of Steve Blake, Steve Nash and Jodie Meeks for tonight’s game.

Speaking of Meeks, Mark Medina of the LA Daily News is reporting Meeks’ MRI shows a “partial ligament tear. That doesn’t sound good.

Ben Bolch for the LATimes also chronicles the guard corps woes.

Dan Devine for Ball Don’t Lie on a hopeless scenario and Magic Johnson’s affirmation of same.

Sam Amick from USA Today has a different take, this from Dwight Howard who says he’s not going down without a fight.

Mark Medina for Inside the Lakers brings Dwight’s take on the Spurs’ art of flopping.

Finally, Ross Gasmer for Lakers Nation has put together a chart of the Lakers injuries this season.

And more finally, a late-breaking misery loves company report, Russell Westbrook is out for the season. You never want to see a player go down, no matter whose team it is.

***

Things are seeming grim, just two games into the first round playoffs. But what about the newly-named NBA Development League’s Most Valuable Player? The inside-out game won’t work without perimeter threats. Enter Andrew Goudelock, the 2011 College Three-Point Champ, also drafted by the Harlem Globetrotters for his 4-point ability. The problem of course is the small matter of defense – it’s really not Glock’s forte. Which is why we have Darius Morris, no? At 6-4 he’s got some size and played a bit more this season than last. End of year report cards have indicated potential and he’s managed a place on the roster for insurance reasons. And then there’s Chris Duhon, the nine-year journeyman and third cousin to Robert Sacre.

Sometimes things go so calamitously wrong that you wind up using those guys on the padded leather chairs at the end of the line. They fill a variety of roles – some are practice bodies, some possess a particular skill set and some still have vestiges of the star power that once made them the face of a franchise. Tracy McGrady was recently signed by the Spurs after stints in China and his living room couch. What would you rather have, a guy who was once the truth or a young gunner straight off a minor-league MVP award? Players like Duhon, Morris and Goudelock are often dismissed by virtue of definition – they’re at the end of the bench for a reason. Sometimes the reason becomes the reality you never expected – they’re needed. Here’s hoping the 41st and 46th picks of the 2011 draft do us proud. Just keep an eye on the Staples Center rafters for those screaming death-spiral birds of prey. They might still be hungry.

 

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Around The World (Wide Web): Lakers Suffer Game 2 Loss

Ryan Cole —  April 25, 2013 — 6 Comments

From Dave McMenamin, ESPN LA: The scoreboard was technically 0-0 when Game 2 between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs tipped off Wednesday, but a quick glance at the injury report on the front page of the game notes had the Spurs going into the night with an 8-1 lead.Eight players on the Lakers came in with a pre-existing injury they were dealing with, most notably Kobe Bryant out for the season because of an Achilles tear, while just one player for San Antonio – Boris Diaw, out while recovering from back surgery — had any sort of trauma listed next to his name. Of course, it only got worse from there.

From Mike Bresnahan, LA Times: Maybe Kobe Bryant should go back to tweeting during games. Maybe Metta World Peace should try harder to get in touch with the Dalai Lama. Maybe the Lakers’ injuries will finally recede, because they’re quickly running out of backcourt players. The sky continued to fall amid too many maybes Wednesday, the Lakers losing to the San Antonio Spurs, 102-91, in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference series. Then they lined up in the trainer’s room, seemingly one by one. Steve Blake will get an ultrasound exam Thursday after sustaining a strained right hamstring on a fourth-quarter drive. Steve Nash will get another epidural injection in his back after his hip-hamstring injury flared up in the first half. And Jodie Meeks will get an MRI exam Thursday because of a sprained left ankle that kept him out of Game 2.

From C.A. Clark, Silver Screen & Roll: Without Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers entered their first round Western Conference playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs as heavy underdogs. Two double digit losses have done little to quell the expectation of a rather quick and easy series for the Spurs.Steve Nash is so hobbled, he might as well take the court with a cane, and now, with the added injury troubles of Steve Blake and Jodie Meeks, the Lakers do not have a single healthy guard in the rotation of four they relied on during the 28-12 run that got them into the postseason. As they say in Charles Dickens novels, things look bleak.

From Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk: I strained a hamstring just watching the Lakers lose to the Spurs Wednesday night. Like Odysseus just trying to get home, the basketball gods are not done throwing obstacles in the Lakers way. And obstacles in this case are more injuries. So here is a rundown of the Lakers injuries as of postgame Wednesday night. Make yourself comfortable, this could take a while.

From Daniel Buerge, Lakers Nation: After falling to the Spurs in Game 1 of their first round series, the Lakers were back in action on Wednesday looking to even up the series. After all the talk over the last two days involving Kobe tweeting, injuries and everything other than actual basketball, the team was able to get back on the court after a two-day hiatus. After the Lakers struggled mightily to score in Game 1, they were hoping to put up a bit more of a fight in Game 2. A lot of that would depend on whether or not they could contain Manu Ginobili, who was a huge factor for the Spurs in Game 1.

 

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Wednesday Storylines

Dave Murphy —  April 24, 2013 — 6 Comments

Game day once again, the second of the first round series against the Spurs, once again in San Antonio. The first game showed a few things – that the Lakers possessed some defensive will, that Kobe’s instant offense was sorely missed and that Steve Nash in his first game back was not in particularly good shape. In some obvious ways, the game presented the ghosts of the Lakers’ past, present and future. The team is old and injured and many of the players who wear the uniform now won’t be wearing it in years to come. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a pathway to a steal on the road, however narrow. Can the Lakers find an effective way to redistribute Kobe’s minutes and responsibilities? Can Steve Blake thrive alongside Nash? Just how far can Gasol and Howard take the team?

Dave McMenamin from ESPN Los Angeles details Lakers adjustments going into game two – more ball movement to compliment the inside-out game.

Mike Trudell for the Lakers Blog, reporting on Tuesday’s practice.

Mike Bresnahan for the LATimes writes that the Lakers need more offense, instantly.

Drew Garrison for Silver Screen and Roll on the Spurs’ gamble and payoff in game one.

Ben Rosales for Silver Screen and Roll takes on the matter of offense in a Beast or Burden post.

The Kamenetzky brothers’ latest podcast covers a lot of ground, including Devin Ebanks’ burial.

In case you missed this one, Phillip Barnett stopped by to talk with Matthew Tynan at 48 Minuted of Hell on the eve of the Lakers/Spurs series.

Fran Blinebury for Hang Time Blog writes about a hobbled Steve Nash.

Arielle Moyal for Lakers Nation on Steve Nash and other Lakers news and rumors.

Adrian Wojnarowski for Yahoo Sports reports on Mike Brown’s return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Substitute for generic Kobe Bryant social media article: Kobe tweeted. Then he didn’t.

***

It’s not unheard of for an 8th seed to beat the top team in either the eastern or western divisions. The Nuggets did it against the SuperSonics in ’94, the Knicks defeated the Heat in ’99, the Warriors beat the Mavericks in ’07. Grizzlies took down the Spurs in 2011 and the 76ers upset the Bulls just last season. As for the real pot of gold, New York might have had a real shot when they made it to the finals in ’99 against San Antonio, were it not for Patrick Ewing’s torn Achilles.

The Lakers survived a horrendous season through increased determination, just barely outlasting their own diminishing stockpile of live bodies, inching agonizingly closer to a playoff berth but not guaranteed one until the very last day of the regular season. Our eyes and sense of logic informs us that a miracle upset like the ones listed above, simply isn’t in the cards. Still, tonight represents one of those rare, true tipping points, where one game can turn a series. Win this one and head back to Staples Center and a three-game home stand.

 

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