Kurt’s in the desert, and I’m sure he will return with a story to tell about missing this one. If indeed he did.
Fourth game in five days, played the runnin’ Suns last night, got in at 3:30 AM…
“I can’t understand it’s just because it’s a back-to-back,” Manu Ginobili said. “Every team does them, and probably nobody is as bad as us. One guy can be tired. Two, maybe. But the whole team didn’t play well today.”
“A lot of guys didn’t play a lot of minutes last night, so just give L.A. credit,” Bowen said. “They kicked our tails.”
“The Spurs are a strong team, with a deep bench,” Phil Jackson said, ” so this is still a good win for us and probably tough for them to digest.” Only Bowen played more than 30 minutes in the Suns win, and Steve Nash played zero.
11 offensive rebounds, Lamar Odom with a 27 eff. rating, 18 assists to 8 turnovers. No turnovers for Kwame, who added 10 and helped hold Duncan to 12 points and 4 rebounds. No Devean George and a sub par 3 and half quarters from employee #8. (Behind the backboard? The English on that lay up?)
So, go ahead, get a little giddy. It’s okay.
-Gatinho
John says
You are absolutely right. We caught the Pistons and the Spurs on back to backs and beat them both times we took them, but it’s just as good as anything because of a confidence builder. It defenitely is the team defense that is keeping us in the games though – really great job by everyone.
Lakerjoe says
Monumental win. Not just because they got a W, but the way they got it. They played as a team. The offense was clicking and the defense was by far one of the best seen this year from the boyz.
The thing that stood out the most to me was the mental focus that everyone brought in to the contest and the intensity that was maintained for the entire GAME and even when it looked like SA was generating a comeback from long range. To go further, I was equally impressed to learn that Chris M. did not give away any tickets to his local fans because he did not want it being a distraction as he and the team were treating this game as a playoff game!
Don’t know if anyone remembers, but this little spurt and re-dedication of sorts started once the energizer bunny – Ronny started getting some minutes, and Kwame was sent to the pine. Seems like the inspiration and motivation may have worked. Now we need to go further and beat the teams that we are suppose to beat!
Derek Banducci says
We need to beat the teams that we should beat because that’s what playoff teams do. If people are saying that we should have beaten the PIstons and Spurs when those teams were on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, then I’m pleased for two reasons: (1) we’re doing what we should be doing and (2) we are good enough to beat the Spurs and Pistons when something falls our way.
notreallyimportant says
I think Tony Parker’s stats tell the story more than anything. Yes Duncan had a horrible game, but he has been putting up some real stinkers this season. But the fact that we kept the NBA’s best dribble penetrator out of the paint was the key.
Kevin says
I like the Lakers.
chris henderson says
now the REAL KEY TO THE LAKERS SUCCESS for the rest of this year is to
BEAT SEATTLE!!!!
cause after beating the tams like Detroit and San Antonio, we can’t allow ourselves to “play down to the level” of sub-par teams.
this trend of not beating teams like Portland and Atlanta cannot happen from this point down the stretch.
games against Sonics, them upcoming “Queens”, and again against the Hornets… these count the same in the W/L column as a W against the premiere teams…so..
keep it up fella’s and when the offense stalls…
WIN IT WITH D!!!!!
DEFENSE…DEFENSE…DEFENSE