I haven’t watched the recording of the game against the Bobcats yet, so here are some thoughts from some commenters:
I only saw the 2nd half tonite, but I did like what I saw about both the offense and the switching defense. I realize I can’t take the preseason games too seriously, but I do like our young lions so far.
—Craig W.
For the first time this season, the Lakers were successfully doing everything they promsed to change on offense and defense. Even in preseason, when you win by twenty and thirty on succeeding nights, chemistry improves–and the players have fun….The Lakers intimidated the Bobs with sheer size and inventive playground assists. Javaris may have stolen the show with a drive to the basket and last second behind the back to Andrew, who caught it and slammed it home. Kobe was clearly having fun on the bench–laughing and joking.
—Drrayeye
Hopefully the good play continues tonight. For the Clippers, rookie Al Thorton is averaging nearly 18 and 6, shhoting 51.3% (eFG%) while Corry Maggette is trying to pick up some of the scoring slack with Brand out, and while he’s averging nearly 17 a game he is shooting just 38.3% in the preseason. Also, going against Kaman should be a good test for our bigs.
Craig W. says
I do remember some Clipper fans complaining about drafting Al Thorton. Even some of the ‘experts’ were saying his ceiling was limited because he was an ‘older player’ who had reached most of his potential. Humm! It wasn’t so long ago we were complaining about the high schoolers not being prepared to play in the NBA. I bet those same fans are really glad about their draft selection with the Elton Brand injury.
Sometimes front offices are right – however much we might disagree.
Bryan says
Do Frankie Munoz and Billy Crystal still go to Clipper games? Or has their brief moment as the Mets to the Lakers’ Yankees (lovable losers vs. the perennial contender) come and gone?
Craig W. says
I love the Lakers, but I wouldn’t say they are perennial contenders at this time, nor in the early 90’s. Somewhat of a cycle is inevitable in basketball and we are probably toward the end of our rebuilding phase.
Do you really think San Antonio will compete after Tim Duncan retires? They were lucky to get him and they must again be very lucky to get someone else to build around before he retires. Sometimes teams get lucky in trades, but the most common way to reload is a focused direction and an ability to use the draft well.
We can all agree that the Lakers have recently lacked focus, but they certainly have done much better than most in the draft over the last few years – this was not true from 1997-2002/3
Warren Wee Lim says
Luke has got to hit that 15-ft jumper consistently. Thats how Rick Fox made himself a starter…
Warren Wee Lim says
Ronny hits from 18ft. Wow…
Warren Wee Lim says
Ronny with another 17ftr… Wooohooo.
Warren Wee Lim says
The Lakers are sloppy on offense… they are missing 12-15ft jumpers too. Time to get Farmar in… Good Timeout Kobe.
Warren Wee Lim says
Just as Farmar enters the game, the whole dynamics of the offense shifts to uptempo and he provides for more scoring than any other PG on the Laker group. There’s my starter right there…
Bynum also feeds of the crowd’s cheers. Expect him to play better at home this year.
Kwame is hopeless on catching that ball. Perhaps he should just focus on D and add some shot-blocking on that game. Be a Jermaine Oneal without the scoring…
Warren Wee Lim says
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=271021013
Is it just me or what, Farmar needs to be on that starting lineup. Fish has already said he doesn’t mind coming off the bench and I think the Lakers are indeed a better team with Farmar handling the ball. The kid shot 7-10 from the field with 3 3-balls. His shooting has really improved. Now if he could be our Tony Parker, we are in for a BIG surprise.
Bynum scored 16 largely of passes coming off his own screens. He needs to develop a face up jumper too, something D-12 has added to his repertoire this year.
As far as the optimism of the season goes, I think we will be fine.
P.S. Al Thornton can ball. He could very well be better than the 10 other rookies picked ahead of him this year.
drrayeye says
You remember how writers on this blog keep stressing the value of defense? Well, we saw the value of defense tonight. Problem was, it was the Clippers that turned good defense into fast break opportunities–especially in the third quarter when the game was still on the line.
At first, the Lakers and Clippers traded foul for foul. Then Jordan Farmer came in, played both offensive and defensive sides of the court the right way–and actually brought the Lakers into the lead.
It didn’t last.
Kobe’s dishes were not the Queens’s best china, Cook is Cook and Sasha is still Sasha. Even Derek Fisher couldn’t keep the wheels from falling off. I know that the Lakers have been referred to as “slugs” in the past, but they better relearn the 4th letter of the alphabet–or it will be a very long season.
Lamar Odom says
Phil should not, he CAN’T, make Kobe play more of the playmaker role. He stinks. 1 assist:7 turnovers tonight. Farmar? 5:0!
From what I’ve gathered, Phil is testing Drew. He will start come the season, if not at the beginning then the majority of the season eventually. We can’t count on Kwame to catch all them balls, and Mimh is not much of an offensive threat. Drew can ball. I’ll tell you that. All he’s gotta develop is consistency, which can only come with experience.
the other Stephen says
“Kobe was clearly having fun on the bench–laughing and joking.”
gosh, if the rest of our team can keep playing that way throughout the season, maybe we’ll only have to bust kobe out during the playoffs. after an entire season of being placated and haha-ing on the bench, he’ll pounce and throw months of energy into a 12 game series.
Stephen says
On interview before game Phil basically said the reason Bynum wasn’t starting is because Mihm and Kwame are still having a hard time getting loose and right now they are best used starting and having Bynum come off bench.
Like I said earlier,the Kobe as facilitator experiment is a failure. Kobe has an uncanny gift that enables him to see the slightest crease in a defense so he can slither thru and score,but that same “hoop-vision” prevents him from passing to open players who are not in the lane. It was painful to watch him run the offence against the Clippers. Now I realize Phil may have instructed the team to pound it inside,but… it was over 9 minutes into the 1Q before Kobe drove and passed to an outside shooter.
At @1:35 left in 2Q Kobe gave a perfect illustration why he’s not a facilitator type. Kobe Karl had just stepped behind a Kobe pick and drained a 3. On the very next possesion Kobe takes the ball and drives down the lane w/all the Clips falling into paint to stop him. Karl is at 3 pt line to behind Kobe and to Kobe’s rt,Radmanavich is behind Kobe at 3pt line to his left. It’s the perfect spot to kick out to Karl,giving the kid a wide-open look and allowing him to make a couple consecutive 3s and do wonders for his confidence. Instead Kobe continues drive,is fouled and makes both FTs. Shows why Kobe is an unstoppable scoring machine and somebody else has to set up the rest of the team.
Mike in the Mountain West says
I still like farmar coming off of the bench. Not because I don’t think he can handle being starter, he definitely could. I’m just not sure his game would be as good with Kobe on the court. Farmar is looking more like a scoring point guard who needs the ball and with Kobe and Lamar there just won’t be eough to go around. Plus, our second unit of Farmar, Evans, Walton, Radmanovic, and Bynum is very strong and work well together.
Lamar Odom says
I agree, Mountain Mike. Bynum/kwame/chris in the second unit is probably better than any backup center in the league right now, or at least one of the best backup centers, not to mention a great backup pg in either fisher, farmer, or jc, not to mention walton. This team shows a lot of promise. It has the potential to be the deepest team in the NBA, and that goes a long way in limiting the starters minutes. This can come in handy come playoff time in regards to fresher legs. Look out Phoenix!!! 3rd time’s the charm.
fifthrune says
The problem is that our ‘depth’ is a result of another problem: we have lots of above average players, players that are marginal starters, but not enough quality starters. Fish? No. Bynum? Not yet. Chris? No. Kwame? No. Ronny? Maybe. Farmar? Maybe. At this point, our ‘depth’ is overshadowed by the crappiness of our starting lineup outside of Kobe/Lamar. Hopefully that changes as the young guys get better through the season, but at this point I wouldn’t be so proud of ‘depth’ yet.