In a game that leaves everyone feeling frustrated, the Lakers show that their road woes are not behind them with an 88-85 loss at the hands of the Pistons. The Lakers were up big early but then got complacent, stopped executing, and the Pistons hung tough. Down the stretch, the Pistons showed the confidence of a team that believed they could win and made the plays that validated that mindset.
So, the Lakers start this road heavy stretch with a loss versus a team below .500 with another opponent fitting that same description waiting tomorrow night. Hopefully they get their act together after letting this game stew on the plane ride to Washington. A full recap will be up a bit later. For now, fire away in the comments.
Kevin says
I tried to tell you all temper down this core is done together.
After such a performance on Sunday they can’t beat Detroit on the road with a day off.
These are the types of games that get players traded.
Trade Mike Brown while your at it. No kind of playcalling down the stretch. Unacceptable
Robert says
Kobe had a bad game – no doubt. However, it never ceases to amaze me how the haters come out at the slightest chink in his amour. He breaks his nose, and then has 3 perfect 30+ games. He has one off game, where he we get no bench support and the haters are blaming all Laker woes on #24. Pitiful.
chris says
One big win against miami and one choke job against this crap team. Lakers fans dont be fooled by our teams recent wins. Fisher artest are garbage and our bench is garbage. Were the same team as we were earlier in the season. Dont fool yourselves thinking we’ve turned the corner. We havent and wont this year. Lack of heart and effort against lesser opponents has been our mantra for a long time now. So better hope for a trade or two or this season is wasted.
The Dude Abides says
Maybe the worst game I’ve ever seen from any team’s 4th through 9th players in the rotation. Our 4-9 guys played 140 minutes combined and shot 5-23 from the floor, for 13 total points. Open looks galore, but they either passed them up, threw up bricks, or missed layups.
Mike Brown also blew it. In regulation, when the Lakers had that one-point lead in the final minute and Detroit called timeout, it was inexcusable to leave Fish in to guard Gordon. Barnes should have been brought into the game. Gordon went around the high screen, Fish predictably got caught up in the screen, then predictably tried to draw on offensive foul by staying with the screener and flailing his arms, thus giving Gordon eight feet of separation when he went into the key. Ron-Ron had to pick him up, leaving Stuckey open for three for such a long time that he could have put on a bow tie before a Laker defender ran out on him.
That was huge. Why leave in one of the two or three worst defensive PGs in the league for the most important possession of the game, especially when both of Detroit’s guards on the floor have been torching us all game?
Darius Soriano says
To build on what Robert just said, Lakers not named Kobe, Pau, or Bynum had 13 points tonight. In an overtime game. On 23 shots. That means in 53 minutes, every other Laker besides their big three only scored 13 points. That’s abysmal.
Teecee says
There were two major problems. First was the 13 points offered by non-Big 3 players. That is beyond atrocious. Unfortunately, unless personnel changes are made, that is mostly not fixable. The second however was Kobe. The point made by Robert is somewhat fair, but the fact that Kobe had a bad game and kept taking away possessions and shots from the two guys who were dominating the game is unacceptable. A bad game is fair enough. Hell a bad game where continues Kobe to force the issue is often also fair enough when others aren’t stepping up to contribute. But with the games Drew and Pau were having, they really NEEDED to continue pounding it inside, and slot Kobe in from that foundation. That did not happen unfortunately.
Kevin says
This isn’t on Kobe
2 key plays: Kobe drive to the hoop passed to open Pau he threw it out of bounds behind his back.
Next play: Kobe got double teamed passed to Pau. Pau then found metta WIDE OPEN and he missed bad.
2 empty possessions
Talk about coaching
What was Mike Brown doing with Metta, Murphy, Gasol on the floor when needing a 3?
Why was fisher on the floor late he was getting cooked by Stuckey?
R says
“That’s abysmal.” < — I first read this as "That's dysfunctional."
Which it is!
JD says
How do Fisher and Metta play 32+ minutes each and score a combined 6 points. How do Murphy and Blake play 20+ minutes each and score 0 points each? Its mind boggling. I mean these guys are still NBA players right, right?
Slappy says
To repeat from the game thread:
Beasley and Sessions or bust…
Oh, and Robert, re pitiful, the 3 prior games for Kobe, 8 3PT attempts combined. 9 in this game alone. And he was 2 of 8 from 3 in those 3 games, so his 3 PTer wasn’t there. Still isn’t there. Hasn’t been there this season. He’s at a wretched .277 on the year, and I don’t know if that even counts tonight. He ought not be taking 9 3s. His contribution in OT was 2 missed 26 ft 3s and 1 missed 28 ft 3. If he’s tired, I get it, since he’s played an ungodly number of minutes. But he can get the ball to Andrew or Pau. And so you can’t help but get the point, look at his 3 PT % over the two seasons prior. Neither of those numbers justifies 9 in a game either.
Lastly, back to meme until trade deadline comes and goes or wish is fulfilled, Beasley and Sessions or bust. Those two could have easily for gone 4 for 12, a wretched 33% from the field, but that would have won the game.
Kevin says
Craziest stat of the night Fisher +/- plus 11 lol
And what corner is Metta turning? 2-9 4 points 0-5 from 3
Lakerlord says
Mike Brown is very STUBBORN and predictable! When players are struggling why dont you mix it up? KObe should not be firing all those 3’s!
Especially on an obvious off-night, move him over to the 3 and let goudelock get some more shots on kick outs! It’s so obvious….
jason says
All I say mike brown is keep your boy derek fisher on the floor to give up career nights to the scrub point guards in the league. Its amuzing to watch. At what point does derek fisher’s pride kick in and he tells coach brown to sit him on bench? He’s a laker hall of famer but you cant hurt your team like fisher is by how he’s playing. Blake isnt much of an upgrade but still better than fisher right now. Most blame goes to mr GM for putting together this piece of crap bench. Another playoff embarrassment this year. Count on it.
Kevin says
Guys really have to let go of the Sessions Beasley idea. Celtics thought Wallace and Marbury would help them win it all didn’t happen.
2 out of 4 is a good haul. It’s time to move on the time was last year signs were there. If your still in denial I don’t know what to tell you.
J M Moon says
Sessions, Beasley, Arenas, Bynum and Barnes hmm.. Not a bad second unit? Got to make something happen quick.. I loved the Miami Game and beating Boston…. The PISTONS? CMon Man…..
The Dude Abides says
Everyone, let’s confine the trade talk about other teams’ personnel to the latest Rumor Mill thread. Every FB&G reader knows that we have a continent-sized hole at the one.
harold says
After Kobe’s statement that this was a post team, I had expected Kobe to act like he believed it.
Instead he got caught up with his 30 pt games, changes his mask for show (ok, it’s likely that the new mask had some improvements built in to make it less uncomfortable… or at least attempted to), starts going away from what really worked.
I can see that Kobe is fighting many things here:
1. he’s aware of the fact that he’s the leading scorer and also of the shortened season, and knows that he has limited time to charge at Kareem’s record. MB’s offense is the perfect excuse to fire away and he’s taking advantage.
2. he’s aware of all the pundits that claim that he is aging, and he himself knows that he is aging. But as he is competitive as hell and he deals with it by trying to maintain his scoring output. His comments about him being a scorer and not going to stick around as a 15 ppg player are telling. For him, reduced scoring equals reduced relevance, succumbing to father time, passing the torch, admitting he’s not the best etc etc. He’s not totally wrong here, but that’s not the most efficient approach.
3. He probably still has some ghosts of Shaq and Phil haunting him regarding his treatment while he was clearly No.2. I can see him cringing at the thought of being No.2 again, and being sort of left out or neglected or not as protected as he was as the undisputed No.1 player on the team. He is always very careful never to put anyone on the team above himself even when he praises them in an outstanding game, and tends to make sure that he has a better game afterwards instead of trying to let them really grow. Heck, this happens within a single game too. Again, I don’t think he is wrong here, look how quickly the Lakers shipped Shaq and were ready to ship Pau; the franchise is not forgiving to No. 2.
So I think MB and the FO should, if they want Kobe to change, somehow alleviate such fears, make him truly see that him in a reduced scoring role is not necessarily giving in, and well, I’m not sure what anyone can do about his desire to chase all records…
Slappy says
“Celtics thought Wallace and Marbury would help them win it all didn’t happen.”
But yet the Celts got to game 7 of the Finals in 09-10 with Wallace. Lost 3 games to 4 the year before to the Magic in the East Semis. Lastly, speaking of denial, denial is beginning to compare two relics to a 23 year old and a 25 year old. Sessions is 10.1/5.1/3.1 with the One Great Number PER of 16.24, so he’s better than league average (which by definition is 15). And the 10.1 is in 24.8 MPG. If you can’t see how that would help this team, then to use your word, you are well and truly in denial.
And by the way, Marbury’s PER that last season in Boston was a bench D-Leaguer 4.4. Oh, almost forgot, but Wallace and Marbury didn’t share the floor during the same season. Wallace more comparable, infinitely so, to Beasley and Sessions, as his PER was 13 and, again, he saw and played well in game 7 of the Finals. If only Beasley and Sessions could help this team get there.
For some more almost forgot, if you don’t read Silver Screen And Roll, please do so. The chats a little too homerish for me, but the writeups are often quite good. Our man from SSAR Clark Kent aka LakersSuperFan (as I call him) recently did a piece on the bench using PER:
Barnes 14.6
Goudelock 9.7
McStiff 9.6
Murphy 9.5
Blake 9.4
Walton 9.2
Ebanks 6.9
Morris 6.8
Kapono 5.3
Again, by definition, 15 is league average. So everyone excepting Barnes is D-League material. And you can add Fish and Ron:
Ron 8.7
Fish 8.5
Now onto the two in denial:
Sessions 16.2
Beasley 13.5
And I’m cutting Beasley slack here, since if you would review his game log then you’d see that his minutes fluctuate wildly between, say, 30 minutes per game and 7 minutes per game. Hard to keep your head screwed on right when you don’t know whether it’s 30 tonight or 7. Last season, as a starter, he was 15.5, so a tick above league average. In any event, Sessions has the better PER than all of the bench and better than both Ron and Fish, and Beasley beats all of the above save for Barnes. So why would they not help this team? How can 2 league average players not be infinitely preferable to 2 D-Leaguers?
Chearn says
It didn’t matter who the Lakers had on the floor, the Detroit Pistons and everyone on this planet knew Kobe was going to shoot the ball. Especially after he made that shot to send the team into overtime.
It’s inexcusable for our bench to only score seven points, with five of the seven coming from our rookie.
What’s up with Steve Blake’s refusal to shoot the basketball?
Same old Lakers, with new faces. If Kobe doesn’t play the role of hero, the Lakers lose. Kobe had a bad game tonight, and as usual no one stepped up to take control of the game.
Don’t say Bynum could do it, because he can’t. At this point in the season, he doesn’t have the stamina to play at a high level for an entire game. And, there’s no reason to believe that Bynum will ever be capable of playing competitive basketball for long spurts.
More than anything the Lakers need someone that can create their own shot off the dribble besides Kobe. That’ll open the floor up for kickouts or passes to our 7-footers.
No one fears the Lakers on the road. Everyone in the league is aware of their problems on the road. Every team in the league plays better at home than on the road. In order for the Lakers to put fear in the hearts of teams on the road, the Lakers are going to have to destroy teams on the road for the next 6-8 road games.
Less than two weeks to see whether these faces will be with the Lakers in April.
Ken O says
Dear Dude
Brown made up for that bonehead Fisher move by bringing in 2 for 9 Metta Brick and walking dead Murphy who not made a shot in 2 weeks.
Lame Duck Coach get you a lame duck team.
Brown is a joke.
Kevin says
I said it earlier why was Fisher still in the game? Lakers needed a 3 and metta, murphy, and gasol were in the game.
No plays were drawn late game situations just Kobe/LeBron Iso at the top of the key.
Bynum had it going Kobe should’ve gave him the ball and Brown should’ve called his number. Lakers are making it wasy for Jim.
Edwin Gueco says
Oh yeah, it’s Kobe’s fault for some posters here. He sent the Lakers to OT when hope was gone. Are you all aware that he’s still classified as “injured” or “disabled” due concussions and all other aches fingers, knees, back etc, yet still playing in order to get the Lakers to the playoffs? Everything is taken for granted for Kobe, there is no room for injury vacation and no room for missing shots. He is supposed to make every shot because he’s the money guy? Is Whitlock, known to be a Kobe-hater posting here?
Juanita G. says
This game exemplifies exactly what we need……a young, athletic, quick point guard. As it is presently constituted, the Lakers will lose in the first round.
Teecee says
I can’t speak for everyone, but my issue with Kobe, again, was not the bad shooting or overall game. I’m aware of his current situation injury-wise. My issue is despite these factors he did not seem to fully give the keys to Pau and Drew for this game. It doesn’t have to be him being the man every night. There have been many games in the last few years where Pau has been THE man. I felt like the hot hands (Drew and Pau) should have seen more when Kobe was not his typical out-of-this-world self for most of tonight. The bench element has few areas for improvement without personnel changes IMO, bar pulling Fisher for Blake, but Brown refuses to do so.