Lakers play the Celtics next. If the Lakers went 2-80 on the year as long as those 2 wins were against the C's it wouldn't sting as much.
— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) December 4, 2014
Look, let’s skip the pleasantries and get down to business. The Lakers are not a good team. As many people have pointed out over the last couple of seasons, this isn’t necessarily the worst thing. The way the NBA is set up, it’s in the team’s best interests to lose games, get high draft picks and use them as core rebuilding pieces for the future. This season, it has been argued, that strategy is doubly important since their draft pick is only top five protected and will go to the Suns should it be six or lower. If the Lakers want to keep this pick they need to lose a lot of games. The more the better, some would say.
I can understand this logic. I really can. And while I detest the idea of “rooting” for losses, the benefits that come from those L’s stacking up can’t be ignored.
None of that applies tonight, though. No, when the Lakers play the Celtics, I don’t care about the future pick. I don’t care about accelerating a rebuild. I don’t care for your logic. Nope. Not at all. You see, these are the Celtics. I don’t want the Lakers to lose to them. Not today, tomorrow, or next week. Not ever. As I said above, if the only games the Lakers won all season were against the C’s, it would take some of the sting off. This is what a rivalry does.
Of course, when both teams are bad — and the C’s are pretty much equally bad right now — some would say the luster of this rivalry is removed. Yes, these organizations have 33 banners between them but right now they are cellar dwellers. Of all the games on tonight, this is one a lot of fans will actively avoid. Watching Kobe and Rondo is nice and all, but when it’s all said and done a Carlos Boozer/Jared Sullinger duel isn’t something people are using up their Friday night on. Again, I see this perspective. But, again, I do not care. This is appointment viewing for me. This matters.
In saying all that, I could get into X’s and O’s here. I could talk about slowing Rondo, keeping Sullinger off the offensive boards, and making sure that Kelly Olynyk is defended out the 3 point line. I’d discuss Jeff Green and how he must be kept out of the lane and turned into a jump shooter. And ditto for Avery Bradley. I could then get into Lin being aggressive in getting to the rim, how the C’s lack rim protection, and how this would be a good game for Ed Davis to get going. Oh, I’d also discuss how Kobe has a size advantage against most of the C’s wings and how this might be a good game for him to really work to get into the post to create double teams and easier scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates. This stuff, in the micro, matters towards the end goal.
But, in reality, all I really care about is getting the W. How they do it, isn’t important to me. If it means going to Nick Young down the stretch, do it. If it means running plays for Jordan Hill, make it happen. If it means playing Kobe a few extra minutes, I’m saying go for it. Like I said, logic isn’t going to cut it with me today. The faces may change, but the goal remains the same. Just beat the Celtics.
With that, here’s a video to get you in the mood. Enjoy, folks.
Quin says
Can Lin fans show their faces yet? That last game was such garbage, lol. I mean … hit 2 shots and the Lakers stay in the game. That’s it.
Aaron says
A win is a win and in this case a loss is a loss. Although this loss would count more as it would give the Celtics a win in this sick bizarro world the NBA monopolly has constructed. I can’t fully support the NBA until they drop the socialism and go full capatilism like europe (soccer) has.
Robert says
Kobe Alert: One more justification for Kobe as the greatest Laker, is that he is for sure the most hated Laker of all time in Boston ! Then again he could be the most hated Laker in LA too : ) That all said he continues to plow forward with milestones and accomplishment. We all know about his 30k points and 6k dimes feat, but what is also about to happen is that KB needs just 6 more helpers to move into the top 30 and he will be the only player in the top 10 for points and the top 30 for dimes. The closest to doing this is KAJ who is 40th. I know some are tracking the fact that KB needs just three more 3 pt attempts to have 5k for his career – no wonder he wears an arm sleeve. Kobes needs just 1 more steal to cruise by Isiah for 14th on that list. Back to the Greatest Laker convo: Kobe is our all time leader in Games, Minutes, FGs, FGAs, 3 pointers, 3PFGA, FTs. FTAs, and Steals. He is third in dimes and rebounding. He is tied for 6th in blocks. He needs 5 more blocked shots to move by Big James and Bynum and into the top 5 there as well. The rebounding and block rankings are impressive considering the big men we have had. I saw my second game of the year in DC (saw one home game earlier). I was sitting behind the basket in the third row right where Kobe was standing after he knocked knees. It did not look good and I was very worried. It did result in about 10 seconds of TV time for me as I was standing up behind Kobes when they had the camera on him. The man just walked it off like a warrior, reminded me of when I was behind the bench in Milwaukee 2 years ago when he played with the bone spur. He just shakes it off and goes back to work. In any case – he needs 98 points to reach the MJ level, so things are getting serious.
Calvin Chang says
Lin’s problem: he’s missing a sense of urgency and pride. Last game vs. Wizards, John Wall played aggressive with a chip on his shoulder. Lin played like gangbusters when he was worried about being cut. He needs to find that mindset very soon, because he might be in that same situation next season.
david h says
darius: so true, when it comes to the Celtics, all we really care about is the win. and in keeping with the kobe/rondo breakfast male bonding thingy, i’ll be eating breakfast for dinner tonite while watching lakers vs Celtics on the flat screen.
funny how we get all worked up for such little things in our lives……
Go lakers
Agree says
I agree with the article for the most part. I’m one of those “Crazy” fans that root for the team to win all the time. But Boston is right up there with teams I would love to see them beat. We have to enjoy what we have, there is a good chance that neither of these teams hoist another Championship banner for another 20 years.
In regards to Lin, I think he’s almost definitely gone, but it doesn’t matter if he plays well or bad this year. I think if he plays too well, they won’t spend money on him, and if he doesn’t play well they will dump him anyway–unless he plays for uber cheap like 3mill or something. I think Lin at this point just needs a sport psychologist to work with him, it seems more mental than anything. Clearly he played great plenty of games, everyone has off shooting nights, but he just seems to play different. But I thought he still passed and played D fairly well. His usage is around 18% or so, which is crap for a PG so he needs more time with the bench unit/non Kobe time to see if he can get it rolling with Davis again. Although Young is pretty much going to Kobe Jr. it in the 2nd unit most nights, except Kobe passes much better and much more often.
Lin can definitely give Rondo problems though, he seems to have declined defensively quite a bit from the 2008 Rondo days. This should be a good game I would think, definitely winnable if they play well.
Kevin says
Enjoyed watching the 2010 Championship mini movie. What a game, oh yeah.
Tra says
Okay Darius .. Now tell us how you really feel.
All jokes aside, as you alluded to, all games against the Celtics, no matter their respective ranks within the standings, means alot to me. As it probably does to all hard-body Lakers fans.
With that being said and with rumors circulating that there’s a possibility that we’ll be interested in Rondo once/if he hits free agency, I’ll be locked in on him tonight. While I’ve seen enough of him throughout his career – and truth be told, due to the fact that he’s a poor perimeter and free throw shooter, I haven’t been much of fan – I haven’t witnessed much of him since coming off of his ACL Injury. I’ll be interested to see how much of his game has suffered, or possibly improved, since then.
AusPhil says
Just beat Boston, LAC and Houston. One of those has already been achieved, so let’s tick off another one today.
Ko says
Bad matchup
Lin vs Rondo.
Expect Kobe to demand to guard him by 2nd half.
Beat the ugly green!
BigCitySid says
“If the Lakers went 2-80 on the year as long as those 2 wins were against the C’s it wouldn’t sting as much.” Agree w/ you completely Darius. Celtics were, are, and will always be our (Lakers) rivals. Forget the Spurs & the Bulls. Those franchises got lucky drafting David Robinson/Tim Duncan & Michael Jordan respectfully. Yes they have won the 3rd & 4th most titles in league history, but all six of Chicago’s rings are tied to MJ & all five of San Antonio’s to Duncan. Neither has rebuilt a champion completely.
Only the Lakers: (Mikan/Pollard in the 40’s & ’50’s, West/Chamberlain in the ’70’s, Magic/Kareem in the ’80’s, and Shaq/Kobe & Kobe/Gasol in the 2000’s) & Celtics: (Russell in the ’60’s, Cowen/Havlichek/White in the ’70’s, Bird/Parish/McHale in the ’80’s, & Pierce/Garnett/Allen in the 2000’s) have built four entirely different champions in different eras.
Let’s go Lakers…like The Thing would say “It’s Clobbering Time!”
Agree says
KO, do you even have a clue how Rondo plays now adays? He has scored 6 points total in the three previous games. He over-passes like crazy to get high assist totals, leading to a goodly amount of TO’s. If anything Rondo will have to work to stay with Lin if Lin tries to go to the hole. Plus the Celtics interior defense is garbage, just like ours.
Ko says
Get Lin out of there. Rondo making him look like a high school player.
Worst defender in the league. Guy is done. Enbarrisment
Anonymous says
Second Lin is out they go from 16 down to 10.
Can it be any more obvious?
Anonymous says
2010 this is not. Lakers awful so far.
Robert says
BCS: Nice list of the different champions. Only one name appears twice : )
Aaron says
If you care about sticking it to the Celtics and Celtics fans you should want to give them a W tonight.
Ko says
Nd you wonder why there teams Dumped them last year.
Boozer and Lin are like playing 4 on 5 when they are in the game.
Just horrible players.
Tim says
Lin beats the end of the second quarter buzzer. Go Lakers, beat the Celtics.
LKK says
Really putrid effort by the Lakers tonight. No teamwork!
Agree says
It’s a good thing Rondo decided to shoot tonight, or we would be down by 30!
Sullinger and Zeller just destroyed us and owned the glass.
Lil pau says
Do the Lakers even understand that it’s within the rules to pick up your teammate’s man? Looking at you: Kobe, Lin, boozer….
Robert says
Lil Pau: I know you have been to a bunch of games this year. In both games I attended it was obvious that we are just way too slow across the board (really obvious live). Yes – effort can been issue as well, but the legs are just not there. Agree?
Ko says
When Sacre is your center you are tanking.
11 to o run and no time outs.
Boston is a much better team then the junk Mitch threw out there this year.
Ko says
Sac 1 for 10. And Hill sits the entire quarter. Good coaching
Agree says
These “rotations” by Scott make no freaking sense. Is this just some sort of strange experiment game? Lin actually starts to play well so bench him most of the game? Let Ronnie price jack up 10 shots? Have Kobe get extra minutes on his legs during the end of a blowout? And give Clarkson 1 1/2 minute of “development time”. This is a joke. No wonder Scott wants Kobe to extend his contract so bad, that’s the only way in the world Scott is coaching for a third year. He seriously should just go watch the game in a sportsbar and talk about the showtime days with fans and give up the Coaching profession.
Lil pau says
Robert, agree, but I realize they are outmanned so I will never complain about skill-differential, but so often they just watch a player drive down the lane beside them, it’s just infuriating. At least last year, guys like Meeks and kamen played hard; this year it’s just hill and Davis (on defense). This game was the worst so far this year– Kobe in particular refused to take a single step to contest a layup in the 1st half. I don’t mind rooting for David after 40 years of Goliath, but at least try, please! I’m going to open a bottle of wine now. Should have earlier, my mistake. Need to steel/anesthetize myself for inevitable forthcoming Aaron post that this kind of appalling defense is part of the master plan.
going to the game on Sunday– may fabricate a lakers unibrow shirt as my small contribution to the rebuild.
the other Stephen says
@ Lil Pau
I’ll be there on Sunday too. Will be yelling at Boozer’s shiny dome, and cheering for everyone else.
Ko says
Boozer 2
Johnson 0
Sacre 2
Total 2 for 21 68 minutes and Sacre played more minutes then Hill.
This team stinks and the coach is a fit for them. 2nd worse team in NBA with 2nd highest seat prices and nets over $100 million a year.
Nice job Mirch and Jimbo
lakafan says
Agree, I’ve been harping on Scotts rotations, substitutions, game mgmt all year. Either he’s truly incompetent or in on the tank!!
Ko says
Scott “I have to make changes”
Boozer, Johnson, Sacre 2 for 21 and Hill was 6 for 6 and played less minutes then Sac who was 1 for 10.
Yea there needs to be changes
1-owner
2- GM
3-Coach
Start there!
Reggie Hammond says
I’ve been rooting for losses but not against the C’s man…oh well
hop says
Man this must be a low point for the Lakers
Price plays over 20 minutes a game and shoots about 30%.
Not for a game but he shoots 30% for the year..
Hill is 6/6 and he gets bench.
Lin could have easily went for 30 points tonight but that might take away from kobe shine. We can’t have that. This is B. Scott and Kobe Bryant doing. No way Price should play 20 minutes a game shooting 30%..
pat oslon says
That was a very forgettable game:(
Mid-Wilshire says
Well. That was painful. The Lakers got out shot 51% to 41%, out-rebounded 54-38, and out-assisted 29-14. Three (3) players — Wes Johnson, Carlos Boozer, and Robert Sacre — went a combined 2-21 (9.5% shooting) in a total of 70 minutes. Frankly, I’m surprised that the Lakers didn’t lose by 30 rather than 17.
So…where does one go from here? Byron vows changes for Sunday’s game. I would suggest two possible changes, the first one I’ll call “Acupuncture,” the second one I’ll call “Major Surgery.” The asterisks indicate new starters.
ACUPUNCTURE
New Starting Lineup
Ronnie Price — PG*
Kobe — SG
Wes Johnson — SF
Jordan Hill — PF
Ed Davis — C*
Bench
Nick Young
Jeremy Lin
C. Boozer
R. Sacre
J. Clarkson
MAJOR SURGERY
Kobe — PG
Ellington — SG*
Earl Clark(?) — SF*
J. Hill — PF
Ed Davis — C*
Bench
Nick Young
Jordan Clarkson (2nd Player off the bench after Swaggy / PG)
R. Sacre
Wes Johnson
Boozer
Lin / Price (choose one)
* New starters
Under “Major Surgery” I am , of course, including some one who has not yet been signed, Earl Clark. But, since he’s averaging 29 ppg in the D League and has started games for the Lakers in the past, he might not be a long shot. Of course, the Lakers have to sign him first.
Secondly, I believe that for various reasons the time to start giving Jordan Clarkson some burn has arrived. The Lakers have got to develop him. He is surprisingly fearless and can play either guard position. The Jeremy Lin experiment can probably be ruled a failure at this point. (I was very hopeful for Jeremy. But let’s bear in mind that Houston reached the same conclusion and simply could not get rid of him fast enough in the off-season.)
Finally, I think that the second of these options (“Major Surgery”) is as close to a responsible defensive starting 5 as the Lakers will get.
Those are my thoughts. Of course, I could be way off. (It’s happened before.)
Quin says
Scott’s coaching here was indescribably bad. I don’t even want to try.
btoy says
Kobe Bryant the Los Angeles Lakers STAR PLAYER FGM-A / %
10/28/2014 Houston Rockets 6-17 35% 11/18/2014 Atlanta Hawk 10-18 55% 10/29/2014 Phoenex Sun 11-25 44% 11/19/2014 Houston Rockets 10-28 35%
10/31/2014 L A Clippers 6-15 40% 11/21/2014 Dallas Mavericks 6-22 27%
11/1/2014 Golden State W 12-28 42% 11/23/2014 Denver Nuggets 10-24 41%
11/4/2014 Phoenex Sun 14-37 37% 11/26/2014 Memphis Grizz 5-15 33%
11/9/2014 Charlotte Hornets 7-20 35% 11/28/2014 Minesota Tim 10-18 55%
11/11/2014 Memphis Grizz 10-26 38% 11/30/2014 Toronto Raptor 11-24 45%
11/12/2014 New Orleans P 10-28 35% 12/2/2014 Detroit Piston 4-11 36%
11/14/2014 San Antonio 1-14 7% 12/3/2014 Washington Wiz 8-22 36%
11/16/2014 Golden State W 15-34 44% 12/5/2014 Boston Celtics 9-21 42%
Los Angeles Lakers rely too much on Kobe Bryant as their STAR PLAYER and with this Shooting Percentage I doubt if the Los Angeles Lakers can reach PLAYOFF stage and stop blaming other players for this mess… Suggestion…. just for experiment play just for one week.. just for one week… let Kobe Bryant rest for one week…….
Oldtimer says
I am embarrass to lose to the Greenies who are equally pathetic team, but we have the worse players. Instead of what btoy is suggesting, Scott should try this experiment
1 Price/Clarkson
2 Kobe/Ellington
3 Young/Lin/Johnson
4 Davis/Boozer/Sacre
5 Hill/Clark
Johnson, Boozer and Sacre are the players who have low IQ in basketball that have been dragging down this team from day one. Lakers should not have signed them in the first place. Lin is not a PG, he is more of a screen and pop perimeter shooter an SG or SF with less exposure in defending PG’s. This is the black hole of the Lakers defense through Lin, he can’t stop any PG’s.
I’d like to ask management why is Clark not available at this time and to the Showtime Scott, what’s your beef on the the rookie Clarkson? Regarding Earl, why float the rumors of using the trade exception then waste it on three road games? On Clarkson,I address this to Byron, the kid is better than Johnson-Lin both on offense and defense, why are you giving him a hard time? You were a rookie once upon a time and played heavy minutes with the Lakers, if Riley trusted you why can’t you trust this kid?
Lastly for the tankers, did you see how the Sixers play? What is their objective? To waste one season and get the No. 1 draft pick, that’s Fools Gold!
Oldtimer says
Oh I forget to address Kobe, I miss those Mamba moves or according to him a Cheetah for this season. I see him there a hungry bear who would grab any kind of meat just to survive his own winter. I likened him to the old Muhammad Ali being punished by Ken Norton his ego was still intact absorbing punishment but the bones and muscles are saying to him “I can’t take it no more”.
Ko says
This is the 4th time BS threatened to make changes. His cred is all but gone.
Bench Johnson, Boozer and Lin.
Start Nuck, Davis and spruce. Yea price is a bad shooter. That’s fixable. “You shoot and you sit” his shooting is not near as bad as Dimsanity’s defense.
Mitch signed 2 FA Lin and Boozer and they cost the team 10 to 15 points per game. Obvious to me at least. Also obvious Mitch is failed the past 2 years. Time to go Mitch.
Baylor Fan says
The Celtics and Lakers have taken different approaches to rebuilding their teams. The Celtics have tried to build through the draft and the Lakers put all their eggs in the superstar basket. Oddly, the result is similar – they both stink. Time will tell if either franchise can regain some of their past glory.
Archon says
Byron Scott has to do something outside the box at point guard. Jeremy Lin just doesn’t have the agility to challenge shots so every point guard is basically getting wide open pull up jumpers against him. I really like Ronnie Prices defense but he might be the worst offensive player in the NBA right now.
It’s hard to win when your point guard options force you to either get roasted on defense or play 4 vs 5 on offense
karen says
Lin was 5-8 in 18 min. Then was pulled. Why so critical of lin? Again do you hear fanboys laker commentators say one negative about scott, nooo. I seriously hate those guys .
lakafan says
Definition of insanity = doing the same thing over & over and expecting different results. Lakers have had the same starting lineup in all but one game. Go Byron go!! Only way we keep our top 5 pick is by Scott sticking to his guns. A couple extra wins might cost us our pick. Need okafor or towns in the worst way. Then one more year of tanking to get that kid thon maker who obviously with that name needs to be a Laker!!
Agree says
This is the first game that I think Byron Scott actually tried to lose on purpose. He didn’t just not bother to call timeouts and switch things up when they got close again, but he over-played Kobe. He didn’t play Lin again the rest of the game, despite him playing well. Likely b/c he plans on benching LIn and didn’t want Lin to keep getting good stats.
If he tries to start Wayne Ellington or Kobe at the point they will only be a worse team, and that’s saying something. This team is SLOW as hell. Lin is one of the only fast players we even have. The Tank is either full out on w/ Byron Scott a part of it, or he’s the worst coach in the NBA, or perhaps both.
I hope that Rondo gets a max contract next year by the Laker’s then I can take the rest of the decade off from watching the Lakers. I have no patience for the team trying to make itself worse, when its mediocre to bad no matter what happens. Hill didn’t get much playing time, despite at least playing well Offesnively. Kobe is out on the court at the end of the game *again* during a blowout. This Coach/FO is a joke. I don’t feel like getting drunk so I can watch the Lakers anymore. Once they have a new Coach and new management maybe I’ll watch again. You all take care, this is my last post, I won’t let the door hit me on the butt on the way out 🙂
BigCitySid says
-That was ugly 🙁
-As bad as the Lakers are, it still really hurts to get blown out…by the Celtics…especially when they’re terrible too.
-Would love to be the proverbial “fly on the wall” during a meeting between coach & front office at this stage of season.
-For you young unmarried guys, rooting for this team this season is good “for better or worst” practice.
-Deja vu all over again: in ’57-’58, the worst Laker season on record, the Celtics also beat our boys in the 20th game of the season, on Dec 4th, by double digits.
-Next three games: home vs Pelicans & Kings, away @ San Antonio. Lakers will once again tie for worst franchise start w/ ’57-’58 team if they lose all three at 5-18…at least no back to backs.
Anonymous says
Karen, MDA had a team without Kobe playing .500 and fans and some media were calling for his head. Scott has the team looking like a steaming pile of doodoo and literally couldn’t not manage his rotations worse if he tried. But Scott gets a pass from a lot of the media and even his fanboys/girls. He is starting to look like an even worse coach than Brown. Interestingly, it seems Kobe is standing by him, too. Go figure.
J C says
Our team is flawed so getting throttled on the road shouldn’t be a surprise.
But best efforts should be made.
Wes Johnson would normally be a bench player, a decent defender and energy guy but an inconsistent shooter at best.
A starter? Come on.
Having Wes Johnson start indicates how thin we are as a team or how inept our coaching staff is.
Sacre playing more minutes than Hill?
What’s going on?
Too many problems to list here.
I like Mid-Wilshire’s ‘Acupuncture’ starting 5 but I would swap Swag for Johnson:
Price
Kobe
Swaggy
Hill
Davis
This puts Price and Davis, our two best defenders, on the floor together, and our two best offensive players, Kobe and Swag, on the floor at the same time, along w Jordan Hill. With Hill and Davis on the court together we get a lot of rebounds and those two shoot a high % on offense.
Why not try starting your best 5 players?
Sounds too crazy I guess.
Then you can bring Lin, Boozer and Clarkson off the bench.
And I hear Siberia is wonderful this time of year.
That’s where i’d send Sacre.
T Rogers says
MDA had more talent at his disposal than Scott currently has. Gasol and Kaman are more skilled than any of the current bigs. Meeks is a better shooter than anyone we have now. And I’d take Steve Blake’s consistency over Lin’s here today gone tomorrow act.
In short this team is much worse talent wise than last year’s 27 win team. I’ve never been a fan of Byron as a coach. I’ve said that here before. But let’s not miss the forest for the trees here.
There is a reason respectable writers like Lowe pegged this team to be terrible defensively even before the played a game. All he had to do was look at the roster.
rr says
Karen,
Like I have said, the fact that Scott is not doing much doesn’t get D’Antoni a pass. D’Antoni failed as the Lakers coach. He didn’t win a playoff series, he overplayed Kobe, and he contributed to alienating Dwight Howard. Three strikes, and he’s out. Period. He failed.
That wasn’t all his fault, but it never is all the coach’s fault. And he took a lot of heat that he shouldn’t have–like most coaches of losing teams, including Byron Scott, do. As to the commentators: Byron is their friend, and MDA wasn’t. It is that simple. You can say that it shouldn’t be that way, but that is what it is. And everybody who is mad at Scott and/or misses MDA should IMO be mad at the guy who wouldn’t pick up MDA’s final year and who made the call to hire Scott. Byron came here as a known quantity.
bleedpurplegold says
I think scott pulled lin out because of tanking the season on purpuse….maybe he would have won the game for us in the fourth as he has shown the abbility in new york…..
I would always prefer the w over the l….but so is the lakers season
Robert says
Nice post T Rogers. I think if the FO named Jack Nicholson coach and then gave him a roster of high school players with Kobe, there would still be people lambasting Jack Nicholson and Kobe for 82 games, never once acknowledging the overall situation. Whether the announcers and legends are giving Scott a free ride or not, it is not going to help him. If he finishes with 20 wins, then year 2 is going to be questionable. The option year is almost impossible. And that is coming from a Scott supporter. And if the Scott haters think this is bad, Can you imagine if you had to listen to me say how “fun” this is or what a genius Byron is? Unbearable right? Well that was my world for the previous 2 years.
Aaron says
You all hated MDA for sticking with the hot players and picking up meaningless wins to end the season and now you’re bashing Scott for pulling Lin becuase he was hot? Which is it going to be?
TempleofJamesWorthy says
I was especially disappointed with the Lakers’ loss to the Celtics because I think we’re seeing the first signs of me-first-ism creep into the team.
The offense in the first quarter basically consisted of whomever had the ball taking a mid-range jump shot out of an isolation or a pick-and-roll.
The defense consisted of minimizing effort while ***appearing*** to play defense (as an out-of-shape pickup ball player, I’m familiar with this strategy).
And I saw multiple instances of Lakers fighting over who would get the uncontested defensive rebound.
I recall on the 2004-2005 team, it played decently well (about .500 ball) while Rudy Tomjanovich was the coach. When he quit, former Laker center Chris Mihm said, in an interview a year or two later, that all sense of team cohesion went away and everyone started playing for their individual statistics.
I think that’s starting to happen with the current group.
BigCitySid says
@ TempleofJamesWorthy, “I think we’re seeing the first signs of me-first-ism creep into the team.”, lol. When the leader of your team is on record with one of the most infamous quotes in NBA history “I eat first”, this should be seen as a surprise.
Calvin Chang says
I bet Darius and I can do a better coaching job than Byron Scott for 10% of his salary.
Ko says
Strange : I read 6 posts about BS not pitting Lin back on.
Hello
Hill was 6 for 6 and Sacre was 1 for 10 and played the 4th and more minutes.
Either a bumbling tank or bumbling coach.
Aaron says
rr,
Let’s be honest. MDA was trying to win games and Howard post ups were not the way especially after back surgery. The only thing MDA did wrong was over playing Kobe. And that’s a BIG wrong. As I’ve said before its a criminal offence for which inprosonment should be an option.
hop says
Scott is a joke. He doesn’t know when to use his timeouts. he doesn’t know when to sub guys in and out of the game. Kobe is on pace to miss more than 1100 shoots in one year. That’s crazy and that’s on Scott. Kobe has missed 272 shoots in 20 games. Our answer is put Price in because he shoots worst than Kobe.
lakafan says
Kobe fans kill me. Cousins tonight were saying Kobe has no help. I said that’s partly his fault for agreeing to take $25mill in a salary cap league. Said he plays the hardest on the team I said yeah tries hard on offense (shoots a whole damn bunch) but is pretty much a sieve on D. I’m fairly certain Kobe won’t win another ring so the rebuild aka reload can’t happen until he leaves. And that’s assuming jim & Mitch can convince a superstar or 2 to come to LA to join Randle, hopefully okafor or towns and the guy they get with Houston’s first rounder. I think everyone else will be gone by summer 2016 except maybe swaggy. And sure hope Scott is only here for this year and next!!
BigCitySid says
Nice move by Philly honoring Wilt. Hope the Lakers have a similar plan.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11985307/philadelphia-76ers-dedicate-wilt-chamberlain-postage-stamp
harold says
god that 2010 team seems like so long ago. Pau, Artest… dang fond memories of Artest during that whole postseason.
Oldtimer says
Thanks T.Rogers for reiterating that MDA roster is much better than the rebuild (supposedly) on this season. Here are the essential changes:
From Kaman & Gasol to Boozer and Davis – although I like the defense of Davis, there is no way you can compare from those twin 7 footers. Perhaps, Mitch and Jimbo could not convince Pau from leaving after being disrespected last season, being benched or being traded for several times.
From Meeks to Ellington – it would have been nice if you get both on the Lakers than just one journeyman while the veteran was not retained.
From Farmar, Blake, Marshall to Lin and Price – I included Blake because he could have been asked to come back to the Lakers after being traded. Farmar and Blake are much better duo than what we currently have.
From Bazemore, Brooks, Shawne Williams to Randle, Clarkson – I prefer our rookies though they are longshot, one because of unfortunate injury while the other undergoing initiation (as if you really need one, why pay a hefty price of half million if you will play him only during garbage time?)
From MDA to Showtime Byron – MDA reacts in every game changing the starter line up several times while Byron wants the teaching lesson approach in giving his lousy players a long rope to hang the Lakers season on their inconsistent behavior. Both coaches are not disciplinarian type who will mold the team to his own belief like PJ. I would have preferred the older coaches like Karl and Sloan, they can say “NO” to Kobe and bench the non performing starters.
Comparing it from what we used to enjoy in Lakerland…..
From FO Mitch and Jimbo to Jerry West & Mitch plus Dr. Buss (RIP) – the younger Buss should have been the better version of the late Buss. Unfortunately, the team stunk today largely because lack managerial know how of the young owner, he got no charisma in the league, fans and fellow owners. Mitch never changed, still a lap dog perceptions as a subservient of the incompetent young owner. He was the heir apparent of the logo, well his GM performance is a so-so just like when he was a Laker player. He will be remembered as a talented role player!
From Chick Hearn to all ESPN broadcasters, analysts etc. – no match for the talent of one man who is everything to the team, fans and the city. Where are the Generation X, Y and Millennials member of the digital age blog, tweet, facebook etc. who are supposedly better version than Chicky baby? Are they? IMO, I know where the difference lies? Independence with principles vs. Monetary rewards. Chicky baby was loyal to one team, preferred his own director, acted as a dictator with benevolent talents in full control of his ideas. He refused to take orders from GM’s, coaches, referees, mainstream media, corporate honchos or the Buss Family. Majority of current broadcasters are enslave by the Rating games.- (How do I look on TV? What does the Nielsen Ratings say?)
Calvin Chang says
I don’t understand why the Lakers stopped running point-Kobe on offense. It’s exactly what worked vs Raptors and Pistons- Kobe getting the ball in the post, then actively looking to pass. Kobe getting 10+ assists gets a win, because it lights a fire up up the team’s behind. It gets the guys involved, and gets them motivated to play defense. They can run this every game because Kobe has a mismatch in the post all the time.
rr says
Aaron,
Right around the time Howard left, Ramona Shelburne explained it well. She pointed out that, yes, a lot of things out of his control were working against D’Antoni. Howard is a difficult personality and Pau, as much as he is an all-time personal favorite, can also be temperamental. The players did not fit MDA’s system, the expectations and pressure were sky-high, and the huge shadow of Phil Jackson loomed over every decision that D’Antoni made.
But as Shelburne pointed out, D’Antoni was not an innocent bystander. Connecting with players and getting them to buy in is one of the main things that a coach is hired to do, and D’Antoni, when he was here, simply did not do well at that part of the job with some very key players. He also, as I have pointed out many times, kept the team shooting 3s and playing at a fast pace, even though it was not suited to do either.
As to Howard, we have covered that. He is not as good as he used to be, there are holes in his game, he has some health concerns, he makes a lot of money, and he is not a likable guy. And again, I hope that you are right, and that is what is going on now is simply a prelude to the next Lakers contender. But as the losses pile up, and the data on the team’s inability to defend accumulates, the 2014 and 2015 Lakers are simply becoming another data point in the long-standing historical pattern of what happens to teams who lose a premiere big man in his prime. No, Dwight Howard is not Kareem or Shaq. But he is not Robert Sacre, either.
lakafan says
Boozer & Lin to bench, Davis and Price to start. Time to dump Lin for a 2nd rd pick. Let price and clarkson share the minutes at pg. And see if a team will give you a pick for dreads. Time to tank and plan for next year.
lakafan says
Btw is the defensive improvement from Lin to price that drastic to justify starting a guy shooting 30%??
J C says
i like these changes, at least Davis gets more burn.
And Price doesn’t have to shoot, just pass.
Vasheed says
I think the biggest difference between last year and this was the departure of Gasol. I believe the Lakers spent way too much time & effort with Bynum and then Dwight. The Lakers should have spent that energy looking for an upgrade elsewhere.