The Lakers are back from their one game jaunt to Denver to face the Hawks in Los Angeles. The game brings the team back to the comforts of home, but with injury questions and rotations to sort out due to suspect health on the wing. Lou Williams is already out, Kobe and Jordan Clarkson are questionable due to a sore shoulder and knee strain, respectively.
My guess is that both play, though limited minutes and caution will be heeded with both. Clarkson doesn’t need to push it, even if he is young and likely able to play through some discomfort. Kobe, on the other hand, is pushing towards a larger goal of closing his final NBA season able to actually suit up and play. This is complicated and most be handled delicately enough to get him to the finish line, while also giving him a chance to play in contests on terms which reflect his values of wanting to give fans who come to see him play a chance to do just that.
I’d speculate on what this means for tonight, but, in all honesty, I do not think it matters. The Hawks aren’t where they probably would like to be at this point in the year, but they are much better than the Lakers and should win this game regardless of who is healthy/not or available to play/not. This is nothing against Clarkson or Kobe or Nance Jr. (who will return to the lineup tonight after sitting out against the Nuggets), but is just a statement of fact about general team quality on both sides.
That I do not think the Lakers win this game isn’t really why this game is worth watching, however. As Russell has shown us with his recent play, individual growth, strong play, and how matchups between young players and peers/more established veterans all offer some meaning as the season comes to a close.
With that, Russell facing off against Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder is worth watching. Seeing how Randle and Nance Jr. do against Paul Millsap and Al Horford is something to key on. Can Anthony Brown stay connected defensively with Kyle Korver? All of these matchups and games within the game are worth your time, even if how the scoreboard reads at the end isn’t like to be in the Lakers’ favor.
Where you can watch: 7:30pm start on TWC Sportsnet and nationally on ESPN. Also listen on ESPN Radio 710AM Los Angeles.
Robert says
Kobe: I would probably shut him down for about 5-10 games, with the hope he could go out strong for the final 10-15 games. Obviously, having the “full” injury report would help make such a decision, but I do know that what is going now is not the best. Meaning he is “questionable” every game, and I also do not agree with Kobe’s own emphasis on saying goodbye to other cities and sitting out home games.
DAR: He is playing very well, but it is way too premature to fully judge him or the pick. He was the second overall pick and therefore should be the second best player if all planets are aligned.
Management: Very quiet on both the coaching and the FO areas lately, which is a good move by the team to avoid such convos. Soon however it will be unavoidable.
Chris okorie says
I hope lakers move on,lakers is bigger than Kobe .I think Kobe is still holding these hostage. I love Kobe ,but is time to move on peace.
Anonymous says
Chris, How is Kobe holding the lakers hostage?
Clay Bertrand says
The BUSS family is holding the Lakers hostage……They are just using Kobe as a Human Shield!!
J C says
Haha human shield that’s funny
And perhaps apt
Fern says
Good Lord criying about the Buss family this early? and Kobe holding the Lakers “hostage” duurrr. Well i got my durr comments of the day neatly wrapped up in a 1-2 punch. I just want to see the kids growth and one of the top players of all time take his last curtain calls with the dignity he earned and deserve.Is that a lot to ask? Right now? I couldn’t care less about Byron Scott or the Busses. There will be time for that…
bluehill says
Suns won!
Kobe wants to make it to the end of the season and probably would like to play some meaningful minutes in his last home game. So, I’m guessing he really cuts back on his minutes until he’s pretty comfortable his body will hold up until the last game.
Looking forward to seeing how the young guys play.
Fern says
Juliuuussss
KO says
You know your bad when
Metta 28% for year
Young 23% last 5 games
Brown 34% year
And
Marcelo Are on court.
Gene says
Why did Bass not play earlier this season?….Bass…Nance…Williams would be a nice start to a bench!!!!
Fern says
Huertas played pretty good…
KO says
Defense Fern. Watch how open his man gets.
Gene says
Would not be surprised if Hibbert is out of the league next season….
nimble says
This game is what TOJW and other Kobe haters like for an NBA game,very fluid, wrestlemania clang fest Rodman like.
BigCitySid says
– Best thing about last night…the Suns & Nets won.
– Nets are only one game behind T’Wolves. Every win they get negatively affects the chance of the Celtics (who have their pick)getting Simmons, Ingram, Brown, or Bender. Let’s go Nets!
– Only 19 games to go until our beloved Lakers can once again have the mission statement of most professional sports team: “we play to win the game”.
matt says
Fell asleep watching this one.
Only hope for the team, is if russell, randle, and clarkson go through a miracle transformation and become good defensive players in the offseason.
matt says
I’ve recently watched bender highlights, dude looks young, hard to tell how good he will be, he’s playing on a team with jordan farmar, bender looks like a good prospect, i can’t understand if he’s playing in the same league porzingis played in or if there are multiple european leagues.
Robert says
BCS: “we play to win the game”. I will take this as your personal guarantee that the tanking conversation will definitely not come up at all next year : )
Hawks Game: I think the extreme DAR opinions need to give it a rest on both sides until next year when we have more information.
matt says
Upon further research, dragan bender, is a kevin love type player, who has passing skills, shys away from contact, needs space to shoot, a 7 footer who plays like a guard, about 33% 3 point shooter
Anonymous says
@Clay
Spot on! Might be time for the Buss family to move on.
They should at least remove themselves from the day to day ops & decisions.
No organisational roles just assume the role of strictly ownership.
matt says
porzingis in scouting videos dunked on defenders, drove off picks making layups off contact.
Point is bender most likely is not gonna make the impact of porzingis
rr says
Russell: Yes. And some of the personal attacks rising out of Russell’s big game were uncalled for, if sadly amusing. Predictably, I see that those posters have been much quieter since last night. One thing for everybody, however we feel about the FO or the coach or the young guys, to remember: it is generally not a good idea to overreact to any one game or even to a short stretch of games. Russell’s going 14/21 from the floor against Brooklyn doesn’t make him a star anymore than going 3/16 against Atlanta makes him a bust.
I still think that Russell will be a good player and quite possibly a very good one. I still support picking him over Okafor. I did prefer Mudiay but said at the time that I might well be wrong. I am still not seeing Russell as a franchise anchor.
Randle: he has improved his conversion percentage within 0-3 feet of the rim with more PT, and that is a big thing for him if he is going to be an effective player, and he has shown that he can get double-doubles (maybe he can get an endorsement with In-N-Out burger) with enough reps. But given some of the holes in his game (shooting range, defensive potential ) I am not sold on his overall value. His VORP is -1.1, most of his rebounds come on defense, and his TS% is still well below .50 (.477). This is not a criticism of the FO; Randle was a reasonable and safe pick at 7.
Kobe: I am sure he wants to play every minute that he has left, but at this point IMO the main thing is to get him to Game 82 in one piece. That is more important than the final appearances at visiting arenas. He can do those in a suit.
Clay Bertrand says
The Atlanta game was the definition of “GROWING PAINS”…… that and injuries making a crappy roster look even crappier……..
I’m not concerned at all about the young guys. Russell is a shooter and he will be fine. Randle’s Defensive rebounds are REBOUNDS nonetheless and shouldn’t be undervalued. MOST players have a majority of their rebounds on the Defensive end. The SPURS actually coach their players telling them, “I don’t care if you EVER GET an offensive rebound at all!!” because they emphasize getting back on transition D. As fans we tend to think that offensive boards are true hustle rebounds but GOOD TEAMS do not tend emphasize or heavily value offensive rebounds.
It’s truly hard to evaluate these guys when they are not being used the right way and have not been built around. This roster is not balanced at all and the roles are not defined. Its not as bad as when D’Antoni was here and everyone was just GUNNIN for themselves, but its not like the offense is designed to show DAR’s strengths or Randle’s or anyone elses. Then every other game you have KOBE playing and there is always a fair amount of deference to him and his ISO preferences.
Hopefully a new coach will be allowed to tailor the offense and defense to use these guys strengths and cloak their weaknesses as much as possible while they continue to grow and develop. They also need to be in rotations that allow them to compliment each other better and have more defined roles.
This season they are just gettin their feet wet……
Good Call rr, In-N-Out SHOULD grab Randle as an endorser!!!!
On Kobe, I didn’t even see him in the building for last nights game. I didn’t see him on the bench. Maybe he was there but it looked like the same as the Grizzlies game I recently attended. If he was there and I missed it then MY BAD. But man, why can’t the guy just come out and address the crowd in his suit if he can’t play??? That’s what I don’t understand. He says he wants to say goodbye to the fans and all……..but the home games, he doesn’t even show up to some of them. And there are LEGIONS of fans from the floor to the cheap seats with Kobe signs and they just LOVE the guy. Many travelled or bought the tix long ago only to show up and see NICK YOUNG starting and Kobe NO WHERE TO BE FOUND………. The LOCAL fans are getting a raw deal on the Kobe farewell IMO…….
He AT LEAST needs to make a PUBLIC appearance and acknowledge these people if he isn’t gonna play. I heard one guy say, “Well Kobe lives in Newport and he has to take a helicopter BLAH BLAH BLAH….” That BS on on Kobe for living inconveniently far from his workplace. This is a guy getting $25 million to carry the attention of the fanbase this year and he is getting love from EVERYONE. Its just oddly unfair that his TRUE WORSHIPPERS just kinda get blown off. HE doesn’t interact with the fans at home like he did in Denver for example.
I feel like he puts on a respectful hat for the OPPOSING arenas and then when he’s at home he acts like a Hermit. It’s like a room full of 20,000 disappointed people…..all wearing KOBE gear and just hoping for a glimpse that doesn’t come. I don’t know why this is the case.
KO says
In case anyone cares the least wins in a fill 82 game season in the last 60 years is 11 by Philly and Denver.
So only record left to break is Lakers loss record of last year.
The tension increases for those who played the over-under of 21.
Clay Bertrand says
Here come the injuries………. just in time to figure into the tankathon…….
Anonymous says
Personal attacks? Where?
Leo Wilkes says
Russell’s game last night is part of what should be expected. Ups, downs and all of that. Agree that it’s not a good idea to get too high or too low about a given game performance; but to suggest that Russell’s 39 point game shouldn’t be seen as a sign of great things to come is a failure to recognize the exceptional talent that he has.
LKK says
KO… Not to nitpick but the 1972-73 Sixers went 9-73 over the course of 82 games.
Do we know where he is or what he’s doing when Kobe doesn’t play? Maybe it’s therapy or maybe complete it’s complete rest. One thing we do know it’s not to “rest” the way Duncan has been doing for years and what a 31 year old LeBron is doing on a regular basis. Maybe those guys are the smart ones. Kobe wasn’t “smart”. He had no filter and only one speed. Somehow I don’t think he regrets going all out for as long as he could. Anyway, something tells me that Kobe has something special in store for fans at Staples as the games wind down for him.
rr says
Personal attacks? Where?
—
Check the other threads if you care. It wasn’t just on-site, either. It wasn’t rough stuff by internet standards, but it was by FBG standards, since this is mostly a very well-behaved site.
rr says
but to suggest that Russell’s 39 point game shouldn’t be seen as a sign of great things to come is a failure to recognize the exceptional talent that he has.
—
He is a very talented dimes guy and he can score. Whether he will develop enough of a multifaceted game and get to the line enough to be a Ginobili/Harden type guy remains to be seen. Harden was averaging 5FTA/36 as a 20-year-old rookie. Russell is at 2.7. Ginobili didn’t play in the NBA until he was 25, but was at 4.3 as a rookie.
I do not think Russell will ever be really good on D, but he can and almost certainly will get better.
And
Mid-Wilshire says
Anthony Brown is out for 4 weeks with a “stress reaction” in his right foot:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lakers-rookie-anthony-brown-4-weeks-stress-reaction-225041359–nba.html
KevTheBold says
rr, your negativity knows no bounds.
The excitement fans showed over Russell’s breakout game would and could make any Laker fan happy.
It’s also inaccurate to label the game as some possible one and done affair, if you are honest enough to take in all his stats, and more importantly, the fact that Scott, up until that point, had him on a leash both on the court and in his system.
Lastly, you make reference to a couple of posters that used the game against you, yet here you are doing the same.
By the way, Mudiay has less than half the raw talent of Russell, and to me, it was always obvious, so what does that say about your high and mighty self grandiose opinions?
Get over Mudiay, accept and support the guy that plays for you.
rr says
>>your negativity knows no bounds.
“I still think that Russell will be a good player and quite possibly a very good one. I still support picking him over Okafor.”
“This is not a criticism of the FO; Randle was a reasonable and safe pick at 7.”
“he has improved his conversion percentage within 0-3 feet of the rim with more PT, and that is a big thing for him if he is going to be an effective player, and he has shown that he can get double-doubles (maybe he can get an endorsement with In-N-Out burger) with enough reps”
>> and to me, it was always obvious, so what does that say about your high and mighty self grandiose opinions?
“I did prefer Mudiay but said at the time that I might well be wrong.”
As to tone/personal stuff, the next time I tell somebody to go sit in the corner or imply that the person is a dunce, or call him/her dumb, or call a game a STFU game for someone else, will be the first time.
>>Get over Mudiay, accept and support the guy that plays for you
One more time: you have no authority here, and you don’t get to tell other people how to be fans. And only DS gets to decide what gets posted here.
matt says
Lakers next year
Center #1_______, center#2________
Pforward#1 randle, pforward #2______
Pforward #3 nance jr
Sforward #1_________, sforward #2________
Guard #1 russell, guard #2_________, guard #3 clarkson, guard#4 lou williams
KevTheBold says
rr, reposting those depthless remarks fails to give them any substance.
The only question is who it is you are trying to con, us, or yourself
As for your last, I’m not assuming authority, so cease your cries for help.
If suggestions, make you that upset, I don’t know what to tell you outside of develop a thicker skin.
R says
Don’t worry Matt, the Lakers will have LOTS of cap space this off season so all will be well!
Also, you forgot Swaggy – isn’t he under contract for next year?
rr says
Young is under contract next year and has player option for 17-18.
matt says
I didn’t forget young, or a. Brown, imo they are not rotation players