For all the talk on this site about building the right way, getting players that fit your system and the like, the hardest part of building a championship team is getting at least one transcendent player. You need The Man. MJ. Shaq. Detroit was the exception, but for the most part you need the unstoppable […]
Lakers Analysis
Starting To Get Serious
The games are starting to take on a playoff feel — more physical, better defense, crowds more into it. The Lakers game yesterday against Dallas was like that — which is one reason it was a quality win. With the tightness of the West right now, I think we could see a lot more games […]
Talking Pau
There’s a discussion going on in the comments from last night’s game that I think deserves a little more space. That is, a breakdown of how Pau Gasol is fitting in with the Lakers 11 games in. I think we’re all various degrees of ecstatic with Gasol — the Lakers are 10-1 with him in […]
A Win Worth Celebrating
First things first — there have been issues with the site for the last 12 hours or so. Apparently this has something to do with an “upstream service DNS migration,†whatever that means. I followed the instructions from my host and apparently everything should be solved. If by this afternoon people are still having issues, […]
Pau and Defense
More than anything else — even more than Andrew Bynum’s emergence as a low-post scorer — it is the Lakers defense that has turned the team around this season. Last season the Lakers have up 110.5 points per 100 opponent possessions, 24th in the NBA, and opposing teams shot 50% (eFG%). This season other teams […]
Looking At Losing Streak
Some thoughts on the three game losing streak and life without Bynum, and about the Lakers missing some of the easy baskets they used to get. • The last three games have been at a slower pace than the Lakers like — each of them at 91 possessions a game, 5 fewer than the Laker […]
Taking The Next Step
That is what good teams look like in the playoffs. Not the Spurs of the first half, who floated semi-aimlessly around the court. Rather, the team that came out in the third quarter and cranked up the defensive pressure. They pressured the ball, and Fisher made some ill-advised passes (a couple long ones up the […]
Anatomy of an Assist
The first two times the Lakers played the Nuggets this season, Denver wanted to make sure Kobe didn’t beat them. It’s a strategy a lot of teams have used over the last few years — make those other guys around Kobe step up and win the game. That strategy doesn’t work anymore. Even without Bynum […]
Enjoy The Ride
There are just too few times as a sports fan when you can feel like you are seeing something special come together before your eyes. When the present looks good and the future even better. When young players are developing like you hoped and the veterans are both leading them and energized by them. We […]
The Starters Are Good, Too
After a season of touting the Lakers bench and depth, Sunday was a night the Lakers starters reminded us they can play, too. All five Lakers starters shot at least 53% true shooting percentage (which includes threes and free throws). All five Lakers starters were +22 or higher for the night, every bench player was […]