Oh No! Who Do We Blame Now?!?

[Lakersfan2483]

I agree to an extent. Today I thought he did a very poor job though. I was really harsh on Kobe today, thought he could've gotten people involved more.

Dwight can't be getting only 9 shots. Kobe has to force feed him early and often. Also Metta, Duhon, Hill, Clark and Antawn were a combined 18-32 (56.25%). People were rolling offensively, and he failed to get anybody involved. He needs to take a step back and facilitate until Nash gets back.

Yeah I felt the same way, Kobe dominated the ball today and had tunnel vision in terms of looking for his shot and only his shot. I was irritated with his play today as he could have been a much better fascilitator. The team is better when he allows the game to come to him and is creating for others. I prefer the games in which he scores around 20 to 25 pts and has around 6 to 7 assists. He was playing great basketball the first 10 to 12 games of the year, but has reverted back to some of his old ways lately.

[lpdunks8]

I agree to an extent. Today I thought he did a very poor job though. I was really harsh on Kobe today, thought he could've gotten people involved more.

Dwight can't be getting only 9 shots. Kobe has to force feed him early and often. Also Metta, Duhon, Hill, Clark and Antawn were a combined 18-32 (56.25%). People were rolling offensively, and he failed to get anybody involved. He needs to take a step back and facilitate until Nash gets back.

None of that matters if you give up 101 (wow!!!) shots because of off. rebs. and TOs.

[shep33]

Kobe's game today just really upset me. He calls out Pau, which is fine, I have no problem with him trying to motivate the big guy. But saying that Pau needs to "adjust" and Kobe clearly didn't tonight, I just found that a bit hypocritical. The guy is our heart and soul, and if he's going to lead us anywhere, he has to have faith in his team. 2 assists and 31 shots is inexcusable.

[shep33]

None of that matters if you give up 101 (wow!!!) shots because of off. rebs. and TOs.

True, but Kobe's defense was pretty god awful down the stretch as well. He closed this game as poorly as Dwight did.

This is why Nash is so important. Twice in the preseason, he essentially waived Kobe off for last second shots. Nash keeping the ball out of Kobe's hands is something that will benefit Kobe and this entire team.

[Lakersfan2483]

Kobe's game today just really upset me. He calls out Pau, which is fine, I have no problem with him trying to motivate the big guy. But saying that Pau needs to "adjust" and Kobe clearly didn't tonight, I just found that a bit hypocritical. The guy is our heart and soul, and if he's going to lead us anywhere, he has to have faith in his team. 2 assists and 31 shots is inexcusable.

I was thinking the same thing. Antawn was playing well as was D12 and a few other guys, why not create some easier looks for them? I just thought Kobe forced the issue and took LA out of what they were doing well. He has to do a better job of taking quality shots and playing a more efficient brand of bball similar to the way he was playing at the beginning of the year.

31 shots is unaccpetable especially with a team like this as guys like Howard, Jamison, Metta have all proven that they are more than capable of scoring.

[lakerfan3118]

2 assists and 31 shots is inexcusable.

For better or for worse, however, this was part of the plan. D'Antoni clearly experimented having Duhon run his traditional PG oriented system tonight, and it showed-- Kobe's responsibility as a facilitator and primary ball-handler was relegated to Chris.

Did he shoot excessively at points? Yes. But you cannot fault him for something that he was not drawn up to do tonight.

[shep33]

For better or for worse, however, this was part of the plan. D'Antoni clearly experimented having Duhon run his traditional PG oriented system tonight, and it showed-- Kobe's responsibility as a facilitator and primary ball-handler was relegated to Chris.

Did he shoot excessively at points? Yes. But you cannot fault him for something that he was not drawn up to do tonight.

I dunno man. I understand that Duhon ran the point more to the liking of what D'antoni expects, but Kobe still shot way too much, and he missed open guys a bunch of times throughout the game. 31 shots in 35 minutes. That's tough to do.

I'm not gonna blame Kobe entirely for this loss, I think Dwight's ft shooting is becoming a significant liability, and our rebounding was garbage tonight. I just expected better out of Kobe.

[J4KOP99]

I agree to an extent. Today I thought he did a very poor job though. I was really harsh on Kobe today, thought he could've gotten people involved more.

Dwight can't be getting only 9 shots. Kobe has to force feed him early and often. Also Metta, Duhon, Hill, Clark and Antawn were a combined 18-32 (56.25%). People were rolling offensively, and he failed to get anybody involved. He needs to take a step back and facilitate until Nash gets back.

Yeah I felt the same way, Kobe dominated the ball today and had tunnel vision in terms of looking for his shot and only his shot. I was irritated with his play today as he could have been a much better fascilitator. The team is better when he allows the game to come to him and is creating for others. I prefer the games in which he scores around 20 to 25 pts and has around 6 to 7 assists. He was playing great basketball the first 10 to 12 games of the year, but has reverted back to some of his old ways lately.

It's because he's already worn down. To be that facilitator you must always be thinking. When you're tired you don't want to think. Going down and shooting the ball is easier and right now, Kobe is taking the easy way out offensively.

[shep33]

It's because he's already worn down. To be that facilitator you must always be thinking. When you're tired you don't want to think. Going down and shooting the ball is easier and right now, Kobe is taking the easy way out offensively.

Yeah, I can see that being part of the issue.

Just a frustrating loss, I gotta cool down lol.

[jaji10]

pringles system means more shots for kobe!! and kobe is definitely not going to be shy taking them... the problem is the coach!! ebanks cameo last game, e.clark doing a cameo this game.. no consistent playing time for j. hill, refusing to sit dwight for a few mins to prevent hack a dwight strategy... he is getting out coached every game..

[shep33]

I will say I do understand what D'antoni is thinking with hack-a-Howard situation. Seems like he's trying to build the big guy's confidence. It isn't working though lol

[ldawg]

Its Pau fault...lol. I dont want to say i told you so but all the finger pointing to Pau is so stupid. I know many feel like butts now including Kobe. Pau has been key to our last trips to the finals. He help turn this team around when he came. Tonight Game look exactly the way the Lakers looked before they got Pau. Kobe,Kobe,Kobe and more Kobe. Pau is slow yes and he is best at center but he still one of the better pf. The coach dont know how to use him. Hell he dont now how to use Howard. He wants supper quick players and for us to play small. Look Dantoni ditch Melo for Lin who is quicker. That alone should have put up a red flag. I now come to respect P Jackson. Jackson has always said no one really understand how important Pau was in those runs to the finals.

[ldawg]

Between Kobe and Nash they are going to give up a lot of point. Their man will always be in the paint broken down the defense. For Dantoni its fine as long as they score in 7sec or less. This team is slower and will always be worn out in close games or back to backs. Mike dont help making them log heavy minutes. Lakers problem is the back court defense.

[mufridaz]

easy answer we can blame 19 turnovers, 21 offensive rebounds given to the other team

poor defense, bad shot selection and forced shots and limited ball movement by kobe, and lack of foul shot making by d12, and lack of proper rotations by coach

j.hill was playing great and he takes him out of the game after he had scored 6 pts in 7 min in the 4th and on the verge of double double in like 15 min that's just off top of head not looking at box score so don't know exactly how many minutes he played tonight. The Lakers are now 2-7 in games in which Hill does not play at least 17 minutes. They're 6-3 when he does.

add that our bench scored what 20 pts.

we have no PG, no backup SG (meeks can't dribble all he can do is catch and shoot and he can't even do that half the time), and noone behind mwp at SF.

also not getting the bigs enough shot attempts.

but 2 easy things that can be fixed is take care of the ball limit turnovers and rebounding which is a lot about effort.

pau has been a big problem on this team this year but now we know he's been hurt since training camp. but we have a lot more problems than just pau. and nash won't fix this team overnight.

we need some roster changes like maybe PG help and SF help and maybe even SG help as well. our PF/C positions are fine with jamison/j.hill/d12 even with pau out a few months.

coaching lost us about 4 games this year alone. bad rotations etc. i don't care if it hurts d12's feelings you take him out of the game a few minutes and put j.hill in the game for the hack a d12 nonsense.

[mekedubs]

It's because he's already worn down. To be that facilitator you must always be thinking. When you're tired you don't want to think. Going down and shooting the ball is easier and right now, Kobe is taking the easy way out offensively.

I totally agree with this.... Last night I was really frustrated with Kobe shooting as much as he did, but on the flip side It's hard to get Dwight involved when he's shooting 47% from the free-throw line because he has to score from the paint and if they're not stripping the ball from his hands, or he's having difficulty scoring on some of the bigger players, then they are just fouling him... That was a horrendous show at the free-throw line last night for Howard and that's a sign of things to come if he's our "franchise" player because if he hasn't gotten better at free-throws this late in his career, then I'd be hard pressed to think that he ever will....

Shaq was bad, but not 47% bad!! And he had that old saying which I seen come true more often than not... "I'll make them when it counts..."

Damn this notion that Howard will just have to "conquer" his free-throw shooting... Take his *** out of the game in the 4th quarter if we have a lead and put in Gasol (if he's still a Laker), Hill or Jamison!!
We're trying to WIN and if that's going to be what other teams focus on is Howard's free-throw shooting, then eliminate that from the equation and have them beat us with actual game play...