Five is alive!

Lakers uber alles!

My first post but lots of love reading everyones forever!!!I was drunk and I was worried, and was so since tip off. Read a lot of posts but still love out Lakers, they did what we needed them to do tonight, so no hate whatsoever. Everyone did their part I saw no fault in our team, they gave us what we needed. I want tour team to play tomorrow just so we could simply get ready to dispatch the hornets right after that.

Love for my lovely team.

N8palm

How about that 2-3 minutes of basketball in the 3rd or 4th quarter featuring all white players on both teams?! I mean, Farmar and Williams I believe are half black, but can look white, but anyway it was pretty crazy to see all that whiteness on the floor. A Vanilla McFlurry if you will.

"...but still, let's have some awareness, 18..."

Crux of the problem with Sasha -- despite the bulldog D and more consistent shooting his decision-making is crap. It could cost us a game and maybe a title...

oh.. boy.. i felt sick watching the game. it was too close.. my neck, body and head hurt.
but i was really... i am really happy that the lakers won. yeah.. lets finish them off in game 6.

Lack of common sense surfaces via Bryant’s quote. It really makes people scratch their heads sometimes.

“That was the worst, most pain I’ve ever felt in a game.” - Bryant (game 4)

Then why did you shoot all those shots during OT when your back was hurting that much? It’s not like your teammates were having a terrible game. It was their shots that got the game into OT.

You see the lack of common sense? It’s like a hitter having a bad day at the plate. Instead of taking pitches and see if he could help the team by getting on base via a walk, the batter decides to swing at 3 consecutive pitches out of the strike zone.

Here’s the 2nd head scratcher:

“It was better than I actually thought it was going to be. I was able to spin; I was able to slide defensively.” - Bryant

You were able to slide defensively? Didn’t Ronnie Brewer light you up for 10 pts via layups and dunks during the 1st quarter?

Sure Bryant shot well in the 1st quarter, but didn’t anybody else notice that he was giving up more points than he as scoring the that quarter?

The way to win is to not let one of those supporting players go off. Korver, Harpring, and Brewer. Bryant has a tendency to let unknown players go unchecked as he roams aimlessly playing the passing lanes. Opponents know to backdoor Bryant via baseline for easy layups and dunks.

Utah lost tonight because of Vladdy’s scoring output.

The Big Three on both teams will get theirs.

Somebody needs to tell Bryant that the coaches of the league voted him onto 1st Team Defense.

-Jeffs Aho

Jeff,

While I think you're being a little too hard on Kobe, I was disappointed with losing Brewer in those early 3 shots. Not okay. Kobe also didn't box out Brewer giving him another easy shot.

Also, Kobe frequently says stuff that doesn't make sense. It's hard to tell how injured he is and it's hard to tell when he's being genuine about his play, when he's being defensive, and when he's being political. He's been trained to not just say what he thinks because it's easy for it to be misconstrued (sometimes purposely) and sometimes his heart isn't in the right place as a team player.

It's just part of the fun of the guy. I think it's really unfortunate that he's been trained to be careful with what he says. I'd much rather hear what he really thinks because I generally find that much more interesting.

I mean, come on, the media basically made it so that he can't talk trash about other players in the league without serious repercussions. What fun is that?

Clearly sometimes Kobe's killer instinct and takeover instinct gets the best of him.

I think your focus is all wrong though. Why hate on Kobe when the Lakers played such a nice game, largely with Kobe playing within the team system and playing fairly hurt?

That just doesn't make sense to me at all.

So sad...my cable broke during the final 6 minutes of play. WHY!!!

hey jeffs dumbass, their defense is supposed to be that way... to make brewer a scorer.. if u noticed kobe sagging down to help on boozer after the screen and roll... its their scheme to stop boozer and williams first and let others beat u... stop the hate man.. lakers won.. be happy... iknow ur sad coz ur CAVS lost again today huhuhu LOSER!

look lonely

Is there any particular reason you feel the need to make us scroll through 2 posts full of stupid about the same thing?

Bryant was a true warrior and leader. His team rose to the occasion. We are fortunate to see one of the greatest of all time playing through adversity.

Kobe and the 2007-2008 Lakers to all you haters....

F-U.

Jeffs Aho,

Kobe is unlike any human being you have probably ever been in contact with. His mentality is that every shot he takes is going in the basket. Even if his right arm is broken he is crazy enough to think he can beat you with his left. This rare mentality, which sometimes can be harmful, is what makes him one of the best to play the game. The ability to believe in yourself although shot after shot will clank off the rim to have the confidence to take another shot. That is why he took those shots while in pain he honestly believes they should touch nothing but nylon. However, it proved costly for the Lakers that game.

Kobe was playing off Brewer in the first quarter not one of the baskets Ronny had was he guarded straight up by Kobe. Kobe let him get his knowing he has no jump shot and can not go off for 25, and instead focused on keeping Boozer or Okur from breaking out a big game. The man knows the game of basketball, if Okur or Boozer got hot the Lakers would have to pack in the paint more causing the outside shooters like Korver, Miles, and Williams to have more space.

Good morning Laker family around the Globe,

Another great day to be a Lakers fan! Can you feel it?

What makes Wednesday night's Win so special is that the Jazz had every opportunity to steal a game at Staples Center, and they couldn't do it.

Kobe's back prevented him from playing his usual brand of Defense, and from taking any shots in the 4th. The Machine couldn't buy a Basket, even if he'd had a Gold Mastercard. Luke Walton, who's been so valuable in the post-season, couldn't find his game. Pau Gasol, even with solid stats, had moments where he looked lost and overwhelmed. Ronny Turiaf was largely ineffective off the bench. And yet, the Lakers prevailed.

Utah had opportunity after opportunity when the score was close or tied to take the lead. They played as well as any team could on the road. And yet, the Lakers prevailed.

To this observer, the Lakers' spark was Lamar Odom. Not only were his stats huge, his passion and energy were larger than life. LO was as determined and effective as I've ever seen him.

When the other Laker impact players make so little impact and the Lakers still prevail, it bodes well for Game 6 in Salt Lake City on Friday. Yes, it is another great day to be a Lakers fan. This is our team. This is our year. Go Lakers!

WHO IS THIS JEFFS AHO MORON??? THE LEVEL OF IGNORANCE ON DISPLAY AT THIS BLOG SOMETIMES AMAZES ME. I WONDER WHAT WOULD CAUSE SOMEONE TO JUST MAKE CRAP UP AND THEN POST FOR ALL TO READ. THAT IS LIKE TAKING OUT AN AD IN THE LA TIMES ONLY TO THEN POST A PICTURE OF YOURSELF WITH THE CAPTION "IDIOT."

VERY NICE GAME KOBE (MVP)!!!

GOOD JOB PAU!!!!!

NICE WORK LAMAR!!!!!!!

LAKERS ARE GOING TO WIN GAME 6.

we're alive!

i am happy. :p

let's stop berating kobe and the lakers. we won and we will continue to win.

go LAMAR!

Jeffs Aho,

I beg to differ. This team does need Kobe to score to win. The Lakers are not an overpowering defensive team by any stretch of the imagination. However, on a particular night, in a particular game, or an individual quarter, the Lakers are deep enough to go without his points...sometimes. But, having Kobe not score is not the way to win a championship.

We won a game by 7 that normally we've been winning by 13.5 points on average. Kobe in this condition brings the whole Laker team down about half a notch. Do you think we beat NO without a healthy, shooting, passing, defending, and aggressive Kobe?

You are crazy if you honestly think that. Because his counterpart over there, CP3, is playing like Kobe did in Games 1 and 2. CP3 is not playing like the Kobe of games 4 and 5. CP3 is dominating over there. We are going to need a dominant Kobe, and LO, and Pau to get past them.

Of course Kobe is hanging back on defense! His back is hurting all the time. He has made a decision on what parts of the game to participate in and what parts to relax. He's pacing himself and managing his pain. You must be a mighty callous person to fault him for that.

I don't know if you've noticed, but he isn't playing the full offense either. He isn't setting those back-screens and down-cuts that he's been using to keep the triangle spaced and give Fish, Vlad, and Walton all those open looks when he's on the weak side.

We always see how Kobe initiates the Triangle from the top or the strong side because he has the ball in those situations. His little-noticed off-ball and weak-side contributions have been largely ignored this year, but are just as important. His screens are why Pau is getting so many assists. Kobe is the guy underneath (and Walton is usually good at this, too) who is screening the shooters' defender away so they can pop free.

Kobe hasn't been able to do that for the last two games, and you can see how the Triangle hasn't run smoothly since. There just isn't any way he's going to set a hard screen when his back is barking at him.

So, of course he's saving himself for just the big plays, the crucial plays and he has to delegate the whole rest of the game to his team mates.

So far, it's working.

Don't hate so much, dude.

--Fearless

Jeffs Aho,

Dude! You're going to give yourself an anurism! Lay off Kobe's defense. He isn't going to defend like his old self until his back is healed. Deal with it. Take it like a man and move on!

This is not the same Kobe that was voted 1st Team All-Defense. OK?!

His back hurts. He isn't 100%. That means he isn't going to do 100% of Kobe stuff. You will see less of what you saw from him before.

Will it be enough? Don't know. But, you aren't going to get much more.

On the other hand, can Kobe muster up the strength to make a single great defensive play at a crucial time? YES! Did you not see the consecutive stops he, Fish and Sasha created during crunch time (including not one, but two shot clock violations)? Were you even watching the game? When the game was on the line, Kobe's defense was there right where it always was. The three of them nearly shut down Utah's whole back court. If not for some miracle threes by Williams, Utah's back court would have posted a goose egg.

But, then again, Williams is legitimately one of the two very best point guards in the league. When he's playing like he should, he can't be shut down either. So, don't expect that.

You really need to get your expectations in line with reality.

We are talking about humans, here. Not robots. People respond to pain. God gave us pain to remind us of what things NOT to do.

What you should be doing in coming up with a scenario where we win in Utah knowing that Kobe's defense is only going to be there for short stretches of the game and where he won't be able to shoot much at the end of the game. That would be a much more constructive use of your thinking ability.

Those are the relevant and realistic facts.

Also, we gotta hope that Sloan hasn't noticed. But, I gotta believe that if I've noticed where Kobe's game is short, so has he. And he's trying to figure out -- as we speak -- just how to exploit that.

--Fearless

passionate lakers fan-

make up your mind. We know Luke is white. But he has shown that he can play. Do I need to post your own words back to you? Kobe believes in him, as you said yourself.

Sorry, I just had a bit of a crisis in Luke faith myself earlier, I'm trying to make amends. Also I'm trying to set some kind of record for posts during one game.

Nah, I know you didn't mean to equate athletic with black, I think. But some here seem to.

Posted by: phred | May 14, 2008 at 10:10 PM

The deeper you play in the play-offs, your weaknesses are exposed.
Denver-a team that does not play defense-does not expose you.
Utah-a team that plays defense-will expose you.
I made the comment about Luke and Vladimir being trade as a result of looking to the future.
The future challenging teams (Portland, Houston, Utah, Sacramento, New Orleans) will block Luke's shots around the basket and their small forwards will take him off the dribble.
Vladimir?
No need to comment on why he will be traded.
The future small forward spot will belong to LO as a strater and Trevor coming off the bench.
Why?
They are both long and athletic (AK-47 is long; the young Wright on New Orleans is long; Artest is strong; etc...).
And don't forget Newbie (who is a much better defender than Luke and Vladimir).
I don't hate Luke or Vladimir.
I'm just looking to the future as a result of what I'm seeing in the present.
Peace.

jeffs ahole - do you have a clue? you are actually bashing Kobe and his inner drive, as well as his defense? you are pathetic. did you read that just recently Kobe was named to the All Defensive Team - yet again? I bet when you tweak your little back, you are curled up on your mommy's couch, crying.

-Jeffs Aho

Man, you are soooo jealous. The only thing exceeding your Kobe envy is just how stupid you are. I mean really. you ARE that stupid. Your comments make you look foolish and ignorant.

The Lakers being lead by Kobe is eating you up so much, you can't help yourself into making silly childish replies that don't make any sense. lol

Good Morning Lakers Nation!!

Sloan complains the refs are not fair and I'm loving it.

Its another good day to be a Lakers Fan.

Brewer got those looks because kobe was helping and roaming to help the other guys. Whoever Kobe's guarding, he's giving them space and he's helping to guard boozer and williams. that's their defensive strategy right now. Still tho, it was his mistake that he lost brewer with those back-cuts in the first quarter. But if you notice when he's guarding korver, he sticks to him like glue. but when its brewer or price, he sags off and let them shoot the open jumper while he's sitting on boozers lap on the post. Its strategy man.

Greetings' Laker Nation the team got it done last night.
Kobe, did not need to put up alot of 3s since he has been having challenges with his back the rest of the team did what they had to do to get a "W'.
Friday's game is going to be a good one Laker Nation,and everyone who post here enjoy the game.

On a night when Bryant barely scored (meaningless FT’s at the end) in the most important quarter of the Lakers season, it was refreshing to see Gasol, Fisher, and Odom step up on both ends of the court.

-Jeffs Aho

here's a test of your objectivity: had Bryant missed those "meaningless" freethrows, would you still have called them meaningless?

Good morning LAL friends!
How sweet it is - up 3-2. Game 6 closeout.

I LOVE LO7!!!! He was awesome last night and to say it was the most important game of his life - special! I finally think he has the eye of the tiger - that look like you can't and won't lose. I have been waiting to see that in him for 4 years.

D-Fish - the season's savior! Seriously, his leadership, motivation & hard work to START every game for us this year and show up with 100% night in and night out is amazing!!!

Props to Vlad for his shots - but does PJ have to call him out every time? Why can't the guy show up and channel all this every game night for the next month?

I am not too worried about Walton now - I think he will rise up in UT and come out with a good mindset. You could tell he was getting down on himself during the game with the little mistakes. I think he will be shaping up after he sees the film.

What a great game!

GO LAKERS!

The Lakers are being tested in this series. Once they (the bench) rid themselves of the playoff jitters (turnovers, missed shots, etc.), just imagine how potent the offense will be. They need to persevere and work out their individual kinks to build confidence.

Go Lakers!