Wow, the whole crew is here....

Mamba, Tom, Faith, Keifo, generic_one, utz, edwin, et al...

Holy smokes.

We need the support tonight. They're gunning for us.

Bynum owns Chandler. Posey hates LA.

Go get um!

Game time looms. A couple of thoughts -

Last night totally belonged to the Bench Mob. Kobe and Pau sat, so Carlisle thinks he can sit Dirk and Kidd and everything is going to be cool. I turned to my wife and said, "watch - we're going to erase the defecit RIGHT now." Voila, when next we saw Kobe we were up. How unfair is it that we can sit our two best players and orchestrate a 16-point turnaround? THIS is why we're destined to win it all this year.

Time to roll, baby - time to ROLL!

"blitz - Transition defense is tough for most teams b/c it usually comes on the back of a poor offensive possession and is a tough thing to practice. The Lakers do have a drill for it but the best thing they can do is take better care of the ball on offense and move the ball better to find the player with the highest quality shot. I hear you about letting teams live and die by the 3 b/c they'll usually end up dying. But what was missing last night was the effort on their rotations. They just seemed a little lazy and sluggish.

Mixed in there was Kidd's ability as a quarterbacking PG to create situations where the Lakers really had to scramble to rotate and recover. That's a current weakness that will probably be made to look worse tonight. CP3 averages half of NOs assists so usually he's the one finding the shooter and there's a lesser threat of that shooter finding another shooter if we're good on our rotations. Last year the Lakers really found success shutting down CP3s passing options and making him score which took his teammates out of rhythm and the game. David West is really the only other player the offense runs through. Him against Pau will be interesting b/c he's stronger and quicker. But West loves his jumpshots so maybe Pau's length will prove as effective tonight as it was against Dirk last night.

Staying home on everyone else will be key. I remember that game early last season where Peja just broke the Lakers back with wide open 3 after wide open 3. I was screaming "PEJA!" (not in a good way) from my seat every time I saw him set up behind the arc with no Laker near him. It was brutal to watch. When healthy though, that guy is an assassin. His pre-game shooting routine is starting in one corner behind the arc, making a basket, taking one step to his right or left, making another basket and repeating that until he's made his way completely around the 3 pt line. Several times, I've seen him complete that routine without missing. Mo Pete, Posey, Butler and Mike James can all be dangerous so it'll be important to stay on them on the perimeter. And Bynum has to put a body on Chandler at all times."

Lakers_sth,

Transition defense is indeed very hard to get back into. And if I had to say what was the weakness of the triangle offense it would be turnovers since at the very least if you missed a shot there would be at least 2 players retreating back to try to defend against fast breaks. Turning the ball over will most likely not have any defenders in the back court to protect it in time. I noticed that Run and Gun teams such as D'Antoni's Suns, Don Nelson's Golden State Warriors are much better than most teams at transition defense because 1) They play small and hence can fall back much faster and 2) Since most of their players are 3 point shooters they will be much closer to come back to defense than if they were hanging around the post or even mid range area. With 2 7 footers it is kinda expected to have a slower transition. Is it bad? Of course but can't have it all can we?

Hehe I still remember our first game against the Hornets last year. I still remember though that we let Peja wide open in transition and well Peja is one of the best shooters in the NBA. I personally won't mind if we use man but 1-2-2 trapping zone could work as long as we stick between the shooter and CP3. If we stay on man while the passing lanes to 3 point shooters are closed, the pick and roll guy like either West or most likely Chandler will be open for the open shot or the alley oop. With Drew back in I"m hoping the lanes are closed to Tyson Chandler and CP3 will be forced to find the shooters which he can but force more perimeter shots than just the alley oops.

I also strongly disagreed with Kobe on Jason Kidd. Sure Kidd was their best guard but it's arguably harder to stop a passer than a scorer. Which makes me wonder why last year Pop put Bowen on CP3 for the first two games. CP3 simply passed it out to people like Peja who could shoot it over the shorter Tony Parker. It might have worked against Steve Nash who isn't as athletic as CP3 is but until Pop put Bowen on CP3, Peja kept shooting in the 20's against the Spurs in the playoffs. With Radman on Peja, it would be easier for Radman to guard since Peja is more a shooter plus Radman does have a small height advantage over Peja (Peja is 6'8" while Radman is 6'10"). Trevor will probably guard him too and that really could shut down Peja. Pau will probably neutralize David West if he could shut down Dirk who was not only as tall as Pau but also is a good shooter. West is good shooter but he's not a good rebounder plus he isn't as tall as Pau. Drew out played Chandler last year in New Orleans so Drew should have him neutralized too.

I'm hoping that we limit our mistakes on the offensive end and keep up our defense and the Hornets even with Posey sucks on their bench we will be able to beat.

-blitz

I don't know why, but it seems as if Adrian W. at Yahoo Sports has some kind of inner hatred for Kobe. According to this article, Kobe was a real loner and ass? Geez, at least he got one thing right - resistance is futile.

http://tinyurl.com/6mqy9j

FROM PALM BEACH, FL

HI GUYS,

LUMIERE! CAMARA! ACTION! = OUR TEAM IS IN MISSION POSSIBLE FOR JUNE= COMMIT TO FIND ALWAYS A WAY TO WIN EVERY NIGHT.

LIGHTENING UP, EVERYBODY ! LIGHTENING UP EVERYBODY!

HERE COME THE LAKERS, THE UNDENIABLE NUMBER 1 TEAM IN THE NBA.

AS I SAID ON MONDAY, WE WILL HAVE 8 WINS BY SUNDAY.

LOVE TO OUR TEAM AND TO ALL

SHEKOBE FOREVER

Posted by: SHEKOBE | November 12, 2008 at 12:32 PM

Go LAKERS!!!

Surgically remove all hope from N.O.

Kobe MVP

Hehe Eric M,

Kobe may be the best player in the NBA but it's perfectly fine to disagree with him no?

I just think our bench now with a tougher mentality is so much better than the bench back in the Kobe-Shaq years no?

-blitz

Greg Oden is going to play Wednesday? I hope they aren't rushing him back. If the guy is injury prone, he could get really messed up from this, not just physically but in the head.

On another note, the previous Greg Oden, Kwame Brown, says "hi". LOL! Hmmmm...

I love game day.

Go Lake Show!

rizzo,

>>>>>I think NO fans are the ones who should be worried... they have to play the Lakers!!!!

We do get a little myopic on the blog, don’t we? You are absolutely correct. A loss will put the Hornets 3-games behind us. Not good, when they were only 1-game behind at the end of last year. This will be their first test of the Lakers with Drew and Pau, which will be tough since be beat their butts easily with each of those guys alone. No honey in the hive tonight.

Tom

Game Day on over the hump day. Getting my popcorn ready for yet another Laker victory. May Laker Nation enjoy the game as much as I will be! Keep the streak going Lakers.

The question you posed is a major catch - 22. If I thought it was the Lakers who'd first lose their streak there is NO WAY I'd bet against them. None of the other teams are the Lakers and so I do not care about them. How's a boy to answer?

GOoooOOO LAKERS!!!!

Tip off any second!

YES WE CAN!

YES WE CAN!

YES WE CAN!

GO LAKERS!!!!!!!!!!

Is there not an 8pm game on somewhere? My clock says 8:14 and no game. Who do I blame?

Wes

The Drama has not left LA!

Lakers like to make it interesting... they don't want their TV audience tuning out too early!!

G'Night New Orleans!!!!!

Looks like the Hawks were the best bet.