We didn't need Kobe. We needed to make free throws.

Game notes...

Pregame:

Pregame? Pregame? Are you kiddin’ me? Pregame? What pregame? Don’t get me started! You’d think that they could plan these things out a little better. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d much rather watch the first quarter of Lakers v. ‘tics than OT in the Cavs v. Nuggets game, or as Ernie Johnson says, “The greatest rivalry in the history of sport!” Talk about an unfulfilling tease...

First Quarter:

First quarter?...Saw Pau miss the first shot of the game on the split-screen, a little left-handed jump hook from the left block. TNT breaks into the Laker game during an OT timeout, just in time to see Brown throw a bad pass from the right corner and the ‘tics score on a break, 4-0 Boston.

Fisher passes the ball from the left point to Bynum on the left mid-post and he spins into the middle of the lane and drops a hook over Perkins for the Lakers first points. Artest wins a scrum for the rebound under the basket at the other end...and back to OT, damn! It’s lookin’ like it might be double OT, adding insult to injury.

Back to the Lakers at the 9:03 mark...Brown bricks a jumper from the top of the key, the ‘tics get the board and R. Allen makes a three from the corner at the other end. Then just before they rip us away again, Artest gives Bynum a entry pass on the left mid-post and he drop-steps below Perkins and dumps it in the hoop as Garnett comes over too late to help. That makes it 11-4 ‘tics.

Denver beats the Cavs in home in OT and I’m just glad it’s over. We join our previously scheduled programming, already in progress...15-8 ‘tics at the 6:49 mark. Artest to Pau on the left mid-post and Pau spins and hits a ten foot jumper. Garnett gets Drew in the air and goes around him for a layup. Pau makes a couple of FTs and it’s 17-12.

Bynum misses a ten foot jumper of his own from the left mid-post, but Pau grabs the rebound and is fouled on the way back up. Two more FTs for Pau and it’s 19-14. Pierce makes a jumper over Bynum on the perimeter. Artest takes his turn at the charity stripe and drops them both in.

LO comes in for Pau at the 4:50 mark and Artest scores from the right block after getting his own rebound. KG throws up a ten foot high arcing rainbow over Bynum that banks in, ‘tics 25-18. Drew misses a short jumper in the lane and R. Allen hits jumper at the other end.

LO gets his shot stuffed on the right block and drops the board out of bounds, but grabs the defensive rebound at the other end and takes it all the way back down to the left block where he misses a layup. However, Bynum rips the rebound away and forces his way back up to hit his own layup as he is fouled. He’ll try and finish the and-one after a PJ timeout.

Drew misses the FT and the Lakers have some new personnel on the floor, Farmar is in for Fish. Artest gets the defensive rebound at the other end. Brown to Drew on the left mid-post and he steps down to the block and misses a left-handed jump hook.

Bynum gets the defensive rebound after the ‘tics miss. Farmar misses a three from the right point and R. Allen hits one at the other end. Shannon makes a couple FTs and it’s 29-22 at the 1:21 mark.

Artest stuffs the other Allen, Tony, on the perimeter as the shot clock expires. Pau has come in for Drew and he whirls around Wallace on the left mid-post and dunks. Brown nails a three from the corner over Daniels as the buzzer expires to close out the quarter on a 7-0 run, but they still trail 29-27.

Bynum, Brown and Pau were the offensive forces for the Lakers in the first, but the whole team needs to pick it up on the defensive end if they want to put the ‘tics in the rear-view mirror. Doc says the Lakers’ bigs are killing them but he liked the way his team played outside of the last two minutes of the quarter.

Second Quarter:

Lakers give up the first bucket of the second under the basket, over Pau. Pau comes right back down and hits a twelve foot baseline jumper. The fourth ‘tic turnover gives the Lakers back the ball, but Sasha get called for the offensive foul driving the lane. Sasha must have come in for Shannon to start the quarter.

Sasha gets the defensive rebound after the ‘tics miss two shots from under the basket and Farmar drives the lane at the other end and makes a running three foot straight-away bank shot. Artest picks a bad pass out of Pierce’s hands and breaks down the court for a dunk as the Lakers finally take a lead, 33-32 with 9:50 left in the second quarter.

Sixth TO for the ‘tics and LO drives the lane and misses but is fouled. He makes one of the two FTs. On the next offensive possession, Farmar misses a three from the top of the arc. Sasha has the next defensive rebound bounce right at him in the lane and streaks back down the court feeding Farmar on the left wing of the break. Jason misses the reverse layup but is fouled as timeout is called at the 8:50 mark in a 34-34 game.

Farmar misses both FTs for an unofficial TO as the same five players come back out of the timeout for the Lakers. Pierce hits a three from the left point and LO comes back down and misses his from the same location. Next trip down, Sasha misses a three from the right corner off of a kick-out from Pau. Artest fights for the rebound but is rejected on the put back by Wallace.

Two shots for the ‘tics at the other end and Davis makes the second over LO in the lane. Sasha finds Artest on the right block and he throws down a left-handed dunk over Wallace. Ron absolutely posterized Rasheed!

Sasha misses a long two from the left wing after LO overdribbles before finding him open. Brown grabs the defensive rebound after recently checking back in and the Lakers call time out as soon as they get to the frontcourt.

It’s Pau, Ron, Shannon, Fish and Drew coming out of the timeout, from whence Brown telegraphs a pass on the perimeter and Rondo picks it off and goes in for a breakaway layup.

Pau’s line: 10 points.

Ron missies a jumper, then Pau gets his pocket picked on the post the next time down and Rondo ends up with another breakaway. This time he finishes with a dunk and gets called for a technical foul for taunting afterwards.

This continues a 15-2 run for the ‘tics and even though Fish’s FT makes it 15-3 it’s not looking good right now for the Lakers. They’re gonna have to pick up the pace if they want to get back in this thing, 47-37 ‘tics.

Boston plus six in rebounds so far, but they commit an unofficial turnover and Bynum gets the rebound off the second missed FT. Ron grabs an offensive rebound off a missed layup by Fish and floats in a left-handed tear drop from right in front of the basket.

Artest’s line: 10 points, 6 rebounds.

Perkins has got Bynum pushed under the hoop but when the pass comes in Drew reaches around him and pokes it away. It looks like a clean steal but there’s a late whistle and the ‘tics get the ball back. Bynum gets his fifth board on a Pierce miss over Artest from about twelve feet out on the right wing.

LO throws down a monster running dunk, coming all the way in from the right point off a kick-out from Brown on the block. Kevin Harland calls it a “sledgehammer” and that’s exactly what it was!

Garnett over LO on the block at the other end. Shannon misses an uncontested three foot jump hook from right in front of the basket but steals the ball back from under the basket on the defensive end. Artest ends up with the ball and takes it all the way down the left side of the court for a layup.

Bynum’s line: 8 points., 5 rebounds.

Garnett misses over LO and Bynum grabs the rebound. Artest misses a layup from the right block, the ‘tics get the board and timeout is called at the 2:35 mark with the score 49-43 ‘tics.

Brown picks off the ball on the right baseline steaks down the sideline and feeds LO running through the lane for a flying left-handed dunk over R. Allen in the restricted area. Third foul on Ray, eight Laker points off of six ‘tic TOs.

LO completes the and-one, 49-46 ‘tics. LO then ties up Daniels in the paint on the other end and the Lakers win the tip.

Bynum makes a nice move in the paint to get around KG off of an entry pass on the left mid-post from LO, but misses the layup. Fish grabs a defensive rebound after it careens around and takes the ball all the way down to the court and is fouled in the act of shooting on the left block.

Fish misses both, putting the Lakers at 11-17 FTs while the ‘tics are only 2-4. They’ve got to keep pounding the ball inside. Bynum gets called for his third foul as Perkins backs in to him violently on the left block. Pau comes in for Drew.

The Lakers pass the ball around the perimeter before Fish misses a three from the left-point. Boston gets the rebound and calls a timeout with 30 seconds left and a 51-46 lead. It looks like the Lakers are going to lose both of the first two quarters as Pierce makes two FTs.

Brown’s line: 5 points.

Fish misses another three but LO grabs the offensive board on the left block and flips in a gimme. Collins calls it, “a very difficult shot” but it looks like a doinker to me. Gasol bothers Rondo enough to make him miss his fade away at the buzzer, as the Lakers close out the quarter with a 12-6 run to trail by five, 53-48. They lost the first quarter by two and the second by three.

Halftime:

Kenny’s talking about Rondo at the half and I have to admit that I do think he’s one of the best PGs in the league right now. Why am I listening to Barkley, who’s now the round mound of sound. I can’t believe this guy once said he wants to be Gov. of AL. He can barely get a thought out of his mouth on the rare occasion when he has a coherent one.

Doc wants transition layups and a bunch of other things he’s not gonna get in his wired halftime talk to the ‘tics.

Pau’s line: 10 points on 3-4 FGs and 4-4 FTs, but only 1 rebound.
Artest’s line: 12 points. on 5-10 FGs and 2-2 FTs, and 6 rebounds.

Third Quarter:

KG yells “and-one” as he blows by Pau on the left block and banks in a layup, gets fouled and subsequently makes the FT. Starting five back in as Artest hits a three from the left wing on a kick-out from Brown in the middle of the lane.

R. Allen makes and uncontested jumper as Fish stands by his side and spectates. Pau is fouled on a layup attempt by KG and makes both FTs. Boston misses two shots and the Lakers come back down and miss an Artest layup.

Next offensive possession Pau gets fouled again, and makes both FTs again, but he loses KG at the defensive end and he throws down a running dunk. KG goes out with four fouls.

Brown overdribbles and ends up about twenty feet out on the left baseline where he throws up a shot that rolls off the front of the rim right to Bynum who slams it home. Offensive rebounds: Lakers seven, ‘tics five.

The Lakers run a very confused offensive possession that ends up with Pau throwing up a ten foot air-ball from the middle of the lane. Luckily Bynum is there to snatch it, swing to the other side of the hoop and make a layup as he is fouled. He goes to the FT line with a scowl on his face and misses. Lakers are still behind 64-59 with 7:30 left in the quarter.

Fish bricks another three from the top of the arc. Brown stuffs R. Allen at the other end and the Lakers eventually come down with a rebound. Brown forces himself down the lane and is fouled in the act of shooting. Shannon makes one of two from the line. Bynum bothers Rondo into missing a 20 foot jumper from the right point.

There’s a whistle on Artest on the defensive end, his third foul. Perkins brutalizes Pau out of the way and dunks. Bynum misses from the lane at the other end and the rebound ends up going out of bounds to the ‘tics. Timeout and it’s not looking good for the Lakers who have been playing catch-up almost the entire night and need to get serious on defense.

The Lakers come out of the timeout with Pau, LO, Farmar, Artest and Brown, behind 70-60 with 5:23 left in the third. Pau blocks Wallace’s straight-away three and Farmar finds him at the other end of the break for a layup.

The Lakers’ frontcourt is outscoring the ‘tics 51-34, so it’s obviously their perimeter play that is sucking air tonight. This is confirmed by the next graphic, backcourt points 38-11 ‘tics. Pau takes the perimeter upon himself, making a twenty-five footer from the right point.

LO gets a defensive rebound after a Pierce miss and Farmar fires up an air-ball three from the right corner after a chaotic offensive possession. Brown finally makes an outside jumper and Wallace is slapped with his league leading thirteenth technical foul for pushing Shannon on the way back down the court, but Brown misses the FT. The Lakers have three minutes left to try and win this quarter as Bynum gets a rebound off of a Rondo miss.

It’s the triple-tower lineup but Bynum gets called for a moving screen on a pick-and-roll with LO, and there’s yet another timeout, thanks to TNT. The ‘tics apparently lead the league in blowing 10+ point leads, a good sign for the Lakers if they can get their act together.

Powell is in for Bynum coming out of the TV timeout, along with Farmar, LO, Pau and Brown. Pau can’t get a shot off after losing the ball out of bounds with two on the clock and receiving the subsequent inbounds pass.

Pau plays volleyball at the offensive end and ends up getting picked, but Farmar reciprocates by stealing a pass at the other end and comes down and drills a three from the left wing. First ‘tic turnover of the third quarter, with 1:10 to go, and their lead is now 76-69.

Powell gets the rebound off a weak Pierce three and misses a ten foot jumper from the right mid-post at the other end. LO gets another defensive rebound and takes the ball the length of the court before missing a driving layup. This leaves only enough time for the ‘tics to make a long distance heave that misses to end the quarter with the score still ‘tics 76-69.

The Lakers have lost all three quarters so far. PJ says, “we’ve been awful!” in his sideline interview and goes on to explain that the ‘tics have been setting good picks and getting their shooters open.

Fourth Quarter:

For some unknown reason Sasha is back out on the floor to start the fourth, along with Pau, Farmar, Brown and LO. He dribbles around and passes out to Farmar who shoots an another air-ball three from the left point, and as Pau grabs it and hurls it back outside the shot clock expires. Not an auspicious beginning to a quarter the Lakers have to win.

Sasha’s gonna try and play Pierce, who misses two three pointers from the right point before LO grabs a rebound. LO brings it back down and finds Pau cutting to the basket from the top of the key. Pau lays it in, comes back down and swats away Pierce’s running floater in the lane.

Pierce goes out and Sasha’s now going to try and guard R. Allen. Wallace beats Pau inside for a layup and-one, but misses the FT. Farmar’s stripped by Rondo, who dunks at the other end, then on the next trip misses yet another long jumper from the right point. Luckily, Sasha swoops down the heart of the lane, grabs the offensive rebound and lays it in.

LO gets yet another defensive rebound and passes to Sasha at the other end. Sasha swoops around his man and drives right down the lane and lays it in from the right side. The Lakers are closing the gap but still trail 80-75 at the 9:30 mark.

LO throws an Unseld special two-handed overhead outlet all the way to the other end and Sasha grabs it on the left baseline to keep it from going out of bounds. Brown misses on a drive and Sasha gets a defensive rebound back down at the other end.

Pau nails a twelve foot jumper from the middle of the lane and the Lakers are within three. The ‘tics throw up another brick and the rebound embeds itself in LO’s chest. He brings it all the way back down the court and stops and pops a three from the left wing to tie the game at 80.

Doc’s doing his PJ imitation and shunning a timeout while the ‘tics are besieged. After the Lakers end up with the ball again, Doc changes his mind after the ball gets poked out of bounds to stop the clock.

Sasha makes a baseline twenty-footer off of the inbounds play. Pau pulls down his seventh rebound on the defensive end and hits Bynum under the bucket back on offense. The triple-towers are back in after the break, with Farmar and Sasha.

LO rebounds KG’s wide open jumper from the FT line, but then gets called for an offensive foul under the Lakers basket. It’s a stupid foul for LO to take as Perkins takes advantage of a poor weak-side defensive rotation to dunk and complete an and-one, with LO so late with the foul that the ball was already through the hoop when the whistle blew.

Bynum misses two shots in the lane after tipping his missed first. Sasha ties up KG on the left block as another TV timeout is called. Pau comes out for Artest and for some reason they let LO jump against KG instead of Sasha and the Lakers end up with the ball out of bounds.

Artest misses a three from the right wing and Perkins pushes off on Bynum at the other end going for the rebound. Bynum then spends about ten seconds on the mid-left post with the ball before deciding that he wants to miss a jump shot.

Bynum draws a foul on Perkins, his fourth, on the left block, then gives the ball to Sasha for a badly bricked three off the inbound. Pierce suckers LO into a shooting foul but misses the first as Pau comes back in for Drew. Then Pierce completes the unofficial TO before Artest has his shot blocked out of bounds with four on the clock at the other end. PJ calls a timeout and the Lakers come back with Fish, Brown, Artest, LO and Pau for the final 3:16, trailing 85-84.

Brown misses a twenty-footer from the right wing and the ‘tics score on a Rondo drive. Lakers end a four minute scoring drought after LO puts back an errant left hook by Pau from the block.

Rondo misses an uncontested five foot floater from just outside the right block and Fish ends up with an easy layup at the other end that he inexplicably bricks on. Fish somehow ends up on Pierce on defense and the result is a foul. Artest gets his eighth rebound but Brown misses a pull-up jumper from the right wing.

Lakers are winning the fourth quarter 17-11 but it’s not enough right now as they trail 87-86 with a minute left. LO ends up with yet another defensive rebound after a KG miss from the perimeter. Pau has a brain cramp at a bad time, the final minute, and throws a bad pass to Shannon on the baseline that ends up out of bounds.

Pierce drives down the left side to the basket around LO but Pau is there to block the layup and LO follows along for the leftovers with another rebound. LO goes all the way back down court along the right sideline and as he drives towards the hoop he bumps a ‘tic on the RW and it looks like a foul and continuation as he misses another layup.

Instead the whistle apparently blew because PJ called a timeout. Hopefully there is more time left that the 2.2 seconds that are currently reading on the game clock.

The replay shows that Pau was signaling for a timeout while the ball was still in the backcourt, not sure why it took the refs so long to call it. They should have at least another 3-4 seconds but apparently the clock will not be reset.

The Lakers are in a bad spot because the ‘tics still have a foul to give, but they’ve already won five games this year by one point so let’s just hope this is number six.

Fish takes the inbounds and throws up a severely contested air-ball brick from just above the FT line and the Lakers lose at home to the ‘tics, damn! Boston 87, LA 86 in a game they definitely should have won, but of course you can’t win them all.

It’s a painful end to their mini four game winning streak and they earned it with anemic offense and poor decision making down the stretch. They’ve got four days to brood on this one before they play the Griz next Tuesday. I hope this one sticks in their craw, I know it’s stuck in mine right now.

Postgame:

The Lakers needed Kobe’s late game heroics tonight and no one stepped up at the end to replace his presence. I don’t think either team scored in the last two minutes of the game, maybe it was good defense but it looked to me more like pathetic offense. If the Lakers would have won just one of the first three quarters their effort in the fourth would have been enough, but they didn’t and it wasn’t.

Looking at the stats, it becomes even more obvious how Kobe’s absence just killed us tonight. The interior players all had good numbers but the perimeter guys were a disaster. The Lakers won the battle of the boards 50-43, and 12-8 on the offensive end, but they only had 14 assists as a team, which is a pitiful number. Sasha may have been their most effective perimeter player tonight, just to put an exclamation point on a glaring weakness. The top four Lakers in a poorly played game...

LO’s line: 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Pau’s line: 22 points on 7-12 FGs, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Drew’s line: 14 points and 9 rebounds in 27.5 minutes.
Ron’s line: 15 points and 8 rebounds.

Good thing that this was just another exhibition game, just wait ‘til the real season starts!

WOW! Yeah, we are SOOOOO much better without KB24! I supposed everyone will be crying, "we need Kobe!" What a joke. And another IMPRESSIVE game from Fish, 1-9 and gets the play called for him, 6'1" shooting over 6'5"??? Way to coach COACH! PS-Please Kobe if you read this, please come back, please, please, please! Posted by: DJ | February 18, 2010 at 10:43 PM

LOL - preach to them DJ! OUT FREAKIN STANDING!!
MAMBA24

If Kobe was in the game... it would have been 100-87. Of course the Lakers aren't as good with out the best player in the league in the game. And they still almost beat one of the top contenders in the East. Lakers are going to repeat.

I watched Cavs game last night, and man is LeBron playing like Magic Johnson. The guy is incredibly tall, can make every pass with ease, and is making his teammates look like all stars. He's something else. We'll need a super-human force to battle this Bazaro.

Anyone remember where the switch is for the Black-Mamba silhouette spotlight?

Wes

DON’T FEEL BAD ABOUT THIS LOSS AT ALL
Don’t feel bad about this loss at all, A Win was as close as a Referee’s call
Even with no Mamba in to play, we almost blew the creaky Celts away
This was just a wake up call, That we need the Black Mamba “ya’ll”
But we don’t need him to hurry back, We need him for the Playoffs that’s a fact
This game was good for the Lakers sake, It builds confidence when Kobe takes a break
*
I DON’T FEEL BAD ABOUT THIS LOSS AT ALL – BANDWAGON
*
(01) FAITH – OWNER - I know we lost that game. But don't despair laker fans, this team is the real deal. They got poise, they got hunger, and when without their best player they still prevail to the best of their ability. With Kobe this team will be unstoppable...come playoffs. They know what it takes and they're uber talented to boot. No one can stop us but ourselves.
(02) OMEGA – DRIVER - I dont know about you guys but i was happy with our team so much. How much passion they were playing with and how much grit they had and never gave up all the way to the end. We did loose but you cant lie to your self and say the lakers didnt play good. They played with there heart out. I wish we can play like this more with kobe making the game winner.
(03) RICK FRIEDMAN – RIDING SHOTGUN - OK, haters. Still wanna trade Kobe? Huh? Do you? Do you? Did you really want Derek Fisher taking that final shot? Huh? Did you? Did you? I didn't think so. The Mamba had a lot of reasons to be proud of his boyz tonight. They say there's no such thing as a moral victory, but this was as close as it gets. I Yes, it sucks that we lost. No doubt about it. Shannon will learn from that fatal 4th quarter shot selection. Phil will learn that as much as he loves Fish, he's no longer the guy he once was. Fish's days as Mr. Clutch are over. So far, I like how this team responds to being tested. But come May and June when the chips are on the line, it will take Kobe to bring it all home. We're Lakers fans. We're damn lucky. We saw a great effort tonight. Go Lakers!
(04) #4
(05) MAMBA24 – DRIVER – It’s all good Celt’s played their best and yet even without Kobe we should have and almost did win. Team I’m proud of you
(06) VMAN - No problem. It's February. The Celtics are irrelevant. They've got no shot at a June rematch.
(07) MUD - there's also no need to blame any particular person for the loss. the game wsn't for the championship, as much as i hated to see the loss. now it's time to get right for the next game.
(08) LAKESHOWINPHOENIX - tough loss for l.a. tonight. they played with a lot of heart, but it wasn't enough we should have won this game! damn!
(09) CALIPHILOSOPHER - Excellent defensive effort tonight. Missed a few open looks, but I really liked our defense. I'd like for use to keep the same intensity when we play next week. If I'm not mistaken, we get a bit more time off until our next game, correct?
(10) HILTONTOWN - Tough loss, lots of things to improve, but I think this team is starting to come together at the right time.
(11) THE OUTLAW - I saw a lot of things I liked tonight. Obviously, some not-so-good things, too. I thought Bynum played with more fire than I've seen in a long time. Lamar was outstanding. Pissed about losing. But I'm always pissed about that. The bigger picture is that this team is poised for a strong run to the finish line. Nothing but a parade will do.
(12) APPOLO C. VERMONT - The good thing about this game was they fought the good fight...they lost the battle in this game but not the war......they are improving a lot...but we still need Kobe.......more than ever.... There's a reason why Kobe is the best player in the league and isn't winning because he has talented
(13) IHEARTLA - good game by the lakers without kobe. They fought hard, but you need ur general out there when the game is close.
(14) VCTOR - Lamar was great tonight, and Artest played tough the way we need him to. Tough loss, lots of things to improve, but I think this team is starting to come together at the right time.
(15) FLOYD - ure there was some stupid lame errors, in play, in jugement, in subsitutions, and in play calling etc...but still a winnable game.
(16) AARON - If Kobe was in the game... it would have been 100-87. Of course the Lakers aren't as good with out the best player in the league in the game. And they still almost beat one of the top contenders in the East. Lakers are going to repeat.
(17) AZTRONUT - Good thing that this was just another exhibition game, just wait ‘til the real season starts!

TJ SIMERS IS KOBE HATER PERIOD, HOPE HE WILL HANG HIMSELF ,
Posted by: john lakers | February 19, 2010 at 04:05 AM

Easy there John Lakers. Remember it's only a game, but I feel you bro.
Mamba24

Aztronut, Nicely done again! That took alot of time and energy and if anyone missed the game (who would/could miss that game?!) they would get the feel of the game from reading your post.

I was in the chat off and on and I mentioned in there that Lamar just seemed like he was walking tall. He played agressively, defended with effort, and his presence was HUGE. He is amazingly long and when he drove to the hoop with just a few seconds left, I thought he made that layin.

Artest was all over the place and I appreciated his toughness and energy. I like him on our team and it will show in the playoffs.

Pau had a nice game but there are times that he gets pushed around and bullied. That's just part of living with Pau in the paint.

I thought Bynum had a great game. I liked his defensive energy and his offense. I didn't see the clunkiness in our offense with him in there last night. Maybe that is what the playoffs might be more like and how his game MAY be when we get there.

I hated losing the game, but I can live with it. Great effort, exciting moments, and we could have pulled it out with some smarter play. But sometimes we will lose some as we figure ourselves out.

Last night LeBron and Carmelo had one of the best one on one games in years. Truely a memorable night. It was back and forth with Carmelo gettng the last shot with 1.9 seconds left. Combined they scored 83 points-- two better than Kobe's career night.

Wes

Last night LeBron and Carmelo had one of the best one on one games in years. Truely a memorable night. It was back and forth with Carmelo gettng the last shot with 1.9 seconds left. Combined they scored 83 points-- two better than Kobe's career night. Wes Posted by: wesjoenixon | February 19, 2010 at 06:45 AM
SO DOES THAT MEAN IT TAKES 2 SUPERSTARS TO EQUAL ONE MAMBA?
OR ... CARMELO AND LEBRON ARE ONLY HALF THE PLAYER OF MAMBA?

This is a list of our guards salaries. My intention is to perhaps see into what the Lakers MAY be up to in their thinking about the Point Guard upgrade and what is their best option. Next year at the traing deadline or MAYBE this summer:

Derek Fisher $5 mil unrestricted free agent
Jordan Farmar $1.95 Mil qualifying offer $2.875 mil next yr
Shannon Brown $2.0 Mil Player option @ $2.2 mill next yr
Sasha Vujacic $5.4 Mil next yr/final yr of the contract

Expiring contract Morrison $5.2 mil (qualifying offer)

Now, it seems to me that this total is about $19.5 mil. By not signing/offering Farmar, Fish, and Morrison, then we will have Team Salary of $71,956,592 (taken from hoopshype).

If we traded Sasha, (expiring contract next year he will make $5,475,113 for 2010/2011) and got in return a high level star Point Guard, then our salary BEFORE getting the Point Guard will be at $66,481479. We will have to decide what to do with Powell and MBenga, but even at $1 mil each, that puts us at say $69 mil? We will need a good back up point guard too, so lets say we spend $2.5 mil on a back up point guard. Then we are at $71.5 mil.

Point being, we spent $91 mil this year and want to reduce salary for next year. But we still want a PG upgrade. This gives us $20 mil less than this year. Maybe we can reasonably assume that if we spend HALF of the reduction, then we sign a Point Guard and still come in $10 million under what is being spent this year.

I'm not sure how to work out Sasha coming off the books. Maybe it would have to be a sign and trade deal in order for it to work. HOWEVER, the options we will have next year will be very good.

There you have it folks! This is the reason we are living with poor choices at PG this year. It is unfortunate that we are burning one of the Mamba's Championship years because of it. But there it is in black and white. We are waiting til next year to upgrade the PG position. By doing so, our options are MUCH better and we can pursue a dramatic upgrade by doing so.

Mamba24, put me on that bandwagon, bro. Our guys played with a lot of heart and a lot of energy. There were a lot of times they could have folded and simply brushed it off later because Kobe wasn't there, but they fought back every time. They were in it till the end, and were in a position to win it at the end. The fact they didn't doesn't change a thing.

I subscribe to the view that these games without Kobe are developing great team confidence in one another, and a team memory of how it can be if they all play hard on both offense and defense for 48 minutes. They matched the Celtics in intensity in every phase of the game...defense, rebounding, moving without the ball, looking for the open man, etc.

I also subscribe to the view that they now also better appreciate what Kobe means to them. He's the game changer. He's the one who stops those 7-minute spells without a bucket. And yeah, he's the one who knocks down those game-ending shots with two guys draped all over him.

I love this team. I love our chances in the playoffs. GO LAKERS!

OK, troy. Then you can leave and go to other team's boards, since you already know how this will end.

I love that the team played tough. I have loved these last five games. I think everyone on the team has had their moment to shine and an opportunity to be "The Man."

We can now get back to Kobe Bean Bryant. You can come back now Kobe. We (the team) have now seen who we are. We can play tough, we are capable and we can win. But we aren't a juggernaut without you.

It's safe to come back now Kobe. The team has proven thier point as have you. We are a good team without you. But you are essential. You can come back now and hold your head up, as can we.

Welcome back, now where were we.......

WITHOUT KOBE:

1. With the goods we saw in the last 5 games, Kobe's absence was sorely missed in last night loss to Boston.

2. With Kobe and the new laker team I say title # 17 is 99.99999 percent a sure bet.

3. Very curious to see how Kobe is going to incorporate himself into the team.

4. Lastly, if only Kobe can channels 10 % of Magic Johnson's persona

Oxford Town, Oxford Town
Ev'rybody's got their heads bowed down
The sun don't shine above the ground
Ain't a-goin' down to Oxford Town

@BOB DYLAN, 2. With Kobe and the new laker team I say title # 17 is 99.99999 percent a sure bet.
SING IT AGAIN BOB, SING IT AGAIN!!!

Overall I thought the guards were pretty bad this game, missing shots, missing FTs, and bad decisions in general. The Bigs played pretty well, but Pau made some bad decisions at the end. He never should have tried to make that baseline pass to Brown. Pau needs to take that shot. They were never gonna win all the games without Kobe.

dj855 - i appreciate your feedback and perspective. no doubt on defense the lakers guard play has struggled, but it is a knee jerk reaction in the sense of their offensive production. shannon brown has usually played pretty well. but he forced a lot of things and made some bad decisions. fish has shot poorly all season but as i noted in the blog, at this point there isn't much of a better alternative. farmar has done well, but he's more of a sparkplug guy that's good in spurts. fish's game-winning shots can't always rationalize his poor shooting nights, but his on-court leadership is always present. it's very hard to quantify that if you're not a player, but it's there.

MM

>>>The funny thing is, as terrible as Fisher's last shot was, Kobe makes that same shot.

The key word being "makes". Not "takes", but "makes".

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall:

Edwin Gueco:

You wrote: " I have a haunch and this is just my thinking. What I am afraid of Kobe's injury is the psychological revenge that he's capable of. Before he rested, there were complaints aired by Gasol on touches, and Fisher about moving the ball and in this blog that he shoots too much let the young players like Shannon, Farmar and Bynum get the ball. What did he do? Kobe rested for the last 3 games before ASG and while resting his tendon got inflamed. huh! "

Response:

You are reading too much into Kobe's taking time off. Only a diabolical mind would venture into dark alleys to concoct dark tales. Without Kobe we now know a) this is a very good team, no ifs ands butts, b) it is good for the laker franchise to have Kobe get some R&R and come back rejuvenated, and c) lastly, Edwin empty mind is a devil's workshop so I suggest you should focus on the positives.

I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

troy,

>>>The Lakers won't get passed the Denver Nuggets...and you can remember I
>>>said it on this day.

I will remember it.

I'll remember it as I'm mocking you mercilessly about your underestimation of the Lakers, your lack of faith in your team, and your inadequate knowledge of the English language (the word you were looking for is "past", not "passed").

I fart in your general direction, you little wiper of other people's bottoms.

Now go away before I taunt you a second time.

1. If the refs would have called the timeout when Gasol called it, we would have won the game.

2. If the refs would not have called the timeout, we would have won the game as Lamar was clearly fouled on his shot and it SHOULD have been called.

3. We lost the game because the refs called the timeout when they called the timeout and did not put more time on the clock.

Stupid.

What do we play for? RINGS!!!!

Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.

GO LAKERS!!!!

JohnnyV,

Your numbers are a bit off. I'm not sure why.

With existing guaranteed contracts, the Lakers are currently under contract for 81.7 million for next season for Kobe, Pau, Bynum, Odom, Artest, Vujacic, and Luke. Not 71 million, but 81 million (almost 82).

Which means they're at least 11 to 12 million over the luxury tax, even if Shannon Brown opts out, they waive Jordan Farmar, and let Derek Fisher go.

If Shannon opts in and if they pay Jordan the least they could possibly pay him (and no other team offers more), that puts them at about 87 million for 9 players. The league miniumum is 13 players, so throw in 4 more players on minimum contracts and you're talking about 91 million MINIMUM in contracts for next season.

The only way the Lakers will be paying less than 91 million in salary next season is if they get one of the 5 teams that have huge cap space this summer to take someone off their hands for either nothing or a lot less salary.

For example, let's say Miami doesn't manage to lure any of the big names like Bosh, LeBron, or even Amare, and they have a ton of cap space. And lets say the Lakers lost in the first round (far fetched, I know) and ended up losing money for the season. Then Buss might be desperate to ditch some salary. So they could make a trade like Bynum for Michael Beasley and Miami's 2010 draft pick. That would cut 7 million off the Laker's salary.

Or if Chicago didn't score any big name players, maybe the Lakers could trade Bynum and Brown for Hinrich and Noah and cut 3 to 4 million.

>>> We will need a good back up point guard too, so lets say we spend $2.5 mil
>>>on a back up point guard.

Do you know what kind of point guard you can get for 2.5 million?

Sebastian Telfair makes 2.5 million.
Acie Law makes 2.2 million

Basically, the only way you get a decent PG for 2.5 million or less is if you get one on the last half of their rookie contract.

>>>I'm not sure how to work out Sasha coming off the books. Maybe it would
>>>have to be a sign and trade deal in order for it to work.

It's very simple. There are 7 teams with tons of cap space this summer (New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami, Washington, Oklahoma City, and the Clippers). LeBron, DWade, Bosh, and Joe Johnson can only go to four teams. Throw in Boozer and Amare at large-but-not-max deals and that still leaves a couple of teams with a lot of cap space.

You trade Sasha into that cap space. Throw in cash or a 2nd round pick or something. Voila. 5.5 million off the salary.

But Sasha has actually been playing pretty well most games lately. Last night he was the ONLY guard who slowed Ray Allen down, and he hit half of his shots. I think he may still contribute to this year's and next year's championship squads.

Mamba, Put me on the I Don't Feel Bad About This Loss Bandwagon.
Also, if LTL starts up an I Fart In Your General Direction bandwagon, put me on that one also. Monty Python cracks me up.
I'm a Laker fan and that's OK.

A very good team beat them by one point with the Lakers best player not suited up. CTFD!! (Calm ... ... down!)

That game says a lot both about the ability of the Lakers, and the need for a healthy Kobe - but nothing that the preceding 4 games hadn't shown.

The Lakers are a good team without him, but not a great team. They won't win the title without him, but they are hardly a guarantee to win it with him - if he is healthy, there is the potential to be an exceptional team, but his game needs to be better integrated with everybody else's.

JohnnyV,

"Nicely done again! That took alot of time and energy and if anyone missed the game (who would/could miss that game?!) they would get the feel of the game from reading your post."

Thanks again! I can pretty much guarantee you that these things will get a lot shorter in the future. I go in to it trying to cover the highlights and come out describing every possession. I guess it's just my nature to make more work for myself than I should but I learned my lesson on this one...watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat... presto!

"Lamar just seemed like he was walking tall. He played agressively, defended with effort, and his presence was HUGE. He is amazingly long and when he drove to the hoop with just a few seconds left, I thought he made that layin."

Yeah, I thought that he made that last layup too, but once I realized that the reaction wasn't just about the timeout call and heard all of the announcers deny it was good I decided that I must have been wrong. LO's still got some work to do with all the layups he misses but I won't be critisizing his defense anymore.

"Artest was all over the place and I appreciated his toughness and energy. I like him on our team and it will show in the playoffs."

I don't think any team with Ron can be considered "soft" by anyone.

"Pau had a nice game but there are times that he gets pushed around and bullied. That's just part of living with Pau in the paint."

He's amazingly effective in the paint defensively for a "finesse" player, and I think that offensively he's becoming less and less bothered by contact.

"I thought Bynum had a great game. I liked his defensive energy and his offense. I didn't see the clunkiness in our offense with him in there last night. Maybe that is what the playoffs might be more like and how his game MAY be when we get there."

I didn't think he played great but I did think that he played well, even if his hip still isn't well. If you extapolate his numbers out to 40 minutes, he would have had more than 20/10, which is what you want from your starting C. His defense was better than adequate last night but I think that defense is harder for him than offense with the hip pointer.

The only time he became a "black hole" was in the fourth quarter, I believe, when he spent about ten seconds holding the ball on the post before going up with a missed jumper over Perkins. I fully expect him to be much better than this by the time the playoffs roll around.

"I hated losing the game, but I can live with it. Great effort, exciting moments, and we could have pulled it out with some smarter play. But sometimes we will lose some as we figure ourselves out.'

That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger? Yeah, I think so too!

Edwin Gueco,

"I hope you are right that my haunch was wrong."

Hilarious! Kind of double entendre there, no? I love that type of hidden humor, even if it's unintentional.

Does anybody here agree that for an NBA PG Fish has got to be the slowest and least athletic as well as least GRACEFUL basketball player and finisher in the league?

I always cringed whenever Fish tries to drive to the basket. Bad enough by himself and much worse when there are defenders in the paint. Whenever Fish tries to slash and drive to the basketball only two outcomes are possible: bad and worse. ALWAYS. Yet I don't know what drove him sometimes to even try. Didn't anybody ever tell him that he does not have the capacity to be a finisher?

Somebody should tell him that his best play is a pullup jumper. If he feels the need to drive then why not for just a few steps then pull up for a jumper?

BTW somebody mentioned Fish's leadership quality? Well, I have something to respond to that:

OVER-RATED!

OK, troy. Then you can leave and go to other team's boards, since you already know how this will end.
_________________________

Sorry, no can do.