Honest questions (curiosity) and hope to get honest unbiased answers.
For those who are team Fisher.

Why do you guy n gals think Fisher sat the entire 4th?
What made Phil make that decision?

Posted by: Magia32 | February 04, 2011 at 07:37 AM

Cricket sounds?

I do not mind he sat 10 minutes but with Kobe bricking it and the Lakers needing that one clutch 3 in the last 2 minutes Phil forgot the guy who has delivered for all his years. It was wrong and not very smart. Fish should have played because if we are going to go into the playoffs he will need to deliver. Blake is Not a playoff level finisher as we saw last night. Fish may only have one shot in him a game but he has proven over and over it is the one that matters. He even has a steal. Bad decision Phil.

I am definitely team Fisher.

I think PJ Left Blake in there so he could get some 4Q experience against a team we will probably face when it counts most.

He needs that playoff, close game, crunch time experience. Fish doesn't.

Somebody questioned in the last post why AB wasn't inserted in the last sequence after the TO. I agree and would have liked to see our 3 bigs in there to totally clog up the paint. It would have allowed LO to be long on the perimeter. And I have to hope that AB would have boxed out an 80 year old McDyess.

On the flip side of that Zen master psychology - PJ did the right thing because it was a regular season game. He can save that card for the playoffs when there will definitely be half-court, defensive, slow-moving, close score, every possession counts games.

Cheers - PLG

@Magia32 – You’re right if it was the playoffs Phil would’ve had a quicker hook, but overall it was good intensity.

As far as the team Fisher deal. I consider myself on team Laker. PJ played Blake in the 4th because he felt he would provide better defense than Fish. I agree with the move. Last night their minutes were pretty even. I think that's what we'll continue to see. All good by me.

I am definitely team Fisher.

I think PJ Left Blake in there so he could get some 4Q experience against a team we will probably face when it counts most.

He needs that playoff, close game, crunch time experience. Fish doesn't.

Posted by: PsychedLakerGirl | February 04, 2011 at 09:35 AM

If thats the way you want to look at it, ok, I ain't mad at ya.
but then how come and I'm not saying all at once or even the in the same game. But how come Phil never has Brown in for Kobe, for crunch time experience? Or Bynum in for Odom or Caracter for Gasol in ther at crunch time?
None of our starters need that experience either. Guys, for as little as what is needed at the PG spot, Blake with the coach's blessing and trust, once he gets his confidence back, Blake will outplay Fisher.

Thats the thing with a lot of you here, you're team Fisher.
I'm team Lakers.
I'll say it again, I don't hate Fisher, I hate his game.

Hold your fire, I come {today} in peace :

1} Edwin Gueco knows the Lakers like Gordon Gekko knows money...his comments at 8:52 were spot on!

2} Despite what is going on right now...the Spurs would not be able to beat the Lakers in a seven game series.

3} Any Laker fan calling for Gasol to be traded is NOT a Laker fan. Good luck trying to replace his 18-20 points, and 10 boards!

Every day in my profession I essentially perform a task that I have performed before. Yet, many factors change the outcome of those tasks including my own execution. I also ski, play b-ball, and cycle so I know that the combination of heart, mind, and body is never the exact same every time. My point is that there are reasons why nothing is ever the same EVER. Having said that it is tough to watch the Lakers lose these games lately, I hated the last second tip-in last night. What I hope for is that a half season of complacency and fuzzy execution will be replaced by a measure of urgency. And I would much rather the team figure these things out now then in the playoffs.

Let's be honest with ourselves regarding Fisher.

PJ needs to "save" his legs + even PJ realizes that one of his favs are hurting the team out there.

PJ has not made the "needs experience" substitution in the last 3 seasons except perhaps either a few minutes at a time or a one-off game. This was consecutive games that Fisher has been sitting. He also sat vs the Nuggets during the 4th quarter run and I didn't watch the Celtics loss. But I do feel like I'm seeing a pattern here and it's usually the "you're hurting us out there, so I am forced to sit you" pattern.

Oh well. Could have been avoided, but this is where we're at. Let's just hope the old man can pull out one more post season.

Magia32 - h8 is a pretty strong word and I dont ever use it.

We are both expressing our opinions and there is no anger.

But you obviously haven't read my posts earlier this week when I was talking all about TEAM. You asked for comments regarding Fisher. And now you are trying to mincemeat words into a focus on one guy.

I am very well aware that one person, no matter who that might be wins a championship single-handedly in the NBA (or any TEAM) sport.

You can dislike his game vehemently but Fish is a champion 5x's over and you can't take that away from him. You can dislike his game vehemently in the current season but he is one piece of the TEAM who brings something to the table every night whatever that might be, good or bad. Who doesn't?

I still believe in Fish and know he will be there when needed most. PJ is all about momentum and one Fish play in the playoffs can change momentum (ie: 4Q, Game 7, 6:15).

Lastly the whole Brown for KB, AB for LO, DC for Pau - do I really need to comment on that? I already discussed the AB thing and I believe it was PJ's strategy to save that card for the playoffs. DC for Pau? PJ makes rookies ride pine. The only reason we have DC on the team is because of Theo's injury and payroll. Otherwise, he's be a DNP-CD all season long or in the D-league.

Sure, PJ could have put in the whole bench for the 4q, but I am pretty sure he felt like we could get a W by putting in his go to crunch time team with one wrinkle (Blake). I am sure come playoff time, when the rotation is much tighter, he will changge it up. No sense showing all your cards in February.

PLG

San Antonio can stretch their lead in the West even further
with a win over the Sacramento Kings.

So the question is:

Who are you rooting for this evening?

Kings or Spurs?

Next question:

Who's going to have the best record going forward from Jan 1.

Kings or Lakers?

And does this mean the Kings are getting much better,
the Lakers much worse, or both?

Go Kings!
Go SF Giants!
Go SF Niners!
It's Aaron Rogers (Nocal Chico boy) on Sunday!

Sonnybelfast

If the playoffs were played right now, I'd say the Lakers would make the WCF and have a 40% chance of beating the Spurs, even without HCA. They're close.

But if the playoffs were played right now, I think the Lakers would lose a 7 game series to the Celtics or Heat, or win a 7 game series vs Chicago or Orlando.

Fortunately, the playoffs aren't right now.

With perseverance and a little bit of luck (mostly with health - no more injuries), I still think the Lakers will finish the 3-peat.

Granted that the game would not have been close without the clutch play of LO in the 4th Q. But on the tip in at the last second LO didnot box out or jump. If he leaps, the game is over.

Fisher's shooting percentage has been up and down, as has Blake's. But one thing Fisher has gotten overlooked is on defense. Yes, I said it. Defense. I'm not saying Fish should be credited for one on one defense. Obviously that's always been a struggle in that regard. But he's been great in shutting off passing lanes, deflecting passes and taking charges. He seems to be one of the only consistent ones on the floor who also communicate on rotations.

Well played game. I think it's funny how a lot of the media are focusing on the tip-in play that the Lakers lost the game on and how the Lakers really "needed" to win the game but couldn't deliver. There's no mention of the missed 4 free throws during the course of the game. People forget about the 9 turnovers that the Laker starters had throughout the course of the game. No one asked about the lucky shot that Neal threw in at the end of the first half. The Spurs and Lakers are so closely matched that it's the little things which make the difference between winning and losing. On the bright side, the Lakers played decent team defense. Artest played very good defense on Ginobili and only had a couple of turnovers where he tried to do too much with the ball. There was decent ball movement...even in the 4th quarter. Odom was working hard at making plays when he was in there. Gasol was more aggressive. Kobe didn't shoot the ball well, but he rebounded well and passed it nicely. He missed getting a triple double by one rebound. I saw a lot of things in this game to suggest that the Lakers are going to be fine in the playoffs this year. The one unknown is whether the team can remain healthy. We'll see.

hello laker fans!

Great game last night, lakers are obviously still favorites in the west and the nba. but i think the spurs have a chance this year.. i really do. home court, 7 game series anything can happen!

However not the reason i dropped by. I wanted to hear from lakers fans on this. Can somebody tell me why this particular set of celtics players walk around with such arrogance???? they won one championship, one! and they walk around like gods gift to the nba. Kobe is confident, he expects to win every game and every championship. but he goes out and walks the walk and earns it. 5 championships. I resepect that. Same goes for Timmy D. 4 titles. I know Ginobili flops alot but he has serious game. and Tony cheats on his wife, but he can play. both with 3. And then you have paul pierce and kevin garnett. Both with one championship. and they act like they are two of the best players ever.. anybody else annoyed by this?