Enough with all this offense! We need DEFENSE!!!

Rooscooter wrote:

ElginTheGreat wrote:

revgen wrote:^We shot 49FG% against the Mavericks and 50FG% against the Blazers. The shot selection is fine. The turnovers, missed FT's, and bad defense are not.

This all day long. The turnovers last night were just unreal.

Shooting a high % against these two teams is not really an accomplishment.... neither is much of a defensive powerhouse. Howard saw almost no resistance whatsoever other than the intentional fouls.... As much as I wish he would....... He's not going to shoot 78% from the line this year..... so if he had a more "normal" night at the line we would have been out of the game earlier than we were.

We were -12 in turnovers.... that can't happen to this team because we can't make those possessions up by turning up the tempo of the game.... Our defense doesn't create turnovers either so taking care of the ball is paramount for this team.

The turnovers were bad but the defense was worse. Way too much standing around.... Howard had one defensive rebound at the Half and only 3 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Pau wasn't any better either.

We will see on the shooting %. I feel like Nash (even with limited playing time) and Dwight are having the effect on Kobe, Pau, etc that I thought they would have in getting them some better looks (I have not looked at the stats so, that may not hold up upon a closer look). I really think that once we get used to playing with each other and some kind of flow on offense we will be able to shoot and score pretty well against any team.

I agree with with everything else you said.

Murdock wrote:Haven't had the chance to watch any game so far ... but from I've read some blame Brown ... is Brown? or is the Princeton offense? or is it both?

The team looks unprepared and confused on the floor, especially on the defensive end and when the bench comes in. That's on the coaching staff... headed by MB.

Murdock wrote:Haven't had the chance to watch any game so far ... but from I've read some blame Brown ... is Brown? or is the Princeton offense? or is it both?

Well, I am not sure if its really the Princeton offense or just the fact that we don't seem to know how to run it. Right now I am leaning toward both, but I would like to give the team some more time to get some kind of flow going.

We look terrible out there though. No way around that.

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter about 33 minutes ago
Kobe recognizes that the O wasn't even the problem in 2 losses. LAL have been efficient on O. Communication, urgency on D lacking

THANK YOU KOBE!!! I'M GLAD YOU KNOW THE REAL ISSUES!! The team is in good hands....

LakRfAn wrote:SMH at all the ref talk... In the first half, we went to the freethrow line every other time down the floor and we were down

The turnovers and Dwight not being himself yet are to blame, not the refs

There's a HUGE difference between being down by 5 and being down by 19. I have repeatedly said the first half was fairly officiated. In the second half, Portland got MORE physical, and got called for WAY LESS fouls. Also, the Blazers were INTENTIONALLY FOULING Dwight the whole game when he was getting open under the basket, which accounted for the VAST MAJORITY of our FT attempts in the first half. When the Blazers decided to only SELECTIVELY foul Dwight when he had a guaranteed scoring opportunity, his FTs went way down.

The difference in the game was the difference in the level of contact allowed by the Lakers defenders VS the level of contact allowed by the Blazer defenders. Dwight, Metta and Kobe all got called for AT LEAST 2 fouls that were on par with the same contact they were getting from their defenders on EVERY TRIP down offensively. After they got into foul trouble, the defense got worse because they couldn't risk fouling out when the game was still winable...which, for this team, is any game where we have less than 40 points to overcome in more than 6 minutes of game time.

The physicality differential was the single most prominent weakness for the Lakers, and it had the biggest impact on the game. It was clear as day. Blaming the refs is usually just a bad excuse, in this instance it is a legitimate analysis of the deciding difference between the two teams.

hell yea defense is this the issue...I haven't seen one stop yet...lol...at least one when it counts....just horrible communication but it will get better.

the defense shouldn't be this bad, I can understand it struggling but not to this point when considering Potatoe head specialty

Snakell Beast wrote:

LakRfAn wrote:SMH at all the ref talk... In the first half, we went to the freethrow line every other time down the floor and we were down

The turnovers and Dwight not being himself yet are to blame, not the refs

The difference in the game was the difference in the level of contact allowed by the Lakers defenders VS the level of contact allowed by the Blazer defenders. Dwight, Metta and Kobe all got called for AT LEAST 2 fouls that were on par with the same contact they were getting from their defenders on EVERY TRIP down offensively. After they got into foul trouble, the defense got worse because they couldn't risk fouling out when the game was still winable...which, for this team, is any game where we have less than 40 points to overcome in more than 6 minutes of game time.

This.

The refereeing in the 3rd quarter was the second reason we lost that game, right after turnovers. The refereeing in the 3rd had me going nuts. We couldn't even body up their players. Meeks and Ebanks were called for two fouls in two consecutive trips down (Ebanks actually had 3 fouls in 8 seconds) that were simply defensive plays. They were just putting bodies on bodies which is what you're supposed to do.

Whistle. Momentum goes to Portland and an already shaky team falls apart.

On topic, the defense hasn't been there. The scheme seems to be the same and there definitely seems to be problems with it. The same holest that existed last season are still there. Howard is a better help defender than Andrew was, but he's not there yet and that won't fix the defense.

Yeah it really was 8 seconds. That's what Mike Trudell said on the sideline because Lantz and MacDonald were saying it was 30 seconds.

It only seemed like 30 seconds because the ball has to be taken out after every foul. He fouled Batum off the ball to start. He fouled Batum WHILE the ball was being taken out of bounds. And then he fouled Batum within 8 seconds of inbounding the ball, this time while in the act of shooting.

The last foul was maybe legitimate. The first two were truly awful calls.

FREE DJO -- I want to see what he can do against Bledsoe and Crawford. Him in with Kobe and Dwight or Blake and Gasol would interesting. Him in with Meeks, Ebanks, Hill and Jamison would be a disaster.

Brown preaches defense
Sole reason he was brought in
but now forgotten

KareemTheGreat33 wrote:Brown preaches defense
Sole reason he was brought in
but now forgotten

I get that you lost a bet, but I for one think your new posting style is AWESOME and hope it continues after the bet ends. Reading your posts in this format is like a moment of Zen.

tigerjeterkobe wrote:FREE DJO -- I want to see what he can do against Bledsoe and Crawford. Him in with Kobe and Dwight or Blake and Gasol would interesting. Him in with Meeks, Ebanks, Hill and Jamison would be a disaster.

Unless we are up by quite a bit or if we're down, I don't think we'd see DJO.

I'm pretty sure DJO has been in a suit the last two games anyway. Unless they plan on putting Morris in a suit, there's no way we'll see DJO.

Have the Defenders started yet?

therealdeal wrote:I'm pretty sure DJO has been in a suit the last two games anyway. Unless they plan on putting Morris in a suit, there's no way we'll see DJO.

Have the Defenders started yet?

Their first game is November 28.

Yes I agree Defense and turn overs and we will be fine!! But I must say this is a STRANGE season so far!! VERY STRANGE!

Turnovers are offense. We turned it over way too much tonight.