Lakers standing in Western Conf. Discussion

^Looking at this weekend's slates, Clips at home play a skeletal Portland team then Utah. Lakers after OKC get Nawlins and Golden State.

We're the 3rd seed, but we're also 4.5 games away from the lottery. I was hoping we'd get the 2nd seed, but that seems out of reach. We'd have to win all 3 games against the Spurs and still get lucky.

Spurs have a real shot at finishing 1st in the West ... their remaining schedule is easier than the OKC one , they only have 2 more losses and own the tie breaker ... in that case getting the 4th seed isn't a bad idea

Popovich will probably rest TP , Duncan here and there though which is probably going to end their chanches to get the top seed

wcsoldier81 wrote:Spurs have a real shot at finishing 1st in the West ... their remaining schedule is easier than the OKC one , they only have 2 more losses and own the tie breaker ... in that case getting the 4th seed isn't a bad idea

Popovich will probably rest TP , Duncan here and there though which is probably going to end their chanches to get the top seed

Not probably, he will. They're not gunning for the 1st seed if they feel like it's too much for their team. He'll take it easy the last 7-8 games and get his guys some rest.

The Lakers probably aren't catching them, even if we win every game against them which seems unlikely.

therealdeal wrote:

wcsoldier81 wrote:Spurs have a real shot at finishing 1st in the West ... their remaining schedule is easier than the OKC one , they only have 2 more losses and own the tie breaker ... in that case getting the 4th seed isn't a bad idea

Popovich will probably rest TP , Duncan here and there though which is probably going to end their chanches to get the top seed

Not probably, he will. They're not gunning for the 1st seed if they feel like it's too much for their team. He'll take it easy the last 7-8 games and get his guys some rest.

The Lakers probably aren't catching them, even if we win every game against them which seems unlikely.

agreed, that number two slot is quickly slipping away. Meanwhile that number one spot looks all but impossible.

We should be doing the same thing that Pop is doing. He's getting his bench guys valuable experience in the process too.

Instead Potatohead is riding Kobe like a mule for 40 mins a game.

kray28 wrote:We should be doing the same thing that Pop is doing. He's getting his bench guys valuable experience in the process too.

Instead Potatohead is riding Kobe like a mule for 40 mins a game.

Glock's out of the rotation because he doesn't have "experience" heading into the playoffs. The Spurs players will be in the rotation come playoff time because they will gain "Experience" throughout the season.

We're stuck on 8 players for the playoffs, while the Spurs are getting a feel for their team by seeing what everyone brings to the table.

kray28 wrote:We should be doing the same thing that Pop is doing. He's getting his bench guys valuable experience in the process too.

Instead Potatohead is riding Kobe like a mule for 40 mins a game.

While this is true, lets not turn this into a lets fire Brown thread. (Of course I'm not saying this to you, but other people who would possibly do so.)

Phil Jackson rarely, if ever, played rookies as well. (Unless that was all he had)

But I do agree, he's gotta change it up. Glock really deserves minutes to play.

davriver290 wrote:

kray28 wrote:We should be doing the same thing that Pop is doing. He's getting his bench guys valuable experience in the process too.

Instead Potatohead is riding Kobe like a mule for 40 mins a game.

While this is true, lets not turn this into a lets fire Brown thread. (Of course I'm not saying this to you, but other people who would possibly do so.)

Phil Jackson rarely, if ever, played rookies as well. (Unless that was all he had)

But I do agree, he's gotta change it up. Glock really deserves minutes to play.

Kray is absolutely correct. Brown's rotations have been nonsensical. They start with his "promise" as he himself said, to Blake to keep up his minutes. That's just stupidity or if you want to be polite about it, it's misplaced loyalty to a player who is NOT producing and isn't in the right role any longer.

Brown needs to use what he has: Blake is a capable backup PG, Sessions is a capable starter. They shouldn't be in at the same time - EVER. That experiment was tried and has failed.

GLOCK is a capable backup SG, even if he's a rookie, as he's proven all year long in that role.

Let's see: Sessions - starter PG? Check. Blake - backup PG? Check. GLOCK - backup SG? Check. What the F is the problem?

Use what you have and call it a day. Use a 10 man rotation: splitting SF minutes between Artest and Barnes, Blake 10 minutes a game as backup with GLOCK at SG so that there is someone out there who can is willing to shoot the ball, split minutes situationally between the two big guys off the bench in McBob's and Murphy, and always have one of our two main bigs Pau or Bynum on the floor.

That's simple. That's intuitive. That makes sense. Let's roll with it shall we. This is not rocket science. Creating extra minutes for Blake because you feel bad for him is not going to make a better product out there on the floor.

I don't think we'll take the 2nd seed. San Antonio is just too disciplined...too together and has a great coach in Popovich. Those positives aren't quite there for ours considering the "newness" factors in the current regime. I think it will be a neck and neck race for that spot between us and whoever is below us.

Yes, Goudelock should get time. Kid is fearless, has confidence to spare and range. I think Brown hasn't been too thrilled with his shot selection. Or maybe he has hit the wall for a rook...

gcclaker wrote:I don't think we'll take the 2nd seed. San Antonio is just too disciplined...too together and has a great coach in Popovich. Those positives aren't quite there for ours considering the "newness" factors in the current regime. I think it will be a neck and neck race for that spot between us and whoever is below us.

Yes, Goudelock should get time. Kid is fearless, has confidence to spare and range. I think Brown hasn't been too thrilled with his shot selection. Or maybe he has hit the wall for a rook...

I think battle for 2 seed was lost when we lost those gimme games against Washington, Detroit, Utah and Houston (both teams played without their top players). But keep in mind, we DO have 3 games against them in April...and if the Spurs slip a little bit before or after any of those games and we win all 3, it will get really interesting down the stretch. But, knowing our team, we'll drop some more games that we should have won or blow a lead to an inferior team.

FabFourLakers wrote:But, knowing our team, we'll drop some more games that we should have won or blow a lead to an inferior team.

This is probably correct, so there's no reason to worry about it. Just keep #3 and be happy we got that far without a training camp and with a new coach.

karacha wrote:

FabFourLakers wrote:But, knowing our team, we'll drop some more games that we should have won or blow a lead to an inferior team.

This is probably correct, so there's no reason to worry about it. Just keep #3 and be happy we got that far without a training camp and with a new coach.

Yup, i'll be happy with 3 seed. That Clippers/Lakers game is gonna be crucial now. They're still right behind us despite their recent struggles....We can't afford to slip to the 4 seed...we need to keep ourselves away from OKC in the 2nd round.

The Lakers really, really need to retain that 3rd seed. If the playoffs started today, the matchup as they are in the Western Conf. standings are about as good as we could hope for. We would play Dallas first round, Spurs second and not have to face OKC til the WCF. We matchup well agains the older teams, not so well against the younger guys like OKC and Memphis.

Ideally it would be great to take the two spot away from the Spurs but that seems overly optimistic now.

I was hoping OKC would beat Memphis but Memphis won, and Dallas is losing to the Clippers at home.

KB/WA/RW wrote:^^ why were you hoping that? I wanted exactly that. I'd much rather face the Mavs in the first round than the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are going to be a very tough team to beat in the playoffs, and the Mavs look a lot weaker. I also want revenge from last year

It's a very tight race for the second seed in the West so the more space we get between them the better. Also, I was hoping they drop to the 7th or 8th seed so they could potentially knock out either SAS or OKC.

LA is in for pain in the post-season regardless of what happens. They will more than likely face the Mavs or Grizz in the first round, both tough playoff tested teams. The Mavs look pretty sad right now, but they can easily turn it on in the playoffs. Very worried about the Grizzlies too, they have been a pain in the *** for LA all season and with their entire group together now it won't be easy to beat them even with HCA. Honestly I was hoping the Clippers would continue to collapse so we could catch them in the first round but I don't see them losing the 4th seed.

JoelMyersScrotalSack wrote:LA is in for pain in the post-season regardless of what happens. They will more than likely face the Mavs or Grizz in the first round, both tough playoff tested teams. The Mavs look pretty sad right now, but they can easily turn it on in the playoffs. Very worried about the Grizzlies too, they have been a pain in the *** for LA all season and with their entire group together now it won't be easy to beat them even with HCA. Honestly I was hoping the Clippers would continue to collapse so we could catch them in the first round but I don't see them losing the 4th seed.

Grizz also have Tony Allen who is the best defender of Kobe I've ever seen. Always makes him work incredibly hard.

FabFourLakers wrote:

karacha wrote:

FabFourLakers wrote:But, knowing our team, we'll drop some more games that we should have won or blow a lead to an inferior team.

This is probably correct, so there's no reason to worry about it. Just keep #3 and be happy we got that far without a training camp and with a new coach.

Yup, i'll be happy with 3 seed. That Clippers/Lakers game is gonna be crucial now. They're still right behind us despite their recent struggles....We can't afford to slip to the 4 seed...we need to keep ourselves away from OKC in the 2nd round.

Exactly what I was thinking, let the Clipps and Thunder kill each other in the 2nd round.

Lakers need to worry about the Lakers.

kray28 wrote:Lakers need to worry about the Lakers.

And the teams they face.

kray28 wrote:Lakers need to worry about the Lakers.

Just like every year.

Hopefully we'll play the Mavs ... this team is a joke , I've lost count on the times they have been routed this year ...

Actually they haven't been routed much at all. Most losses have been really close. They've been honest to god blown out maybe twice.

A good number of the losses have been the "choke it all away in the last five minutes" variety.