LQOTD: Are we 1-0?

In an effort to motivate his team and apparently to take some blame for the team's failures, Mike D'Antoni said that the team's season started on Sunday, January 13th. The Lakers blew out the Cavs, moving to "1-0."

The question is whether you think D'Antoni's motivational ploy worked. Other possible takes: Cleveland sucks; OKC and San Antonio do not, and perhaps Magic was right about when the turning point was. Or, it was just a win; we still have no identity; we're lost.

What do you think?

I have said I have faith that this team will turn the corner. My opinion after we lost all of our bigs at once was it would start after the OKC game. I believe this is the time but just like in tennis when there is a break of serve it doesn't matter if we do not follow this win with another one. THe "talk" won't show if it was good until we show we can sustain the energy we have had for the last few games. However, to answer your question I say yes we are 1-0.

i don't think it's fair to pick an arbitrary reset date (that conveniently starts against a team you think you'll beat--a bottomfeeder missing its heart and soul player). i think the reason for why dantoni did it is even scarier: he had zero belief they'd beat okc at home. like the fans, he basically expected the six game losing streak once they had lost the first two to philly and denver. that's ok for fans, but not for the coach and/or players.

so, no, the lakers are 16-21 with a big hill to climb. if you want psychologically re-frame the standings, they should start talking about it in terms of games out of the last playoff spot.

Lame attempt at motivating the team IMHO..... We won handily but we still showed most of the flaws we've shown all season in doing so. If we didn't shoot lights out it would have been a struggle again I'm afraid.

I hope we will start getting better but some of our biggest issues are not fixable by a pep talk or a declaration. The personnel doesn't fit the system and we are lacking cohesion on defense. Until those things change on a consistent basis we will still be up and down

No. It was the Cavs, who should count as 1/2 a win. LOL

We've got the Bucks Tuesday and then the Heat on Thursday. Heat play the Warriors on Wed, so we should get them on the tail end of a back to back. At least I hope so.

3 game win streak?

They played hard defensively, which I liked (especially Kobe, Morris, Clark, Sacre, and Howard). I could see special effort there.

But that segment where they went 8 straight possessions with TOs and a few other possesssions also showed some very bad things -- pressure on Nash with a quick guard will cause TOs; Dwight still can't hold on to the ball in the low post; Clark cannot put the ball on the floor very well; Metta is very slow, methodical, and predictable, Jamison can't rebound well; and this team still loses focus too easily and gives up too many big runs.

I know -- there are going to be "runs" in every game. But to do 7 or 8 possessions and not even get a shot off?? That is a lack of focus, energy, poise, and coaching adjustments that will cause holes too big to climb out of against good teams (like when Hou, SA, and OKC all went on their runs recently).

I didn't see a "corner turning" game last night.

Rooscooter wrote:Lame attempt at motivating the team IMHO..... We won handily but we still showed most of the flaws we've shown all season in doing so. If we didn't shoot lights out it would have been a struggle again I'm afraid.

I hope we will start getting better but some of our biggest issues are not fixable by a pep talk or a declaration. The personnel doesn't fit the system and we are lacking cohesion on defense. Until those things change on a consistent basis we will still be up and down

i agree 90%: the cohesion on defense was better than in any game so far this year. everything else was just as bad, except they made jumpshots instead of missing them all like usual.

We need to go 10-0, then 20-0, then 30-0.

it was the cavs and they still looked bad with the TO and allowing a boat load of offensive reb. Given that same situation against one of the Western teams currently in playoffs and we probably lose. Once again seems like they win with better 3pt shooting, when thats off they proably struggle again.

Well, I'd say whatever works. If that works for him and for the Lakers it's all fine with me. I can see his point, and I can see that not much else has worked yet. Let's hope this starts up a new winning streak. Basically whatever it takes to get to another 32 wins this season. That's the goal. Make the playoffs, right the ship. Anything less is unacceptable for the players, the fans and the franchise.

I see a lot of people not taking this stand seriously and that's fine. I'm not sure if I do either.

But here's some reasons why I think it MIGHT be the start of at least a different team:

1. Kobe on Westbrook and now Kobe on Irving. He played both of them pretty well, but hey they're some great young athletes. Westbrook did what he wanted, but Irving was played tightly all game and I think that keeps Kobe focused. Not to mention, when you see your leader D-ing up the opposition, it inspires you to do the same. The defensive energy last night was great and I got the feeling that they would have had that kind of energy against anybody they played.

2. Earl Clark. He's the story of the week for me easily. The guy has come in and been more than I thought he ever could have. I don't think his jump shot will continue to fall, but certainly his energy and his defense and his athleticism have been a great shot in the arm for this squad. Sure, it was the Cavs, but we finally did what we're supposed to do and we blew out a team that we should have blown out.

3. Effort. The effort was there, plain and simple. Guys are jumping out of bounds, they're getting on the ground for loose balls, they're swarming the glass and working hard. We lost something like 3-4 balls out of bounds last night because we were working so hard to get them.

Are we really 1-0? Hopefully that's the way the team is looking at it. Unfortunately they're going to have win something like 3-1 from now on to make the playoffs on a strong note. I think they can and last night was a great first step. The Bucks aren't a great team and we should really try to stamp them out. Then the Heat will be the true test on Thursday. There's no more time for "oh we're still gelling" so if they can pull off a win on Thursday, I'll be willing to go all in on the "0-1" idea.

lakerswiz wrote:Not laughing at your Trav for posing the question, but the only answer I can give is;



We're f***** quite frankly.

It's all good. It's D'Antoni's question..not mine

I don't see anything wrong with Pringles trying to shift the team's perspective. It's his attempt to zen the team into a live in the moment approach. It worked very well for one game. He needed to try something after losing a million in a row.

No.

We are not 1-0 just as we aren't 16-29.

I would like the team to remember the hole they've dug, as they work to climb out of it.

Looks like they will be 19 and 27 by the end of the month.

Will they concede the season then?

With Mia, Utah, Chicago, OKC, and Memphis on the schedule in the next two weeks, plus the Bucks, who have a winning record, I just don't get why a move hasnt been made, even if just to add West or Martin.

The stuborness of Jim Buss is at new levels. If they want to make a run, they should have added new players for depth now or shaken things up with a trade -- esp West to back up Nash.

This is another tough stretch and the season may be over by next weekend if nothing is done. Crazy and stupid.

tigerjeterkobe wrote:The stuborness of Jim Buss is at new levels.

How in the world does the Lakers not adding someone equate to Jim Buss's stubbornness? Is it not Mitch Kupchak's job to add players to the team? Was it not Mitch Kupchak who fought to keep Pau when it seemed all signs pointed to him being traded?

3 man team up top, but all the blame gets put on one guy. I can't understand that logic.

in 2013, yes

therealdeal wrote:

tigerjeterkobe wrote:The stuborness of Jim Buss is at new levels.

How in the world does the Lakers not adding someone equate to Jim Buss's stubbornness? Is it not Mitch Kupchak's job to add players to the team? Was it not Mitch Kupchak who fought to keep Pau when it seemed all signs pointed to him being traded?

3 man team up top, but all the blame gets put on one guy. I can't understand that logic.

Until a trade happens and Mitch gets credit.

Good things happen = Mitch

Bad things happen = Jimmy

Good things =/= Jimmy

Bad things =/= Mitch

You can't understand it? Or refuse to? I believe (and I may be wrong, but who knows? Not either of us) that Jim won't let Mitch make tweaks yet because, as he said last week, he believes in the team and that they will figure it out. I believe that Jim won't allow any trades and won't allow Mitch to add salary -- otherwise, why wouldn't they have added Martin when Hill went down? Or West weeks ago knowing that Blake AND Nash would be out? Or Pietrus months ago knowing that we had no back up to Ron?

The season is being lost because of injuries, poor coaching, and poor play, for sure. But another reason that things are bad -- no depth, too many d-league players getting run on a supposed contender, and no defense -- is because Jim as been penny wise and pound foolish when vets were available to help. I see the lack of any change -- OTHER THAN COACH (which is obviously very expensive, but a move more made by Daddy) -- as stuborness. And it all starts with Buss. IMO Flame away...

So you're basing everything off of pure speculation with absolutely no evidence to back that up?

I think Doc Brown hit this one on the head. People are just going to continue blaming the guy just because they don't like him. When a trade goes through, you'll be one of the first posters I think about. How much credit will you give him then?

By the way I'm still shocked anyone would DARE call Jim Buss (or Jerry through the transitive property) cheap. Pennywise and pound foolish, eh? C'mon man. They have the highest payroll in the NBA. Pound foolish indeed.

To me Clark getting a chance to play is way better then adding martin.