The Optimistic Thread! (TRD's FREEDOM THREAD!)

Kobe. Speechless.

Team D to end the game, just amazing to watch.

Jodie finally hitting some BIG shots

Comeback W, playoff hopes very much alive.

EDIT: Gotta play much, much better though. They need to take a look at the tape in the 4th, see what type of D they have the capacity to play.

Kobe-Howard P&R should have ALWAYS been a devastating play, finally showing it's real potential

Adversity... Either you end up curled in a fetal position or just go for it regardless of the outcome.

Anyone know where I can get highlights of the beauty that ensued?

Weezy wrote:I'll throw in some more optimism then, I'm freakin happy with this win. Yeah, we should have won, yeah the Hornets suck, but seeing our guys fight and fight and fight, play defense, make the right offensive plays, high fiving, showing passion and celebrating like a team, loved it. There's been so little to just be happy about this season watching Laker games, and if this was a loss my mood the rests of the night would have been crap, but to go from down as down can be to elated, that was fun as hell.

Definitely.

Before the game started on the radio someone said (I think it was Mcmenamin) said the locker room was light. He said specifically that the attitude was light and it seemed like the team really was starting to enjoy each other. That made me feel pretty good because it's been clear that our guys aren't necessarily all buddies.

I don't think off-the-court chemistry is as important as some people make it, but it's still good to hear that our guys are starting to get along. That's always nice.

Chillbongo wrote:Anyone know where I can get highlights of the beauty that ensued?

What for Cachookaman's highlights (LD thread), they are great.

And Houston just lost!

Utah loss. Houston just lost. LA come back win. Tonight was a good night.

lakers fought hard in the 2nd half espicially in the 4th quarter and deserved the win and houston and utah lost tonight. so for that many positiv things happened tonight

What a Comeback!!

I loved that during the Dwight Post game interview on TWCSportNet teammates around his locker room were all cheering loudly about something and Dwight turned and looked to see what happened...... Dallas just beat Houston

Great Night

1)I don't care who was the opponent ... great comeback , some team bonding and we never give up
2) First game I really saw good chemistry between Kobe and D12 ... you take care of the D , I take care of the O ... you free me him up via good screens , I reward you with easy baskets ...

guys watching dallas ame getting all excited when they beat rockets. guys in a good mood after this win and hopefully will be able to build on what they did defensively.

the whole game it seemed and especially in the 3rd they were getting WIDE OPEN 3's and shots but were just missing them. if the made them the game prob wouldnt have gone down to the wire and maybe would have been closer going into the 4th

tonight we rise above .500

We're finally going to be over .500!

I don't think we've been over .500 all year have we?

therealdeal wrote:We're finally going to be over .500!

I don't think we've been over .500 all year have we?

I think we were for a second in November, but right about then is when work got to be crazy for me so I could be wrong.

The Dark Knight Rises Tonight

We got the W.

These W's not pretty, but damnit they are entertaining. I'll take it. This is the happiest I've felt about the Lakers in a long time

Hmmm. I was very optimistic before this game. Great news about Pau coming back pretty soon seemingly. Great news about being only 1.5 behind Utah. But then we had to play so damn terribly this game. Against a .400 team, in our house, trying to get the final playoff spot . . . Just no excuse for this lousy display tonight. If they continue to approach the rest of this year this way we won't make it.

Get your act together guys. Kobe won't bail you out every single game. Coach needs to get his head out of his rear too.

Lakerjones wrote:Hmmm. I was very optimistic before this game. Great news about Pau coming back pretty soon seemingly. Great news about being only 1.5 behind Utah. But then we had to play so damn terribly this game. Against a .400 team, in our house, trying to get the final playoff spot . . . Just no excuse for this lousy display tonight. If they continue to approach the rest of this year this way we won't make it.

Get your act together guys. Kobe won't bail you out every single game. Coach needs to get his head out of his rear too.

Agreed. I'll be honest; I advocated trading Pau, but right now, I would take him back in a second. This team is worse without him. We miss his size, length, decision making on the offensive, end, etc. My optimism; he's getting closer.

dwighthowardsdad wrote:

Lakerjones wrote:Hmmm. I was very optimistic before this game. Great news about Pau coming back pretty soon seemingly. Great news about being only 1.5 behind Utah. But then we had to play so damn terribly this game. Against a .400 team, in our house, trying to get the final playoff spot . . . Just no excuse for this lousy display tonight. If they continue to approach the rest of this year this way we won't make it.

Get your act together guys. Kobe won't bail you out every single game. Coach needs to get his head out of his rear too.

Agreed. I'll be honest; I advocated trading Pau, but right now, I would take him back in a second. This team is worse without him. We miss his size, length, decision making on the offensive, end, etc. My optimism; he's getting closer.

Yep. We need Pau. Earl Clark is literally melting down into a puddle before our eyes like the Wicked Witch of the West.

We didn't play very well but I'm optimistic. We've got Kobe Bryant on our team.

Finally got over .500 when it seemed like we would yet again fail and go a game below, and Kobe and Dwight are consistently playing well together finally.

You guys are misunderstanding this thread (with the possible exception of Weezy )

I am optimistic!

These last two games might have been the Kobe show, but the result leads to a few things:
1. Trust. Kobe's teammates trust him and in turn will follow him all the more. And Kobe will reciprocate that trust when the game is on the line (two 3s late for Nash).
2. Togetherness. Dwight has never looked as happy as he has the last couple of nights as a Laker. I haven't seen him smile this much since he was at his press conference after the trade. He's giving us everything on the defensive end, no questions asked.
3. Attitude. Jodie had a tough night down the stretch, but the attitude is there: never give up. Always work to the final whistle.
4. Yes the comebacks were against awful teams, but we're learning what it takes to face these kinds of games. Because guess what? In the playoffs we're going to be down by a lot at least once. Now we know how to chip away and when to put our foot on the gas pedal.

Most importantly-
5. We're 0.5 games out of the playoffs! Utah just has to drop 1 more game and we've just got to win one more game and then we can start to put the crappiness of this season in the rear view mirror. We might not win a Championship this season, but you can be damn sure we will go down swinging.