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

Here is my thought:

1. We turned the ball over to much
2. We had to many lapses on defense from everyone
3. Ron shot like crap
4. Howard was pretty bad all game and then got ejected
5. Officiating was horrid
6. Playing in Den on a B2B (yes they were too but they are use to playing in Den)
7. Meeks and Duhon played like TP in portajohn
8. To many missed free throws from everyone not named Dwight
9. Nash with a bunch of TO's (shocking)

All that being said, we still could of won that game. This game, in my opinion, was the exception not the norm. I say we bounce back against our favorite team Portland.

puffyusaf#2 wrote:Here is my thought:

1. We turned the ball over to much
2. We had to many lapses on defense from everyone
3. Ron shot like crap
4. Howard was pretty bad all game and then got ejected
5. Officiating was horrid
6. Playing in Den on a B2B (yes they were too but they are use to playing in Den)
7. Meeks and Duhon played like TP in portajohn
8. To many missed free throws from everyone not named Dwight
9. Nash with a bunch of TO's (shocking)

All that being said, we still could of won that game. This game, in my opinion, was the exception not the norm. I say we bounce back against our favorite team Portland.

I agree with this. Generally, these our tough games to win because of our age and a B2B. Nevetheless, this is where losing games like Indiana, San Antonio, Cleveland, really hurt; you know you can't win every game, but you need to win the games you should.

All that aside, I like our chances against Portland. They have nobody inside that can guard our bigs, and we should be feasting inside the paint playing in-out type of basketball this game. I think we should be fine. After that, we have Philly on January 1st; we should beat them and be over .500...

puffyusaf#2 wrote:Here is my thought:

1. We turned the ball over to much
2. We had to many lapses on defense from everyone
3. Ron shot like crap
4. Howard was pretty bad all game and then got ejected
5. Officiating was horrid
6. Playing in Den on a B2B (yes they were too but they are use to playing in Den)
7. Meeks and Duhon played like TP in portajohn
8. To many missed free throws from everyone not named Dwight
9. Nash with a bunch of TO's (shocking)

All that being said, we still could of won that game. This game, in my opinion, was the exception not the norm. I say we bounce back against our favorite team Portland.

Great post, hopefully you are right

Lakers lose but welp at least I got to have some tamales and cookies with JanineGarcia, her mom and grandma

even with all the terrible D and shooting we still scored a ton of points and if the refs gave us the calls we deserved then we prob would have won even with the rebounding difference and turnovers. crazy how officiating can change a game. it wasnt just one call....it was the entire game.

puffyusaf#2 wrote:6. Playing in Den on a B2B (yes they were too but they are use to playing in Den)
.

i used to call BS to this.. but living here now.. anyone that doesnt know HYPOXIA has no clue... its killer.. makes you feel old.. tired and gives you headaches.. idk honestly how the players do it...

i travelled from LA to CO... the same day the lakers did.. showed up to the game.. and i was tired... most exercise i did was nachos to mouth

We actually got some calls last night.

No scrub went off for a career game.

Pau Gasolitzki.

Kobe played less than 40mins.

Morris' D on Lilliard

Even with that loss to the Nuggets there's plenty to be optimistic about:

1. We've won 5 of the last 6 games and the 6th game was one that we could have won. The only reason we didn't was energy which could be easily explained by the back-to-back up in Denver.

2. Steve Nash has looked fantastic and he's made our offense so much better, despite some people thinking he wouldn't make any difference at all.

3. This team is showing progress. We're getting there. They're not perfect yet, but they'll get there if they can just get/stay healthy.

4. Kobe's streak of 30 point games might be over, but his streak of efficiency might just be back. I get the feeling we're going to see more efficiency and more all-around excellence from Kobe as time moves forward here.

5. Jordan Hill is back in the rotation and that's always a good thing.

we cracked the 8th seed. aw yiss.

The positive thing about this game: the starters didn't play heavy minutes, we bounced back from an ugly loss in Denver,and Dwight & Pau were active. Additionally, the team has three days off before Tuesday's game against the 76ers so they should be well-rested.

good officiating game

I'm optimistic. In the prediction thread prior to the opener I said 18-12 through December. Lakers are only 3 wins off of that with no Nash for almost all of it. They'll get it together and click on all cylinders once they have a dozen or so games with Nashty at the helm.

JGC wrote:

JGC wrote:The Knicks game, I thought, was our best controlled game of the season. We played good defense, executed well on offense, Kobe didn't go hero ball, everything to me, felt like it occurred within the context of an offense.

I know we had other games where everything was clicking, but, any team can go through a game or two like that and for me, I'm looking for something sustainable, repeatable, and for the first time, I feel like I saw that against the Knicks.

To me, that game felt more like the step in the right direction we've been waiting for than any other this season.

Disregard my statement.

Want to disregard that last one?

I'm optimistic that we'll show up against the good teams even if we do lose to the bad/mediocre ones.

Beat Clippers
Revenge against Denver
Then beat either Houston or SA

And we'll be back on track.

Well done sir. I'm certainly optimistic about the eventual future. The near future? Not as much

It's sunny today in Southern CA.

NBA trade deadline 50 days away

The Rock wrote:NBA trade deadline 50 days away

That's a good thing? To me that just gives our team plenty more time to rack up losses before management decides to change things up.

JoelMyersScrotalSack wrote:

The Rock wrote:NBA trade deadline 50 days away

That's a good thing? To me that just gives our team plenty more time to rack up losses before management decides to change things up.

But what are they really going to change? Looking at raw talent from a player personnel standpoint, there is not a lot of options for improvement. We have the players to be a successful team. Other have done much more with much less.

IMHO, the issue is coaching. But again the D'Antoni hiring reeks of Jim Buss so we wont be seeing any moves there any time soon.

So...

Gasol has to be traded if we want a chance at anything. Even if we start clicking the team at best is what the 5 seed? If this about championships this team won't bring it in, even at it's best.

I'm very optimistic and all but I hope our first round picks are lottery protected...

JLaker17 wrote:Gasol has to be traded if we want a chance at anything. Even if we start clicking the team at best is what the 5 seed? If this about championships this team won't bring it in, even at it's best.

This season is probably lost anyways. We can get much more by trading Pau next year, right?

I still believe we will make the playoffs and do some damage in the playoffs. This team is not done. My foolish pride may be making me think these things but as long as we have Kobe that is enough for me to believe in this team to turn it around.

DanielBeltz24 wrote:I still believe we will make the playoffs and do some damage in the playoffs. This team is not done. My foolish pride may be making me think these things but as long as we have Kobe that is enough for me to believe in this team to turn it around.

I stopped believing in the "magic switch" some time ago. Right now we have nothing to "flip"

kenzo wrote:

DanielBeltz24 wrote:I still believe we will make the playoffs and do some damage in the playoffs. This team is not done. My foolish pride may be making me think these things but as long as we have Kobe that is enough for me to believe in this team to turn it around.

I stopped believing in the "magic switch" some time ago. Right now we have nothing to "flip"

Our light switch is the fire on the mountain signal method in Lord of the Rings.