WMC 12/13: Mercy kill. (0-4)

Damm, I really want HCA in the playoffs. (especially against the Thunder & the Heat)

noobiew wrote:Damm, I really want HCA in the playoffs. (especially against the Thunder & the Heat)

If this win/loss percentage continues through a quarter of this season, we're looking at probably having to play .700 ball the rest of the way just to MAKE the playoffs. Amd we've been in the soft part of the schedule so far.

noobiew wrote:Damm, I really want HCA in the playoffs. (especially against the Thunder & the Heat)

We'll battle for the 4th spot .. at very best ... we sure can forget about catching up SAS and the Thunder ... I think the Grizz won't keep this up but up 6 in the loss column is a good advantage .. crazy thing is they had one of the hardest schedules so far

Floppers , Lakers and Thuggets will finish 4th-6th , order TBD

If Dwight could get back to his 59% FT shooting we would be fine. This crap he's pulling right now is not acceptable one bit

sorry but this team just isn't very good.

Its Kobe, Howard, Artest and a bunch of garbage.

Well its really hard to say something about his team.....they are unpredictable and you never know how they will respond in each game....they can be phenomenal but they show us how bad they can be....TO and FT are big problems and i think that problem is huge if we wont to do something big this year....imagine the finals with heat when dwight is 4-15 from FT and we have 15 TO.....there is no way we can win that game, OK vs Indiana it can happen but against good teams no way. I just dont know what to excpect anymore. We have 7 of next 10 on road, I would be happy if we finish that with 4-6 because our game right now is just bad.

KB24 wrote:sorry but this team just isn't very good.

Its Kobe, Howard, Artest and a bunch of garbage.

Of course. Sad, but true.

We can't win on the road. We lose in Staples against Pacers scoring 77pts. At this level, we finish 7th-8th in WC!

Time to rebuild.

we need Nash back ASAP ... it pains me to watch kobe initiating the offense ...

Kobe seem to be sabotaging the game...dribble dribble shoot without passing dribble dribble turnover dribble dribble turnover dribble dribble turnover dribble dribble shoot without passing Medication got to his brain Full retard Kobe

Nash won't change anything. His defense is the worst among Lakers.

odom1year wrote:Nash won't change anything. His defense is the worst among Lakers.

Is defense our problem? We're 10th in PPG surrendered and 6th in Defensive Rating.

SAS is ripping Howard on First Take right now.

still reserving judgment until nash gets on the court and in shape, but pau's total regression has been startling. it's in his head at this point; even on the nice assist to tie the game, he forced a risky pass rather than shoot a wide open 12-footer. he's got no confidence right now.

i disagreed with the bench pau crowd at first, but it might be necessary. it would get him playing fewer minutes next to howard (which is obviously a problem) and probably get him more involved in the offense. the problem is the confidence/ego issue. he's already shattered--would it be wise to demote him on top of that? you almost hope he'd bring it up himself.

horrible effort all around, even Kobe, yes he scored 40 but w/o even trying to get his teammates invovled and dam 10 TO, fouls or not its still ridiculous

double

double

Kobe and Howard are the best players on the team. One has 10 TOs and the other shoots 25% on FTs...

Both are unacceptable, simple and plain.

From NBA.com Recap:

Besides their shooting woes from nearly every spot on the court, the Lakers had some miserable individual performances as well. Darius Morris, holding down the starting point guard duties while Steve Nash and Steve Blake recover from injuries, took a step back, finishing 0-for-6 from the floor, 1-for-4 from the free-throw line and he did not record an assist in 23 minutes. The starting forward combo of Pau Gasol and World Peace combined to shoot 3-for-17 from the floor and L.A.'s bench was 2-for-15

So, MDA's offense is based on high potency scoring, increasing the number of possessions & spreading the floor.... But no one on our team can make a freakin' basket... I see a problem.

This issue at the free throw line is unacceptable too. I could probably make 53% of my free throws shooting left handed... These are pro basketball players. I don't get it.

Maybe it's conditioning & they just don't have the legs to convert their free throws... That's the only thing I can figure.

Seriously... Jamison, Morris, Metta & Howard all shot 25% from the line against Indy.... WTF?

lakerswiz wrote:I'll mention free throws again.

It's pathetic and inexcusable.

^^ Absolutely. You can't even expect to win games if your number two guy, and number one foul magnet, shoots 25% at the line while taking double digit attempts.

And Lakerswiz, tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like bad free throwing is often contagious.

trodgers wrote:

odom1year wrote:Nash won't change anything. His defense is the worst among Lakers.

Is defense our problem? We're 10th in PPG surrendered and 6th in Defensive Rating.

That is hilarious. Prior to this game we were 7th in ORtg and 12th in DRtg. Now it's basically flipped after just one game.

lakerswiz wrote:

And Lakerswiz, tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like bad free throwing is often contagious.

I've never considered or thought about it.

Not to sound silly, but the ball was doing the 'in & out' so many times last night, they should probably check that ball.

But this brings up another point.

Missed free throws hurt more than just a lack of a point. Right now, they're ruining our offense entirely.

Ah...I'm going to get angry now, lol.

We can't run D'Antoni's system with Dwight shooting free throws like this. Once we get to running and scoring on teams, they'll just foul us. And we'll have no offense. We won't control the pace. There won't be a flow to the game.

Dwight Howard's free throws are the most important thing the team needs to work on at this point. There will not be any type of consistent showtime for as long as he's shooting like this.

^^ I definitely agree that Dwight's biggest priority should be improving his free throwing. I thought I saw a slightly different stroke out of him after working with Person earlier this year. It still wasn't the greatest but it was much better than that junk I saw him throwing up there last night. In this game it was like he wasn't even freaking trying after a while. That's unacceptable. Clearly, only he can fix this problem so it's on him.

The lid really did seem to be on the basket last night - so many in and outs. That was funky.

But yeah, I'm sure there's nothing scientific or quantifiable about poor free throwing being contagious - it's more of a feel thing, that's why I mentioned it to you because I know you play and wondered if you had noticed it.

I guess my instinct is that when one of your main stars obviously doesn't give a damn about making free throws it seems to give everyone else an excuse, too. With great free throwing teams like the old Boston Celtics, it seems like the high expectations keep everyone in check. "Don't screw this up!" You know, with us last night, it's like "Well, Dwight gets to screw off all he wants ". . . it just seems like it takes the pressure off our guys to make their own. It seems to infect everyone else.

it's like having a team full of Shaqs


this season has been very frustrating to watch...between the turnovers, the missed FTs, the inconsistent play...i hope this can get turned around soon...i dont wanna wake up in February and we're 10 games under .500

i wouldn't think we'd get our 8th loss until allstar break.

this is depressing. under 500. an ailing team.

i hope we can make some sort of turnaround soon. this isn't looking to bright for dwight to stay.