Sun. 12/25 @ Heat - Results Inside - Postgame comments

Lakers @ Heat
Sunday, Dec. 25
12:00pm
TV: ABC
Radio : XTRA 570/ESPN 1330
Recap | Box Score | Photos

Lakers - 92
Heat - 97

Cold Christmas in Miami
Kobe Bryant's 3-point attempt with three seconds remaining rimmed short, and the Lakers lost 97-92 in Miami on Sunday. Bryant scored 37 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists. Lamar Odom added 14 points and 16 rebounds but Los Angeles shot just 39 percent from the field as a team. Brian Cook chipped in with 15 points for L.A. which plays at Washington on Monday.



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Excellent preview!
This one will be so entertaining game and ratings will be high.
This time Lakers by 2!

LAKERS BY 4

Excellent analysis, man. I think the coaching is more important in this game than in any other the Lakers have faced so far this season. Gotta love Riley vs. Phil.

I beleive the key to the game will be to NOT double Shaq. Dare Shaq to score over 30 and beat us on his own, try and fool him by playing to his drive of having a big game vs the Lakers. If we can control Wade and the rest of their perimeter shooters than it will have an affect on their defensive play. If we are forced to double Shaq it will allow their role players to get off early and spell big trouble for the Lakers. This is where Kwame comming of the bench will pay off a little. It will be important for our bigs not to foul Shaq early and just try and play good positional defensive and make his job a little more difficult. If Wade ends up on Odom it will be important for Odom to post him up inside and take advantage of the smaller Wade. It would also be important to force Wade to make perimeter shots and not conceed the lane, force the lower percentage shot. If he gets in the lane it will spell early foul trouble for the Lakers and easy hoops for the Heat bigs. I really think shutting down the perimeter at all cost will be the key. Even if Shaq goes off I don't think he has enough in the tank to beat the Lakers on his own anymore, this is a much heavier and older Shaq that relies a lot more on his role players for him to be efficient. Take them away early and force the ball into Shaq's hands late in the game where a hack a Shaq strategy could pay off and make the difference in the game. This was a very similar strategy the Pistons used on a banged up Lakers teams in the finals 2 years ago. The Pistons played Shaq 1 on 1 while doubling Kobe and shutting down the perimeter on the Lakers, this is the strategy the Lakers must use to in turn shut down the Shaq led Heat to have any chance of beating them on their home court.

Yeah that's a nice Preview!!!! I can't wait But do they really think Odom will guard Wade? I mean just bcuz Wade can't guard Kobe and they have to put Posey on Kobe doesn't mean Kobe HAS to guard Posey I hope Odom will because of his length!

Heat will win by 13 ;(

Lakers by 15

KobegirL wrote:Yeah that's a nice Preview!!!! I can't wait But do they really think Odom will guard Wade? I mean just bcuz Wade can't guard Kobe and they have to put Posey on Kobe doesn't mean Kobe HAS to guard Posey I hope Odom will because of his length!

It's not that Odom will defend Wade. There are going to be some possessions where he'll have to, especially on transitions. With Posey on Kobe, it'll take them both time to recover from certain instances where Kobe will drive to the basket and draw contact. If there's no foul, and Kobe misses, the Heat are going to run Odom and the others by pushing the ball upcourt.

Sick man, just sick

Sorry, I had too:

Lakers Dynasty 2000 wrote:Sorry, I had too:

Haha. Omg that is funny.

Ianxcom wrote:

Lakers Dynasty 2000 wrote:Sorry, I had too:

Haha. Omg that is funny.

Lakers win by 7

Kobe is a great defensive player, but he can't guard as many positions as the best perimeter defenders can. He can lock down 2's and 3's, but smaller, quicker, combo guards give him trouble. That's what separates the Ron Artests, Trenton Hassel's, and Scottie Pippen's from the Kobe Bryant's and the Michael Jordan's...

He just doesn't have the lateral quickness to stay with guys like Wade, Francis, Arenas, and Marbury. He does do very well against guys like Pierce, T-Mac, VC, Allen, and Redd.

I don't think he'll be able to stop Wade. I just hope he can force him to be a jump shooter and stay out of foul trouble

Edited - Added Jason Williams as a starter.

I agree with MC: we have to stop the other role players and just let Shaq get his. It is the best strategy with the line-up we have. If we double Shaq, D-Wade will get loose, no doubt. We can't let that happen. I think the key is D-Wade and Antoine Walker. If they get theirs, we are screwed. Odom is really have to give us something on the offesive end this game.

Overrall, I am confident in our team. I think we can pull out a victory. Kobe will no doubt go big. Odom will give us something, I am sure of it. Go Lakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

great preview homie.
I think Miami isn´t exactly a great matchup for us. They have Posey to slow Kobe down (maybe) and they have Wade and Shaq which means Kobe will have enuagh troubles and work defensively.
I think Walker is the key. If we allow him to do anything we will lose. Walker has been terrible all year but here and there he had a big game. And the second key is Kobe´s defense. He seems to have troubles defending combo-guards aka Hinrich, Francis and so on. He REALLY has to lock Wade down if we want to win. Miami is a terrible team defensively and they are underachieving offensively but once they catch some fire we are in trouble. Lets wait and see what happens.

Kobe - I mean the Lakers by 7

we have to defend Wade like that if we want to win.

Did anyone else watch ESPN last night and hear what Kobe said about the Heat game. Someone asked him about the heat game and he said.

"you talk about it to damn much. its been two years, im sick and tired of talking about it"

remeber theres a bet between clublakers and clubheathoops

G|B|G|B wrote:remeber theres a bet between clublakers and clubheathoops

whats the bet

Great Article! I agree with MC let shaq score 30, lets try and have everyone else beat us! Lakers win by 6!