NBA: The Lethargic and Lazy Los Angeles Lakers
Well, I‘ve finally come to the realization that the Los Angeles Lakers think they are in the Twilight Zone.
Only this time, the episode is titled “Will the Real Los Angeles Lakers Please Stand Up.”
These are not the same Lakers I’ve seen the past few seasons, the fans on the forums are right, these guys are the Fakers. Simply put, the Lakers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, not San Antonio, Boston, Chicago or even the spineless Miami Heat.
That is the the same Cavs team the Lakers throttled by 55, and the same team the Wizards beat for their first road win after 25 attempts.
They simply didn’t show up to play. If you’re a fan of basketball, how many times will you tolerate that statement? These guys are multi-millionaires who get paid to play for a living, and not showing up to play a game is not acceptable.
There are many things wrong with this team, but let’s start with rebounding.
I’ve never seen a team with such poor fundamentals in my life.
A shooter bricks a jumper, and either Pau Gasol or Lamar Odom will go up with one hand for a rebound. Are you serious? One hand. Just because you’re 7 feet tall (or in Odom’s case 6-10), it doesn’t mean you are not allowed to jump.
Secondly, these guys won’t box out. We saw this sickening scene against San Antonio a few weeks ago. The team gives a great team like San Antonio four chances to score. What ended up being the winning last play of the game for the Spurs, Odom refused to box out and allowed Antonio McDyess to score an easy tip-in.
It’s a shame Gasol wasted a great performance against the useless Cavs.
How come he can’t step up like that against Miami, Boston or Orlando?
Is he afraid of Dwight Howard? Yes. Is afraid of Kevin Garnett? Yes. Is he afraid of Chris Bosh? Well, okay you get my point.
I’m so sick and tired of him falling to the ground and checking for blood every time he gets hit
Let’s not forget Andrew Bynum, the Lakers version of Carlos Boozer.
He’s the guy that misses 30 to 40 games per year, and is the freshest player in the postseason. At least Boozer will average 18 to 20 points and 10 boards per game. Bynum, on the other hand, will get 11 and 7. Pathetic numbers from a 7 foot 285 pound center.
The points are fine, but a center his size should be pulling down 11 or 12 rebounds, and blocking 2.5 to 3 blocks per game (he currently is averaging 1.7). It’s funny that he gripes about not getting enough touches. (By the way, his role doesn’t require him to put up Dwight Howard type numbers.)
He went a pathetic 2-12 for 6 points and 6 rebounds against the Cavs.
I call Kobe Bean Bryant the best player in the world.
I even said he’d annihilate Michael Jordan one-on-one. But he makes me look like a fool on nights when he scores 17 points on 8 for 24 from the field.
Who ever heard of a black mamba killing 33 percent of its’ prey? Show me a mamba that strikes 33 percent of the time, and I’ll show you a mamba who‘s either been killed or has been eaten alive.
Kobe is too talented to drop the ball with bad shooting. When he knows he’s feeling ill, he should defer to someone else and serve as a facilitator. A reasonable player would do it, but not Kobe. He proceeds to shoot low percentage shots, and crazy fade-away jumpers.
For the record, his defense his pitiful, to say the least. He stands in one spot while his man is wide open for an open jumper. It's like he's playing a game titled "Where's Kobe?"
I joked that the Black Mamba and the White Mamba (Chandler Parsons) were intertwined. When one played well, the other played well. When one played poorly, the other played poorly.
Case in point, the White Mamba got injured in the first half of a game last week, and he struggled. Two days later, the Black Mamba is reportedly ill, and struggles the next two games. If this is true, for the sake of the Lakers (and the Gators), I hope Parsons plays well the remainder of the season.
Derek Fisher has played average this season.
I do question his minutes in the regular season. I thought the reason the Lakers signed Steve Blake was to give Fisher more rest in the regular season, and let him do his thing in the postseason. Yes, Fisher does make boneheaded plays, but he more than makes up for them with the big plays in the playoffs. Just ask Orlando and Boston.
The bench receives their share of the blame as well.
The Lakers miss Matt Barnes (and his solid defense, hustle, and effort) but there’s no way they should lose to bottom-feeders.
Joe Smith and Theo Ratliff are too old to provide any solid contributions.
Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter are too young to help.
Meanwhile, Shannon Brown shoots the ball way too much. In the past five games, he’s 22-50 from the field. Think about that for a moment. Fifty shots for a bench guy. He shoots enough for himself, Steve Blake, and Luke Walton.
With Brown, it’s offense or nothing, because he certainly does not believe in playing defense. I’m confident I could drop 30 on him.
Blake certainly hasn’t played the way the team hoped for when they signed him over the summer. What have the Lakers gotten in return? For four million a year, they signed a backup that’s averaging four points, two rebounds and two assists per game.
His 20 minutes of playing time, his lowest total since he played for Milwaukee, could be in part to blame.
Is it just me or is Walton shooting the ball more this season than past seasons? It appears he does not know his role anymore. In past seasons, he passed on open jumpers, but this year, he takes it upon himself to try to score some points.
One word comes to mind when Walton’s on the court…liability. It’s obvious the opposing team goes to the player he’s guarding because he’s going to be torched. In this scenario, Phil Jackson has three choices. One, go with Devin Ebanks and hope for the best. Two, slide Kobe or Odom to small forward. Three, play with only four men on the court.
Laker fans…rest assured, opposing teams should beware. The disgraceful loss to the Cavs will have dire consequences because somebody on the team will be traded by next week’s deadline. If not, Mitch Kupchak might be the one who should be traded. That you can count on.
