Lakers lose to Utah

[TeeRaySix9Teen]

This is more based on some shit i posted in another thread. But this Utah game shows what i was saying. First off, The Lakers played well without Kobe. Well, offensively they played well. Their defense was just garbage. But their ball movement was really good, better then most games ive seen this year from them. I was saying how playing without Kobe could help them in the long run, and honestly theyd be better off to have 5 games without him. But if you watched the game (im sure NIK at least did), they were really balanced on offense, everyone got involved, and like i said...had really good ball movement. Without having the "superstar" there, they seemed to make more of an effort to find the open man and get the best possible shots. When Kobe's in the game, they dont do ANY of that. Occasionally they move the ball well, but mostly they hand him the ball and watch. Stupid. Kobe's good, so he can create for himself. BUT, obviously that doesnt work always. And a lot of times he ends up having to force up really low percentage shots. This is why i was saying the team would be better off with him averaging around 25 points a game or so. Its so easy to defend a team that has only one threat. But when you have balance, Kobe would be way more effective on offense for you. If opposing defenses actually had to respect everyone on the floor...Kobe would have far more opportunities to get good shots. Im tellin you guys, your team has to completely rethink the way they play ball. When Kobe comes back, they really need to stick to this style. His shooting percentage would go up, and your team will improve. It doesnt mean everyone on the team needs to be an offensive weapon. But they need to be involved enough to make other teams actually think about them defensively. The best shot, isnt always Kobe's. Its whoever is open, and in a good position to do something with the ball. Id be willing to bet, if you guys moved the ball more, and Kobe only scored 25 points a game, but was only shooting 20 shots a game or less...youd be in better position to win more.

[Eddie G.]

that was a fuckin hard game to watch.  seriously, that was one of the worst games ive seen played in a while.

[wcsoldier]

This is more based on some shit i posted in another thread. But this Utah game shows what i was saying. First off, The Lakers played well without Kobe. Well, offensively they played well. Their defense was just garbage. But their ball movement was really good, better then most games ive seen this year from them. I was saying how playing without Kobe could help them in the long run, and honestly theyd be better off to have 5 games without him. But if you watched the game (im sure NIK at least did), they were really balanced on offense, everyone got involved, and like i said...had really good ball movement. Without having the "superstar" there, they seemed to make more of an effort to find the open man and get the best possible shots. When Kobe's in the game, they dont do ANY of that. Occasionally they move the ball well, but mostly they hand him the ball and watch. Stupid. Kobe's good, so he can create for himself. BUT, obviously that doesnt work always. And a lot of times he ends up having to force up really low percentage shots. This is why i was saying the team would be better off with him averaging around 25 points a game or so. Its so easy to defend a team that has only one threat. But when you have balance, Kobe would be way more effective on offense for you. If opposing defenses actually had to respect everyone on the floor...Kobe would have far more opportunities to get good shots. Im tellin you guys, your team has to completely rethink the way they play ball. When Kobe comes back, they really need to stick to this style. His shooting percentage would go up, and your team will improve. It doesnt mean everyone on the team needs to be an offensive weapon. But they need to be involved enough to make other teams actually think about them defensively. The best shot, isnt always Kobe's. Its whoever is open, and in a good position to do something with the ball. Id be willing to bet, if you guys moved the ball more, and Kobe only scored 25 points a game, but was only shooting 20 shots a game or less...youd be in better position to win more.

When we won 5 of 6 games on the road, our passing game was very good and the scoring was really balanced . The pb in the last losses is we kinda start playing like we did in the 1st part of November: ball goes to Kobe and others aren't much involved in offense. The fact is that in this road trip, we made very good starts, then all the players were confident and weren't "afraid of" taking shots whereas when we're down or a 1-2 pt games, ball goes to Kobe in order to cut the deficit instead of involving all the players.  We 're a young team and with time these players are going to learn execute better in key moments. With much experience (AND more refs calls but I don't count on it) games we lost (especially at home) would have been won (Chicago, NJ, Minnes, Memphis, Utah)

[acbaylove]

This is more based on some shit i posted in another thread. But this Utah game shows what i was saying. First off, The Lakers played well without Kobe. Well, offensively they played well. Their defense was just garbage. But their ball movement was really good, better then most games ive seen this year from them. I was saying how playing without Kobe could help them in the long run, and honestly theyd be better off to have 5 games without him. But if you watched the game (im sure NIK at least did), they were really balanced on offense, everyone got involved, and like i said...had really good ball movement. Without having the "superstar" there, they seemed to make more of an effort to find the open man and get the best possible shots. When Kobe's in the game, they dont do ANY of that. Occasionally they move the ball well, but mostly they hand him the ball and watch. Stupid. Kobe's good, so he can create for himself. BUT, obviously that doesnt work always. And a lot of times he ends up having to force up really low percentage shots. This is why i was saying the team would be better off with him averaging around 25 points a game or so. Its so easy to defend a team that has only one threat. But when you have balance, Kobe would be way more effective on offense for you. If opposing defenses actually had to respect everyone on the floor...Kobe would have far more opportunities to get good shots. Im tellin you guys, your team has to completely rethink the way they play ball. When Kobe comes back, they really need to stick to this style. His shooting percentage would go up, and your team will improve. It doesnt mean everyone on the team needs to be an offensive weapon. But they need to be involved enough to make other teams actually think about them defensively. The best shot, isnt always Kobe's. Its whoever is open, and in a good position to do something with the ball. Id be willing to bet, if you guys moved the ball more, and Kobe only scored 25 points a game, but was only shooting 20 shots a game or less...youd be in better position to win more.

Basically i agree. But most of the times i blamed Kobe's teammates cause they just didn't have balls enought to take some shots. And i agree this ban is a blessing for the team, exactly like it was Brown's injury. Because like you said now they have no excuses and they should start taking some responsabilities in offence, expecially Odom and Brown. I hope Kobe will return with a slow 15 points and 8 assists performance in two games. He should. I don't give a fuck about a win or a loose game, i care about teammates getting involved. It's a marathon, like Phil said. If we set all the things correctly, we can do damage in the Play Offs. YOU DON'T WANNA FACE THE LAKERS. So i'm still optimistic, it's a long run, i hope Phil will reach this goal.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

This is more based on some shit i posted in another thread. But this Utah game shows what i was saying. First off, The Lakers played well without Kobe. Well, offensively they played well. Their defense was just garbage. But their ball movement was really good, better then most games ive seen this year from them. I was saying how playing without Kobe could help them in the long run, and honestly theyd be better off to have 5 games without him. But if you watched the game (im sure NIK at least did), they were really balanced on offense, everyone got involved, and like i said...had really good ball movement. Without having the "superstar" there, they seemed to make more of an effort to find the open man and get the best possible shots. When Kobe's in the game, they dont do ANY of that. Occasionally they move the ball well, but mostly they hand him the ball and watch. Stupid. Kobe's good, so he can create for himself. BUT, obviously that doesnt work always. And a lot of times he ends up having to force up really low percentage shots. This is why i was saying the team would be better off with him averaging around 25 points a game or so. Its so easy to defend a team that has only one threat. But when you have balance, Kobe would be way more effective on offense for you. If opposing defenses actually had to respect everyone on the floor...Kobe would have far more opportunities to get good shots. Im tellin you guys, your team has to completely rethink the way they play ball. When Kobe comes back, they really need to stick to this style. His shooting percentage would go up, and your team will improve. It doesnt mean everyone on the team needs to be an offensive weapon. But they need to be involved enough to make other teams actually think about them defensively. The best shot, isnt always Kobe's. Its whoever is open, and in a good position to do something with the ball. Id be willing to bet, if you guys moved the ball more, and Kobe only scored 25 points a game, but was only shooting 20 shots a game or less...youd be in better position to win more.

You're missing the point...When the Lakers were on their winning streak, they WERE moving the ball around for the most part. Most of the players were involved offensively, Kobe WAS finding the open man, they were doing everything right. I don't know if you've watched many Laker games this season, but trust me, when the Lakers stick to their game-plan, they win...The problem arises usually in the 2nd half (mostly 4th quarters). That's when all the players seem to stop running the offense, put the ball in Kobe's hand, and rely on him to take care of the offense...Cook had a few big games offensively before this one, those were the games he stepped up. Remember about a month ago Odom said he'd average 20 points in his next 4 games and went on to do it? It's all on the other players, Kobe does not control 100% of the offense, the other players need to move on the floor, cut to the basket, look for the open shot, etc...They WERE doing all of this, and have been doing it really well in the first half of games, but I dunno what it is, maybe they get tired? But they ALWAYS seem to give up on the offense and ball-movement at a certain point...It even happened yesterday, without Kobe. They stopped moving the ball in the second half, taking turns going one-on-one, and that's where they lost it (along with missed free-throws)...They're in need of Kobe, without Kobe, they don't have that primary offensive threat. I mean, Brian Cook was their offensive threat last night, and that's not gunna get you to the playoffs...I'm not knocking Cook or anything, but the Lakers definitely need a player who can finish games, just like Kobe...That doesn't mean they need to stop moving the ball around and put the ball in Kobe's hands like they've done, it just means they need to run the offense through Kobe, but still move the ball around and stick to the game-plan...I believe Phil will get ALL the players to comply with the system come March. It's just gunna take some time, as always with Phil...PeACe