Purple Post Game: Bow Before The Kings?
What the eff? To quote the great Roy Munson, “You lost to a club player — that’s not supposed to happen!”
So, what happened? We’ll, our highly touted bench got outplayed again, for one. The Lakers are 4-3 this year when Kobe Bryant registers 20-plus shot attempts. The second unit has got to play better for this team to become a championship one. Sasha Vujacic has two points in his last three. The Machine is obviously currently out of order. 15 points combined from Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza also isn’t enough. They did an OK job of stat stuffing elsewhere, but this team needs at least 20 points a night from those two guys. At least.
The most disappointing thing about last night’s performance was the energy, especially from our highly touted bench. Where was it? Is that bitter taste from the Finals already out of their mouths? These are young, supposedly hungry, guys who need to bring it every night. Kobe and Pau Gasol brought it, but the rest of the team failed to show up when it came to the intensity department.
The other thing is, why didn’t we just pound it inside against the Kings? It was obvious that their bigs couldn’t handle Pau and even Diaper Drew. If they’re going to bring our bigs outside on defense and take advantage of one of our shortcomings, then why not return the favor and exploit the mismatches we had inside offensively? Andrew Bynum should have received more minutes and more shots, but for some reason didn’t. I don’t envy Phil Jackon’s task; he simply doesn’t have enough minutes or shots for the stockpile of talent on this team. Good problem to have, I suppose, but it obviously can be frustrating.
We now have an opportunity to rebound against Shaq and the Suns. I think the bitchslap of a wake up call we got in Sactown woke us up. We might have been lulled to sleep by the recent sked. Tonight, I fully expect us to get back to our winning ways.
Laker Links:
- Rules for Lakers Fans Attending Games in Sacramento – Sactown Royalty
- About Last Night…- Forum Blue and Gold
- Kings 113, Lakers 101: Stepping in cow patties – Kam Bros Blog
- Lakers @ Kings Highlights – Lakers Media
Around the League:
- The seven: NBA movies opening for Christmas – Cuzoogle
- Chris Webber yells Rondoooooooooooooooo!! Video -NESW Sports
- Lebron James Dunks from Free Throw Line Again (…Well Almost) – Hoops Doctors
- Derrick Rose Can’t Be Trusted With Sharp Objects – Sports by Brooks
