Lakers Go 0-For-Florida
Nobody thought the Lake Show had a real chance to complete the Florida sweep. Splitting back-to-backs in Miami and Orlando would have been ideal. Dropping both but in competitive fashion would have been understood. But going O-for-Florida in embarrassing fashion was the worst case scenario. If that was the goal then…mission accomplished!
Mike Brown’s offensive shortcomings came into clear focus during this hellish trip. After putting up 87 against a Wade-less Heat squad, the Lakers one upped themselves with 80 against a shorthanded Orlando. It used to be that the Lakers being held under 100 was shocking. Now it is asking too much for them to break 90. We keep hearing that this is a learning process. What we’re not seeing is any learning. Either that or Brown is expecting Kobe Bryant to do for him in L.A. what LeBron James did in Cleveland – everything.
The Lakers’ dependence on Bryant is alarming. Even with Kobe dropping 30 and dishing out 8 dimes while logging 44 minutes there still isn’t a chance of victory. Consider that a clear sign of the Mayan apocalypse.
You’d have thought Andrew Bynum might have played with something prove for those calling for Dwight Howard in Los Angeles. That highly anticipated battle was a first round knockout. Howard went 20-20 and Bynum had a thanks-for-playing double-double of 10 and 12. Nice numbers for role player, not the kind of production from a franchise player.
Same goes for Pau Gasol. You hate to pick on Pau but he’s making life much too difficult for himself. It’s real simple. Stop shooting jumpers and start posting up again. The Spaniard’s game disappeared in the playoffs and has stayed on milk cartons ever since.
When it comes to Houdini acts nobody has vanished faster than the Lakers’ bench. Poof! Gone with the trade of Lamar Odom.
Who knew LO would be taking Ron Artest’s game with him on the way out. Metta World Peace looks down for the count. 8 minutes with 0 points. Hard to believe this guy dropped 20 a night once upon a time.
Stop me if you’re heard this complaint before. The Lakers can’t defend against quick guards. This loss in Orlando was what Phil Jackson would refer to as a Brokeback game. It was all getting into the lane and kicking out to open shooters. Orlando drained 12 threes most of which were open looks. As usual L.A. answered back with 6 makes on 20 attempts from distance. At least they shot 30% from three, up a whole 5% from their normal pace.
This is becoming a broken record. We knew what the Lakers’ shortcomings were before the season began. With each road game we’re reminded in the harshest fashion. Two games against two top tier teams and the results were about as pretty as the illegitimate lovechild of Scottie Pippen and Star Jones.
If Mitch Kupchak is content to let this play out then he should expect the hate mail to come pouring in. I’m sure the man that will be licking the stamps on most of those critical letters will be Kobe Bryant. I can’t see Kobe being content with things as they are.
Right now this team has no chance of contending. If anything is going to be done to change that it will need to happen soon. Before you know it the All-Star break will have come and gone with the Lakers looking at long road to title town before them.