Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:17 am Post subject: Does a little losing help?
Last night was the first time in a while we imploded down the stretch and lost. I saw panic when it came down to crunch time. More concerning is that we've imploded before but got bailed out. We were a 3 pointer away from losing to the Bulls and our record this year, at Staples, is hovering around .500. We've got more than a sample size to judge from. It was also concerning to see our players yelling at one another on a roster that's been so tight and supportive the last two years.
It's a long season, I get it and things are going to go up and down. But this was a bad loss. Golden State wasn't at full strength and we were on a roll until, well we choked.
Next game is a true test. The 'second best' team in the league Bucks. Do we come out on fire, determined, and focused (on the road - which is probably a plus), and pull out a win, or do we have a losing streak?
This is Milwaukee's chance to prove they are the best in the league.
I'm not sure if losing helps, but it does force us to be real with ourselves. Maybe it's time to stop listening to the 'best team on paper' and realize winning another championship is going to be a pure fight and we haven't been given anything but a target on our backs.
Fortunately, we have the best player on the planet to get us back to where we need to be.
go Lakers!! _________________ "I bought the Lakers so I could beat the Celtics" - Dr. Jerry Buss
Last night was a good hard lesson for the team not to take their foot off the pedal. Bigger impact on the lesson learned because they actually lost instead of squeaking by a win. _________________ Tacos
In my perspective - it was a tale of two half’s that’s revealed area’s of improvement for us.
Our rotations in the fourth weren’t crisp and we were allowing Steph Curry to beat us by reacting to him instead of executing our defensive principles.
We also didn’t execute down the fourth offensively by any means - settled for late jumpers. AD & Lebron under performed and I thought we didn’t try to create the best possible shot instead sunk into some ISO ball and bad shots. Overall - given that it’s a new group - I thought it was a needed point of emphasis for the team to grow and I think it’s a healthy loss.
Winning has a way of hiding your bad habits and I think it was important that we lost the game and those frustrations came forward. Particularly on a national TV game on MLK day. _________________ Author of James Harden and the Strip Club
"The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter." - Malcom Gladwell
I think the one concerning takeaway is despite all of our talent, we basically still win or lose based on LBJ. The whole team follows his lead including AD and Lebron is going to have to close for us in tight games.
Lebron at 36 being in that kind of role with his usage is unprecedented and makes me nervous. I was hoping this was the year we started to see AD emerge as the leader and alpha but it's clear that ain't happening.
We will just have to live with some L's when Lebron is load managing within games like he did against GSW.
It's always a fine line about deferring TOO much to LBJ but also realizing that yes, he's still probably the best overall player in the league. I think for newer guys like Dennis/Trez, etc., it's about earning LBJ's trust and learning how to read what he wants.
I was surprised that KCP turned down that open 3 as he hit some big shots in the playoffs and has LBJ's trust (which is why LBJ was furious at him for passing it up).
I also saw so much "hot potato" at the end where players like Kuz/Dennis/KCP were getting open 3s but unnecessarily overpassing.
It's about understanding rhythms and things like that and I hope we will get there sooner rather than later. _________________ From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals
The NBA is very simple to figure out. There's a reason for why some players gets $30 million a year, while others get $5 million. Those that get the most money have to be the most effective, as their skill set is essential to the franchise winning games.
When 1 of of our players that makes the most money doesn't play well, it compromises our chances of winning. When both don't play well, it all but makes it impossible.
Three of our 4 top paid players (AD, Lebron, KCP) played badly, and the the one that didn't play badly (DS) made bad plays at key moments. That is unacceptable, and any team in the NBA will lose when their highest paid, read "best" players, play poorly.
I can give Lebron a break. This man works hard most of the times. AD is young and very talented, but mentally weak. He should be dominating, but instead, he coasts his way to his huge paycheck. DS works hard out there, I'm not mad at him. The one other than AD that's getting on my f'n nerves is Katavious Caldwell Pope. This guy is making $12 million a year. He needs to play his value, and scoring 4 points is only 2 baskets more than any of use can make playing for the Lakers. Damn him.
Summary: Lebron at 36 can coast, but if he's gonna coast, he needs to stop playing "dumb", and stop acting like a clown out there. DS just needs to tighten it up in crunch time and understand that games are won and lost in the final quarter, dammit. AD needs to earn his paycheck and stop playing like a bigassed marshmallow. He's too damned young to be coasting. And KCP needs to insert himself mentally and physically into these games. Get his ass in the gym.
Our current winning percentage is .733. That equates to 60 wins over an 82 game schedule, or about 53 wins over a 72 game schedule. If that's what you mean by a little losing, it's fine. If we go 53-19, I'd have no complaints.
As for our homecourt record, I'm not sure it matters. The median team in the league has a .500 home record. There are nine teams with that record. I've heard several pundits argue that playing at home is actually a negative compared to normal years. I'm not sure that it's a net negative, but it certainly isn't as much of a positive as in prior seasons. For example, there were 18 teams with a winning home record last season. This season, there are 8. _________________ Internet Argument Resolved
Opposing players/ coaches are not stupid. They will attack the weak link. If that is James “coasting” on defense then that is where they will attack.
If they see him not closing out on 3s, who’s man do you think is going to be taking those uncontested 3s? If they see his rotations are slow, who’s man do you think is going to be crashing the boards? If James is still complaining about a no call and barely crosses half court, who’s man/ assignment is getting the ball?
James contributes to the big leads but he also contributes to giving them up too.
He is team leader. But “coasting” should never be the option for him or any player. Lakers have to clean this up as a team, not just James.
If they can’t get pumped or focus for a home game then maybe time to stay the night at a hotel instead of going home. Unrealistic I know, but something has to change with this inconsistent performances. Can’t be giving up these wins this early in the season. They might need them later in the season.
Opposing players/ coaches are not stupid. They will attack the weak link. If that is James “coasting” on defense then that is where they will attack.
...
James contributes to the big leads but he also contributes to giving them up too.
Last season, Lebron was on a mission and AD made sure to hold him and everyone else accountable on defense. Everyone knew LBJ doesn’t play defense in the regular season but he did for most of last season.
This season the only time he and AD have played defense is when AD called the team out and they came out with good defensive efforts.
Lebron is 36, so obviously he can’t go 100% on defense but to your point there are times where he doesn’t even cross half court which he did a lot of in 2nd stint in Cleveland.
They are just allowing way too many easy baskets and no one is going to feel sorry for them. The intimidation factor isn’t there so far. Golden State was barking all night and the Lakers didn’t really do anything about it except to try and out score them. It’s hard to win with no effort defensively and it just killed any momentum they got from extending leads. GSW felt like they could keep up and they did but it’s because the Lakers aren’t giving enough on the defensive end. Opponents are encouraged that they can hang.
Yeah the stats say #1 defense, but the eye test isn’t matching up tbh.
In the regular season not really. I’m surprised we haven’t lost more to be honest. Impressive how these guys have come out this year after such a quick turnaround.
I think the losses in the early rounds of the playoffs will do a lot of help. These regular season losses are forgotten by the end of the very next game. Mental lapses are normal and human. We had one. Move on.
Of course. Don’t play with your food. Golden State knows this too. _________________ “You have to dance beautifully in the box that you are comfortable dancing in.” - Kobe Bryant
Golden State was a team to test us. We needed to respond better to it, but better it happen early in the season than be a constant problem late in the season. _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk
I think the one concerning takeaway is despite all of our talent, we basically still win or lose based on LBJ. The whole team follows his lead including AD and Lebron is going to have to close for us in tight games.
Lebron at 36 being in that kind of role with his usage is unprecedented and makes me nervous. I was hoping this was the year we started to see AD emerge as the leader and alpha but it's clear that ain't happening.
We will just have to live with some L's when Lebron is load managing within games like he did against GSW.
Actually, I think we would have had a better chance of winning yesterday if LeBron sat it out. He completely stunk it up
Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 4378 Location: Lake Nacimiento
Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:53 pm Post subject:
It's never good to lose I dont think but there are absolutely motivating factors that can be gotten when it does happen. We were doing great this season not allowing teams to get back into the game which happened very routinely last year since our offense got very stale for long stretches at a time.
Teams with this much talent after coming off a Championship need to get hit with a body shot or two during a long season to force a re-focus and not allow any over confidence to occur. This along with the new hungry rotation players we added should hopefully minimize this from happening much this season.
No, never! Not when you go up by 19. Lakers need to win those games. There will be games where teams will come with their A++++ game and give the Lakers trouble. That's fine. Those types of losses are expected. But that type of loss to the Warriors or any team is never okay. No excuse to lose those games. No one got hurt. No one got tossed. Absolutely NO EXCUSE.
I speculated a loss would help in making us more focused. Apparently not.
Maybe this is rock bottom, maybe we are in a free fall, only time will tell.
Only thing for certain is when you win a championship, there is target on your back.
How we respond to this adversity will define this season. Hope it’s positive. _________________ "I bought the Lakers so I could beat the Celtics" - Dr. Jerry Buss
helps the other team. _________________ "Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money & position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold & contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."
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