LAKERS -at- ROCKETS - 5/8 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[Vishnu]

Thank DB.

2 Bruins in the Lakers' starting lineup last night. First time that's happened since KAJ and Wilkes

[Klone_dd]

I'm really happy for JoFar. He's had a rough couple of months, but he came in to the starting role ready and prepared. Very controlled game by him. He's better off with the starters so he doesn't have to make plays with the 2nd unit.

The 3-point shooting was exceptional. It was a major factor in this win as it was in the Game 1 loss.

IMO the Rockets defense is overrated. Yao can only anchor if he's not involved with pick & rolls. Otherwise, he's willing to give up the midrange. Plus they don't create turnovers.

RonRon had an okay game, but when he starts to overdribble and overpenetrate, he really compromises their team. He does nothing to "make his teammates better."

Solid games from Ariza and LO. If we can get game 4, this series is over.

[AJLakerFan]

Great right up DB! Even though I watch the games, Always look forward to see what DancingBarry wrote .

[20,000]

Great showing by Farmar. I love the different looks the Lakers can give. Against Utah, stay with the stronger guards (Brown, Fish) to go against Williams. In this series against Houston, their PGs are quick and not strong, so having Farmar is a blessing with his quickness. If all goes according to plan, the next series against Denver will see a return to the stronger guards to contain Billups.

I am a little disappointed in our front court game. Scola is good, but he seems to be having it too easy out there. Would a Pau-Yao and Bynum-Scola matchup work better for the Lakers?

Sadly, Powell is not the answer. Time and time again he will try to do too much, and we have seen all season long his game is to stand about 15 feet away, waiting for a pass so he can pop up and hit the jumper. That is his game, and that is what he should stick with.
_________________
Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[Burgundy]

Great recap, as always, DB!

I was amazed at Farmar's play in this game...where has that guy been? Even if he wasn't hitting his shots, he was making smart, timely passes, not turning the ball over, and playing hustling, active defense.

THAT'S ALL WE WANTED ALL ALONG.

The problem with the past 4 months, is that Farmar wasn't shooting well, but he would just continue to jack up bad shots - then get disappointed, and play half-hearted defense...and when he did decide to pass, he'd be careless and turn the ball over.

Let's face it, last night, he still couldn't shoot (he missed a lot of wide open looks), but HE DID OTHER THINGS! He was a huge positive, because he took care of the ball, passed it to the right people, and hustled his behind off on defense.

If he'd been doing that all along, he wouldn't be in the doghouse.

I 100% agree with DB - Brown should be taking Sasha's minutes at this point, and Farmar should be back in the rotation - the Farmar/Brown combo actually isn't half-bad.

Every time Sasha misses a wide open jumper (which is 90% of the time), it's deflating for the team. And it's not like he's gang busters on defense - he's fouling like crazy. I'd rather have Brown out there, who's actually capable of creating (and making) his own shot and not fouling on defense...

[smiles]

Brown is playing exceptionally well; his shooting % is great. He definitely needs to cut into Sasha's minutes if he can't have minutes as pg since now Fisher is back.

[Bench]

Sasha shouldn't be playing the next game.

[noJINX]

Awesome Game from start to finish I'm very happy for Farmar good game

Yao Ming IS OUT for the season

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Sister Golden Hair]

[yanyon]

thanks again DB... you should be the one receiving that MVP award for your continued hard work and efforts on giving us awesome write ups....