Los Angeles Lakers 2008-2009 Season Preview

October 5, 2008

The Lakers made it to the Finals last season but they were missing a lot on the defensive end. They did not rebound well and gave up tons of easy layups. They hope to solve that problem with the return of young Andrew Bynum. Bynum was having a solid season last year before he was injured. With his return Pau Gasol will move down to the power forward spot and Lamar Odom will move to the small forward spot, or the bench.

A lot of people including a lot of media members are handing the title to the Lakers already because of the return of Bynum. I know he will improve the Lakers interior defense but unless their perimeter defense improves I don’t see them getting back to the finals.

Aside from defense the Lakers need to rotate their players better. All of their bench players, with the exception of Ariza and Farmer, are just shooters which means that the Lakers second unit isn’t aggressive going to the basket. Phil Jackson needs to keep one of the starters on the floor a bit longer so that have a go to guy on the second unit. Last season Lamar Odom was always the starter that stayed on the floor the longest but he not the type of guy to take over games. They lost quite a few leads with that second unit because the only shots going up where threes.

The Lakers have what it takes offensively and Bynum and Ariza will bring some of what the Lakers missed in the playoffs, slashing, rebound,and shot blocking, but with the increased competition in the West they have to play better perimeter defense and be more aggressive on offense to win a championship.

Written by Dre · Filed Under 08-09 Previews, Los Angeles Lakers | 1 Comment

Vujacic’s Limited Minutes In The Third Quarter Of Game 3 Nearly Cost The Lakers

June 12, 2008

In game 3 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday Sasha Vujacic had a stellar first half. I believe he scored 10 points. In the third quarter I expected him to be the first guy off the bench but Trevor Ariza was and I was shocked. Ariza is a good player but he is not as good a shooter as Vujacic. Around that same time the Celtics took the lead and I was like what the hell is Phil Jackson doing.

He finally put Vujacic in with about 2 minutes to go in the 3rd and Vujacic went on to score another 10 points in the second half. I said before game three that Vujacic should play more minutes and I was right. When he plays he produces.

Written by Dre · Filed Under Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Playoffs 2008 | Leave a Comment

Lakers Go Up 3-1 On A No Call At The End Of The Game

May 28, 2008

The Lakers were up two points with 2 seconds to go. Brent Barry caught the ball faked got Derek Fisher in the air and then Barry took a dribble and tried to throw the shot up at the last second hoping to get free throws but no call was made.

The Lakers are lucky because they did not execute well down the stretch and suprisingly of of the biggest mistakes was made by Kobe. The Lakers were up 4 with 32 seconds left in the game and Kobe rushed down court and tried to take a layup over 3 guys instead of holding the basketball. When he missed the Spurs got the rebound and rushed down court for a layup cutting the lead to two points. The Lakers had another possession to score on but they couldn’t and that left the final 2 seconds for the Spurs where the refs decided not to blow the whistle.

Written by Dre · Filed Under Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Playoffs 2008, San Antonio Spurs | Leave a Comment

Lakers Mismatches Leading To Wins

May 8, 2008

The Lakers are facing a tough Utah Jazz team but they give the Jazz a ton of matchup problems. They have no one that can guard Kobe, Gasol is too long for anyone to challenge once he gets deep position he can get a high percentage shot, and Lamar Odom is too quick and to good a ball handler for Okur or Boozer to guard.

Boozer has stunk it up pretty much the entire playoffs but if he can stay out of foul trouble he can contribute a lot more than the 10 points he did in game 2.

The biggest key for the Lakers in this series is to keep Odom and Gasol out of foul trouble and get Odom touches. This is really a series where Odom should be getting 25 points a game, if he attacks the Utah defenders like he should the Lakers can win this series in 4 games.

Written by Dre · Filed Under Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Playoffs 2008 | Leave a Comment