I don’t need to say much about this game.
While the Lakers somehow turned the ball over 20 times, it still seemed as if they were playing flawless. The Lakers shot 57% from the field and 62% from behind the arc compared to just 32% for the Suns. It was a fun game to watch. Great to see smiles of the Lakers faces after the disappointing home opener.
Who would have thought that the Lakers would be 1-1 with the win coming at Phoenix? Let’s get straight to the bests of the night…
1) Andrew Bynum played only 22 minutes. However, in those 22 minutes, he put up 14 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, and shot 70% from the field. The stats pretty much sum up his game. Great game Andrew!
2) Vlad Rad finally showed up! He would be number one on my list, but he was careless with the ball leading to 4 turnovers. Vlad didn’t miss a three. He was a perfect 4 of 4 from the arc. He had 19 points of 6-8 shooting.
3) It’s hard to keep it to only 3 players because everyone did well tonight. Derek Fisher continued his good shooting. He made some tough shots on his way to 7-9 shooting for 14 points. He also kept Nash out of the paint, forcing jumpers all night long. But like I said, it was a great team effort so don’t be too mad that I left off Sasha, Luke, Kobe, Ronny, Kwame, Critt, Mo, and Farmar)
Lakers Smush of the Day (Note: STD denotes the Laker that played the poorest):
I thought every Laker came to play. The only scoreless Laker was Brian Cook. In fact, he was the only Laker not to score at least 6 points. At least he didn’t get schooled by Yao tonight. Cook wasn’t awful tonight, he was just…Brian Cook.
Key play of the game: There were so many great plays tonight, but I will just focus on the steals the Lakers were able to get leading to wide open layups all night. Great D!
What to look for next game: Look for a much different game. The Jazz are physical and play much better defense. Will Lamar play? Game is Sun night @ 6:30 PM.
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great game to watch, good too see the lakers hustling and diving for the ball, making shots and what a great pass by luke to kobe between shawn marion’s legs, great game…
i had a tear drop down my cheek when i watched this! Looked like I was watching Showtime!
i had a tear drop down my cheek when i watched this! Looked like I was watching Showtime!
Great game Lakers… Watching Brian Cook on the court makes me want to jump out of a plane without a parachute, why is this guy even playing basketball let alone in the NBA? Seriously he’s been worthless for years….
My point exactly(HEY!Lakers fans are the best and they think alike).Cook has got to go.He actually makes wanna jump out of window and onto a bed of nails,OUCH!Trade him NOW for Joachim Noah(young but WAAAAAAAYYYYYY better on defense if that deal could mad.Throw in a draft pick,some money or whatever just get this off the team.Just imagine how the Lakers are going to when we get J.Oneal,CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!
J. Crittenton looked good in the little time he played, I think Phil should give him some more playing time, he definetly is better than Sasha.
THis was the funnest game that I have watched in a long time. The fact that it was the Suns made it all that much better. It was good to see the Lakers hustling the whole game. Playing good defense (for the most part a lot of the tiem Kwame wasn’t coming out in pick and rolls). If they can keep that effort up on the defensive end, this will be a better year than most people think.
I have 1 word about the game WOW!I want to congratulate my friend Santiago Fajardo from the (Funston ST. ballers) for not loosing faith in Vlady…
I disagree, while Critt is solid and continuing to grow, Sasha is a much better shooter. He also brings more intensity on defense which the Lakers often lack. If anything, I would like to see Sasha get 20 mins per game consistently. I think he has earned it with the work he has put in the offseason and how his game has improved. But I always have loved Sasha and I am a white shooter myself, so I might be a little biased
THE LAKERS DROWNED THE sun’s IN THEIR OWN LAKE!!!
Yea! i like Sasha too, but i also like Javaris i think he’s gona develope into a good player.Now on to Cook, this guy is trash i dont understand why he’s still on the team or how he ever made it on the team somebody lied to the Lakers when they told them that this guy can play…
David
Nov 3rd, 2007 at 8:40 am
J. Crittenton looked good in the little time he played, I think Phil should give him some more playing time, he definetly is better than Sasha.
I agree with milo. Sasha is a better shooter. Critt is a rookie that has a long way to go. He looked like smush at times. But, we all have those last minute 3 pointers from Sasha we can’t never forget. For me, it the one against Dallas. I will be surprised to see Critt getting noticiable minutes esp on close games, unlike last night.
Any good offers for Cook trade? Do it.
and to think we took cook over barbosa in the draft…
the past is the past…the best thing we can do is move on and waive cook…after all
Barbosa > Nothing > Cook
right?
Well, I have an unbiased opinion, and I agree. Sasha has worked on his defense a LOT. Having the task of guarding Steve Nash is enough to drive a man to drinking. But Sasha did well. However, the surprising part is how much he is attacking the basket and taking confident shots nowadays. Very impressive. Oh yea, ship Cook’s @$$ out!! Lol he’s the only Laker that didn’t score last night.
Haha I like the fact that now Kobe is at his point average - 45 with Houston and 16 with Phoenix, leading to just over 30ppg. Awesome!
Wow.. how great would it be to see the Lakers play like this or better this season??? :O
Hi Steve
AHHH victory smells so sweat:)
Hopefully, Andrew Bynam can keep up this great play for an entire 82 games. He definitely looks more polished than last year. Hopefully the Timberwolves will one day regret the day they said no to a package deal that included future Hall of Famer Andrew Bynam!
Yeah, Cook never has played with heart. I think if we are trading Kobe then making the other team take Cook would be a silver lining on day. (I’d say Kwame too but his contract plus Kobe’s is alot of money for one deal).
What do you think about this deal?
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=2381~3224~3032~885~110~1998&teams=13~13~13~13~4~4&te=&cash=
Lakers linup:
PG: Fish, Farmar, Critt
SG: Ben Gordon, Evans, Sasha
SF: Lamar, Luke, Vlad
PF: Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Ronny
C: Ben Wallace, Kwame, Bynum, Mihm
Bulls linup:
PG: Hinrich, Duhon
SG: Kobe, 3 other dudes
SF: Deng, Nocioni, Griffin
PF: Cook, Khryapa
C: Smith, Gray
We’d have to cut/buyout Mihm to trim down the roster.
Thoughts?
Critt brings more to the game than Sasha I think… he can dribble drive and has decent court vision after he breaks down his defender, please i’ve seen him stop on a dime several times and drill a shot
but i doubt he’d get as much burn as sasha or farmar since he is a rookie
oh well, he looks great when hes out there
Rewarding!!! thats all i can say about yesterdays win
Smells so…what? I know they’re playing basketball, so of course it’s gonna smell like sweat. I would imagine you meant sweEt. lol sorry, it was just too funny to pass up. no harm intended.
Hi steve……..Hi Dave
..Someone will need to give time up for Lamar and it cant be vlad if he plays like that more often…Luke..Ronnie..who?
I VOTE THAT THE GAME LAST NIGHT WAS THE BEST GAME THE LAKERS HAVE PLAYED AS A TEAM IN 3 YEARS!
GREAT ALL AROUND EVERYTHING!!!
I THINK WE WOULD HAVE WON BY 40+ IF LAMAR HAD PLAYED!
If LO would’ve played,they would’ve had to take the starters home early,maybe late 3rd quarter.With O’neal(Jermaine)they would probably shine the Trophy(CHAMPIONSHIP)up at halftime.
I LOVE TLN!!
Two things that stood out the most to me was the effort and intensity on defense and ball movement. The Lakers havent done that well on those two things for awhile now and it was really nice to see. Its finally nice to see Kobe coming around on trusting his players, especially with fisher, there were times in the game where Kobe would likely take a bad shot over a few guys, but ended up passing the ball. Glad to see Kobe has Fish who he trusts and knows to be in the right spot, so he can draw the D and make that pass.
This is a young team and when shots are falling and you have a big lead, the effort and intensity is always going to look good. Im curious to see how poised our team will be when theyre really tested, when shots are not falling for them, and its a tight game. Hopefully our guys dont get discouraged and still bring the effort and intensity on the defensive end. All in all in was a great game to watch and see our guys perform on a level that we all know they can.
J. Crittenton looked good in the little time he played, I think Phil should give him some more playing time, he definetly is better than Sasha.
i disagree but j critt is way better ballhandler and passer than sasha but sasha is a way better shooter
Fish and the subtraction of Smush is a good improvement. There were a couple of time last night where Kobe was calling for the ball but Fisher told to go to a different spot. Its good to see someone taking charge.
Envision4
Great game Lakers… Watching Brian Cook on the court makes me want to jump out of a plane without a parachute, why is this guy even playing basketball let alone in the NBA? Seriously he’s been worthless for years….
Envision, my sentiments EXACTLY. He can’t jump. Every time he gets the ball, he’s gonna jack it up. He always looks pissed, especially at teammates. When he’s in the game, the spacing in the triangle is horrible. He has no desire. He can’t jump or boxout on the boards. He is the laziest defender ever. He can’t jump. And, he ugly.
And btw, I’m glad the whole point guard situation has worked itself out. With Fish we finally have a PG to knock down any open J and LEAD the team, especially within the confines of the triangle. And the whole Farmar/Crittenson thing played itself out. Farmar looks sharp.
Conrats Lakers
Thats a very good question. To be honest, I have no idea. I think Phil will play it by matchup. Sometimes Ronny might start if we need Size, and sometimes Luke might if we need quickness. Regardless, Cook shouldn’t ever see another minute when Lamar returns. Vlad could also end up the odd man out. Mihm too?
Steve Avery…The thing is if you play lamar at power forward you then put him at risk with his shoulders..(always banging inside) and vlad does not rebound as well as lamar.Against teams like golden state,suns,pistons and any other small ball teams i would maybe put lamar in but ronnie has a stronger bodie…if the lakers play like they did more often i would expect to see lamar moved along with kwame by the deadline…and lets hope cook as well
This Laker team is only going to go as far as their bench takes them. Last night the Laker bench had 67 points and against Houston, in the opener, only 11. In order for the Lakers to win games, our bench has to average, AT LEAST, 20 points a game.
Not sure if this would happen but I wouldn’t be surprised if Lamar comes off the bench to be the veteran leader of the second string. Lamar is so versatile that he could play almost any position. I like starting Turiaf at the power forward. Turiaf is a true power forward because of his size. Lamar’s natural position is a 3, but because of his size, he can play the 4. It’ll be interesting to see where Lamar fits on the team because Lamar can be a valuable asset.
Trading Lamar is hard to grasp, but the Lakers sure did show a lot of potential without him in this game. I just don’t see where he’d fit. I DON’T want to see him at PF anymore. Ronnie is becomming a very legit PF. Luke is Luke. Vlad is becoming what we’ve all wanted. Where does Lamar fit? I do like the using-him-for-match-ups idea, but will Lamar be content not being a full-time starter?
Well the bulls are 0 and 3…how much sweeter is this deal going to get?
Neo-laker Era…im afraid he may become the odd man out in this
Yeah, as they loose more and more, their fans are gonna be chanting “KO-BE! KO-BE!” louder and louder during home games.
Heck, if we can win with these players here, why not trade Lamar, Kwame, and Cook?
Wouldn’t it be nice? Hehe, Indy wouldn’t take this but hey, one can dream.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=981~617~2750~615&teams=11~11~13~13&te=1998:11-2813&cash=
Lakers get: Jermaine O’Neal and Ike Diogu
Ship out: Lamar and trash (Kwame and Cook)
YEA!
i dont want to see Lamar go. he is the perfect complement to kobe. We have seen flashes, we just need both to be 100% healthy and get some help from the bench. Lakers dont need someone to get 20 ppg, they just dont. We score 100 a game, we just need someone to spread the offense and help move the ball.
Let’s not forget that JO is also a defensive player and a 6-time all-star. Having a consistent 20/10 player (what Lamar is suppose to be), a natural PF, and a defensive threat playing next to Kobe would be a gift. If Bynum is there along with JO, then we’re talking. The bench production isn’t always going to be consistent.