The Lakers Nation

Jerry from ClipperBlog (7th comment down, or type CTRL+F then search for “Jerry”) has these words of warning for the Lakers concerning Al Thornton…

“At this point, you can put A.T. up there with Brand and Ron Harper (before he blew out his knee) as the best Clipper in an LA uniform. He can basically do everything. Teams have to double team this guy, they don’t have to double team Maggette. Maggette relies on getting fouled as most of his drives don’t have a good chance of ending up in the basket.

Watching Thornton on X-Mo last night [against the kings] and seeing him score a variety of ways (3-pointers, Jordan-like cross over fade aways, jump hooks, double clutch behind the basket slam dunks), there’s not really any Clipper who you can compare him with. Forget rookie of the year, this guy is an all-star right now.

Clippers have always needed a true scorer in the likes of Iverson or Kobe. Now they have one. Aside from that one 10-turnover game, he doesn’t turn the ball over that much (like Maggette does).”

Translation: Lamar, its 3 out of 3 in tough assignments. Hopefully, you keep up the fine work.

Rebuttal: The Lakers actually have a scorer like Iverson or Kobe. His name is Sasha and he is the “Slovenian Machine”. He can score in a variety of ways (3 pointers, Wade-esque crossovers, long two’s and layup’s) and plays stifling defense. Forget the MIP award, this guy is DPOY caliber.

Marquee Matchups -

Point Guard - D-Fish and Farmar vs. Brevin Knight: It’s hard to imagine having difficulty guarding a guy who…

A) Shoots 41% for his career and is barely above 40% this year.

B) Shoots an even worse percentage from downtown — he hasn’t made one yet this season in 5 attempts and has only made 16-112 lifetime.

C) Barely shoots the ball to begin with 4.6FGA per game. Yet somehow D-Fish and Farmar are both going to have to rise to the challenge.

Advantage: Lakers.

Shooting Guard - Kobe vs. Cuttino Mobley: Honestly, I hate doing this section, because no matter who we play, Kobe is going to kick butt. You know what, I’m not going to talk about Mobley at all. I can’t wait till we play Houston next week, when I can write about Kobe vs. a resurgent T-Mac.

Until then…

Advantage: Lakers.

Small Forward - Walton vs. Maggette: Two players not known for playing defense, one player known for scoring. one player has been playing fairly well on both ends of the court recently, the other has been shooting badly and still maintains that there is no D in Perennial-Lottery-Pick-Team. Based on talent you would pick Maggette, based on form you would pick Walton.

Advantage: Lakers, on current form.

Power Forward - Lamar vs. Al Thornton: Josh Powell is slated to start, but you have to believe that Thornton will see the majority of the minutes after his performance against the Kings. I actually like this match up for Odom, mostly because he has that extra two inches of length on Al and because he’ll make Al focus more on the defensive end. The fact that Odom is the superior rebounder also will help limit Thornton’s effectiveness, and it is yet to be seen if Al has the mental fortitude to respond to a situation where one of his strengths is negated.

Advantage: Lakers.

Center - Pau Gasol vs. Chris Kaman: How the hell did we Laker fans put up with Kwame Brown?? Pau makes layups, has a mid-range jump shot, dunks the ball when possible, and makes his free-throws. Chris Kaman does these things too, and he has a stronger back-to-the-basket game to boot, but he’s slower and just plain uglier. The Kaman apologist would argue that, in his defense, he actually matches up better with Bynum but Bynum would beg to differ, and so would I. However, the advantage has to go to the quickness of Pau, who actually has a much more polished offensive game in general.

Advantage: Lakers.

Bench: It’s been three games now, and the bench still lacks its usual intense spark. The good news is that the Lakers now have Vlad Rad to bolster the bench, which means either…

A) Less minutes for Walton.

B) Less minutes for Sasha and, to a lesser extentFarmar.

C) (Hopefully), slightly less minutes for Kobe.

D) Less minutes for Turiaf, which would be a real shame.

Anyhow, Phil has more options now, which may or may not be a bad thing.

The Clippers have several good bench players who would be good role players on Championship teams. Fortunately for us, a bench unit of Josh Powell, Quinton Ross, Aaron Williams, and Dan Dickau does not provide much in the terms of offensive spark or, apart from Ross, defensive prowess. Even on our recent bad streak I would take our bench crew over the Clippers reserves.

Advantage: Lakers

Key Matchup -

Gasol vs. Kaman: This is the closest thing to an equal match-up that is presented in the entire starting lineup. If Gasol outplays Kaman, as I am predicting, then we should go on to win the game handily, as they would be forced to play mostly from the perimeter. However, if Kaman wins the battle inside, then we could be in for a close game.

Let’s play Coach!

Lakers: They need to establish Pau early. The Clippers aren’t a really good defensive team, so inside out ball movement should always produce a good shot. They’ll need to contain Al Thornton and Chris Kaman. Kobe may roam more on defense tonight in order to be able to help out on those two.

Clippers: Watch for them to go to Kaman after a made basket to try to get him good position under the basket, but to try to get the ball to Al Thornton or Corey Maggette on the fast break or even after a defensive rebound. Quinton Ross might get more run in this game to hassle Kobe.

Statistical Predictions -

If only Lamar had made one more free-throw, a modicum of respectability could have been achieved, but oh well.

20+ Points: Kobe, Pau, and Fisher

10+ Boards: Pau, and Lamar.

3+ pt FGM: Fisher, Farmar

Closest To Triple-Double: Kobe.

Out On A Limb: Team turnovers < 12.

Burning Questions/Sage Answers -

Since I didn’t get any questions in the previous thread, I thought I’d give some questions to ponder while we wait for the game to start. This will be a new regular feature, hopefully this will spark discussion amongst yourselves and even lead to a few questions.

Who is the Clippers’ biggest offensive threat?

Who is going to be the “Smush Of The world” and try to beat us?

How many points are we going to win by?

Time: 10:30 EST

Venue: Staples Center

Television: FSW, KTLA

Radio: KLAC, KWKW

Online: NBA LP

Enjoy the Game folks!

If you have questions you would like to ask me (or suggestions) feel free to comment about it or e-mail me at lerntuspeel@GMail.com.