Lakers.com BasketBlog

After appearing at times sluggish in the first two games of each of their first two 2009 playoff series, the Lakers pulled things together quite impressively in their two Game 5’s and a Game 7 against Utah and Houston, respectively. In fact, all three games ended up being blowouts after the Jazz and Rockets had taken 1-of-2 from L.A. at home in Games 3 or 4.

Here’s a quick review of the late-series first and second round games in Los Angeles:

Game 5 vs. Utah - Lakers 107, Jazz 96: The Lakers led by as many as 22 points early in the fourth quarter before Utah’s subs closed the gap late. Lamar Odom was terrific with 26 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Game 5 vs. Houston - Lakers 118, Rockets 78: After the first quarter, the home team led by 11 points. After the second, the gap was 25. One more quarter, and it was 40, the margin that would stick through the final score.

Game 7 vs. Houston - Lakers 89, Rockets 70: The Lakers absolutely smothered the Rockets defensively, opening an early lead that swelled to as many as 31 points to finally dismiss a pesky Houston squad.

Now, the question is, will the Lakers be able to continue this pattern against a Denver team that’s proven to be playing better basketball than either of L.A.’s previous opponents, and with Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza both nursing injuries? In other words, just because L.A. played very well in its building in the first two rounds doesn’t mean they’ll be able to repeat the effort against Denver, even if the evidence doesn’t hurt. In this case, to repeat their STAPLES success, the purple and gold will not only need more from Odom and Ariza - injured or not - but from the rest of the bench, who’ll be looked at to display the kind of energy shown by the Nuggets’ pine in Game 4.

For more on L.A.’s upcoming Game 5, set to tip at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, check the post practice video by CLICKING HERE.

Generally after a playoff game, the losing team has the benefit of looking at the tape and making adjustments that could benefit their cause in the second game.

But after breaking down the pluses and minuses of both teams in Game 1, it appears that the Lakers, not the Nuggets, are the team that will be making the greater number of adjustments before Thursday’s Game 2, which can only be seen as a positive going forward. This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, however, since the Nuggets had days longer to prepare for the matchup than did L.A. (come on, you know the Nuggets weren’t prepping for Houston).

Take out the final two minutes, and Denver couldn’t have executed their game plan any better, while the Lakers could hardly have seemed more out of sorts. Let’s take a look:

Denver Positives
- Attacked the rim with luster, getting 46 points in the paint and several layups/dunks as L.A. was slow to react particularly on the weak side. Clearly, the Nuggets had planned on exploiting L.A.’s strong side push, and they executed very well.
- Got Andrew Bynum in foul trouble and pushed Pau Gasol around, allowing the Nuggs to control the lane at both ends. Essentially, they pushed the Lakers out of their preferred spots and forced offensive freelancing.
- Made Kobe Bryant work (very) hard for nearly everything he got at both ends of the floor.
- Got a transcendent 14-of-20 shooting performance from Carmelo Anthony.
- Controlled the tempo.
- Had the benefit of Chauncey Billups’ floor game, which helped expose that strong side trap, not to mention his two clutch threes.
- Saw Kenyon Martin go for 15 points, including some ugly line drives in the paint.
- Got a solid defensive effort off the bench from Chris Anderson, who also pitched in eight points.

Denver Negatives
- Missed 12 free throws, which really hurt. Billups missed three and J.R. Smith four.
- Conceded 17 offensive rebounds to the Lakers in part because of L.A.’s length, and in part because Denver’s bigs routinely leave their rebounding position to attempt blocked shots (of which they had eight).
- Made three critical mistakes in crunch time, including Anthony Carter’s turnover on the inbound pass that Ariza sniped, and two untimely Kenyon Martin fouls.
- Lack of a bench contribution from J.R. Smith* in particular, who made only 2-of-7 shots, took two terrible threes, missed four free throws and turned it over three times while committing five fouls.
*Smith, who hyper-extended his knee on Sunday, is expected to play in Game 2.
Continue reading ‘Lakers Practice Report - Wednesday’

The collective response of the Lakers to Sunday’s 99-87 loss in Houston was as predictable as their lackluster effort going into the contest … And we’ll get to what Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant had to say momentarily.

But as for the Mother’s Day letdown, Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register summed it up quite nicely:

“The Lakers are a deep and talented team, good but not dominant on defense, not quite what they would be if Andrew Bynum were feeling big and strong, and above all not experienced enough to bring stellar focus if the circumstances don’t prompt them.”

That’s about as concise and accurate a statement about L.A.’s state as there was after Game 4, though one could argue that future circumstance of the playoffs will indeed bring out that focus. Yet and still, Sunday’s circumstances certainly didn’t prompt the Lakers, even if they should have: Yao was out, and L.A. relaxed; Yao was out, and Houston was (entirely) galvanized (like Orlando without Dwight Howard in Game 6 vs. Philly); L.A. was very, very loose before the game, and Houston had its collective back pressed firmly against the wall; the Lakers’ lax attitude crushed their hope of playing good help defense; etc., etc.

Indeed, for whatever reason, the Lakers occasionally need to be prodded before they unleash the kind of games that they’re so obviously capable of. They’re so talented that, in games where they don’t mentally feel challenged (”Oh, no Yao? We got this.”), they assume they can turn on the afterburners eventually.

That’s what Phil Jackson reiterated after practice, before explaining once again that the primary goal in Houston was to regain home court advantage, and that he expects his team to respond on Tuesday just as they have all season to losses (including in the playoffs after tough defeats at Utah in Game 3 and vs Houston in Game 1). In truth, there’s no evidence to contradict that sentiment, especially now that the Lakers have seen what the Rockets can do without their 7-6 center.

Kobe faced the music as well, getting between 654 and 657 questions about the Lakers’ heart.

“We didn’t understand the type of energy Houston was going to come with, we didn’t have that recognition,” he said, implying that the team now understands quite clearly. “That’s disappointing … But just get back to work. Win tomorrow. That’s all.”

It’s probably not Kobe who needs to understand that the intensity level needed to match that of a wounded dog in Game 4, but if he’s not worried about getting it out of his teammates in Game 5, should we?

To watch the complete Jackson and Bryant interviews, CLICK HERE.