Lakers Chances

Jeff Van Gundy had an interesting thought late in the Lakers loss to San Antonio on April 4th. The gist was that if Kobe has a poor shooting night and the Lakers are without Bynum they become a very beatable team. Well, Kobe played today and for the third straight game had trouble shooting the ball. I think it's still the finger but his knee injury certainly doesn't help. He had very little lift today and had trouble going to the hole.

Kobe is banged up. Bynum is still hurt. Odom, Artest, Farmar, Sasha and Brown all have injuries as well. The Lakers are hurting and their bench has been a joke for a good month now. But the fact remains that since the All-Star break LA has not played with any rhythm and little purpose. With today's loss, Orlando holds the home court advantage should the two teams meet in the Finals.

So who is to blame? Well, I would start with the coach. By his own admission, PJ has said when guys start tuning you out it's time to move on. A coach not only has to prepare a team for each opponent but to get that team geared for the playoffs. For months now, even when they were relatively healthy, the Lakers have looked poor on defense. They've shown flashes. Last month's game at Houston was a revelation, at least the second quarter. But most of the time the effort is not there. It's Phil's job to coax that effort out of his team. It's Phil's job get the team to move the ball on offense. It's Phil's job to sit Fish when he's not contributing. It's Phil's job to inspire.

Today was another very uninspired effort. Even when they closed the gap late in the fourth, the Blazers' Andre Miller got a layup to put Portland back up by five. I've been hearing about the Lakers defensive philosophy all year. The idea of guards funneling opponents to the middle. It doesn't work. Pau is a mediocre shot blocker and a terrible pick-and-roll defender. Bynum is slow to come from the weak side.

As I've said so many times before, the Lakers seem to survive by Kobe bailing them out with his unbelievable shot making while they give up layups on the other end. And now Kobe can't even make free throws. He better get well soon or the Lakers might be toast in the first round. They can't simply rely on their offense keeping them in games. With five minutes left today, they had scored four points in the fourth Q and were something like 4-20 from three on the game.

Just once, I'd like to see LA come out and dominate from beginning to end in a game. Look at some of the first quarters the Cavs have had this year, 40-45 points against some teams. By my account, the Lakes have played maybe three quality games since the beginning of March. Three! Wins at Phoenix and San Antonio and one against Utah at home. Mixed in those 20 games are the three game road losing streak against Miami, Charlotte and Orlando, a two-point win over Toronto and three-point win over GS (both at home), embarassing losses at OKC, NO and ATL, a 19-point loss at home against the Spurs, and today's loss against a Portland team without Brandon Roy.

LO says every team turns on a switch when it comes to the playoffs. The best thing you can say about the Lakers now is they've been saving energy for a month and a half with their switch set at "off".