I know that we're 8-0 but (to steal a phrase from Chris Berman) cmon man!! That is the second game out of the last three where the lakers looked genuinely sloppy and lazy. The rebounding wasn't there, and neither was the defense. First quarter started out alright with good ball movement, Kobe hitting beautiful shots and Pau with a sweet ball fake and scoop under the basket. The Wolves were hanging in, but the game looked good at that point. I tuned back in during the 3rd quarter (stupid DVR was recording too many things, so I watched Glee haha), and was shocked to find the score tied!! What the eff... Joel and Stu kept remarking on what a bizarre game it was and I believe them. It didn't help that Lamar and Ron were both in foul trouble. Lamar has been such a huge factor in the team's dominance so far that it was easy to see the difference with him on the bench. Of course he chipped in 7 key 4th quarter points, which was great. Huge 3 plus an and 1 play (missed the FT, but whatever). The Lakers went on a run in the 3rd quarter at one point and seemed poised to pull away, but they couldn't shake Minnesota all game. Kevin Love was a beast, putting up 23 points and 24 REBOUNDS!!! He's such a great talent... I was thinking last night that he seems like the new version of Kevin Garnett, inasmuch that he's very talented and stuck on a crappy Minnesota team. I hope he doesn't languish there in his prime like KG had to. That would be a shame. I love that Bill Simmons is trying to start a Twitter keyword #freekevinlove hahaha.
- a couple plays that I liked:
-a steal and fastbreak by Matt Barnes; made the layup but missed the free
throw. Still, good extra effort.
-the Pau ball fake and shot I mentioned earlier, plus finishing from an extra
pass sent his way via Shannon Brown and a beautiful soft touch baseline layup.
-the 3rd quarter buzzer beater by Minnesota, just because buzzer beaters are
cool unless the other team hits one at the end of the 4th or OT to win hahah.
I was struck by how many graceful shots Pau had during the game. He always does, but I guess I just noticed it more this time. And one of the most beautiful things in my opinion is Kobe's pull up jumper. I love seeing him swing the ball, jab his foot and just pull up and swish the basket. Gorgeous. His game fell off a bit in the second half, but that happens. I did NOT like how much Luke was shooting the ball. 1-5 from 3 point. That's a bit excessive in my opinion, but I'm not the biggest Luke fan in general. Also, thanks for the airball at the end of the game, Fish. Jesus. I wasn't thrilled with all of Steve Blake's turnovers either, but he's still new and has been so great the first 7 games that he gets a free pass haha. I miss Kurt Rambis being on our staff by the way, so it's always bittersweet to see him during the season now. He would have been a good Phil replacement, but I think Brian Shaw will be excellent. Assuming he eventually gets the job (which I think he will).
Also... UTAH BEAT MIAMI IN OT!!!! Paul Millsap was going off last night, I saw the replay on Sportscenter. Three 3s in the last minute, and a put back two at the buzzer to send the game to OT. Seriously insane.
And here's another classic interview by Ron Artest. "I ain't goin' back to sleep," Artest said. "Freddy's scary as (heck)." hahah made me laugh so hard at work. He was saying how the Lakers fell asleep during the game and Freddy Krueger got into their dreams and scared them awake. Or something like that :) He does make some intuitive observations about Brandon Roy, which was pretty cool.
So yeah, the Lakers escaped what would have been a very embarassing loss. I doubt the Lakers are going to underestimate Denver or Phoenix this weekend, so hopefully they'll come out looking good. LO and Fish were so pissed during their postgame interviews! You could tell that they knew the team hadn't played as hard as they should against Minnesota. I liked Lamar drawing attention to the great game by his USA teammate Kevin Love, that was awesome. I'm also stoked that New Orleans is good again this year, I love Chris Paul and think a Lakers-Hornets series would be fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment