Optimistic Defeat Dec. 26, 2011
Opening Day in the NBA didn’t exactly give Lakers fans the present they were hoping for, as the Lakers lost by one point to the Chicago Bulls on Christmas. To make matters worse, it is really starting to look like the NBA (ie the commissioner) hates the Lakers franchise, all of a sudden. Commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade that would have brought Chris Paul to the Lakers, after it was approved by three teams’ general managers, because he didn’t think the Hornets were getting enough in the trade, but more importantly, he and the other owners were protesting that the Lakers would become too good, and ruin the money-making opportunities for other teams in “smaller markets”. This led to a group of disgruntled players and an ill-advised trade of one of their best players (Odom) for nothing in return, on a team with a lot of pre-existing issues as the start of the season approached. Just to add insult to injury, the NBA approved of a trade sending Paul to the LA Clippers, which makes them potentially really good for many years, in the very same market (and arena) as the Lakers, leaving an even worse taste in the Lakers‘ mouths.
Many obstacles already lay in their path, because of a new coach, Mike Brown, and his completely different approach to coaching, instating all new concepts on both offense and defense, and a roster that is missing their center Andrew Bynum for the first four games of the season, especially since the bench looked pretty barren on paper, even with Bynum in the mix. Sure, the league did show some compassion and reduce Bynum’s suspension from 5 to 4 games to keep in proportion with the shortened season, but the start of this shortened season schedule seems to put the Lakers at more of a disadvantage than anyone else. Part of the difficulties for the league will be that they have to play three back-to-back games at least one time during the regular season, and that is fair, and no one can dispute that. The Lakers, however, are the only team in the league who are forced to play their back-to-back-to-back to start the season, which seems like it’s so unfair that it should never have been a possibility for any team, to the point it should have been in the collective bargaining agreement or something. So not only do they have to play their first four games without their best defensive player and one of the best players on the team (when healthy of course), they have to play the first three of games in a row, to start their season, after a very short training camp and only ¼ of the regular amount of preseason games, both versus one team. To make matters worse, and further my point that the NBA hates the Lakers, the Lakers have been scheduled to play 6 games in the first 8 days, through New Years’s Day, which again seems absolutely absurd. If they make it into 2012 with a record of 3-3 it would be a holiday miracle, but I’m more concerned with the players staying healthy and being able to play in each of those games, since injuries are sure to be a problem this season even without a ridiculous schedule.
With all this piling up on them, and the very tough loss to the Bulls, in a game where they led by 10 late in the 4th quarter, there still seems to be some silver lining in the loss, and some answers to a few of the questions about their roster. The fact remains that they were up by 10 with about 3 minutes left, and were up by 8 with about 2 minutes left, and if not for four consecutive missed free throws by Pau Gasol and Josh McRoberts, as well as a bad turnover by Kobe Bryant which led to the Bulls game winning shot, the Lakers would have won that game easily, against a team that most pick to at least make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, in the Bulls. Despite their lack luster free throw shooting at the end, Pau Gasol played well and was more aggressive than usual at some points in the game, and McRoberts showed some real tenacity and grit out on the floor, fighting for rebounds, playing pretty good defense, making good passes near the basket, and scoring a few points of his own. McRoberts and the other new-comer Troy Murphy, who the Lakers signed after making that horrendous Lamar Odom trade (for NOTHING), looked like they have some energy on defense and offense, which should help them with rebounding and scoring off the bench, so that is a welcomed event for Lakers fans. Their defense played very well in the second half, and held one of the best teams in the league to very poor shooting percentages for about 21 of the last 24 minutes of the game, and since they haven’t had much time together, one can expect them to play even better defensively going forward. Another bench player that I was starting to doubt is their backup point guard, Steve Blake, but he looks like he may be shooting and playing with more confidence than he did last year, so that could be another plus, if he is able to revert back to the player he was for the Blazers, adding points and assists to the stat line for his team. Kobe played okay, but more is always expected of him, especially when he makes so many turnovers, with the last one is being broadcast constantly as the lead-in to the Bulls’ Derrick Rose’s game-winning shot, and then he had the ball at the end of the game and had his shot blocked. The team wouldn’t have been in that position if they could just make a free throw or two down the stretch, but obviously they just played sloppy at the end of the game, and it cost them a victory, so they have some things to regret. Despite all of the things that went wrong at the end, I think everyone on the team should find some solace in the fact that they were in position to win and played exceptionally well for most of the 2nd half. They just beat themselves, rather than the opposition playing better than them, so it proved (at least to themselves) that they can compete with (and beat) one of the league’s best teams, as long as they improve as their team and mask some of their apparent weaknesses.
There are still some issues and in reality, the team is one major injury away from probably being a lottery team (out of the playoff picture). Ron Artest changed his name to Metta World Peace, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is slow, can’t make many jump shots, and absolutely cannot make a layup with his right hand even though he is right-handed, but at least he is coming off the bench now. 2nd -year-man, Devin Ebanks has been installed as the starting small forward, which comes as little bit of a surprise, but if he can live up to his Trevor Arize-like potential, he could be a solid defender and dependable 10 point/game type player, but his potential certainly isn‘t a given. Fisher is going to need some extra time off during the season, since he is one of the oldest players on the team, and probably didn’t a whole lot of time to work out in the gym during the off-season since he is the rep for players union and was involved in more negotiating and traveling than anything else. His backup, Blake, can hopefully out with more productive minutes but they are going to have to depend on young player(s) to fill some of the void also, which is always dangerous. The offense seems to depend too heavily on Kobe, as it is reverting back to the pass-to-Kobe-and-watch offense that plagued the team for a few years, especially when Phil Jackson wasn’t the head coach. That gets annoying, but hopefully the new players will realize that he calls for the ball on every possession, and so it’s okay if you take the shot instead of passing the ball to Kobe so he can take his fall away nonsense shot to beat the shot clock and result in a(nother) bad possession. He’s a great player, but sometimes he seems to burn himself out and hurts the team when he puts all his energy into trying to score so much the first three quarters, and then his teammates haven’t put up many shots for most of the game, so they aren’t confident to make shots at the end, if they are forced to take the opportunity. Most teams will double team Kobe at the end of a close game, like the Bulls did, and force him to pass to someone else so they have to make the shot, and if his teammates are standing around watching and taking just a hand full of shots, they won’t be as prepared or confident in their shot making capabilities. There just needs to be a balanced attack, to take the pressure off of Kobe and his already injured wrist, thus involving his teammates in the offense more, and make the opposition respect the other players, so Kobe would have more energy and space to operate at the end of the game, if necessary. Pau Gasol needs to demand the ball more, since he is the best post player on the team, run the offense through him sometimes so he can choose to pass the ball to open teammates or take a high-percentage shot, and prove that he is still one of the best players in the league. As long as they work as a team on offense, continue to improve on defense, and steer clear of major health issues to their best players, they could make some noise this season.
Of course, optimism and potential doesn’t mean much without results, and every game means a little bit more with the condensed schedule, so a loss is still marked down as such on their overall record. However, given the pessimistic views I, and many fans, had of this team coming into the season, it‘s surprising that a loss could be possibly viewed as a positive thing. I expected them to get blown out in their own building, and it looked to be a likely occurrence after the first half, but maybe that was just my tendency to lower my expectations so anything better turns into a good outcome. Whatever the case is, I’m just glad to see some potential with this team, even if turns out to be short-lived. I’ll take it while I can get it, because there’s always a chance they could be 1-5 and in last place, in about a week, so I better allow myself to live in the realm of possibilities, as a biased fan, for now.
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