This one time I wish we will play to the level of the Lakers and not just lay down and let them run rough shod over us. Kobe has not lost since he went to the Masked Momba and there is no way I want to see the Lakers return to the WC Finals before my Clippers.....who have struggled since Billups went down... No secret that both Fisher and Kobe still think we stole a title from them in 2004. I saw that in a Fisher interview a couple of seasons ago ...and he almost cried again.
Gasol will have a 15-15-15 game of his own tomorrow. Except the third 15 will be blocks, not assists. Kobe by 22.
So how are we going to guard the big fellas...Gasol and Bynum? You have to think that Jake Voskuhl would be in the starting lineup tonight.
"Rise and shine, the light at the end of the tunnel is arm reach away" -- Charlie V Tweet from yesterday The Lakers can only hope CV is not quite ready for tonight....
Watching Big Game James Worthy in the post game comments and he is livid and seething with the coach and Kobe. Bynum was 13-18 and Kobe is taking and missing all of the shots....yeah they beat the Bosh depleated Heat on Sunday, but could not beat the Pistons who's best two players the past couple of weeks Knight and Monroe scored only 2 points between them. Worthy is calling out coach Brown for changes.. Anyway back to the game....After a so-so first quarter where Bynum and Gasol were dominating the game, the Pistons fell behind by as many as 12 points, before they woke up and charged back to a 45-41 halftime lead with inspired play by Gordon and Wilkens of all people. Kobe shot 2-10 in the first half and had to swap masks when it appeared that the green hornet or batman facial was affecting his shooting. He and the Lakers came out strong in the second half holding the Pistons to one FT via a tech the first six minutes of the 3rd qtr. Despite the cold shooting, the Pistons kept it close by playing their own defense and the Lakers could never get it into double figures, but outscored the Pistons 20-9 in the 3rd qtr. Once again, coach Frank sat Monroe and Knight and brought back in the two Bens and Wilkens, the defense tightened and the Pistons opened the 4th qtr on a 11-2 run and the teams swapped buckets for the rest of regulation until Kobe hit a bucket with no time on the clock to end the regulation tied at 78. Stuckey who was the game MVP with 34 points and 1 assist?? , took Fisher to task and was the only Piston who was not afraid to attack the Lakers twin towers. Ben Gordon even played some D tonight and was a +24. Big Ben was also huge down the stretch frustrating Bynum on a few plays despite the Pistons leaving the back door open a couple of times for ez Laker buckets. Worthy gave Stuckey the "playa of the game" award that is usually reserved for Kobe.... Tay played Kobe well tonight holding him to 8-26 shooting and more importantly limiting him to 2-9 from behind the arc. Despite only 2 points out of Moose but he did grab 15 boards and Max had a double dime pack including a nice JAM in the last 2 mins of OT that kept the momentum going. Great game.....still waiting for my mother in law to call me and congratulate me as if I scored the winning hoop....
Great job, La Dre, you outwrote most of the journalist while the team had outplayed the Lakers. Personally I'm very happy with Stuck and Maxil played solid as they should.
Nice recap Dre. Was only able to watch until halftime, and if I was more than a fringe Laker fan I'd be mad at Kobe for jacking up shots when he was missing a bunch. As it is, I just find it funny. There's no way that team's winning anything in the playoffs if they suck this much on the road (6-13). Rodney with the Kobe-like stat line, right down to the 1 assist (shot much better though). Was concerned when I saw Greg and Brandon not playing much, but it looks like Frank did the right thing and played the lineup that played better. Good job coach.
Thanks Alexa and Bromfa Definitely a coaching win, as Frankie stayed with the bench and left his key players on the bench. In fact our bench beat theirs 32 to 7. In fact all of those 7 points for the Lakers were in the first half and 40 of the 44 points scored by the Lakers in the second half came from Kobe, Bynum and Gasol. (World Peace got the other 4). James Worthy went as far to say if the Lakers can't win on the road, they won't survived the first round of the playoffs. Coach Brown said the players were already hooping it on the plane ride that they would sweep the three game road trip....well tomorrow they play the Wizards and that could be rude awakening too. Would have been nice if this would have been the NBA TV fan night game so all could have seen the fakers lose....
That's an Icarus type fall, beating the Heat on Sunday and losing to the Pistons in overtime two days later.
Man, I wish I could have watched this one. The box score reveals a very strange game. Stuck with 34 points, 1 ast, and 1 reb. Very Kobe-like. I saw the highlight of Kobe hitting the tying FG to send it to OT and Tay was right in his face. Very tough shot that only Kobe seems to make (maybe because he attempts hundreds of them). Not a good sign that Monroe was 1-10 against some dominant bigs. Who knows what happened with Knight... rookies are allowed to have off (k)nights on occasion, so no worries. Glad to see Maxiell step up.
