Lakers

[Surfah]

Ceballos. Oh, my. Has there ever been a more mercurial player than The Franchise?

Why do the Lakers get all the X-games rejects? Franchise disappears mid-season to go water skiing. VladRad injures himself snowboarding.

The water skiing incident. I forgot. Stranded at Havasu. I remember thinking, black people water ski?

[HBCoug]

Why do the Lakers get all the X-games rejects? Franchise disappears mid-season to go water skiing. VladRad injures himself snowboarding.

If Phil thinks Vlad Rad is a space cadet, what would he have thought of Elden Campbell, or worse yet, Van Exel? The 90s were awesome!

[TripletDaddy]

The water skiing incident. I forgot. Stranded at Havasu. I remember thinking, black people water ski?

lol. I admit to thinking the same thing.

This was back in the days of the Forum. There was another incident with Chise whrerein he claimed someone stole his fur coat. I can't remember the details, but I remember it being an issue in the locker room.

Cedric had a 50 point game for the Lakers, which I would put right up there with Kobe's 81 pointer!

[Surfah]

lol. I admit to thinking the same thing.

This was back in the days of the Forum. There was another incident with Chise whrerein he claimed someone stole his fur coat. I can't remember the details, but I remember it being an issue in the locker room.

Cedric had a 50 point game for the Lakers, which I would put right up there with Kobe's 81 pointer!

He did drop 50 and was the Lakers leading scorer back in those days. Man, those were sad days.

[MarkGrace]

After tonight's game in Toronto, I have decided to fully embrace the lack of interior defense and get on board with the offensive juggernaut theory.

They are one of the few teams that has ever turned offensive juggernaut + terrible defense into a championship. They can do it again!

[Surfah]

They are one of the few teams that has even turned offensive juggernaut + terrible defense into a championship. They can do it again!

Terrible defense? I don't think any of the Lakers championship teams were terrible defensively. Mediocre. But certainly not terrible.

[TripletDaddy]

They are one of the few teams that has even turned offensive juggernaut + terrible defense into a championship. They can do it again!

where do they rank in overall team defense this season? how do they stack up against the rest of the league?

[MarkGrace]

I guess it would depend on your definition of terrible versus mediocre. The 2000-01 championship team ranked 2nd in offensive efficiency and 21st (out of 29) in defensive efficiency. As far as I can tell, that may be the lowest regular season defensive efficiency rating by a championship team ever, and a rating that low would qualify in my books as being terrible. For the last two seasons I've called the Jazz a terrible defensive team and they've hovered in the mid-teen's. But yeah, I guess it's up to how you want to define it.

My general impression of that team was that they were capable but just lazy on defense until they had to be. With roughly the same team in 1999-00 they were first in the league in defensive efficiency. However, that 01 team, at least in terms of how they actually defended (putting aside how capable they were), was pretty darn bad for most of the year.

[TripletDaddy]

I guess it would depend on your definition of terrible versus mediocre. The 2000-01 championship team ranked 2nd in offensive efficiency and 21st (out of 29) in defensive efficiency. As far as I can tell, that may be the lowest regular season defensive efficiency rating by a championship team ever, and a rating that low would qualify in my books as being terrible. For the last two seasons I've called the Jazz a terrible defensive team and they've hovered in the mid-teen's. But yeah, I guess it's up to how you want to define it.

My general impression of that team was that they were capable but just lazy on defense until they had to be. With roughly the same team in 1999-00 they were first in the league in defensive efficiency. However, that 01 team, at least in terms of how they actually defended (putting aside how capable they were), was pretty darn bad for most of the year.

I meant this year. The lakers clearly are an offensive juggernaut, but their defense this year. Is it terrible?

Also, the Lakers defensive ineptitude merely highlights how important the offense was during that 3-peat title run. Thank goodness Kobe carried the team so many nights. Good points, all.

[MarkGrace]

where do they rank in overall team defense this season? how do they stack up against the rest of the league?

The Lakers defense is fine. Currently the are 5th in defensive efficiency and only a fraction away from the Spurs at 4th. There is a pretty decent separation between the three best defensive teams (Boston, Orlando, Cleveland) and the rest of the league, but the Lakers are definitely right there with that next group (San Antonio, Houston, etc.). When you throw in the fact that they've been the league's best and most efficient offense, they definitely have a championship combo of offense and defense. Typically when a team falls out of the top ten in either one, they don't have much of a shot.

Fans tend to overanalyze their teams own weaknesses, but the Lakers are good enough on D. Fish, Kobe, Ariza will all give you great D when they have to, and while Pau takes a lot of flack for being soft in the paint, he's still gets his hands on enough shots and is long enough to frustrate opponents. We'll see how they react to losing Bynum, but that could be big. He, probably much like Gasol, seems a bit soft playing man-to-man in the paint. But he's a more than competent shot blocker and losing that aspect will certainly hurt.

[TripletDaddy]

The Lakers defense is fine. Currently the are 5th in defensive efficiency and only a fraction away from the Spurs at 4th. There is a pretty decent separation between the three best defensive teams (Boston, Orlando, Cleveland) and the rest of the league, but the Lakers are definitely right there with that next group (San Antonio, Houston, etc.). When you throw in the fact that they've been the league's best and most efficient offense, they definitely have a championship combo of offense and defense. Typically when a team falls out of the top ten in either one, they don't have much of a shot.

Fans tend to overanalyze their teams own weaknesses, but the Lakers are good enough on D. Fish, Kobe, Ariza will all give you great D when they have to, and while Pau takes a lot of flack for being soft in the paint, he's still gets his hands on enough shots and is long enough to frustrate opponents. We'll see how they react to losing Bynum, but that could be big. He, probably much like Gasol, seems a bit soft playing man-to-man in the paint. But he's a more than competent shot blocker and losing that aspect will certainly hurt.

Tonight will be the time for the curtain to be pulled back on the Wizard.

Kendrick Perkins and KG are going to bully Gasol into submission. At least the Celts don't have Posey this year.

As I said yesterday, the Lakers perimeter d has improved with the presence of Ariza, so it makes it "less" critical for them to have a stopper in the paint....but KG is too much for Gasol alone. Way too much.

One thing...I know the Celtics are known to be bruisers, but Allen, Pierce, Rondo....those guys aren't really physical guys. How much of the bruiser rep is attributed to Perkins and KG? I would guess most of it.

[MarkGrace]

Here's an excerpt from a little article Roland Beech (he runs 82games) did on shot blocking:

Blocks Leading to Wins

From 2005-06 through this season, teams that blocked the highest percentage of shots sported significantly higher winning percentages than more block-challenged squads.

BLK % Win %
7% or greater .560
6.0-6.9% .527
5.0-5.9% .443
Less than 5% .470

Why is shotblocking tied to winning? Because it's the second-most important characteristic of strong defense. Over the previous three-plus seasons, blocked-shot percentage was a better indicator of a stingy D than turnovers forced, offensive rebounds allowed and free throws given up. Only field goal percentage allowed correlated more closely with points allowed per possession.

So even though Pau and Bynum are not outstanding man defensive players, by blocking a handful of shots between the two of them per game they are still having a big impact on team defense. We'll see what happens sans Bynum.

[MarkGrace]

A comment from Hollinger today:

L.A. has been in the league's top five in defensive efficiency all season. When combined with the league's top-ranked offense, that's a devastating combo.

Unfortunately, that elevated ranking depended on Bynum's presence, and he won't be in the lineup Thursday night. We also can't be sure he'll return this season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-090205

[TripletDaddy]

What do you know. First quarter and we are already seeing Josh Powell on the floor. Perkins is shoving gasol and Gasol refuses to get on the block.

Not a bad first quarter, though. This is going to be a good game.

[Donuthole]

Fisher showing his fastbreak mastery yet again.