Clippers v. Lakers - April 12, 2007

I don't really know how to describe this game without a heavy dose of expletives. Besides the playoff implications, what really disappoints me is that these last few games are supposed to be about getting a good rhythm, a nice tight rotation, and fine tuning your defense. I really think that there's a lot of talent on this team, we're just not getting them to play together well. Now we're talking about possibly missing the playoffs??? We don't want to miss the playoffs no matter what the idiots on the radio say. This isn't the Celtics, we don't just start throwing games to hope we can get help from a 18 year old kid fresh out of college. Where the hell is our Laker pride? Blowing a 17 point lead always adds up to a couple people screwing up:

1) Smush playing matador defense on Sam Cassell who's the only player in the league to be taking an NBA check AND a social security check. Yes, Smush had some clutch 3's but he failed miserably defending the fire starter of the Clips.

2) Kobe taking crazy shots in the last 8 minutes of the game with tons of time on the clock. Trying to bank it off the glass is a good shot, banking it off Elton Brand's right hand is a bad shot...

3) Refs! It was almost like a flip of the coin what was going to be called and what wasn't. We all know that the NBA has the worst refs of any professional sport. I would like to say they called it too tight, or too loose, but my biggest complaint was that they called it completely without any sort of discernible rhyme or reason.

4) What happened to the Laker defense in general? When the Lakers went on their first big spurt, it was when Maurice Evans replaced Luke guarding Magette. Luke is great, and I love him on offense AND defense, but Magette is a freakish athlete, you need another freakish athlete to put on him on defense, and that's Mo. PJ should have put Mo on Magette in middle of that run the Clips made in the 4th quarter. I love Luke, seriously he's one of my favorite players, but he just doesn't match up well against these genetically engineered super-humans who can palm the hood of my car, crumple it up into a ball and dunk it on a 14 foot rim. Now if Luke was playing defense against a guy like he does in this instructional video I found on Youtube, it would be a different story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iDkDsHjyJs

There were some things I did like in the game:

1) Kobe in the first three quarters

Kobe was kinda coasting a little bit and letting the game come to him until he got that T for screaming at the ref. Is there anyone with more of a crazed look in their eye when they feel like they have been wronged by the refs? I mean it's almost an advantage to have a ref T up Kobe early in a game. He was relentless after that. Some of the things he did that were near impossible:

• Started a spin move from the top of the key that ended in a silky smooth finger roll
• Fade-away shot from behind the basket in which he gets fouled for the 3-point play
• Kobe behind the back to dodge Sam Cassell's diving steal attempt and launching a jump shot that led to a Mo dunk (Granted, Sam thought he saw his AARP card on the floor and could have actually been diving for that)
• Fading into the corner with 28 seconds left to end the half to get the 2 for 1... crazy shot

2) Luke Walton talking at the end of the half about mental toughness, winning close games, fading in the second half of games, keeping focus. It didn't seem like this kid from Arizona with the Grateful Dead tats was going to be a focused competitor and he really seems like it. That's got to be part of the effect of Kobe's leadership, really.

3) Vlad Rad making his debut (since snowboarding season is pretty much over) had the headband/hair combo with the bright purple protective undershirt on the gold jersey looked like he came straight off of the cover of "Poison: Look what the cat dragged in". I'm going to start saying "Look what the cat dragged in" every time I see him come off the bench... it's appropriate on so many levels...