SAN ANTONIO – The old cliché among the fans and media is that it’s is a yardstick game for the Lakers, time to measure up against the Spurs and the best record in the league.
The old cliché among coaches and players is that you never point to one game, that’s just one more stop on the long the schedule.
Kobe Bryant knows better.
“We haven’t really been pointing at anything,” Bryant said Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before tip-off against the Spurs. “That’s been one of the problems. We don’t get too excited about anything anymore. I’m excited about this game. I’m excited about the challenge of this game and hopefully the rest of the guys are too.”
After lashing out at his team for not having the right attitude following the Christmas Day beat-down at the hands of Miami, Bryant went through a spirited five-on-five scrimmage before the Lakers left home then promised things would change.
What does want to see from his teammates?
“Just more effort.
”
Did he say anything specific?
“Nope.”
Do they understand what he wants?
“They will.”
When Bryant was told that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has been critical of his team’s defensive play all season long, he shook his head and laughed.
“What have they lost, three games, four games? I’ll take their issues.”
What do you think? Does this game mean more to SA or LA?
Overall, I’d have to say the Spurs think this game is more important. I mean the Lakers have won back to back titles. Not to say the Lakers don’t care about this game,because I think the Lakers WILL RUN TONIGHT. I think the Lakers have that thought in their heads that they are TOO FAR behind the Spurs in the WC Standings. I think the Spurs want to prove to themselves and the rest of the League that they are FOR REAL ( which I don’t think they really need to.).
It’s hard to say which means more to who.
If the Spurs win, than they are definately the best team in the NBA which is how everyone will look at it. If the Lakers win, it kind of just redeems them and will take the pressure off by beating the best team in the league and will kind of shut people up. Either way, it should be a great game. Lets hope LA has some sense of urgency tonight.
L.A.L suck
wat happen to the lakers???
Something your prince is years away from they are fed up with winning.
Enjoy winning when does not count, may be this year with Wade near him the “prince” won0t be afraid of playing in the playoffs.
Ciao
To me this game held different meanings for each team. For San Antonio it was a shot at the champs to test out their newly engergized team, for the Lakers it was supposed to be a road to redemtion. It’s shocking to see the defending champs lose three consectutive games by 15 plus, but it’s not the end for them. Lakers have plenty of time to redeem themselves and with the right attitude they can be back on track for the rest of their road trip and season.
suffocating defence + bomb beyond the arc/the spurs will make it to the nba finals……….go timmy!!!go spurs!!!!
What’s with the bad grammers?!!! I know you know better but check your grammers. to many wrong that you could have check before publish or post.
It’s spelt grammar. And too, not to.
Btw Lakers suck.
and was supposed to … checked before publishing or posting them.
Open your eyes people, when the Lakers have to depend on the likes of Shannon Brown, Steve Blake and Andrew Bynum who will never live up 2 what was once a promising career. Face it they have 2 Stars in Paul Gasol and an aging Kobe Bryant, that’s it. Simply not enough to get it done. It’s all about the Spurs and the Mavs and we all know how that turns out come playoff time. Remember last year the Mavs might have had better players but Pop will never be out coached by Rick of the Mavs. NEVER!!!!
The Laker team this year is pretty much the same team that won for two years. The lost Farmar and got blake which was the stupidest thing they could do. And as for them having only two stars, that sounds like one of the many excuses we’ve been seeing in these blogs for the Lakers, because they have Bryant, Gasol, Odem and Artest who are all NBA all stars. They’ll be back to their playoff selves soon but stop making excuses for them.
The way George Hill stood up to Kobe shows these are not the Spurs of old. The Spurs are not or should they be intimidated by these Lakers. These Spurs can run and gun and James Anderson thier first round draft pick and sharp shooter has yet to play in many games and this style fits his skill set 2 a tee. Sorry NBA, these Spurs are only going to get better!! GO! SPURS! GO!
It was great how George Hill stood up to Kobe last night. Unfortunately it resulted in a technical and a $2,000 fine. I think Spurs fans (it would only take a mere 8,000) should each send in 25 cents to Hill to cover the fine and show how proud we are of him!
Lakers is 2 time defending champs!!!! no argue on that… But they we’re just defending the title… Not All time Champions…
Means It can be taken away from them…. Since Free agency since summer… Haven’t you notice the rosters movements…The way teams shakin’ things up…. Since Pau move to L.A. and then Artest… None of this Teams can compete with that kind of line up..they started it… W/ the exception of the Celtics….of course… But now everyone wants to a a piece for themselves of that Trophy… The celtics improve their roster…. Magic…. Dallas… Heat…. the only team didn’t do much is the SPURS…. Sooner or Later the Lakers will drop in playoffs…. This past decade the WEST Final rotate only at LAKERS SPURS and Mavs… After Shaq and Kobe west final belongs to the SPURS.. after the Spurs @ Dallas Then L.A. again.. Now It Might be Spurs or Dallas… and the way Lakers play… Definitely Championship is Not Theirs….
WAT HAPPEN MY FRIEND??? KOBE COMMON,. I AM WAITING IN THE FINALS….
Whats with Kobe talking…he shoots 6-27 and misses 13 straight during this game and criticizes his teammates…pathetic
Kobe is the most overated player in the NBA. He is lucky he is surrounded by players that at one time carried their team in the nba. pau w/ griz, artest w/ kings and rockets, odom w/ clippers. imagine if james is in LA surrounded w/ artest, odom gasol, bynum, fisher and the rest of LA. It will be like magic johnson’s showtime on the floor, they would be unstoppable. But also imagine kobe on cavs w/ verajao ilgauskas parker and williams. cavs would suck and im sure kobe cant carry the cavs the way lebron did. So those who are saying kobe is at par w/ jordan or in the same level of his airness is CRAZY. So stop comparing Lebron to Kobe coz Kobe is not on the same level. Kobes teamates just makes kobe look good. Even from the Lakers before when the lakers surround kobe w/ Shaq, karl malone, payton, horry, fox. or even way before w/, eddie jones, shaq, glenn rice, horry, fisher. Kobe is always surrounded by good players. Kobe cant carry a mediocre team not like james did.
Yep, I’m not hating but it’s the truth. We’ve seen how Kobe preforms without a supporting cast. He’s good, even great, but should never be mentioned in comparison to MJ or even Lebron becaue minus the rings Lebron shows that he has way more heart than Kobe and he’s gotten further by himself than anyone else. But hey LA fans won’t want to hear that but it’s the truth and no disrespect to ya’ll.
I’m a silver and black fan but i recognize and don’t take away Kobe and the lakers championchips. It is always good to see these contests. The basketball season is like life in that it just keeps going on and on.
kobe overrated I am sure that you did not wacth the nba when he was younger. Dumb kids these days. I still remember when he hit 7 3s in a row on spurs a couple years ago.
Wow this goes to show how narrow minded Laker Fans are. You mean shooting 7 3s in a row makes a player great. 7 3s in a row doesnt make a team go over the hump or making your teammates do better in their games. shooting 7 3s in a row just makes YOURSELF look good scoring points and that is just what kobe excels. He DOES NOT SHARE THE Ball. you can call him a ballhog thank you very much. thats why you need good players to surround kobe because kobe has only one side of the game of basketball and that is just to score. no defense no passing no rebounding, no playmaking no intangibles. just score. while like his airness does everything also just like lebron. Kobe needs to be surrounded by players which he is not good at. defensive players. players that does the intangibles. and a second choice of scorer next to bryant just incase if bryant is not shooting well can make the lakers team score. also bryant needs a big man ala shaq/pau always to make him look good. again KOBE is the most Overated player in the nba.
I was never impressed by Lakers Basketball to start with…., why? Because I have always said that when they face a good defensive team, you can see that they are not all of that. (If Kendricks Perkins did not go down last year, the history would have been different…)…NBA teams have drastically changed this year, with more teams putting more emphasis on the Defense ( an entire game defensive effort instead of partial game defensive effort in the past..), and you will see that Lakers because of that will struggle and might not be able to make it to the finale this year, with their crying baby in chief!!! LOL!!!
I love these people who undermine the Lakers championships and come up with these excuses! If Perkins wouldn’t have gone down! Or, the referees did it, etc. Need a kleenex to wipe the tears! lol! Why can’t you accept that they won and give them some credit! If it was your team that won you’d be giving them credit! And so would I, by the way! The Lakers are not playing well right now but those things happen. San Antonio’s playing great but they’ve had their share of lulls in the past! To those who refuse to give the Lakers credit, they’re the champs right now. Get over it!
When I started reading and hearing about how Kobe was attempting to fire up the Lakers after two straight losses, I admit that I was hoping that he wasn’t firing them up too much.
Among we old, old Spurs’ fans, The Lakers was the team to fear. It’s only in retrospect that I have come to realize that the current Spurs team, with its deep, deep bench has not a heckuvalot to fear. They just go out there and play ball, with innumerable substitutes. Although the sports media continues to focus on the Duncan-Ginobolli-Parker trilogy, we continue to see some incredible play from their teammates, game after game.
Where we once dreaded an injury to one of the three wisemen, we now realize that the so-called “reserves” have punch to spare.
The players themselves are great to begin with, but anyone who has watched great college players join the ranks of the NBA and the NFL only to fail to live up to promise has to realize that one, two, three, or even a bench filled with big names, isn’t going to get there without the right coach.
Give Greg Popovich the talent and he can make things happen. And, BTW: Am I the only one who notices that there aren’t any prima donas in the Spurs’ lineup? We’ve had only a few that I can recall and in no time flat, they were gone….
I look at the Laker games and notice that they are making it very easy for the other teams defense to stop them. Most of the time the offense consists of one player shoveling a pass to another player and that player quickly being double teamed and forcing a shot. Spacing, cutting to the basket by players and crisp passing is what is needed, that is rarely seen these days. I am sure that at some point they will become more effective with their offense, right now it’s like the old saying, they can’t see the forest for the trees.
Cavaliers players are not even mediocre they are subpar. It’s amazing what James was able to do with those incompetent role players. Kobe could not have done that. Kobe is lucky that the Lakers drafted him. He would not have had this kind of talent playing in Charlotte or any other small market team (and some major market teams in fact). Everybody wants to play in LA. You know how many NBA players are closet Laker fans? Kobe is good but overated for sure. Not ridculously overated just overated.
Lakers are getting old but wont admit it. Whine, Whine, Whine. Fisher isnt getting by anymore with his pretending to be fouled ref’s are onto that. Fan’s yelling MVP Kobe has a long way to go to c atch up with the Young one’s. His MVP Days are gone. Too bad Lakers how’s 3 in a row feel. LOL
I think that the Spurs are regaining their natural form as a team now that they have their full complement of players back in the lineup and healthy. If you survey it, the Spurs haven’t been this collectively healthy as a team for a good portion of two years or so. This is the Spurs team that everyone has been fond of for the last six or seven years, excluding the last two or so due to inopportune injuries scattered about their star components, but this is the team we have gotten accustomed to for a while now that is only rejuvenating themselves for another strong run back on top of the west and into serious contention for an Nba title. What I saw yesterday was a Spurs team who almost knew what the Lakers were trying to do on each of their every single possessions, they bottled up Kobe and made everything difficult for him the entire night. Another thing which I also noticed by which last night’s game is an aging Lakers squad who can’t seem to match up against team who seem fresher and younger than they are. When you look at the game they played against the Heat, lebron and wade alone (and you could include bosh if you please), simply ran the Lakers contingent off the court. The whole night through, the Lakers were a step slow, they couldn’t figure out what the Heat were trying to do on defense, and it ultimately amounted to an embarrassing loss on their home court highlighted by Kobe’s awful, and forgetful shooting night. The thing I believe we should know about this Laker’s team is that when Kobe is having a good game, everyone is able to feed off of his energy and likewise play up to task as well. But when Kobe is having a nightmarish game, it is hard for the rest of his supporting cast to pick up the slack on offense, because their star player is struggling. The Lakers need to step aside from their comfort zone and their spoiled habits and realize that they are getting older, they have a much bigger target on their backs that they possibly believe and rise to the occasion when their star player is having a stressful night. Now, on the other side of the moon the Spurs are a well coached team who isn’t estranged to postseason perfection, with players on that team who have won together. And I believe with that nucleus still abound and with the revival production of Richard Jefferson, it wouldn’t be surprising to find the Spurs playing basketball in June.
You said it better than I did, although in the same vein. The Spurs played incredible defense last night. And, as Pop has often said, “Defense wins championships.”
It makes for a boring game for those young turks out there who relish the soaring shots – and that’s why The Spurs have oft-times been described as fundamentalists (a/k/a not-all-that-thrilling). Shaq named Duncan “The Great Fundamentalist” and for reasons known only to Spurs-haters this has become a detriment, rather than a point of praise.
I remember when Tony Parker entered the team. He was a kid – pure and simple. We craved the addition of Manu, and when we got him, Pop literally had to re-adjust what he would allow from one his stars – an almost self-destructive brand of play that led to injury, but almost inevitably to a made foul shot.
So we do have to give a whole deal of credit to the boring fundamentalism of Tim Duncan, the incredible pace and ball-handling of Tony Parker, and the maniac play of Manu Ginobolli (who knew what the heck he was gonna do?). These three are, admittedly the tri-corner of the team.
And then, to have the intelligence to surround them with the likes of Jefferson, Hill, Blair, Bonner, Splitter, Armstrong, Neal, McDyess, just to name a few – any of whom can and do step up in times of need. Pure genius!!!!!
You peopkle have no respect for the sport. I love the NBA and while my team of choice is the Lakers, I could never speak so rashly against any other team. I am from Philadelphia, live in San Antonio, and love the Lakers. Sometimes I want to wash Kobe Bryants mouth out with soap and wate,r but he is indeed a great player. Look at the stats and stop maiking up your own statistics. The Spurs can be a little irritating but I can’t hate them, These are real teams made up of real people. I was at the game last night and even though my Lakers lost I was standing along with the Spurs fans clapping. Enjoy the sport and stop the hating because the Lakers will get it together. I just don’t know when.
haha u dun wanna look at kobes stats… bad example poo fg percentage whole lotta shot attempts lol and assists are some times good mostly bad… lakers we dangerous last year but straight up tonight they about to lose 4th straight haha when he went up and put his finger in george hills face and george hill didn’t take his ish i laughed so hard because kobe tried to look like the big old veteran “u needa respect me” and then tim duncan came over ahahaha kobe is great but he is spoiled. used to having great players around him and when he gets bad players like lebrons cavs or just his team plays bad he begins to point the blame and complain and have tantrums and hoggin shots. he should look at his own game and see how bad he is playing because we all see how bad kobe is playing, he is playing like a really good rookie better yet blake is doin more for his team than kobe is so maybe not even a really good rookie, blake rebounds lol and doesn’t complain when his horrible team loses because he is not spoiled with talent around him and pride
The Spurs won the game. They played great at home! this is only one game out of 4. 2 of them are played at staples. the Spurs took care of home court!
The Spurs have a great coach! And the management has a 6th sense when it comes to recruiting the right players. Still don’t know how they nailed down that Splitter guy from Europe. Some other teams, (including the Lakers), must have been sleeping on that one!!!!!
A lot of people are ragging on the Black Mamba!! I will take bets that you will see an improvement from this guy! Any takers? LOL!!!!!
LA has nothing to prove? What? Another excuse to lose? Come on!!! If they don’t win again their 3rd, they just proved that they can’t win another. That’s it. Can’t win when other teams are healthy and got better. They have won twice, and they have proved they are the best during those times. If they don’t this year, that’s proving they just can’t this year. Stop your excuses. Kobe does not have a legacy. He won 3 with the most dominant player at that time. I’ll give him the next two though.
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