Posts Tagged ‘Steve Nash’

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Injuries Loom As Teams Make Playoff Push

April 2, 2013  ·  11:53AM

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – Oklahoma City, Memphis and Miami, feel fortunate, very fortunate, and proceed with caution.

As the regular season churns down to a handful of games over these final 16 days, the three teams above are the only ones of the 16 current playoff teams, plus the desperately-trying-to-get-in Los Angeles Lakers, currently unaffected by injury — or injuries.

Playoff seeding, and ultimately playoff series, could tilt on an injury report that seems to grow with each passing game.

The Grizzlies caught a break with the quick return of center Marc Gasol from an abdomen injury. Initially the team listed him as out “indefinitely.” Later, Gasol said he’d be back for the playoffs. Next thing you know he’s back after missing just two games and right back on his game.

The Heat missed Dwyane Wade for a couple games during their win streak and, of course, he, LeBron James and Mario Chalmers came down with those, ahem, previously unreported injuries prior to Sunday’s game at San Antonio. Speaking of the Spurs, Manu Ginobili‘s most recent ill-timed injury (hamstring) has put the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed firmly in play Thursday night when San Antonio visits a Thunder team as healthy as any can be 70-something games in.

Few are so fortunate, and let’s start with the carousel of injuries that have beset the Lakers. Kobe Bryant continues to play through a sprained ankle and whatever else, Dwight Howard still deals with the sporadic shooting pain from the torn labrum in his shoulder and Pau Gasol is finally back. But Metta World Peace (knee) won’t be back and Steve Nash (hip) is “doubtful” for tonight’s big showdown against the never-say-die Dallas Mavericks (10:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

The Lakers won’t receive sympathy cards from Denver, which could be without spark plug point guard Ty Lawson (heel) until the playoffs. As soon as Chauncey Billups (groin) finally returned he was gone again, and couldn’t the sinking Clippers use him right about now?

Houston’s All-Star James Harden can’t seem to shake a sprained right ankle. Jazz reserve big man Enes Kanter (shoulder), whose March was his biggest month of the season, is out indefinitely. Golden State is essentially healthy, having lost Brandon Rush way back in the opening days of the season.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls shake their heads at any team ruffled by a single injury, or two. The Celtics, having adjusted to life without Rajon Rondo, plus rookie Jared Sullinger are without Kevin Garnett (ankle) and Paul Pierce missed Monday’s loss at Minnesota for “personal reasons,” according to coach Doc Rivers. Meanwhile, Boston is dangerously close to slipping into eighth place and a first-round matchup against the Heat.

In the Big Apple, the injury list goes on and on: Tyson Chandler (neck) remains wait-and-see, Amar’e Stoudemire (knee) and Kurt Thomas (foot), very likely could join Rasheed Wallace (foot) as being shut down for the season. The Knicks, busting through it all with an eight-game win streak, continue to battle for the No. 2 seed with the Indiana Pacers, who have five straight and learned last week that Danny Granger (knee) won’t be making the late-season comeback they had expected just days earlier.

And those scrappy, scrappy Bulls by now must be resigned to a full season without Derrick Rose (knee), and they may have lost Rip Hamilton (back) for the season. They hope to soon get center Joakim Noah (foot) back in uniform, as well as Marco Belinelli (abdomen).

Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets, finally with Deron Williams healthy and playing like an All-Star again, would love to say the same about Joe Johnson (heel).

As the playoffs quickly approach, time is running short for players and teams to get healthy.

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Kobe Plans To Decide Future This Summer

March 31, 2013  ·  2:51AM

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, saying he does not want uncertainty over his future to drag through 2013-14 and with the possibility of being offered an extension this offseason, will “in all likelihood” make a decision in the summer over whether to retire after one more season.

While re-affirming that he is leaning toward walking away after an 18th campaign, Bryant made it clear in an interview with NBA.com he expects to make a call before reporting to training camp and probably even long before that. One factor in the decision is the chance to end all the endless questions. Another is to give the Lakers clarity moving forward, in general, and particularly in conjunction with any contract talks that may take place.

“We’ll talk,” Bryant said after piling up 19 points, 14 assists against one turnover and nine rebounds while playing all but 23 seconds of the 103-98 victory over the Kings at Sleep Train Arena. “I’ll talk to my family and stuff and really see if I want to continue to sacrifice as much as I’m sacrificing right now. I’m putting my body through a lot to just try to get ready to play every single night. To do what I’m doing right now, it’s not easy. I’ll tell you, it’s taken a lot of commitment.”

Is your sense that next season will be your last?

“As I sit here right now, yeah.”

Is there anything the Lakers can say that would make it more likely you played beyond next season?

“No,” Bryant told NBA.com. “It’s my decision. It’s really about what I want to do, if I want to train and be psychotic with my training. That’s what it comes down to. It’s really how I’m feeling physically.”

Speaking of Saturday in Sacramento. It was only two days before that Bryant was hobbling out of the locker room in Milwaukee with one crutch supporting a very painful left foot, the result of a bone spur. It was another ominous moment for the team that had battled injuries all season.

He saw a foot specialist after the Lakers arrived here Friday, with enough encouraging feedback that Bryant was listed as probable for what could be his final appearance in Sacramento after years of contentious battles with the Kings. And then he pretty much played the entire game.

Bryant came out for the first time with 22.6 seconds remaining in the third quarter. He went back in for the start of the fourth period and didn’t leave again.

“I thought that was the key, the 23 seconds,” coach Mike D’Antoni deadpanned. “He’d have been tired.”

D‘Antoni was asked if he stayed with Bryant so long to keep the foot loose.

“Sounds good,” he said. “I’ll use that one. My decision mostly is he’s not coming out. He makes it easy for me.”

So it was a basketball decision.

“It was his heart,” D’Antoni said. “He said, ‘I’m not coming out.’ Hey, he’s earned the right. Nobody can tell what he has inside of him. And he has a lot.”

Steve Nash, meanwhile, remains a concern. After initially being listed as questionable with a sore hip, he played the first 1:48, came out, and did not return. The Lakers say he is day-to-day with a sore right hamstring, an injury related to the hip.

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All That Jazz Puts Heat on Lakers

March 30, 2013  ·  2:22PM

HANG TIME, Texas — As Dean Wormer might have once said to Flounder in “Animal House”: “Losing nine out of 11 games is no way to make the playoffs, son.”

But here are the Jazz, back up and dancing like Otis Day & The Knights are playing at a toga party, suddenly the owners of a three-game winning streak and… wait for it… a road win.

When Utah won at Portland for its first victory on the road since Feb. 13, it jumped the Jazz over the Lakers and back into the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

According to Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune, the chatter was back in the Jazz locker room after they rallied from nine, 14 and nine down again in the fourth quarter on Friday night.

“Winning does that,” Mo Williams said. “Winning puts you in a good mood, especially when you care. Top to bottom, people care here, when you lose you feel down. It’s not so jolly, it’s not so loose.”

Earlier in the evening, Williams was far from happy. The 30-year-old point guard, in his second stint with the Jazz, was benched by coach Tyrone Corbin in the second quarter. In the final minutes of the game, Williams carried the Jazz to the win, scoring 14 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter and spearheading a 25-6 run in the final six minutes.

“You get pissed off,” Williams said. “Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, you come out and be aggressive.”

The Jazz come home to close out a back-to-back tonight against the Nets and there is light again after it had appeared for weeks that Utah was going to do everything except lift the Lakers up onto their shoulders and carry Kobe Bryant & Co. into the postseason.

Now the two teams are in the stretch run and for the first time in a while, the Jazz might have a leg up in getting to the finish.

Let’s break it down for final nine games:

Jazz

Home — 6

Road — 3

Vs. playoff teams — 5

Back-to-backs remaining: 0

Tonight — vs. Nets

Mon. — vs. Blazers

Wed. — vs. Nuggets

Apr. 7 — at Golden State

Apr. 9 — vs. Thunder

Apr. 12 — vs. Timberwolves

Apr. 15 — at Minnesota

Apr. 17 — at Memphis

The Jazz hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers and if they can take care of business at home, where they’re 26-9 on the season, will be tough for the Lakers to beat out.

Lakers

Home — 6

Road — 3

Vs. playoff teams — 5

Back-to-backs remaining — 1

Tonight — at Sacramento

Tues. — vs. Mavericks

Fri. — vs. Grizzlies

Apr. 7 — at L.A. Clippers

Apr. 9 — vs. Hornets

Apr. 10 — at Portland

Apr. 12 — vs. Warriors

Apr. 14 — vs. Spurs

Apr. 17 — vs. Rockets

Of the 14 players on the Lakers roster, seven are listed on the injury report for tonight at Sacramento, though Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Antawn Jamison are probable, with Steve Nash questionable and Metta World Peace and Jordan Hill out. Of the Lakers’ three remaining road games, they won’t have to leave their own building to play the Clippers and that next-to-last game against San Antonio could catch them another break if the mercurial Gregg Popovich decides to rest up his veterans for the playoffs.

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Lakers Get Good News On Bryant Injury

March 29, 2013  ·  8:32PM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Fears that the Lakers could be without Kobe Bryant for at least part of the stretch drive while trying to hold on to a spot in the Western Conference playoffs subsided Friday when the team listed him as probable for Saturday night’s game against the Kings at Sleep Train Arena.

Bryant was limping near the end of the loss at Milwaukee on Thursday, and he left BMO Harris Bradley Center with the aid of a single crutch — the result of a bone spur in his left foot. Days after learning Metta World Peace (knee) is expected to miss six weeks, which could be the rest of the season, and after seeing Steve Nash (hip spasms) sit most of the second half against the Bucks, the Lakers were staring at the possibility of another major injury hit.

That made Friday’s update that Bryant will probably play against the Kings a relief. Nash, meanwhile, is doubtful.

The Lakers began Friday with a half-game lead over the Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, although the teams are tied in the loss column.

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Kobe’s Bone Spur Worst Part of Lakers’ Long Night In Milwaukee

March 29, 2013  ·  12:46AM

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MILWAUKEE – The respective head coaches were asked prior to the game Thursday which of their teams was feeling more desperate.

By the end of the night, the Lakers’ Mike D’Antoni had it all over the Bucks’ Jim Boylan. For all the wrong reasons.

Snapshot of the night, the latest in this tortuous season for L.A.: Kobe Bryant hopping out of the BMO Harris Bradley Center on one crutch, his left foot burning from a bone spur diagnosed after the game. Bryant did not talk with reporters in the dressing room but did say to Yahoo! Sports as he maneuvered toward a waiting car: “Inflamed on me. I’ll be all right.” The Lakers were staying over in Milwaukee before flying to Sacramento Friday, where Bryant is expected to be examined again.

This came at the tail end of what already had been a lousy night. After the 113-103 loss the Bucks, their eighth-place counterparts from the East. After another defensive collapse and a blown 13-point lead. After point guard Steve Nash exited for good at 5:13 of the third quarter with an aching back and hamstring. After an old, banged-up team – still smarting from Metta World Peace‘s knee surgery earlier in the day – showed its age, D’Antoni said, then got a little older and more banged-up.

“It’s been a long year, there’s no doubt about it,” forward Pau Gasol said. “A lot of ups and downs. But we’re here. We believe in ourselves. We have the weapons. Hopefully we will stay healthy enough to be able to give it our best shot. But it’s been difficult, no doubt about it.”

Bryant, who sprained his left ankle in Atlanta two weeks ago and missed two games, led the Lakers with 30 points Thursday but shot 6-of-17 from the floor. He was 2-of-8 in the second half, when L.A. got outscored 60-47 by a Bucks club that had dropped four in a row and wasn’t playing at all like a team, ahem, peaking for the playoffs.

But Milwaukee, 35-36, perked up and crept within two games of seventh-place Boston in the East. Led by Larry Sanders’ career-high 21 points and 13 rebounds, all five starters scored in double figures, and Marquis Daniels‘ defense on Bryant led an effort that limited the Lakers to 37.5 percent shooting after halftime, including 1-of-11 on 3-pointers.

“When you’re losing, it seems like you’ll never win again,” Daniels said. “Finally we got a win, we can breathe a little bit. Not breathe, but it’s fresh air and we’ve got to continue to build off this.”

The fact that D’Antoni’s team, 37-36, is sweating out games in late March and figures to do so right through however many it has in April, sums up the failures of its season. Nash is expected to face the Kings Saturday and, given Bryant’s recuperative track record, maybe he won’t miss time either. But with just nine games remaining, a Lakers team that so often can’t control its own scoreboard will be eyeballing others’.

“We have to,” Gasol conceded. “We don’t need anybody else to be injured, to be out, missing games, especially at this point of the year. So let’s see what happens. Hopefully Kobe will be healthy for the next game. Steve will be healthy. I’ll get healthier and we’ll continue to move forward.”

Continue? There was a distinct shifting of gears Thursday but grinding, like something headed toward reverse.

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Blogtable: Who’s Let You Down?

March 20, 2013  ·  11:30AM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Week 21: Miami at Boston lessons | Who wants Bynum? | Player, coach, team that’s let you down?

Kobe Bryant has been stellar, but the Lakers still have been a letdown. (Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

Kobe Bryant has been stellar, but the Lakers still have been a letdown. (Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

Name a player, coach or team who has disappointed you this year.

Steve Aschburner: Disappointment doesn’t necessarily require blame, so my choice is the Minnesota Timberwolves. For the first time since about 2004, there was a real buzz in the Twin Cities as the Wolves opened training camp, owing to the improvements in 2011-12 under Rick Adelman, positive updates on Ricky Rubio‘s knee-surgery rehab, some smart off-season roster moves and the continued development of Kevin Love as one of the game’s elite, and highly watchable, power forwards. Then Brandon Roy (predictably, frankly), Chase Budinger and worst of all Love went down – went down hard – with injuries. A rash of others, including rejuvenated Andrei Kirilenko and Bond villain Nikola Pekovic lost time as well. Even Adelman had to miss games while attending to his wife’s health issues. Rubio, after an inconsistent couple months back, has regained his don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it form. But from Love’s opt-out in two years to Adelman’s commitment to Pekovic’s market value this summer and more, the clock be ticking in Minny.

Fran Blinebury: Philadelphia due to the guy in that other question. I didn’t think Bynum would miss the entire season and be on the verge of a career washout. The Sixers’ grand plan to step up into contender’s class has blown up in their faces. Now they have no Iguodala, no Nikola Vucevic, no Maurice Harkless … nothing to show for the gamble. It seems the franchise has been set back for years.

Jeff Caplan: This is as equally disappointing as it easy to pick: The Minnesota Timberwolves. Injuries ruined this team since Day 1 with Ricky Rubio still rehabbing and Kevin Love breaking his hand doing knuckle push-ups. No need to get into the rest of the injury list here, it’s just too long, but before the season I picked the Wolves to finish sixth in the West. I’d have said that they’re 23-42 record would have been reversed had health prevailed.

Scott Howard-Cooper: Removing the injury considerations (Timberwolves, Bynum, others), it’s still the Lakers in what has to be an open-ended question until the end of the playoffs. If L.A. finishes as badly as it started, then we have an answer. If your favorite dysfunctional family reaches the postseason and has a nice run, though, a respectable showing gets the Lakers off the hook. That means reaching the conference finals or a good playoffs before losing in a competitive series to the Spurs or Thunder.

John Schuhmann: The Lakers are still just 36-33 and still very much in danger of not making the playoffs, so they’re obviously at the top of the list. It’s great to see Dwight Howard finally looking more mobile and I understand that injuries have been an issue all season, but this team still isn’t playing the defense it needs to play if the Lakers want to win more than a game against one of the top five teams in the West. In fact, they rank just 15th in defensive efficiency since the All-Star break. This team was supposed to be a title contender, and they’ve never looked anything like it.

Sekou Smith: Nothing but sunshine around here as usual, huh? There are plenty of candidates in each category, as we all love to nitpick the performances of specific players, coaches and teams. Even with a few good weeks since the All-Star break, the Los Angeles Lakers remain one of the most disappointing teams in recent memory. And you could go with the Lakers across the board here, Dwight Howard or Steve Nash in the player spot, Mike D’Antoni at coach and the Lakers as the team. Barring a miraculous playoff run, they’re going to occupy the entire page in the Hang Time yearbook for the biggest flop of the season. The best part, though, is they still have a chance to rewrite the ending to this story. They have the potential to provide the most drama in a first round playoff series, just by showing up in either San Antonio or Oklahoma City.

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The Lakers’ Most Devastating Loss Yet?

March 14, 2013  ·  12:51AM



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ATLANTA – In a season marred by one stunning loss after another, the Los Angeles Lakers might have suffered the most devastating setback of them all against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.

With Kobe Bryant crumpled in the corner of the floor in front of the Lakers’ bench at Philips Arena with 2.6 seconds to play, all the work the Lakers have done to redeem themselves from a pitiful start to this season flashed before their eyes.

Bryant landed awkwardly with Hawks swingman Dahntay Jones underneath him after his baseline jumper that could have tied the game bounced off the rim. The way the crowd (which was a raucous pro-Lakers group a la Staples Center Southeast) went silent, you’d have thought it happened in Los Angeles.

A severely sprained left ankle will sideline Bryant indefinitely. X-rays of the injury were negative, but Bryant was clearly in pain and limped to the sideline for the final 1.5 seconds of the shorthanded Hawks’ 96-92 win. The Lakers’ chances of finishing off their miraculous reversal of playoff fortunes might also have to be a limp to the finish if Bryant is out for an extended period.

Much was and will be made of the play that Bryant was injured on, with the initial shot fired by Bryant.

“As defensive players, you can contest shots, but you can’t walk underneath players,” Bryant said. “That’s dangerous for the shooter.”

He later Tweeted his frustrations:

Jones, sensing the coming firestorm, refuted all charges and argued that he was only doing his duty as a defensive stopper and nothing more:

Whatever the chatter, the damage has already been done to the Lakers. (more…)

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Magic Need To Wake From Dwightmare?

March 12, 2013  ·  9:48AM



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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Closure.

That’s what is on tap for Orlando Magic fans tonight when Dwight Howard makes his return to the building built upon his broad shoulders, the one that was supposed to house the city’s biggest and brightest star.

A win over the Los Angeles Lakers would sweeten the deal, anything the Magic can do to damage the Lakers’ playoff chances serves that purpose. And a lousy game by Howard might also add to the feel-good nature of the evening for those Magic fans still wounded by Howard’s departure last summer via a blockbuster trade.

But after it’s all over, when the booing is finished and the Lakers are in the air and headed to Atlanta for a Wednesday night matchup against the Hawks, the Magic and the entire city of Orlando needs to close the door on this Dwightmare drama for good. It’s time to wake up from this mess and finally move on.

That’s an extremely tall order, what with Howard’s refusal to stop sticking his size 18s in his mouth at seemingly every turn. Howard, however, is someone else’s Dwightmare now. The Lakers have to sweat out this summer wondering what he’ll do, whether he’s willing to stick around or chase his fortunes elsewhere (the Brooklyn whispers remain).

Magic fans will get a fresh start after tonight, and a well-deserved one. They can thank their front office for only having to see Howard once this year anyway. The decision to trade him to the Lakers and not somewhere else in the Eastern Conference prevented us all from having to go through this exhausting exercise on more than one occasion.,

That said, tonight’s meeting between the Magic and Lakers (7 ET, League Pass) promises to offer up one of the more bizarre scenes of the season, which is saying a mouthful, given the traveling circus the Lakers have been all season long.

Howard’s recent comments about his time in Orlando and his words about his former teammates (that he insists were misconstrued) will have to be addressed again … and in the flesh. There’s no Stan Van Gundy around to serve as the punching bag/foil for Howard, as he did during that infamous hallways scene after a shootaround practice last season.

One-time Howard ally Jameer Nelson will be in the other locker room. The eyes and ears of former Magic players like J.J. Redick, Rashard Lewis and even Vince Carter will no doubt be tuned into whatever is said.

Nelson swears there are no hard feelings, as he told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel:

“What’s said is said, and what happened is over and done with,” Nelson said. “I’m just here trying to look forward and not trying to dwell on the past. The decision was made and things happen, so it’s not like anybody could take them back or anything like that. And me personally, I’m not mad at him for doing what he did. I don’t know. Could things have been done differently? Yeah. But they weren’t. So, me as a person, I just have to move on and try to continue to be successful and do the things I need to do to help the team get back in the position we used to be in.”

Last week, Howard said he had reached out to former teammates after some of them, including Nelson and Rashard Lewis and J.J. Redick, took issue with a comment Howard made to a Los Angeles television station about his old Magic teams.

Howard said the statement was misconstrued and twisted by the media — that he was attempting to say that the Magic were always considered underdogs.

Nelson was asked whether he and Howard have conversed recently.

“No,” Nelson said.

There was silence before Nelson spoke again.

“Have me and Rashard conversed? Yes.”

To his credit, Howard has tried his best to apologize to everyone from his former teammates to the arena workers for how he handled himself during his season-long departure, which started with a trade request he refused to own up to during training camp. Howard was candid in a sit down interview with USA Today‘s Sam Amick, explaining his side of things as best he could:

“In Orlando, I handled a lot of stuff the wrong way,” he said. “If any of those people in Orlando are upset with how I did it, I apologize for the way I handled it and the way it was handled in the media.

“I really just got caught up in wanting to please everybody else. I really love that city. That was the hardest thing to do was to leave that city because I basically grew up there. That was my whole life. Orlando was it. I did not want to leave all that behind — the city, just everything about it. The fans. But I wanted a change for my life. I just felt like there was something else out there for me.”

That something else, for now, is trying to rebound from the Lakers’ disastrous start to this season and assist Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash in delivering his new team to the playoffs.

Howard would be wise to focus on that tonight and not the hate shower he’ll get from the crowd tonight in Orlando. Because it should get nasty.

But when it’s over, win or lose, the Magic need to wake up from their Dwightmare and just move on.

In fact, it’s time for everyone to just move on!

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Pain Only A State Of Mind For Kobe

March 6, 2013  ·  3:00PM

 

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – The Los Angeles Lakers make their way to New Orleans tonight (8 p.m. ET, League Pass) limping and clutching various ailing body parts. But if Kobe’s in, everybody’s in.

And Kobe’s in.

“This is a critical part of the season to say the least,” Kobe Bryant said after Tuesday’s 122-105 loss at the Oklahoma City Thunder. “So I’m going to play.”

Kobe re-aggravated an ulnar nerve contusion, a painful injury to the funny bone that just lingers in the elbow, that he first injured earlier this season against Detroit. Dwight Howard suffered another flare-up of the torn labrum in his right shoulder early in the game, and Metta World Peace rolled his right ankle late in the game. All three are expected to play in tonight’s critical end to a back-to-back.

“I just got popped on a nerve,” Kobe said. “That’s the exact reason why I wear the sleeve is to protect that thing, and I just got popped right on that button. Every time you try to bend your elbow extended with a little resistance, it’s a lot of pain. You got to adjust your shooting mechanics and I wasn’t able to hold my follow-through too much, but you just got to adjust to it and go from there.”

Other than Kobe continually gripping his elbow or hanging his arm after contact, it was hard to tell he was hurting. When he returned from the training room, his first shot attempt was a lefty hook through the lane that missed. From there, he went back to peppering shots from the perimeter on his way to a team-high 30 points. He had 18 at halftime and for much of the game he single-handedly prevented a massive blowout and allowed the Lakers to make a run that eventually whittled the Thunder’s lead to 110-105 with six minutes to play.

“He has incredible confidence,” Steve Nash said. “He was struggling with his elbow and still fired off some big shots for us and made them. He was great.”

The Lakers dropped to 30-31 after the loss and fell 2 1/2 games behind the Utah Jazz, three back in the loss column. The Hornets are just one of three West teams (Golden State and Minnesota) that the Lakers are 2-0 against this season. The Jazz (32-28) play at Cleveland tonight, while the seventh-place Houston Rockets play at Dallas.

“For us right now, we have to get some wins,” Kobe said.

That means Kobe’s in. And so everybody else is, too.

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Blogtable: Have The Lakers Improved?

March 6, 2013  ·  10:45AM




Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Week 19: Lakers: Any better? | Can Indiana beat Miami? | Underrated player on a title contender

Are the Lakers better or worse than they were a month ago? The same?

Steve Aschburner: The Lakers are better than they were simply by virtue of time spent together. No training camp with this coach, all those new faces/egos — that sort of thing requires a learning curve. Out of sheer familiarity they ought to be able to function a little better, which to me means snagging the No. 8 seed. But it’s small consolation for all that churning at the start and, in my view, we can already write off this Lakers season as a huge disappointment. It’s just not official yet.

Fran Blinebury: Slightly better, if only because they realize they’re running out of rope and have been playing with a little more sense of urgency, which has brought them together. But I believe it’s all still hanging by a thread and the tough finishing schedule might be too difficult to overcome.

Jeff Caplan: Well there’s no doubt that they are better. As John Schuhmann showed with advanced stats, the Lakers’ efficiency numbers haven’t changed much, but as Thunder coach Scott Brooks pointed out, the Lakers finally have gained some chemistry and continuity. Coach Mike D’Antoni said players have accepted their roles, accepted what’s going on with the team and that Dwight Howard is feeling better and better and Kobe Bryant is playing out of this world. Also, all the swirling drama from Day One has finally subsided and basketball is the main storyline for the first time all season. Sure, they still have issues such as transition defense and even putting a stamp on an offensive identity from game to game as Steve Nash noted less than two weeks ago. But, yes, this team is better.

Scott Howard-Cooper:  Better. I would say much better because they have been stacking wins for a change, except that the recovery has mostly come at the expense of lesser opponents. When they played the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Clippers and the Heat, the Lakers lost. But the wins have led to improved chemistry. There have been encouraging moments for the defense as well. But they won’t be different in an important way without wins over some bigger names.

John Schuhmann: Well, they’re better, because 13-6 is better than 17-25 and the defense has been slightly improved. But they’re not much better, as I wrote Tuesday. They’ve had more success in close games, which is somewhat arbitrary. They weren’t as bad as their record over their first 42 games, and they’re not as good as their record over their last 19. And they’re probably in for a dog fight over the last six weeks for that last playoff spot in the West.

Sekou Smith: I’m ignoring the advanced metrics and focusing on the numbers that matter in this case; wins and losses. They are basically the same today that they were on Feb. 6. The Lakers have handled the teams they should be able to handle, but they continue to come up short against the elite teams (see Oklahoma City Tuesday night). And I’m still not sure what anyone on the roster outside of Kobe Bryant will do down the stretch of the regular season. Kobe has made it clear that he’s going to drag this team into the playoffs, kicking and screaming if need be, and that he’s going to go as hard as he has to in order to make that happen. But even with all of his hard work the Lakers still haven’t shown me that they are the team we all thought they were when they added Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in the summer.

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