Back on December 5th, the Lakers came into New Orleans and handled the Hornets rather easily, winning 103-87. A lot has changed since then. Most notably, Eric Gordon is back for the Hornets and the Lakers have returned to full health as well (both Nash and Gasol missed the previous game). The Lakers have won their last two, after dropping 9 of their previous 11, so of course LakerNation is talking championship again after their mini surge. Let’s see what the Hornets have to do tonight to bring them back down to earth.
Keys to Victory
1. Knock Down Perimeter Shots
Don’t you dare say that the Lakers won’t work on defense, because Mike D’Antoni will correct you so quick that it will make your head spin. They spend upwards of thirty minutes on that side of the ball, and apparently their philosophy is that they will allow their opponents to have practically any outside shot they want. They allow the 3rd most three-point attempts in the NBA, but what they don’t do is foul teams and send them to the line. They are 1st in the league in FT’s allowed per field goal attempt. They won’t turn you over and they won’t foul you; they simply challenge you to a jump shooting contest. And if the Hornets can win that contest, they should win this game.
2. Play Aggressive Defense Without Fouling
The Lakers have taken the 2nd most free throws in the league, averaging nearly 28 per game. They shoot a terrible percentage (69%) but that is because Howard gets 9 per game and shoots under 50%. But when you foul Howard, you get closer and closer to the penalty, and once the Lakers get in the penalty, they attack with Kobe and Nash- two of the best FT shooters in the league. The Lakers offense is pretty average overall, it is the 20 free points that they get every game from the line that puts them in the elite category. Make them earn their points, and this game is extremely winnable.
3. Make Kobe a Scorer
The Lakers simply don’t win when Kobe takes over 20 shots. They are 13-3 when he takes less than 20, and 6-22 when he takes 20 or more shots. The Lakers have played some of their best ball these last two games when Kobe has had more assists than field goal attempts. So the answer seems simple; bait Kobe into shooting. Force Kobe to choose between his own personal ego and his teams’ success. We know which one he will pick.
7 responses to “Game On: Hornets @ Lakers”
I think another key is seeing our guards exploit Steve Nash on the offensive side. Regardless of who he covers I think that it will be relatively easy for EJ and Greivis to run circles around him.
Let’s go Pels!!!
how Many times Have We Seen This… GV Comes Out And The Offense Stalls…
Backup PG Has To Be Priority #1 Either At The Trade Deadline Our In The Offseason!!!
Yeah. Our starters play their starters even for a quarter. Then it is subs vs. subs and they get a double digit lead on our subs. We have some problems with our backups, and I agree backup PG is the worst.
We can’t be a quality teams that lack quality backups! And our backup guards are the teams weakest link.
These refs blow
This is the first time in a while I can remember being legitimately furious at Monty. Roberts (and Thomas to a lesser degree) couldn’t do anything out there. They didn’t even look like they should be in the NBA. And WHY doesn’t Davis play in the fourth ever? This was such a winnable game it blows my mind trying to imagine what he was thinking. A win on the road against the Lakers has to be worth more than 2 ping pong balls in a weak draft, right?
/game just ended rant
So how much money did Monty put on the Lakers tonight? Does he know what the definition of insanity is? Why in the hell did Davis not play at all in the 4th? Rivers had more minutes than Davis and Thomas only had 4 less. Also Vasquez possibly blew the game for us by trying to play hero ball and by not getting the ball to Gordon. Do refs realize that the rule book states that an offensive player can not be camped out in the lane for more than 3 consecutive seconds?
Ugh this loss probably upsets me more than any other this season, seriously makes me question Monty’s coaching ability. Sometimes it feels like he’s sabotaging Davis’ development to me by taking him out of games that he’s dominating in and then not playing him down the stretch and instead playing Lopez who can’t guard anyone and Austin Rivers who is arguably the worst player in the league at this point. I hope Benson or Loomis calls Monty up and gives him an earful…