Clippers at Lakers 10/27/09 Game Thread - Opening Night!

wow..I love how everyone on this board likes to see positives when this team looks like the same terrible team from last year...such a vicious cycle....if the Lakers played a good game and had pau this wouldve been just as terrible as last year...
Get real guys

I know what perennial means it means many times yes I know maybe I misused that word thanks for calling me out but the frustration I have felt from this game makes me go all out.
Look, what I am trying to say is this team looks bad and anyone who thinks otherwise is just trying to fool themselves. The point of me saying they didn't have Gasol just emphasizes the fact that we had a chance and we failed miserably like we always do.
Man, I dont even know what your argument is to be honest all you've done is insulted my intelligence even though yes I used it out of context and stated the obvious.

Yaroslav why are you ignoring my point....if the Lakers played well we would have lost by more thats my point we are still playing terribly. why does everyone talk like Blake is all of a sudden Kobe to our team...he helps but hes not the team.

But thats my point...this team didnt play one bit like a championship team at all! Remember we made our runs against the likes of DJ Mbenga who launched 2 air ball shots and bounced a ball out of bounds off his teammates head during the game.
The reason why im negative is because this is a recurring theme with this team. Injuries, careless play, and it just hard to pull positives when thats what the fans have had to put up with for years despite coach and GM dunleavy promising a turnaround.
The 09-10 Clippers Should have won this game the fact they didnt is highly disturbing

GIVE THE BALL TO EJ!

wow..I love how everyone on this board likes to see positives when this team looks like the same terrible team from last year...such a vicious cycle....if the Lakers played a good game and had pau this wouldve been just as terrible as last year...
Get real guys

Now I belive Butler should start because Thornton takes Ill advised shots

I hope more fans notice this fact.

F@ck kaman!

Can we please face the facts?

Griffin wouldn't have made a huge difference last night.

Baron Davis is CLEARLY dragging the team down because he's not 100% (and it's arguable that he drags the team down when he IS 100%)

Thornton is not who we thought he'd be. He's potential who's had plenty of time to explode but he never has. The kid can't shoot. He's looking like the wobbly second coming of Maggette. He should at least know his place and stop taking bad shots, but Baron doesn't exactly lead by example in that dept.

Camby is playing like he's wasting his time with this team.

Say what you want about Telfair but the guy is actually trying, which is more than i can say about half of the team.

Kaman missed layups last night... what else is new? If you want Kaman on the floor, you have to prepare yourself for that. He played well and is at LEAST looking like the Kaman that carried the team when Brand left.

A guy who came off the bench with the nickname "cookie monster" was our top performer at the half. COOKIE MONSTER! Not Baron Davis, one of the most coveted PG's in the league. Not Marucs Camby who's averaged 15-10 since kindergarten. Not Thornton, the man who clips fans will wait FOREVER for. ... Freakin Craig Smith.

Now don't take that the wrong way. I love Cookie Monsters game, but he shouldn't be our top performer on such a stacked team.

What causes 4th quarter breakdowns? The same thing that causes breakdowns in any quarter... Coaching. Dunleavy refused to sit Thornton, even when he was acting like a black hole. He refused to sit Baron, even when he was throwing up air-balls. And he refused to play Cookie Monster more, when he was clearly hot at halftime.

If you can't stop a run with points, TAKE A TIMEOUT. Take two if you need to!. Timeouts break momentum and they're in the coach's hands. We were down by one, and then allowed a run by the world champions (you don't come back from those.) After a 5-6 point turnaround Dun should have stopped waxing his bald spot and called a timeout.

this team needs a backbone. whenever the lakers started going on runs, we started forcing everything in order to break that momentum. forced shots, passes, dribbles. lots of iso on part of the player.

that being said, we kept the lakers under 100.

most everything's been said (baron's tentativeness, rhino's rampage...im pretty excited with bassy. best backup PG we've had in a looog while, maybe back to gary grant)

DJ looks like a rookie right now. out of place on rotations, bad rebound positioning, isnt utilizing his height, etc.

all things considered, im content with the outcome. all we need is personality and someone to step up as a go to guy. it doesnt look like we have a face to our team yet. that's troubling.

That, I think, is something we can ALL agree on!

I think we should trade Gordon,Thornton and a first round pick for Kevin Durant. This year he's going to make everyone realize he's a top 3 player. Sounds crazy but go ahead and quote me midseason. He's the only guy in the league besides Lebron that can fill an ENTIRE stat sheet. Even Wade and Kobe don't do it the same. You'll see him have 30 points,15 rebounds,5 steals and 5 blocked shots to go with 6-7 assists some games. Sick player.

I agree as well...although he needs to drive the lane more, he was passing out a lot of shots once he drove the paint...that should be Barons number one job....not EG. If EG and more so AL just drive the lane and get fouled then we would be great.

Nice idea, but why would OKC do that? Its pretty well recognized that Durant is on his way to being a top 5 player in the league. Sure, I know there's been talk that he won't stay in Oklahoma when his rookie contract is up, but I seriously doubt the Thunder management would even consider trading him at this point.

And, I can't believe were talking trades after the 1st game.

I'm not by any means fed up with either players. If we want a Superstar caliber player though that knows how to lead when it's time.. it would be a solution was my only point. I LOVE having EJ. If i had the chance to nab a young top 5 player though of course i would. I agree that we would likely have to nab him during free agency, trade won't happen. I would pursue Durant more than Lebron TBH in free agency.

Last Night Observations:

Well it wasn't as bad as last year's opener (not saying much) but still a bit disappointing. If Baron continues to show ineptitude the good thing about our offseason is that Telfair could be a suitable replacement. Now I see why so many people wanted sessions, i really hope it was because of his ankle or he just had a off night.

Other than that Smith GREAT addition, kaman showed signs of his old self, DJ seemed intimidated, ricky doesn't need to play again matter of fact just cut him take the salary hit and replace his limited minutes with rush, gordon was efficient but needs to demand the ball more get more aggressive he is truely our best player.

Butler had a horrible night but I trust him more than Al because of his overall basketball iq and judging his games when he was on the hornets and preseason. He's pretty streaky so I'm going to chalk last night up to just a bad night. Al Thornton=Corey Maggette Jr. only not as aggressive in getting to the line.

Starting lineup without blake should be pg: telfair (until baron gets truly healthy or starts competing with passion) sg: gordon sf: butler pf: Smith C: Kaman 6th man: Camby

Holy cow! I hope most of us don't invest in the stock market. The panic and knee jerk reactions on this site are astounding. Nobody said we should be beating the Lakers. They played poorly. We played poorly. The game finished about how it would have finished if both teams had played well.

Baron is having problems with his foot. I suspect he'll be all right in a week or so... This is actually me talking, the #1 Baron hater. I saw him play in preseason. While it would be a good idea if he never took a jump shot again, last night is nothing to worry about immediately. If he's playing like that on November 15th, then worry. Gordon is in his second year and only 20. Give him until his 3rd or 4th year before he's ready to say "give me the ball and get out of the way."

Kaman was outstanding last night. Yes, he missed a few shots close to the hoop, but Bynam is incredibly long. Just because shots come close to the basket doesn't mean they're easy.

You might also blame the refs last night. They had the Lakers shooting 37 foul shots to our 17. That's where the game was lost.

There were also plenty of gitters early on, which led to lots of turnovers.

What happened last night was the expected. Nothing more, nothing less.

Holy cow! I hope most of us don't invest in the stock market. The panic and knee jerk reactions on this site are astounding. Nobody said we should be beating the Lakers. They played poorly. We played poorly. The game finished about how it would have finished if both teams had played well.

Baron is having problems with his foot. I suspect he'll be all right in a week or so... This is actually me talking, the #1 Baron hater. I saw him play in preseason. While it would be a good idea if he never took a jump shot again, last night is nothing to worry about immediately. If he's playing like that on November 15th, then worry. Gordon is in his second year and only 20. Give him until his 3rd or 4th year before he's ready to say "give me the ball and get out of the way."

Kaman was outstanding last night. Yes, he missed a few shots close to the hoop, but Bynam is incredibly long. Just because shots come close to the basket doesn't mean they're easy.

You might also blame the refs last night. They had the Lakers shooting 37 foul shots to our 17. That's where the game was lost.

There were also plenty of gitters early on, which led to lots of turnovers.

What happened last night was the expected. Nothing more, nothing less.