If you missed the end of the Lakers' two-point win over the Wizards last night, fear not. Because the team followed pretty much the same fourth quarter blueprint as they had in games against Philadelphia, Indiana, and a bunch of other teams this season. The Lakers led by 18 points with just over seven minutes remaining in the game, but L.A.'s bench allowed the Wizards to mount a furious comeback, one that eventually cut the lead to a single point. After seeing this happen for the sixth time this season, Phil Jackson finally seems ready to do something about it.
Jackson said after this one that the comeback was on him, and that his second unit might be too young to handle the intensity of protecting a fourth quarter lead on the road.
"I think it was poor coaching, that's what it was tonight," he said. "Putting too much trust and faith in a younger group, the second unit, that perhaps can't hold it on the road. They can't withstand the fury or the tensity of a fourth-quarter game, so I'm going to have to change it up a little bit, I think."The poor coaching line may be a bit of a stretch where the lineup is concerned, but what Phil is saying here has some validity. It hasn't been a fluke that teams have been able to come back like this on the Lakers' bench players, especially when Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom are all out of the game at the same time.
Besides the fact that the younger players gave up the huge lead, there's the issue of having to bring the starters back in to close the deal, when physically and mentally they probably figured they were done for the night.
Bryant and Gasol began the fourth on the bench, and Odom sat down with just under 10 minutes to go. None of the three were very effective when they had to check back in at the 5:41 mark, and Kobe was especially cold, going 0-for-5 down the stretch before hitting a fade-away bank shot to put his team up three after Washington had cut the lead to one.
Phil admitted that it was a bad spot to put Kobe in, saying afterwards he thought that "mentally, he probably checked out." If Jackson makes the changes he's hinting at though, this problem -- along with the bigger one of the team blowing huge fourth quarter leads in the first place -- are likely to both become non-issues.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
It was very discouraging to watch the huge lead they had dissolve to nothing. Jackson and the Lakers can't expect to win against Boston on the 25th (let alone win the title) if they continue with the major choke-jobs.
It takes a real man to admit his mistakes,
bravo Phil, now let's fixed up ;
Now lets tell your second unit that they are not all
that and go back to basics, firm.
blowing fourth quarter leads is not the only problem , alowing to many offince rebone,not takeing every play serios,not play agressave on defince,giveing up easy lay up, hey when some one come to the inside for a lay up you have got to make them pay!! foul them hard! let them that there is a price to pay.
What a loser.
He's saying he screwed up because he trusted his bench and his bench isn't good enough to get it done. That is a very calculated and obvious dig at his bench, no doubt as a motivational tool. It's very obvious and very juvenile.
If he wants to accept blame, he should accept blame for not adequately preparing his bench to play, or perhaps for using the wrong rotations.
For a guy with 9 Titles, he sure has a very fragile ego. He can never give an opponent any credit. He can never admit his team got outplayed on a given night. He can never accept responsibility, and vow to do better as a coach.
I'll take Doc Rivers over that guy every day of the week.
LA starting 5 is a bit complicated to me because in
my book I will start Trevor Ariza instead of
Radmanovic and as the 6th man should be
Lamar Odom ( ala Ginobili) and then Radmanovic
and the rest of the bench in that order as such:
Starting 5 , Bynum, Gasol, Kobe, Ariza and Fisher;
6th man = Lamar Odom and then the rest like
Radmanovic and so on, or else IF they have to
face Boston again in the finals;
The fact is that the starting 5 of LA will defeat
any team in the NBA incuding Boston is when
LA brings the so call " no deep "bench that LA
becomes very vulnerable and the rhythm of the
game changes for the worst( Mr. Hide)disappears.
KJR...You'll take Coc Slivers over Phil any day of the week?
Will you take him without the trades for Ray Allen and KG?
#2 team in te league is not bad and the lakers are in good shape. phil shouldn't take the blame for any letdowns on the court. he is the zen master but i doubt that the zen will work on his predominantly gen x roster. Lamar, Lamar, Lamar. you just need to realize that you're a starter even though you're on the bench, you're the leader on that second unit, you need to let them know when time it is. I can also understand that this team is in LA and everyone in hollywood has an ego and those ego's can especially bring down a team. get kobe, fisher, and shaw together and let kobe talk about the 01 season. maybe phil need to have the second units start the games and the real starters will come off the bench. he could experiment with this against SAC, MIN, NY, and MEM, before we get to play boston. if LA doesn't start playing with some heart pretty soon, will be going home like we did after game 6. more later
Well, at least Phil Jackson lets himself be accountable for the (poor) bench performance. Acknowledging a problem is usually the first step in finding a solution to that problem. I am not sure if publicly acknowledging it helps, but hey.. at least he is not throwing the blame to others ( cough cough ala George Karl cough cough). Some people ( cough George Karl cough) are willing to go to the extreme to avoid the blame and instead throw future all of fame players under the bus (those players: Ray Allen, Gary Payton, Sam Cassell, Allen Iverson). Oh by the way, Ray Allen and Gary Payton went on to win championship when they did not play for Karl. Just Sayin'. Karl, well, I am not sure how many times he got fired, when is the last time he was out of the first round. Again, just sayin'
KJR "He can never accept responsibility, and vow to do better as a coach"
Admitting poor coaching is accepting responsibility. And Phil said "I'm going to have to change it up a little bit, I think", hopefully that means doing better as a coach.
As for your statement "I'll take Doc Rivers over that guy every day of the week." In 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, both the Celtics and the Lakers had crappy players other than Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant. Lamar Odom and the other guys were terrible at the time. But guess what:
The Lakers managed to make it to the playoffs (although beaten both times by the Suns). You can credited that to Kobe Bryant and his scoring, but you definitely can't undermine Phil Jackson because .....
Those same seasons, despite being in the Weak eastern conference, Boston did not make the playoffs and were at the near bottom of the league record-wise with Pierce and Doc Rivers. Oh, and remember they also had that (intentional?) 18 consecutive losses.... with Doc Rivers as a coach.
I am not saying Doc Rivers is a bad coach, but I am saying that the presence of Ray Allen and KG sure makes him look good.
Hey Mr. Jerry Buss, I think it is time for you to say goodbye to Kobe and Phil Jackson. It is very clear Kobe's skill is eroding him now. Why pay max for a player not in the top five at this moment? You're lossing too much money for these high priced player and coach. Old Phil can no longer motivate this team. He's the one making this strong team lousy. He doesn't know how to substitute players like putting Fisher much longer even if he's not performing well. With this strong team now, Phil is so confused how to give time for everyone. He has the habit of prolonging the presence of a lousy starter. Lakers need a younger coach not an old school. Dwyane Wade surely want to be a Laker, why not trade Kobe for him? Lastly, give Fisher just 15 minutes of play. Jordan Farmar is a better player now
you are stupid to the 10th power
Mr.Big, you're more than stupid. You're a moron.