Growing Pains... If they want a reputation as a team that will cough up a lead, the Lakers are trying their best to build it. After choking away another huge fourth-quarter lead tonight, they dodged a bullet at the buzzer -- a missed three that would have given them another last-second road loss.
They got burned in Indy after playing with fire. They escaped in D.C. with the 106-104 win. They should have won by 30...easily.
Twice the starters gave the second-unit large double digit leads (leading by as many as 20). Twice the bench choked it away.
I can't even credit the Wizards in this one. When you watch this Laker team enough, you know when they are going through the motions, and when they are fighting. The second unit looked more like they wanted to make a highlight reel play than doing the dirty work that you need on the road.
What's up with the Lakers, Pau? "Mental focus," he said. "You've got to have guys come in the game and being ready to play."
Mental focus. Killer instinct. Assistant Coach Jim Cleamons says this team isn't ready to go for 70 wins, despite the 16-2 start. "The team, as we sit right now, it's not mature enough to win that amount of games. It's about talent on one hand, but it's about maturity on the other hand. The team that won 72, that team had been together."
Phil said he's learning what this team is made of. He doesn't like some of the things he sees in the second unit when they are out on the road. He blamed himself for "putting too much trust and faith in a younger group -- a second unit. They just can't hold it on the road. They can't withstand the fury or the intensity of the fourth quarter. I'm going to have to change it up a little bit."
The coaches are calling the guys out.
There are certainly plenty of unexplored possibilities with the lineups and rotations. Stay tuned to see what kind of changes he has in mind. Bynum ( a season-high 19 points and 10 boards) -- once again -- wasn't in the game to lock down at the end.
They got burned in Indy after playing with fire. They escaped in D.C. with the 106-104 win. They should have won by 30...easily.
Twice the starters gave the second-unit large double digit leads (leading by as many as 20). Twice the bench choked it away.
I can't even credit the Wizards in this one. When you watch this Laker team enough, you know when they are going through the motions, and when they are fighting. The second unit looked more like they wanted to make a highlight reel play than doing the dirty work that you need on the road.
What's up with the Lakers, Pau? "Mental focus," he said. "You've got to have guys come in the game and being ready to play."
Mental focus. Killer instinct. Assistant Coach Jim Cleamons says this team isn't ready to go for 70 wins, despite the 16-2 start. "The team, as we sit right now, it's not mature enough to win that amount of games. It's about talent on one hand, but it's about maturity on the other hand. The team that won 72, that team had been together."
Phil said he's learning what this team is made of. He doesn't like some of the things he sees in the second unit when they are out on the road. He blamed himself for "putting too much trust and faith in a younger group -- a second unit. They just can't hold it on the road. They can't withstand the fury or the intensity of the fourth quarter. I'm going to have to change it up a little bit."
The coaches are calling the guys out.
There are certainly plenty of unexplored possibilities with the lineups and rotations. Stay tuned to see what kind of changes he has in mind. Bynum ( a season-high 19 points and 10 boards) -- once again -- wasn't in the game to lock down at the end.
选择“Disable on www.wenxuecity.com”
选择“don't run on pages on this domain”
