Game Rewind: This is a Mess – Lakers 101, Thunder 98

In the immortal words of the great 21st century philosopher David Hasselhoff, this is a mess.  The Lakers were hoping to turn over a new leaf against the Thunder and start kicking some ass, instead they just plain turned it over.

The Hoff demonstrates the Lakers’ new philosophy on ball security.

Those crafty Lakers fooled us all early on by jumping out to a 16-5 lead, leading us to believe that they were finally going to deliver that blowout victory we’ve been waiting for.  But that was just a clever ruse much like Kobe’s alleged case of the flu.  Clearly this was just a well-orchestrated cover for a team that would go on to turn the ball over 25 times, which was nearly twice their turnover average from last season.

It is a rare occasion that every single starter on a team commits 4 or more turnovers in a game, but the Lakers pulled it off in their overtime win tonight.  I don’t know if it was Kobe’s illness or perhaps the Lakers just not taking OKC seriously, but the Mamba was the ringleader on this night of sloppiness, committing seven turnovers of his own.  The Thunder are hardly a stellar defensive squad, but their combination of athleticism and length forced the Laker offense into mistake after mistake.  Fortunately, the OKC defense wasn’t particularly good when the Lakers did hold onto the ball as LA shot 52.1% from the field.  Nonetheless, this near loss has to at least raise some minor concerns over the Lakers ability to battle with highly athletic opponents.

What isn’t a concern (and never has been) though is Kobe Bryant’s ability to deliver when it counts the most.  Sure he turned the ball over quite a bit and even fumbled a chance to take the lead late in regulation, but the Mamba made sure that the Lakers didn’t lose the game despite so many self-inflicted wounds.  Of course if this is the beginning of a new trend for the Lakers, even Kobe won’t be able to save the Lakers every night.

Just because the flu was making you cough Kobe doesn’t mean you have to cough up the ball too.

• 20 points?  Over 50% shooting?  Six assists?  Multiple three-pointers made?  Could it be that Ron Artest actually had a decent offensive game?  Say it isn’t so.
• When Pau Gasol comes back, there will be a big battle between the three big men for crunch time minutes.  Andrew Bynum made a strong case for himself with his help defense down the stretch which is a great sign for the young fella and no doubt  a real confidence booster for him and for Jackson’s confidence in him.  Lamar Odom on the other hand… well, let’s just say that making some free throws or at least hitting the rim would have helped his cause.

Lake Show Outtakes:

• I think we need a new nickname for the Bench Mob.  I am open to suggestions but the current leader in the clubhouse is the Bench Bums, especially after all the reserves combined to contribute just 6 points and 5 rebounds tonight.  Yuck!
• Need another reason the bench needs to step up?  Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom all had to play over 40 minutes tonight and Odom is the only one who didn’t breach that limit in regulation.  It is WAAAAAY too early in the season to be riding the core guys this hard.

Tags: Andrew Bynum, bench mob, Game Rewind, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phil Jackson, Ron Artest