Game Rewind: That’s More Like It – Lakers 106, Pistons 93

Now that is more like it… well almost.  The Lakers got back to their winning ways by kind of sort of dominating the Detroit Pistons.  After two games of getting their ass kicked, the Lakers once again became the ass kickers.  Granted, it was only for two quarters, but it is a start.

Two quarters of domination is nice, but four would have been better.

As much as everyone might want to declare the coast clear after the Lakers snapped their losing streak tonight, it still sure looks like the team has plenty of work left to do.  Lost amidst the 13-point victory margin was an uninspiring first quarter that saw the Lakers once again struggle to put the ball through the hoop.  It wasn’t until the second quarter when things started clicking for Kobe and company (mostly Kobe) allowing the Lakers to push the lead to 25 points at the end of the third quarter.  And that is where the ugliness resurfaced.

Instead of closing out the game by stepping on Detroit’s throat, the Lakers decided that two strong quarters was all they were obligated to play.  Before you knew it the Lakers were back to their old undisciplined, unfocused selves and Detroit was back to a single-digit deficit with two minutes left to play.  Seriously?  Did they forget that quickly that they just got slapped around by inferior teams two games in a row?  Shouldn’t they be jumping at the chance to make a statement that they are back and better than ever?  That would have been the sensible thing to do, but I guess the Lakers still aren’t taking their struggles seriously.

A win is a win, but this could have been a big win instead of just another notch in the W column.

• Groin injury?  What groin injury?  Kobe may have started slow but he must have finally found a way to get his groin feeling good (that’s what she said) and poured in another 40-point night.  Yeah, I think he’ll be just fine.
• Another double-double for Andrew Bynum and a bit of scrappiness from the kid to boot.  It’s nice to have a big man that doesn’t back down from thuggish behavior.  Maybe Drew can give Pau and Lamar some lessons.

Lake Show Outtakes:

• Shannon Brown has to be embarrassed by his traveling call when he went for that show-stopping dunk in the fourth quarter and then getting rejected at the rim by Jason Maxiell on another dunk attempt a few possessions later.  I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Brown needs to quit trying to make the Sportscenter highlight reel and more on becoming a smart basketball player.
• I think it speaks volumes of Derek Fisher’s current defensive abilities that he was not on the floor the final minutes of the game when Detroit was mounting their comeback and instead both Shannon Brown and Sasha Vujacic were playing instead because Fish couldn’t be trusted to guard the ever-intimidating Will Bynum.  And I didn’t even mention the fact that for the third time this season Fisher failed to make a field goal.

Tags: Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher, Detroit Pistons, Game Rewind, Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic, Shannon Brown