Why the Lakers are better this season
Our friends at the LA Times Lakers blog, Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky, are offering us a couple of preview pieces as we head into tomorrow’s Christmas Day matchup with the Lakers. Those guys do a great job over there, and I encourage you to check them out to see what the other side is saying about the game.
I decided to ask Brian Kamenetzky a question on the minds of many Celtics fans: How is this Lakers team any better than the one that got whooped by the Celtics in the Finals?
Here is his response:
The answer, much to the dismay of Lakers fans, has to be divided into two categories: Theoretical and actual. For the former, there were a few factors that were, in the dewy light of preseason, supposed to elevate an already top shelf purple and gold squad (they did make the Finals, you know?) to Larry O’Brien status:
Personnel: The return of Andrew Bynum from his knee injury and the injection of a healthy Trevor Ariza added depth to an already solid rotation, provided a defensive, shot blocking presence in the lane, and gave the Lakers a badly needed wing defender to shore up their own end.
Continuity: The Lakers lost only one significant rotation player, Ronny Turiaf, and he wasn’t a frontline presence for last season’s team. Yeah, they had to work Bynum back in with Pau Gasol, two guys who had never played together, but nobody needed the Advance Triangle Workshop in training camp. That meant more time for important things like taping commercials, signing basketballs, and, oh yeah, defense.
Experience: Yes, the Celtics were a newly assembled team last season with, technically, limited championship experience, but really Boston was a fully baked group led by three extremely hungry vets. Title favorites from day one. The Lakers, on the other hand, entered the season just hoping to make the playoffs and maybe win a round if things went well- enough to keep Kobe from bolting. Instead, they surprised people with a great start with Bynum in the post then really took off after Gasol was pilfered from Memphis. This season, LA could learn from the experience of the Finals (particularly the humiliation of Game 6) and return a focused, hardened, game-tough bunch of warriors.
In theory, these factors should combine to make the Lakers a better team than the version that went deep into the Finals a year ago. In practice, despite two straight wins to cap off their recent road trip and a 23-5 record, there are reasons to be nervous. First, the continuity on defense that was so impressive through the first 10 or so games hasn’t been nearly as consistent since, though they did do a nice job in New Orleans Tuesday night. Other teams are adjusting to the zone-trapping scheme and the Lakers have lost much of the discipline required to run it properly, instead looking for shortcuts like jumping passing lanes and reaching unnecessarily for steals.
Offensively, the Bynum/Gasol combo hasn’t jelled quite yet. The two don’t work well together on an instinctive level, and meanwhile Kobe has had problems finding paths to the basket with the two of them on the floor, leading to more jumpers than people like to see.
Bynum’s quality of play has been pretty spotty as well. He’s struggled mightily of late with foul trouble, picking up personals like Stephon Marbury does bad press. Offensively, he’s been oddly tentative, forgetting that he’s a 285 pound seven footer who can bull his way to the basket when need be. Defensively, in the half court he’s been successful in blocking and altering shots, but teams that pull him away from the basket (pick and roll, anyone?) have found success.
He’s still very much a work in progress.
I thought going in that it might take 35 games or so for the Lakers, who between the return of Bynum and the insertion of Lamar Odom into the second unit had some new things to learn. Instead, they came out of the gate red hot, seemingly proving that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but about 45 minutes. Now we might be seeing some of those growing pains.
The record is outstanding, but the Lakers aren’t playing like an elite team night in and night out on either end… right now. If the playoffs started today, they’d probably be screwed. (So would all of those people holding tickets for games in March.) Fortunately- and this is the important part- they don’t. There’s still ample time for the Lakers to recover, and I believe they will. Phil Jackson has traditionally constructed teams throughout the regular season so that they’re playing their best ball when the playoffs roll around. No reason to think this team will be any different.
Given that they haven’t played 30 games, I’m still very much on the Lakers bandwagon and believe they’ll be playing at a level that matches what will likely be a very gaudy record once the playoffs roll around. And once they’re operating at full efficiency, the ’08-’09 squad ought to be stronger than last year’s edition.
Check back later for a debate between myself and Andrew Kamenetzky on which team’s fans this game means more to.
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