And that’s why we’re fighting to stay out of the bottom of the playoff seeding.
The Lakers came into our arena last night and showed us what championship basketball is about. It’s about defense. It’s about execution. And it’s about trust. The most depressing thing about this game is that those are the things we used to show to other teams.
The first half of the game was a paper tiger. We had a 7 point lead (which we had as high as 10 at several points in the half), but it was almost entirely on the back of George Hill and Manu Ginobili. Hill scored 20 points in the first half. That’s about what to expect from him over an entire game. It makes sense that he would regress to the mean in the second half, and that the Lakers would key in on him.
All the flaws that caused the game to slip away in the second half were evident in the first half: inferior defensive rebounding, sloppy execution, and horrible shooting. We were just able to cover them up with superlative play from our starting backcourt.
In the second half the Lakers came out determined to play aggressive defense. And boy, did they. They bodied us, pushed us around, pressured every dribble and every pass. They created turnovers and forced us into bad shots. They reminded us of what it takes to win a championship. We were unable to match the intensity and the execution, which has been a consistent theme of this team all year.
It’s not as if we were without our chances, though. Our offense is designed very well, and it’s designed to get shooters open looks at the basket. Shot after shot missed, and every clang off the rim was a nail in the coffin, a reminder of just how poor a shooting team we are this year. As coaches like to say, sometimes it just comes down to making shots. More often than not, we’re not making shots this season.
The Lakers earned that win, and pretty clearly demonstrated that they are the best team in the Western Conference and possibly the entire league. It is essential that we stay out of the number 8 seed and avoid them in the first round.
Looking Forward:
The only team I would like to play less than the Lakers are the Cavs, who we play on Friday.
We’re 1-2 on this brutal 5-game stretch. It’s imperative that we win at least one of the next two.
